Minor Threat
| Minor Threat | |
|---|---|
Minor Threat performing at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. in 1981.
|
|
| Background information | |
| Origin | Washington, D.C. |
| Genres | Hardcore punk |
| Years active | 1980–1983 |
| Labels | Dischord |
| Associated acts | |
| Past members |
Ian MacKaye Jeff Nelson Brian Baker Lyle Preslar Steve Hansgen |
Minor Threat was a hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C. and disbanded in 1983. The band was relatively short-lived, but had a strong influence on the punk scene, both stylistically and in establishing a "do it yourself" ethic for music distribution and concert promotion. Minor Threat's song "Straight Edge" became the eventual basis of the straight edge movement, with the band often professing their own "straight edge" ideals.AllMusic described Minor Threat's music as "iconic" and noted that their groundbreaking music "has held up better than [that of] most of their contemporaries."
Along with the fellow Washington, D.C. hardcore band Bad Brains and California band Black Flag, Minor Threat set the standard for many hardcore punk bands in the 1980s and 1990s. All of Minor Threat's recordings were released on Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson's own label, Dischord Records. The Minor Threat EP and their only full-length studio album Out of Step have received a number of accolades and are cited as landmarks of the hardcore punk genre.
Prior to forming Minor Threat in 1980, vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson had played bass and drums respectively in the Teen Idles while attending Wilson High School. During their two-year career within the flourishing Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, the Teen Idles had gained a following of around one hundred fans (a sizable amount at the time), and were seen as only second within the scene to the contemporary Bad Brains. MacKaye and Nelson were strong believers in the DIY mentality and an independent, underground music scene. After the breakup of the Teen Idles, they used the money earned through the band to create Dischord Records, an independent record label that would host the releases of the Teen Idles, Minor Threat, and numerous other D.C. punk bands.
...
Wikipedia