UK 82 (Also known as UK Hardcore, Second Generation UK Punk, and No Future Punk) is a subgenre of punk rock that occurred in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s.
The term UK 82 was not used until many years after the fact. It gained popularity after the release of the Slayer/Ice T collaboration covering three songs by The Exploited on the Judgment Night film soundtrack, the most memorable being the reworking of "UK82" as "LA92" with updated lyrics by Ice T. This exposed the material to large numbers of Slayer fans who were keen to seek the original recordings out, and the name stuck, as a convenient reference point for the style of the British punk bands of that specific era, as opposed to the original "77 Punk". Other notable bands of the UK82 genre include Discharge, Disorder, Chaos UK, Amebix, Charged GBH, Broken Bones and The Varukers.
Unlike the first wave of punk rock that had roots in pub rock and garage rock, UK 82 was built upon the existing punk sound and took in several elements of the thriving New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The two genres developed alongside each other, and many stylistic elements crossed over. This was years before the development of crossover thrash, which is a subgenre and hybrid of American hardcore punk and thrash metal. The music tends to incorporate distorted guitar and bass, and a fast, simple drumming style that became known as Dbeat, with vocals often being shouted, but not screamed. While it's not clear that UK 82 was directly influenced by the American hardcore punk scene (or vice versa), the two movements arose at the same time and had many similarities. Many of bands influenced the emergent thrash metal bands of the mid 1980s, some of them being comprised of UK 82 bands trying to cross over, notably English Dogs, The Exploited and Onslaught, who became very popular in the late 1980s before moving towards a more traditional Heavy Metal sound.
Many of the lyrics sung by UK82 bands were notably darker and more violent than earlier punk bands, which mostly sang about, nihilistic ideals. Lyrics of UK82 tended to focus on the possibilities of a nuclear holocaust, and the apocalypse, partially due to the cold war atmosphere. The other mainstay of the lyrics of the time was Unemployment, and the Conservative Party government of the time, demonizing the Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher in the same way the American hardcore punk bands did with the Ronald Reagan administration. Negative outlooks about the world's demise contrasted with the positive punk and satire that found its way into many American hardcore bands.