"It Is One of the Pillars of the White Supremacist Subculture"

"Racist and neo-Nazi rock began as an offshoot of British punk in the late 1970s, appropriating both its shaved-head style and so-called oi sound featuring slashing guitar chords and barked vocals. By the 1990s, the music had become heavier, louder and darker, featuring violent diatribes against blacks, Jews and, later, gays and immigrants.

"In 1999, the National Alliance, founded by William Pierce, author of the 1978 white supremacist novel 'The Turner Diaries,' bought Resistance Records, the largest and most prominent label for white power music. The acquisition signaled the growing importance of the music to recruiting a new generation of white supremacists.

"'The music became not only the No. 1 recruiting tool, but also the biggest revenue source for the movement,' said Devin Burghart, who has been monitoring racist hate groups for 20 years."

James Dao and Serge F. Kovaleski in The New York Times investigate "hatecore."