When did Hardcore truly begin? In the 90s? The 80s? Or even much earlier?

When did Hardcore Techno really begin? What was the first Hardcore track, and who put it out?
That's a question that has captivated the minds of many people, and a true sonic hunt has been unleashed, with folks deep digging through thousands of EBM, New Beat, Detroit and Acid House records to find that one true primal "Hardcore" sound.

This is all very interesting - and has led to interesting results.
Yet this hunt is afflicted by a certain disregard.
Because we must look at a few important aspects.

Listening Suggestion #1. Vice Versa - Artists At War (1980)

can we say early-speedcore?

1. There is a difference between the sounds on your puny little speakers in your home - and a real sound system in a club, discotheque, or a squat. There is a *huge* difference, in fact.
Anyone who ever experienced an onslaught of truly ear-rending loudspeakers in a tiny squat basement knows what I mean.

These audio systems are bona fide sound transformers. A drum that sounds weak, average, maybe even tinny can become the hardest form of terror on a good set of PA speakers.
And this also goes vice versa.
A drum that sounds menacing "at home" often is whack in a real club setting.

#2. Liaisons Dangereuses - Los Niños Del Parque (Live) (1981)

reverberated kicks

Because of this, there has always been a limit on how, and on how much you can distort a bassdrum if it should still kick hard when played at an event (if it shouldn't - then feel free to crank all levers to 12).
For example, most of the contemporary (2024) overly-distorted "Industrial Hardcore" crap sounds like feces on the dancefloor.

And the consequence is that for the modern ear, a lot of late 80s / 90s producers seemed to be kinda cautious with the use of distortion and hardness in their tracks. But that's an illusion. It only happens if you listen at home.
On a loud rig, 1988-1992 acid / rave / techno is the hardest thing ever.

#3. Liquid Sky Club Ccene (1982)

the bass hits quite hard for the first seconds, right?

This means if you're for looking pre-90s hardcore sounds, you need to take this into consideration. You must not pay attention to how it sounds on your headphones and your speakers, but on how it sounded in an underground club.

Because that's how the majority of people experienced it "back in the day".

#4. Ultravox - Fear In The Western World (Live) (1978)

a quite noisy venture.

Part 2

The above went for recorded music.
But in the 20th century, most artists and bands did not focus on recorded music. They focused on playing live. They were bands playing the local clubs in hopes of making it big, and even most bigger bands put their main energy into touring, touring, touring.
The occasional ep or album release was then an artifact, a bonus or compromise.

This is one of the reasons that records in these decades often sounded vastly different from the band's or artist's live performances.
Even when it came to punk, metal, industrial - the LP was often more sterile, and the live performance was a thousand times more dirty, dire and distorted.

#5. Fad Gadget - Ricky's Hand (Live) (1981)

post-punk borders on proto-hardcore here.

Synthesis

Combining these two pieces of information, we arrive at the following results:

There were a lot of vinyl releases in the 80s that sounded truly "Hardcore" on a PA, with Gabber kicks and all - which miraculously disappear if you listen to cheap youtube rips of the "same" track through your tiny laptop speakers 40 years later...

In the punk, industrial, new wave, no wave scenes, lots of bands had gabber, acidcore, speedcore-like sounds - but "only" in their live performances.

#6. Suicide - Frankie Teardrop (Live) (1978)

electronic sounds at several 100 bpm.

And, if you dig hard enough, you will surely find bands in the 60s that already played "hardcore" for the same reason.

It's not just that "Hardcore never dies" - Hardcore also "always existed".

#7. Decoder Squat Party (1984)

Distorted dance partys in the 80s...or in the future?

Throughout this text there were some sonic examples to illustrate these ideas.
Not all of these are "technoid" tracks - but apt illustrations of noise and aggression.

Note that these are rips, somewhat bad recordings, and "youtube quality" again. Especially the bass and sub-frequencies often have been poorly recorded and preserved. The impact, the powerful reverberation, the sheer energy of the sound was only experienced by those that were physically there - and you can't go back in time now.
But you can use your imagination and creativity to get a glimpse of the relentless brutality of some of these songs, sounds and tracks.

#8. Dead Tech - Catalavox (1984)

Reminds me of the Fischkopf or Anticore style...

#9. M.E.V. - Spacecraft (1967)

The 60s already had been very noisy.

#10. Vice Versa - Stilyagi (Live) (1980)

Bangin' the drums.