Youth crew is a subgenre of hardcore punk that was pioneered by 7 Seconds in the early to mid-1980s, and which thrived in the New York hardcore scene of 1988. Youth crew is distinguished from other hardcore and punk scenes by its optimistic, fraternal and more moralistic outlook. The original youth crew bands and fans were often straight edge, and also sometimes advocated vegetarianism. Some of the later spin-off bands delved further into ascetic spiritual and political interests.
Early musical influences included Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Negative Approach, Cro-Mags and Agnostic Front. While some youth crew music is similar to melodic hardcore, youth crew also includes breakdowns intended for the hardcore dancing style associated with live performances. Youth of Today was a very thrashy youth crew band, with abrasive vocals and fast songs too short to include a lot of melody (similar to early Agnostic Front, and contrasting with the other big New York City youth crew band, Gorilla Biscuits). Later youth crew bands took increasing influence from Heavy metal. .
