-core. All-purpose suffix used to convey a punkish undercurrent or an extremity of vision; derived from hardcore, the word used to describe the California thrash-punk scene of the late 1970s. Loungecore describes the over-egged easy-listening vogue; jazzcore describes the kind of breakneck, intricate instrumental music that Frank Zappa played on his excursions into jazz territory; emocore enjoyed a brief vogue as a term for sensitive-but-punk-steeped music for depressive teens, before being superseded by the more succinct term “emo.”
