Overview
Breakdown is an American hardcore band formed in Yonkers, New York, in late 1986. The band emerged from the mid-1980s New York hardcore scene, where they helped to pioneer the sound of beatdown hardcore.
History
Breakdown was started in 1986, during the resurgence of the hardcore scene. Despite being a NYHC band based in Yonkers, Breakdown did not have the Lower East Side Crew-mentality of Warzone and Agnostic Front. By a similar token, unlike some of their other contemporaries like Gorilla Biscuits and Youth of Today, Breakdown was not a straight edge positive band. They are considered more along the lines of Sheer Terror for their more metallic sound and less-than-positive lyrics. However, Breakdown always had somewhat of a tongue-in-cheek element to them, mostly due to singer Jeff Perlin's humorous live banter and lyrics.
Contrary to popular belief, the original Breakdown lineup only lasted for less than a year. The band continued on with new members over the years, with Jeff Perlin being the only original member.
Through all the years Breakdown never did a tour of the U.S., concentrating mostly on the Northeast and Canada. They toured Europe 4 times (1999, 2001, 2009, 2010) with European bands including Rykers and Backfire. They also toured Japan in 2001.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).