Straight Edge (song)
| Straight edge | |
|---|---|
| Minor threat | |
| publication | 1981 |
| length | 0:46 |
| Genre (s) | Hardcore punk |
| Author (s) | Minor threat |
| text | Ian MacKaye |
| Publisher (s) | Dischord Records |
| album | Minor Threat EP |
Straight Edge is a 1981 song by the hardcore punk band Minor Threat from Washington, DC It appeared on the band's first release, a self-titled EP, and is considered to be the namesake for the movement of the same name .
background
The first text by Ian MacKaye to deal with the straight edge problem was I Drink Milk from the minor threat precursor Teen Idles . The text caused some irritation in the hardcore punk scene at the time, as alcohol and other drug consumption were part of everyday life.
Ian MacKaye wrote the text as a reference to the reactions to I Drink Milk and to express his frustration. Straight Edge appeared on the Minor Threat EP in 1981 and is primarily an anti-drug song.
text
The song begins with the first lines, " I'm a person just like you / But I've got better things to do, " which, according to Ian MacKaye, were an expression of how he thought and acted. According to her own statements, MacKaye never decided to live drug-free, but just did it. The text refers to drug addicts as "living dead". Is discussed cocaine ( "white shit"), speed , marijuana ( "smoke dope"), glue sniffing ( "sniffing glue"), methaqualone ( "eating ludes") and Blotter or LSD ( "take a crutch"). The lyrical self rejects these different forms of drugs and says "I've got the straight edge".
“Straight Edge” is derived from the word meaning “straight” for sober and the US American idiom “to have an edge” ( German : “to have an advantage”).
meaning
Straight Edge gave the straight edge movement its name. The soon-to-be-emerging Credo was only formulated a few months later with the song Out of Step . Although MacKaye had no intention of forming a movement, other hardcore punk bands such as SS Decontrol and DYS took over the name and ensured that the term "straight edge" became a fixed term in the US punk scene.
occupation
- Singing: Ian MacKaye
- Guitar: Lyle Preslar
- Bass: Brian Baker
- Drums: Jeff Nelson
Cover versions
There are probably well over 100 covers of Straight Edge . The best known is probably a parody by NOFX from their album White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean , which was supplemented in the style of a drinking song with a jazzy solo and singing in the style of Louis Armstrong .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Gabriel Kuhn: Straight Edge. History and politics of a movement . Unrast Verlag, Münster 2010, ISBN 978-3-89771-108-2 , pp. 7th f .
- ↑ living dead, cf. Text printed on Complete Discography , Dischord Records , edition 2008
- ↑ Ludes. Urban Dictionary , accessed August 5, 2011 .
- ↑ Mark Anderson / Mark Jenkins: Punk, DC . Ventil Verlag, Mainz 2006, ISBN 978-3-931555-86-3 , p. 102 .
- ↑ Straight Edge. Allmusic , accessed August 5, 2011 .