Track Listing

1. Filler
2. I Don't Wanna Hear It
3. Seeing Red
4. Straight Edge
5. Small Man, Big Mouth
6. Screaming at a Wall
7. Bottled Violence
8. Minor Threat
9. Stand Up
10. 12XU
11. In My Eyes
12. Out of Step (With the World)
13. Guilty of Being White
14. (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone
15. Betray
16. It Follows
17. Think Again
18. Look Back and Laugh
19. Sob Story
20. No Reason
21. Little Friend
22. Out of Step
23. Cashing In
24. Stumped
25. Good Guys (Don't Wear White)
26. Salad Days

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4024 in Music
• Released on: 1990-02-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.com
Fugazi fans already know that this is the original gospel according to Ian MacKaye. This Washington, D.C., quartet hit harder, faster, and franker than just about anybody--and were willing to see through their own bull as quickly as anyone else's. MacKaye manages to be charismatic and confrontational at the same time: tossing brilliant, genuinely funny asides into his serious-as-a- heart-attack lyrics. Meanwhile, the band, led by Lyle Preslar's staggering guitar attack, pushes MacKaye on with the tightest, most razor-sharp sound in all of hardcore. Nothing in the punk pantheon can come close to "In My Eyes," "Out of Step," or "Salad Days." Absolutely essential. --Michael Ruby

Customer Reviews

It's been said, but this is the BEST!!!
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...

To the concerned parent
You should be happy that your kid is listening to Minor Threat instead of, say, Limp Bizkit. The lyrics are socially responsible. Isn't that what you want your kid to be? As for the language, your kid probably uses the words in the songs anyways, so you can't protect them. The album is definatly one of the best punk rock album ever. It's better than "Nevermind the Bullocks" by a thousand miles! It changed my life, and it will most likely change your's. The music and lyrics are encredibly powerful and rocking. I hate kids who think KoRn or Limp Bizkit are hardcore. This is hardcore.

straight edge brilliance
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.