TWENTY-TWO YEARS LATER -- OCTOBER 29 2003, after 22 years I am still listening to Minor Threat. Are they the best punk band in the world? Did they invent hardcore? They certainly perfected it, didn't they? Or was that the Bad Brains? Who cares? Life seems like a perjury trial lasting forever, and good music makes it tolerable. At least this music, which is so impassioned. Perhaps without it I might have turned into a violent criminal. If you don't get this record, you have no right to criticize me, or especially punk rock from Washington, DC, or the USA, circa 1981 through 1983.
Peace.


It's been said, but this is the BEST!!!   August 30, 2000
 23 out of 23 found this review helpful

The first time i listened to Minor Threat, frankly, I didn't like it. The music was too fast and it was devoid of any melody(that i heard at the time). Ian's vocals were screamed so fast and unintelligibly, that it turned me off at first. At the time I was listening to Rancid, The Clash, and The Sex Pistols. I bought the Blue Minor Threat tape, thinking it would be along those lines. It wasn't. But there was something infectious about the music that kept me coming back for more. I didn't know what straight edge meant at the time,(i thought it was some reference to cocaine) and I wan't sure what the hell Ian was talking about. Then I started analyzing the lyrics. They cut with such razor sharp poingancy and heartfelt honesty that the music started to make my stomach churn. I finally got it. This music blew away my old punk records. Minor Threat presented rage in an honest and beautiful way, whereas the Sex Pistols were just out to shock people. Musically these guys were tighter than 95 percent of the hardcore bands of their day, and the music stands up. Ian's lyrics stand as some of the best, dare I say it, "rock" lyrics of all time. I can only imagine how revolutionary this band must have been when they came out, both musically and politically. All I know is that I can still put this record on in my room and roll around like an idiot, get all sweaty, and sing along, and love every second of it. This record transcends punk, hardcore, or any B.S. label like that. This music is timeless, and it WILL live forever, albeit, a little Out of Step...


straight edge brilliance   October 21, 1999
 16 out of 16 found this review helpful

Ian Mackaye and the boys deliver one of the best albums to have come out in the 80s punk scene. Think about it, in a time where most bands were singing "hungry like the wolf" they were talking about individualism, fighting the desire to conform to the assimilating establishment--an idea lost on many new and upcoming punk bands. Labelled as straight edge and not your typical lager lout, debauchery-loving guys this album is more of a tribute to ideals than to the pervading mediocrity of so many "punk" bands (read:Blink 182,Green Day, Offspring). Songs like: I Don't Wanna Hear It, In My Eyes, Out of Step instills that wrathful energy that only punk can saturate in your psyche. This is one of the remaining compilations left of a band whose influence sustained and took our music into a totally intellectual sphere. Piercings and tatooes don't make you punk kids, your brain does.


not a kid reviewer, just an angry punk   July 22, 2005
 16 out of 18 found this review helpful

I'm in my 30s, not 13 or younger, but I'm pissed and didn't want to leave my email address. To that kid who called Minor Threat talentless posers and said listen to Good Charlotte and Sum 41 instead, you have got to be f***ing kidding me. If you think that Good Charlotte is punk, than you don't know what punk is. It's not a fashion statement, it's a lifestyle and an attitude. You little Hot Topic posers have ruined what used to be a great scene, a scene that actually once meant something. And you know what else? Real punk bands hate you little bastards. I know this because I am friends with many of them and we laugh at you. Minor Threat is one of the greatest, most influential punk bands of all time. Instead of whining about how their dad sucks or how much they love their girlfriend, their lyrics actually mean something. Instead of being obsessed with money and getting laid, they cared about the music and making a difference. That, my young friends, is punk.