Minor Threat (album)

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First two 7"s on a 12", also known as the Minor Threat LP, was a combination of punk group Minor Threat's first two EPs, Minor Threat (originally released June 1981) and In My Eyes (originally released December 1981). It had the same cover as their first release, an image which has become an iconic image in punk culture. The image has been imitated by punk bands such as Rancid and, more infamously, in the Major Threat ad campaign by Nike.

"Straight Edge," a song on the first EP, inadvertently inspired the straight edge movement. The song seemed to be a call for abstinence from drugs and alcohol — a new thing in rock music, which initially found a small, but dedicated following.

Another Minor Threat song, from the second EP, "Out of Step", further demonstrates the aesthetic: " Don't smoke/Don't drink/Don't fuck/At least I can fucking think/I can't keep up/I'm out of step with the world." The "I" in the lyrics was only implied (mainly because it didn't quite fit the rhythm of the song), and some in Minor Threat -- Jeff Nelson in particular -- took exception to what they saw as MacKaye's imperious attitude on the song.

"In My Eyes" is an anti-smoking, anti-peer pressure song which has been covered by such bands as Rage Against the Machine and UK straight edge band Admit You're Shit. This song, along with "Straight Edge" and "Out of Step", helped to solidify views of Minor Threat as a band with an anti-drug platform.

"Guilty of Being White" led to some accusations of racism, but MacKaye has strongly denied such intentions and said that some listeners misinterpreted his words. Slayer later covered the song, though perhaps not entirely in the spirit in which MacKaye wrote it: they changed the lyric "guilty of being white" to "guilty of being right" at the song's climax. In an interview in Steven Blush's book American Hardcore: A Tribal History, ISBN 0-922915-71-7, MacKaye has stated that he was offended by the change because of the racist implications of the new lyrics.

"Steppin' Stone" is a Monkees cover. It is considered something of a punk standard, covered by such other famous punk bands as the Sex Pistols.

Another social issue was dealt with in the song "Filler". In the song, McKaye laments a former friend's adoption of fundamentalist religion. The song addresses a change in the subject's personality: "Your brain is clay/What's going on?/You picked up a Bible/And now you're gone/You call it "religion"/You're full of shit".

Track listing

Minor Threat EP

  1. "Filler" – 1:31
  2. "I Don't Wanna Hear It" – 1:13
  3. "Seeing Red" – 1:02
  4. "Straight Edge" – 0:46
  5. "Small Man, Big Mouth" – 0:55
  6. "Screaming at a Wall" – 1:31
  7. "Bottled Violence" – 0:55
  8. "Minor Threat" – 1:27

In My Eyes EP

  1. "In My Eyes" – 2:49
  2. "Out of Step (With the World)" – 1:20
  3. "Guilty of Being White" – 1:18
  4. "Steppin' Stone" – 2:11

Personnel


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