Album Information
"Straight Edge", a song from the Minor Threat EP, inadvertently inspired the straight edge movement. The song seemed to be a call for abstinence from drugs and alcohol—a then-unpopular notion in the punk rock scene, which initially found a small, but dedicated following.
Another Minor Threat song, from In My Eyes, "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/ Can't keep up/ Can't keep up/ I'm out of step with the world." 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 rap metal band Rage Against the Machine among others. Along with "Straight Edge" and "Out of Step", "In My Eyes" helped to solidify views of Minor Threat as a band with an anti-drug platform.
"Guilty of Being White" led to false accusations of racial prejudice, due to perceived similarities between the song's lyrics and that of white power rhetoric which often frames the majority race as victims at the hands of a minority group. However, MacKaye has strongly denied such intentions and said that some listeners misinterpreted his words. According to him, the song was written about his experiences growing up in Washington, D.C. at a time of high racial tension, where the majority race in his school was African-American and many black students were hostile towards whites. 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. MacKaye has stated that he was offended by the change.
"Minor Threat" is a youth anthem which has been covered by such rock bands as Sublime, Silverchair, Rise Against and Pennywise.
"Steppin' Stone" is a cover, written by the team of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart in the mid-1960s, and first recorded by Paul Revere & the Raiders. It had previously been covered by many other acts, including the Monkees, Sex Pistols and Johnny Thunders. "Steppin' Stone" has since been covered by many other punk acts including the Untouchables, State of Alert, Government Issue.
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