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They and fellow Washington DC residents Bad Brains set the standard for many hardcore punk bands in the 1980s and 1990s. They produced short, often astonishingly fast songs with excellent production quality (then lacking in most punk/ alternative rock), all of which were released on the band's own Dischord Records.
While in high school, MacKaye had formed a group, The Teen Idles. They intended to record, but broke up before doing so. MacKaye decided to switch from bass guitar to singing, and organized a new group, called Minor Threat, with Idles drummer Jeff Nelson.
Minor Threat's first performance was in December 1980, opening for Bad Brains.
Their first singles, "Minor Threat" and "Straight Edge", were released in late 1980 on the group's own record label, Dischord. The group became popular regionally, and toured the United States' east coast.
"Straight Edge" the song later, inadvertently, inspired " straight edge" the movement. The song promoted abstention from drugs, alcoholIn general usage, alcohol (from Arabic al-khwl , or al-ghawl ) refers almost always to ethanol, also known as grain alcohol and often to any beverage that contains ethanol (see alcoholic beverage . This sense underlies the term alcoholism ( addiction to a, and promiscuous sex. This was a clear break from many earlier bands, who had been silent on these issues or had spoken approvingly of such indulgance. "Standing above alcohol and drugs, and relying instead on the power of one's mind, were the basic tenets of the song; from there, youth embraced and took to even higher extremes the concept of being 'straight-edge.'" [3]
Another Minor Threat song, "Out of Step", further demonstrates the aesthetic: "I don't smoke/I don't drink/I don't fuck/At least I can fucking think/I can't keep up/I'm out of step with the world."
Their song "Guilty of Being White" led to some charges of racismRacism refers to beliefs, practices, and institutions that negatively discriminate against people based on their perceived or ascribed race. Sometimes the term is also used to describe the belief that race is the primary determinant of human capacities, o, though MacKaye has strongly denied such intentions, suggesting that some listeners misinterpreted his words. SlayerThis article is about the metal band. For the anime, see Slayers. For the American television show, see Slayer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Slayer is a thrash metal band featuring Kerry King on guitar, Tom Araya on bass and vocals, Jeff Hanneman (also on g later covered the song.
Among the factors in Minor Threat's breakup were disagreements over musical direction: Guitarist Preslar was increasingly enamored of U2U2 is an Irish rock band featuring Bono (Paul David Hewson) on vocals and guitar, The Edge (David Howell Evans) on guitar and pianos, vocals, and bass, Adam Clayton on bass and guitar, and Larry Mullen, Jr. U2 has been one of the most popular rock bands i.
Singer Ian MacKayeIan MacKaye (b. April 16, 1962) is the founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D. based punk rock label. MacKaye has served as bassist for The Teen Idles, lead singer for Minor Threat, Embrace, Egg Hunt, Skewbald, and Pailhead, and guitarist/ went on to found Skewbald , EmbraceEmbrace was an emocore band from Washington, D. from the summer of 1985 to the spring of 1986. The group was primarily noteworthy because of its well-known members, Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, Michael Hampton, Ivor Hanson, and Chris Ba, the obscure Egg Hunt and later Fugazi.
The band's own Dischord Records released material by many bands from the Washington, D.C. area, such as Rites of Spring, Gray Matter, and Dag Nasty.