Straight edge is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs. It was a direct reaction to the sexual revolution, hedonism, and excess associated with punk rock.[1][2] For some, this extends to not engaging in promiscuous sex, following a vegetarian or vegan diet, and not using caffeine or prescription drugs.[1] The term was coined by the 1980s hardcore punk band Minor Threat in their song "Straight Edge".[3]
Straight edge emerged from the late 1970s punk scene. Since then, a wide variety of beliefs and ideas have been incorporated into straight edge including vegetarianism,[4] animal rights,[4] communism[5] and Hare Krishna beliefs.[6] In many parts of the United States, straight edge is treated as a gang by law enforcement officials.[7] However, a 2006 study suggested that only a small minority of the people who identify as straight edge are violent.[8]
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In 1999, William Tsitsos wrote that straight edge had gone through three eras since its founding in the early 1980s.[9] Later analysts have identified another era that has taken place since Tsitsos's writing.[10]
Straight edge grew out of the hardcore punk in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and was partly characterized by shouted rather than sung vocals.[11] Straight edge individuals of this early era often associated with the original punk ideals such as individualism, disdain for work and school, and live-for-the-moment attitudes.[9]
Straight edge sentiments can be found in songs by the early 1980s band Minor Threat, most explicitly within their song "Straight Edge",[12] first wave English punk band The Vibrators song "Keep It Clean" and Jonathan Richman's early band The Modern Lovers 1970s song "I'm Straight", which rejected drug use.[13] As one of the few prominent 1970s hard rock icons to explicitly eschew alcohol and drug use, singer/guitarist Ted Nugent was also a key influence on the straight edge ideology.[14]
Although straight edge started on the East Coast of the United States in Washington D.C., it quickly spread throughout the US and Canada.[15] By the 1980s, bands on the West Coast of the United States, such as America's Hardcore (A.H.C.), Stalag 13, Justice League and Uniform Choice, were gaining popularity. In the early stages of this subculture’s history, concerts often consisted of non-straight-edge punk bands along with straight edge bands. However, circumstances soon changed and the early 1980s would eventually be viewed as the time "before the two scenes separated".[11] Early straight edge bands included: the Washington D.C. bands Minor Threat, State of Alert (S.O.A.), Government Issue and Teen Idles; Reno's 7 Seconds; Boston's SSD, DYS and Negative FX; California bands as mentioned above; and New York City bands such as Cause for Alarm and The Abused.[3][16]
Bent edge was formed as a countermovement to straight edge by members of the Washington, D.C. hardcore scene who were fed up with the rigidness and intolerance in the new and upcoming straight edge scene.[17] This idea of a countermovement quickly spread throughout the country. On Minor Threat's first tour in 1982, people would approach the band telling them that they were bent or curved edge.[18] The countermovement was short lived and faded away by the end of the 1980s.
During the youth crew era, which started in the mid 1980s, the influence of music on the straight edge scene seemed to be at an all-time high. The new branches of straight edge that came about during this era seemed to originate from ideas presented in songs. Many youth crew bands had a strong heavy metal influence.[19] Notable youth crew bands included: Youth of Today[19] , Gorilla Biscuits[19], Judge, Bold, Chain of Strength, Uniform Choice, and Slapshot.[20]
Starting in the mid 1980s, the band Youth of Today became associated with the straight edge movement, and their song "Youth Crew" expressed a desire to unite the scene into a movement.[21] Vegetarianism became an important theme in straight edge during this era,[22] starting with Youth of Today's 1988 song "No More", which contained the lyrics: "Meat-eating, flesh-eating, think about it. So callous this crime we commit".[23] This catalyzed a trend towards animal rights and veganism within the straight edge movement that would reach its peak in the 1990s.[22]
By the early 1990s, militant straight edge was a well-known presence in the scene. The militant straight edge individual was characterized by less tolerance for non-straight-edge people, more outward pride in being straight edge, more outspokenness, and the willingness to resort to violence in order to promote clean living.[24] In addition, the militant straight edge individual was characterized by being more conservative and less tolerant of homosexuality and abortion. [25]
In the mid 1990s, a number of bands advocating social justice, animal liberation, veganism, and straight edge practices displayed a stronger metal influence. Bands from this era include Mouthpiece, Morning Again, Culture, Earth Crisis, Undertow, and Strife. During the 1990s, the straight edge scene split into factions:[26] hardline[6] and Krishna Consciousness.[27]
In the early to mid 1990s, straight edge spread from the United States to Northern Europe,[28] Eastern Europe,[29] the Middle East,[30] and South America.[31] Straight edge spread around the world due to the relentless touring of youth crew bands and the ease of ordering record from American record labels via the mail.[32]
By the beginning of the 2000s, only small groups of militant straight edge individuals remained.[33] The decline in militant behavior has been linked to the lack of a well known straight edge band leading the movement. Contrary to news reports that portrayed straight edge as a gang,[34][35] several studies have shown that straight edge individuals as a whole are mostly peaceful people.[36] In the 2000s, there was a growing amount of tolerance of people who do not follow the straight edge lifestyle by straight edge individuals.[37] In this incarnation of straight edge, the musical styles of the bands involved are more varied, ranging from a youth crew revival style to metalcore to posicore.[33] Straight edge bands from the 2000s include Champion, Down to Nothing, and Throwdown.[38]
The letter X is the most known symbol of straight edge, and is sometimes worn as a marking on the back of both hands, though it can be displayed on other body parts as well. Some followers of straight edge have also incorporated the symbol into clothing and pins. According to a series of interviews by journalist Michael Azerrad, the straight edge X can be traced to the Teen Idles' brief U.S. West Coast tour in 1980.[39] The Teen Idles were scheduled to play at San Francisco's Mabuhay Gardens, but when the band arrived, club management discovered that the entire band was under the legal drinking age and therefore would be denied entry to the club. As a compromise, management marked each of the Idles' hands with a large black X as a warning to the club's staff not to serve alcohol to the band. Upon returning to Washington, D.C., the band suggested this same system to local clubs as a means to allow teenagers in to see musical performances without being served alcohol.[39] The Teen Idles released a record in 1980 called Minor Disturbance with the cover shot being two hands with black X's on the back.[40][3] The mark soon became associated with the Straight Edge lifestyle.[3]
Later bands have used the X symbol on album covers and other paraphernalia in a variety of ways. The cover of No Apologies by Judge shows two crossed gavels in the X symbol.[41] Other objects that have been used include shovels, baseball bats, and hockey sticks.[41]
A variation involving a trio of Xs, XXX, is often used in show flyers and tattoos. This can be used to show that an adherent is extremely straight edge.[3] Also, it can be ironic based on the fact that three X's are a cartoon way to signify alcohol or poison.[42] The term is sometimes abbreviated by including an X with the abbreviation of the term "straight edge" to give sXe.[43] By analogy, hardcore punk is sometimes abbreviated to hXc. The X symbol can be used as a way to signify a band or person is straight edge, by adding an x to the front and back, for example, the band xDEATHSTARx.
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