Minor Threat


Complete Discography (Dischord ’90) Rating: B
Considered by many to be the “seminal” early ‘80s hardcore band, Minor Threat were led by a serious screamer in Ian MacKaye, later of Fugazi. MacKay’s smartly confrontational lyrics were what really made the band stand out, even more so than their bracing blur of a sound, which was led by Lyle Preslar’s careening guitar and Jeff Nelson’s blistering backbeat. Now, I’ll admit that I’m coming at this all ass backwards, discovering Minor Threat after having already heard Fugazi and later offspring such as At The Drive-In, both of who I prefer to Minor Threat. Don’t get me wrong, this band plays both fast and well, which was probably pretty thrilling back in the band’s 1981-1984 heydey, but by now Complete Discography sounds fairly unremarkable and very one-dimensional over the course of its 26 similar sounding songs. Many of these songs barely last a minute, and everything the band ever recorded can be found on this generous compilation, which was distributed by MacKaye’s own Dischord label with a highly principled price tag. That’s right, even back then MacKaye and company were putting their fan friendly money where their mouths were, making me want to endorse the band beyond their sober lyrics of self-empowerment. But musically these admittedly intense (and influential) songs just don’t turn me on all that much. I mean, the Ramones and Motorhead (to cite just two superior examples) had tons of energy and played fast and furious, too, but in addition to a sense of humor they had the one thing that Minor Threat largely lacked: memorable songs.


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