Sick of It All Akkoorden

When we say New York hardcore (NYHC), you say? “I want to know the guitar chords of all the tracks by Sick of It All!” Yeah, that’s right. In 1986, Lou and Pete Koller from Queens, New York, decided it was time to kick up some dust in The Big Apple. The brothers persuaded drummer Armand Majidi and bassist Craig Setari to join them. By doing so, one of the most legendary bands from the NYHC scene was born.

In the 1980s punk had just been imported from the U.K. The easy-to-play genre, filled with loads of power chords, merged with the raw and violent riffs of trash metal and heavy metal to become New York hardcore. Sick of It All was one of the pioneers of this genre. And, like in punk, they frequently used basic power chords like D5, E5 and A5.

After the release of their first album Blood, Sweat, and No Tears in 1989, the band made a name for itself in the underground; but their breakthrough had yet to come. Actually, the guys had to fight their way through two more records (Just Look Around and Scratch the Surface) and two more record labels before creating one of their first commercially successful albums: Built to Last.

East West Records (the label that released Sick of It All’s Scratch the Surface and Built to Last) dropped the band after the second album. But, luckily for the New Yorkers, there were enough labels waiting to pick them up. They released three records on Fat Wreck Chords between 1998 and 2005; and Abacus Recordings released Sick of It All’s eighth studio album Death to Tyrants in 2006. In 2016, the band celebrated their 30th anniversary and decided to record a new album Wake the Sleeping Dragon!, which was released in 2018 by Fat Wreck Chords.

If you’ve never seen or heard a NYHC band, then it’s time to check out Sick of It All and get educated on what this genre has in store for you and your way of looking at guitar chords. Why? Because, if Beavis and Butt-head say, “’Step Down’ is awesome,” you’d better listen. And maybe, just maybe, you can learn a bit about how to compose some cool tracks by using Sick of It All chord progressions.