Agnostic Front Were Always On The Verge Of Collapse Due To Miret And Stigma's Mercurial Relationship

Agnostic Front guitarist and co founder Vinnie Stigma was a first generation punk rocker and skinhead who formed Agnostic Front in 1980 with vocalist John Watson. Watson only lasted a few months before being replaced by Roger Miret a product of refugee parents, he had firsthand experience in social injustice and opinionated views about politics coursing through his veins. When combined with Stigma's ferocious, primal rhythm guitar Miret's charisma as a decadent urban messiah would come to personify the band's sound, Bassist Adam Moochie and drummer Ray Beez joined soon after. The group adopted the new name Agnostic Front at Stigma's insistence because he thought it sounded like a movement, and they issued their first independent release the United Blood EP in 1983, This was followed by 1984's career defining Victim in Pain album, which contained a 15 minute blast of pure New York hardcore and saw the arrival of new members Rob Kabula in bass and Jimmy Colletti in drums, It also confirmed Agnostic Front's brief status as leaders along with precursors the Cro Mags and Murphy's Law of the already cresting movement, which found its weekly showcase via the now legendary Sunday matinees at favorite Lower East Side haunts A7 and CBGB's. But Agnostic Front were always on the verge of collapse due to Miret and Stigma's mercurial relationship and like most of their hardcore brethren, were already tampering with their sound. Inevitably as their musicianship continued to improve, the bandmembers including drummer Louie Beatto and additional guitarist Alex Kinon began losing some of their raw hardcore spontaneity, and with heavy metal growing in popularity day by day it was no surprise when they started experimenting with the tightly controlled velocity of thrash metal, Coincidentally picked up by the speed metal friendly Combat Records, the band struggled through the sessions for what would become 1986's Cause for Alarm album today acknowledged as a crossover landmark alongside efforts by DRI and Corrosion of Conformity. It was also considered a betrayal and a travesty by many of the group's early supporters, who couldn't have cared less that Cause for Alarm was teaching thousands of metalheads to appreciate hardcore. LIKE, SHARE & SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed the video please! ​follow my INSTAGRAM : @egi_alamsah All materials featured in the video are owned by their respected owners. We do not claim their videos as our own. All videos/photos/used in the explanation are for visualization purposes only. #agnosticfront #punk #skinhead #punkrock #rogermiret #vinniestigma