''The Hard Times'' is a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

with a focus on punk (especially

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

and first wave screamo), alt music, and

millennial Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000 ...

culture founded in 2014 by former ''

SF Weekly ''SF Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper has won national journalism awards, ...

'' music editor Matt Saincome, his brother Ed Saincome, and comedian Bill Conway. It has been compared to '' The Onion'', ''

ClickHole ClickHole is a satirical website (formerly owned by ''The Onion'') that parodies clickbait websites such as BuzzFeed and Upworthy. It was launched on June 12, 2014, in conjunction with ''The Onion''s decision to stop its print edition and shif ...

'', and ''

Reductress ''Reductress'' is an American satire website that parodies the style, tone, and perspective of media targeted towards women, especially women's magazines. Founded in 2013 by comedians Beth Newell and Sarah Pappalardo, the site has received praise ...

'' in style, and has received praise for its specificity and niche appeal. ''The Hard Times'' also publishes ''Hard Drive'', a satirical

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

vertical, hosts

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

shows at

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

s, and produces

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

s. As of 2021, the Hard Times podcast network included: *''The Hard Times Podcast'', hosted by co-founders Bill Conway and Matt Saincome *''The Hard Drive Podcast'', hosted by Hard Drive co-creators Jeremy Kaplowitz and Mark Roebuck *''Hard Money’s Million Dollar Podcast'' *''The First Ever Podcast'', hosted by Jeremy Bolm, vocalist of

Touché Amoré Touché Amoré is an American post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2007. The band consists of vocalist Jeremy Bolm, guitarists Clayton Stevens and Nick Steinhardt, bassist Tyler Kirby, and drummer Elliot Babin. Among other ...

*''Fanboys'' *''Up the Blunx'' *''Coward Hour'', hosted by comedians Brendan Krick and Nik Oldershaw *''The Ace Watkins Presidential Hour'' *''The Pitch Group'', hosted by Eric Navaro *''The Horror Times'', hosted by Tiana Miller, Lauren Lavin and Dan Rice *''Hipsterocracy'', hosted by comedian Johnny Taylor, Jr. *''Vert Button'', hosted by Bill Conway, Andrew Cannon, and Tim Ward *''Deep Dive in the Shallow End'', hosted by Kris Casey and Jeremy Kaplowitz Content published by ''The Hard Times'' is typically virally spread through engagement on

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

such as

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

. The site averages between 2 and 6 million views a month.

History

Founder Matt Saincome began pitching the idea for ''The Hard Times'' in 2012 as a junior studying

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

San Francisco State San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

. He formally founded ''The Hard Times'' with his brother Ed and comedian Bill Conway in December 2014, following a soft launch earlier in the year. In September 2016, the site passed 3 million views, and entered into an advertising partnership with

Vice Media Vice Media Group LLC is an American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company. , the Vice Media Group included five main business areas: VICE.com (digital content); VICE STUDIOS (film and TV production) VICE TV (also known as VICELAND); V ...

. In 2017, the site launched ''Hard Drive'' for video game related articles, and began developing video content. The site tapped Jeremy Kaplowitz, Mike Amory, and Mark Roebuck as co-founding editors. In 2018, ''The Hard Times'' began work on a book and a television show. In 2019, several editors of ''The Hard Times'' and actor Phil Jamesson created a parody presidential candidate Ace Watkins account on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, with the fictional candidate claiming to aspire to be "the first gamer president". The Twitter account amassed more than 40,000 followers within several days after the account's creation. Hard Times Media LLC sold ''The Hard Times'' to Project M Group, the parent company of ''Revolver'' magazine and ''Inked'' magazine, in July 2020, while maintaining ownership of Hard Drive. In May of 2023 The Hard Times parted ways with Project M and is once again owned and operated independently by the site's founders.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hard Times, The American satirical websites Internet properties established in 2014

History

See also

References