I was more into pop-punk (Weston, Bouncing Souls, Lookout Records) with some ska-ish kind of stuff like Less Than Jake thrown into the mix and more indie-r stuff like SuperChunk or Archers of Loaf or The Lemonheads. But a ton of my friends were REALLY into hardcore and I got dragged to all kinds of NYHC and Victory Records Showcase types of things. I was a little into that stuff -- in fact, a 7" of Earth Crisis' FIRESTORM is within sight as I type this -- but I always looked at it from an outsiders perspective.
My favorite Victory band, without question, was One Life Crew. Their music was absolutely horrible and their lyrics were mostly about the superiority of the Cleveland hardcore scene.
The funniest thing I ever saw at a hardcore show -- for some reason, in college, I got roped into some stupid show at the Troc. I forget the entire line-up, but 25 Ta Life was on the bill as was Earth Crisis. The lead singer -- Rick Ta Life -- was going on some rant and ended it by saying something like, "Big Ups to My Mom." One of my friends yelled out "BIG UPS TO MRS. TA LIFE!" Rick Ta Life got really pissed and started screaming, "WHO SAID THAT" and "DON'T DISRESPECT!" It was pretty obvious that it was the scrawny, nerdy kids on the side laughing hysterically.
About two years ago, I was with a bunch of my friends and we went through all those old hardcore albums. Gorilla Biscuits and Youth of Today -- They hold up pretty well. But stuff like Madball or Ten Yard Fight or the aforementioned Chains of Strength... dear god.
albums.
Then again, my friends had a looooot of fun at my expense when they saw that I have like 4 Mr. T Experience albums still in my collection.