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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minorthreat_6052.jpg]]
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3Minor Threat were an American hardcore punk band from UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC. Though they only released one album and three [=EPs=], they were one of the most influential punk rock bands of TheEighties, spearheading the UsefulNotes/StraightEdge movement with one 46-second song ("Straight Edge"). They are also one of the innovators of hardcore punk, along with Music/BadBrains and Music/BlackFlag. The majority of Minor Threat's songs are very fast, brief and angry, such as "Out of Step With the World" and "I Don't Wanna Hear It." Ian Mackaye went on to form Music/{{Fugazi}}.
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5!!''I'm a troper just like you'':
6* CoverVersion: "Sometimes Good Guys (Don't Wear White)" (originally by GarageRock band The Standells), "12XU" (originally by Music/{{Wire}}), and "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" (originally by Music/PaulRevereAndTheRaiders; Music/TheMonkees' version was also popular. Interestingly, Ian [=MacKaye=] has admitted he was unfamiliar with ''either'' of those versions at the time of recording, and was inspired to record it because of Music/TheSexPistols' version).
7* HardcorePunk: Perhaps one of the defining examples.
8* IWantSong: Inverted with "I Don't Wanna Hear It." He does ''not'' want to hear it.
9* MinisculeRocking: Few of their songs pass the two-minute mark. Their ''Complete Discography'', composed of almost all their songs, runs at a length of 47:10 - roughly the average length of an ordinary album.
10* NeverTrustATitle: The ''Complete Discography'' compilation album does not contain their entire discography; it lacks the First Demo Tape EP, the three tracks from the ''20 Years of Dischord'' box set, and the rediscovered track "You Betrayed Me by Growing Up." The title was originally accurate though: When the compilation was released, none of that other material was out yet.
11* NostalgiaFilter: "Salad Days"
12* ProtestSong: "Straight Edge," "Out of Step," "Guilty of Being White," etc.
13* ReligionRantSong: "Filler"
14* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: "I Don't Wanna Hear It"
15* UsefulNotes/StraightEdge: The [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]] and TropeMaker.
16* UnbuiltTrope: Minor Threat are sometimes cited as the first punk band to treat politics in a more socially conscious and "politically correct" way rather than just general rebellion and are the godfathers of most of today's political punk. But there were a lot of huge differences between them and what followed:
17** The very song they got their name from, "Minor Threat", is not meant to be sarcastic or ironic. Rather it's a very cynical and self-depreciating take on growing into adulthood and admittance that they are in fact a "minor threat" to society and probably aren't going to change anything. The narrator is actually lamenting how he should grow into adulthood like most people but just can't seem to.
18** Rather than talk about white privilege, they have "Guilty of Being White", a song complaining about reverse racism and discrimination against whites that existed in Washington, DC at the time.[[note]]That the context isn't too obvious has developed the song quite a bit of a MisaimedFandom. Ian [=MacKaye=] himself has admitted the song is somewhat insensitive and now regards it as an OldShame.[[/note]]
19** The song "Straight Edge" may have birthed the straightedge movement, but doesn't sound like a modern straightedge anthem at all. Rather than being militant or obsessed with purity, the narrator is simply someone who seems to regard drugs as not fun and a waste of time while he has better things to do. The song isn't even critical of drinking alcohol, just drinking to excess and drunkeness.

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