X Straight Edge X

What is Straight Edge? The short answer is that it is a subculture centered around hardcore music. People who are straight edge do not smoke, do drugs or consume alcohol. There are no dietary or religious beliefs tied to straight edge contrary to media coverage. The long answer requires a bit of a history lesson In the late 1970s and early 1980s a group of bands and kids began something that grew into a movement. It would become a movement that would outlive many of their involvement in the music and the scene. They didn't know what they were doing. They knew they didn't like what was going on around them, the self destruction, the self hatred, the pain and suffering caused by the punk mentality. The fuck you and fuck the world attitude didn't make sense to them. They took a symbol that was originally used to identify them as being too young to drink so that the bartenders would know not to serve them and they made it their own. So they started setting themselves apart by wearing X's on their hands and by singing angry songs proclaiming: "I'm a person just like you But I've got better things to do Than sit around and fuck my head Hang out with the living dead Snort white shit up my nose Pass out at the shows I don't even think about speed That's something I just don't need I've got the straight edge" Minor Threat wrote this song in 1980 and a name was given to what would become a movement. The basic beliefs that drugs and alcohol were not needed and should be rejected. That one should live against the grain of popular society and live by rules and standards from themselves and not the ones dictated by society. Influenced by Minor Threat and other Washington DC bands like the Teen Idles and SOA, the Boston bands SS Decontrol and DYS took the words to heart and expanded on them and expanding Straight Edge's presence within the growing hardcore music genre. SS Decontrol, Forced Down Your Throat from the GET IT AWAY LP What's there to do weekends here Go to a party drink some beer Everybody's drinking why shouldn't you Be a part of the drinking crew CHORUS: That's real cool you're a man Forced down forced can Forced down your throat Forced down your throat Conditions set conditioned to drink Too much pressure just won't think Look what's next smoking a J Think for yourself break away [CHORUS] Do the hard stuff its real fast Do it straight the buzz will last Fuck off you I ain't no waste Why drink that when I just can't stand the taste The East Coast was not the only place where Straight Edge was starting to take hold. West Coast bands Unity, Uniform Choice and 7 Seconds were each adding their voice to the growing chorus. Uniform Choice, Straight and Alert from the Screaming for Change LP Who drinks the barley? Who drinks the grain? Who shoots that shit into their veins? Is there really the need for the use of dope? Does it solve ones problems Can it help one cope? All the above bands were active between 1981 and 1984. Things stalled at this point. It wasn't until 1985 that a band would come along and change straight edge forever and turn it into the movement that everyone involved today knows and loves. This band was Youth of Today. The record that would change it all was Can't Close my Eyes. During its existence youth of Today featured pretty much a who's who of New York Hardcore. Youth of Today shared members with bands that would define the youth crew and straight edge sound for years to come. Bands like Bold, Side By Side, Gorilla Biscuits, Judge, and Project X. These bands together would form the backbone that all modern straight edge bands benefit from. These are best represented by the lyrics of the song that named the era. Yo