The above post reminds me of a certain type of Christian hardcore subculture that is nowhere near on the level of anything in the poll but I'm sure most people here would still find quite weird. It doesn't really exist in a "pure" form anymore but its influence is still identifiable amongst some people like one of my pastors' husband and multiple people I met at Furnace Fest.
(Not me because I'm not straight edge.)
Can you elaborate on the tenets and continuing influence of this subculture? I'm actually intrigued.
The best description I can describe is a milder and (perhaps quite ironically) less socially conservative form of
Hardline (which is
very weird and on par with the stuff talked about here) with a syncretic mix with Christianity, but in a way rejecting denominations (kind of the rule in Christian hardcore as a whole honestly), not really caring at all about theology but replacing the theological debated topics with topics of debate within the hardcore scene, not necessarily being vegan but "eco-conscious" (in a way that doesn't come across as weird because even mainstream liberals are like that today, that wasn't so much the case in the 90s and early 00s though), and almost always straight edge and syncretic with Christianity, and not in a way that Mormons or fundamentalist Baptists shun alcohol but rather more like using straight edge to justify Christianity rather than the other way around. This all (aside from perhaps the opposition to abortion in a "consistent life ethic" manner) had a secular counterpart of course, and in fact one could argue that it was really just the spiritual successor to "Krishnacore" which yes is a real thing which is even older than Christian hardcore, it was started amongst some NYHC bands like Shelter in the 80s and spread, and as someone pointed out in a Facebook discussion while the thought of it might sound very bizarre to younger hardcore kids today, the explanation is actually pretty obvious: Krishna was an actual religion with tenets of veganism and essentially straight edge built in so it wasn't difficult to add a dogmatic spiritual justifications for those things over what was popular in the hardcore scene, now that straight edge and veganism are much less common in it, it feels a lot more out of place. Also what many would find strange about this is that some "adherents" promoted a rather charismatic twist on Christianity (common lyric: some variation of "No one will leave this room sick!") and in some ways it sort of felt like Appalachian Pentecostalism except amongst urban people who liked going to basement shows and dingy dive bar ones (but not drinking at them!) And of course standard hardcore ethics still applied, so things like rejecting major label music, corporate owned venues and certain genres of music considered "negative influences" (like black metal or hardcore gangsta rap.)
So what happened? Well basically the same factors I described
here, in time most people became at least one of not straight edge, vegan/vegetarian or Christian anymore, happened to a lot of bands, see Unbroken whose name supposedly described their commitment to straight edge but only one member is straight edge today, too many people to name for the vegan/vegetarian stuff and see Underoath as the most obvious and famous example of a band that isn't Christian anymore (albeit one that was never in this style), this led to the culture sort of dissolving, but if you meet someone who is both Christian and straight edge, they'll kind of give vibes and strains of this thought, also identifiable by someone wearing a shirt of certain now quite obscure 90s bands like xDisciplex or early Facedown Records releases. And my pastor's husband still usually wears his hat with the big "X" on it (somewhat ironically though he used to work as a bouncer at a now closed legendary punk venue here, but I guess that's not hypocritical if one is not militant straight edge, a now essentially entirely defunct movement.)
Poll
