Hardcore punk, now commonly known as hardcore, is a subgenre of punk rock that originated in North America in the late 1970s. The new sound was generally thicker, heavier and faster than earlier punk rock. The songs are usually short, fast and loud, covering topics such as politics, personal freedom, violence, social alienation, war, and the hardcore subculture itself.

Hardcore has spawned several fusion genres and subgenres, which have gone on to have large success in the commercial market, such as skate punk, melodic hardcore and metalcore. It also had a large influence on extreme metal, particularly thrash metal and grindcore.