Give Respect

RIP Lou Koller

Lou Koller, the vocalist for New York Hardcore legends Sick of It All, passed away last week after a long battle with cancer. Many people eulogized him more gracefully than I. In addition to touching the hearts of many who knew him, Lou fronted arguably the most successful hardcore band ever. His music reached and inspired millions of people, from dyed-in-the-wool gatekeepers to European festival circuit diehards. Through their massive catalog and relentless touring, SOIA gave the masses what they wanted for almost 40 years.

Funny enough, I didn’t really understand the band until a few years ago. They were always name-checked as one of the greats, but it took me longer to connect with their records than those of their peers. I don’t think I’m the only one. Their name hardly appears in Bandcamp FFOs these days compared to their contemporaries like Cro-Mags, Killing Time and Breakdown.

There are a number of theories as to why SOIA went from a god-tier band amongst our oldheads to somewhat of an also-ran in terms of hype and internet discourse. The Total Supply Board HOT TAKEZ thread has a few “interesting” “ideas”. A more credible explanation is something they bandy about occasionally on Axe to Grind — SOIA never went away so people never got the chance to mythologize them.

It makes sense. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” is a proverb for a reason. Bands like Judge spent less than five years writing flawless, short discographies, unceremoniously broke up, disappeared, then came back decades later to feverous reunion hype. SOIA was an active band that whole time. They put out twelve studio albums, had music videos on MTV, and toured the world countless times over.

I was born in 1991. Just Look Around dropped in 1992 and SOIA signed to a major in 1993. For most of my life, and certainly all my time in hardcore, they were a gold standard pro-core band. They were probably playing Europe more often than North America when I started going to shows. I was also heavily into pussified emo-core, and the people in that scene had a tendency to label classic NYHC with the dreaded “jock” moniker.

Eventually I pulled my head out of my ass and realized Madball and Agnostic Front were a trillion times cooler than Hot Snakes or whatever bullshit I thought I should like. Still, SOIA remained somewhat of a mystery to me. I wanna say the extensive touring and legacy put me off, or that their discography was impenetrable, but I think there’s a simpler reason.

Sick of It All are no longer an entry-level hardcore band, musically speaking. They have some very accessible songs, but most of their first two releases are fast, traditional, no modifier hardcore. They’re like the spiritual successor to Agnostic Front’s Victim in Pain. You don’t get that easy pop from the stankface metal riff on every song. As someone who needed to hear Cause For Alarm before understanding VIP, Sick of It All did not make my dopamine neurons fire like some of the proto-spinkick riffs from bands of the same time period.

Funny enough, I lamented to a friend on Friday morning that not enough current bands steal from real hardcore punk like Bad Religion. After getting the news of Lou’s passing that evening, I put on the SOIA 7” and heard numerous riffs that could have been on Suffer, which I listened to earlier in the day.

OBVIOUSLY NOT A 1:1 AND SICK OF IT ALL PALM MUTES WAY MORE BUT THE CHORD PROGRESSIONS AND TRANSITIONS ARE VERY SIMILAR. ALSO THIS IS ONE OF THEIR HARDER SONGS AND IT’S ON BLOOD SWEAT AND THE CLASSIC PUNK INFLUENCE IS STILL VERY EVIDENT IMO.

Here’s what I think happens, speaking from personal experience. Young people hear the legend of SOIA when they first get into hardcore, along with Cro Mags, Madball, Killing Time, et. Al. They check out Blood, Sweat and No Tears expecting “jun jun” riffs in the vein of contemporaneous NY crossover but instead hear fast hardcore music. The dichotomy fries their internet-riddled brain and because streaming provides an exhaustive amount of more immediate options, they write SOIA off.

Big mistake. The band is foundational to everything we love about hardcore right now, though that’s hard to understand unless you have the context. I knew they put out something on Revelation Records, but not until very recently did I realize their 7” is REV_03. That’s early to the game — pre Side By Side, Gorilla Biscuits, and all the other youth crew stuff Rev would become renowned for.

I think the huge discography, Headbangers Ball darling status, Euro fest headlining, even the NYU debacle, can give the impression that SOIA was this monolithic, guilded pro-core relic of years past. In actuality their first two releases are more “real deal hardcore” than almost anything else ever. The 90s stuff hasn’t hit for me yet, but in an era that produced Merauder, Biohazard, Madball, Crown of Thornz and many others, SOIA were the band everyone was chasing.

It always seems to go that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Sick of It All are now unfortunately gone forever. If there’s a silver lining to the band’s tragic end, perhaps it will be people finally giving them their flowers. Spin back on those classic records if you haven’t in a while. I guarantee they’re worth your time.

RIP Lou Koller. 1967-2026.