Editing Minor Threat (section)

===Formation and early years===
[[File:Minor-Threat-Logo.png|thumb|The band logo]]
Prior to forming Minor Threat in 1980, vocalist [[Ian MacKaye]] and drummer [[Jeff Nelson (musician)|Jeff Nelson]] had played bass and drums respectively in [[the Teen Idles]] while attending what was then [[Jackson-Reed High School|Wilson High School]]. During their two-year career within the flourishing [[Washington, D.C. hardcore|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]].<ref name="Alt Press">{{cite web|last=Pappalardo|first=Anthony|title=The Influence of Minor Threat 30 Years After Their First Show|url=http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/the_influence_of_minor_threat_30_years_after_their_first_show/|work=[[Alternative Press (magazine)|Alternative Press]]|date=November 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141116104548/http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/the_influence_of_minor_threat_30_years_after_their_first_show|archive-date=November 16, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> MacKaye and Nelson were strong believers in the [[Do It Yourself|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.<ref name="KFH_MinorThreat">{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160310042236/http://killfromtheheart.com/bands.php?id=877 "Minor Threat"]}}. ''Kill from the Heart''. Archived from {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080107161352/http://www.killfromtheheart.com/bands.php?id=877 the original]}} on March 10, 2016.</ref>

Eager to start a new band after the Teen Idles, MacKaye and Nelson recruited guitarist [[Lyle Preslar]] and bassist [[Brian Baker (musician)|Brian Baker]]. They played their first performance in December 1980 to fifty people in a [[Basement show|basement]], opening for [[Bad Brains]], The Untouchables, Black Market Baby and [[State of Alert|S.O.A.]], all D.C. bands.<ref name="Alt Press" />

The band's first 7-inch EPs, ''Minor Threat'' and ''[[In My Eyes (EP)|In My Eyes]]'', were released in 1981. The group became popular regionally and toured the east coast and Midwest.

"[[Straight Edge (song)|Straight Edge]]," a song from the band's first EP, helped to inspire the [[straight edge|straight edge movement]]. The lyrics of the song relay MacKaye's first-person perspective of his personal choice of abstinence from [[alcoholic beverage|alcohol]] and other [[recreational drug use|drugs]], contrary to most rock musicians at the time.  Although the original song was not written as a manifesto or a "set of rules," according to the band members, many later bands inspired by the idea used it as such.<ref name="Wire">{{cite web |last1=Rettman |first1=Tony |title=excerpt from 'Straight Edge: A Clear Headed Hardcore Punk History' |url=https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/book-extracts/read-an-excerpt-from-straight-edge-a-clear-headed-hardcore-punk-history-by-tony-rettman |website=The Wire |access-date=November 12, 2024}}</ref> Minor Threat band members stated they never intended or viewed "Straight Edge" as a "movement".<ref name="MRR">{{cite web |title=Minor Threat Interview |url=https://www.maximumrocknroll.com/article/minor-threat-interview/ |website=[[Maximum Rocknroll]] |access-date=November 12, 2024 |date=August 30, 1982}}</ref>

"Out of Step", a Minor Threat song from their second EP, further demonstrates the said belief: "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 usually only implied, mainly because it did not quite fit the rhythm of the song. Some of the other members of Minor Threat, Jeff Nelson in particular, took exception to what they saw as MacKaye's [[wiktionary:imperious|imperious]] attitude on the song.<ref name=ourband>[[Michael Azzerad|Azzerad, Michael]], ''[[Our Band Could Be Your Life]]'', New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2012</ref> The line "Don't fuck" sparked widespread debate, to which Ian clarified that the intent was commentary on society's attitude towards predatory or [[casual sex]], not on the act itself.<ref name="MRR"/>

Minor Threat's song "Guilty of Being White" led some critics to accuse the band of [[racism]],<ref>{{cite web|first=Rahan|last=Salam|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/12/criming-while-white-the-problem-with-our-conversation-about-white-privilege.html|title=What White Privilege Really Means|website=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|date=December 17, 2014|accessdate=October 20, 2022}}</ref> but MacKaye has strongly denied such intentions and said that some listeners misinterpreted his words. He claims that his experiences attending Wilson High School, whose student population was 70 percent Black, inspired the song. There, many students bullied MacKaye and his friends. In an interview, MacKaye stated that he was offended that some perceived racist overtones in the lyrics, saying, "To me, at the time and now, it seemed clear it's an [[anti-racist]] song. Of course, it didn't occur to me at the time I wrote it that anybody outside of my twenty or thirty friends who I was singing to would ever have to actually ponder the lyrics or even consider them."<ref name=ourband /> Thrash metal band [[Slayer]] later [[cover version|covered]] the song, with the last iteration of the lyric "guilty of being white" changed to "guilty of being right."