There is some jackass writing
fucking terrible articles about a band and a scene and a person that he knows little to nothing about and has even less understanding of. Goddamn your stupid hide, I hope you get fired. Or at least, you get strung up and told what’s what by some intelligent people who are all about having “fun” in a different way. Changing the world is fun you pretentious jackass. For fuck’s sake, if you don’t get it, you don’t get it, but don’t try to blame one band, let alone one person, for the fact that you don’t think the DC scene is what it should be. How about you start a band and craft a message that resounds with the people who like Fugazi. I bet that they will still like Fugazi, Minor Threat, and Embrace more, not because “it’s Ian”, but because they like the message. They have fun being moral. It’s not a bad thing to care about things that are bigger than yourself. If they want to spend their days working at a soup kitchen and their nights in a club, not beating each other up, not slowly killing the liver, brain and lungs, and listening to music that’s played by people who also want these things, who are you to say that they shouldn’t be doing it?
Yes, Minor Threat was preachy as hell. It was a hardcore band. Hardcore isn’t a genre that lends itself to the wishy-washiness of other socially informed and active musics such as those which were popular in previous decades. In fact, the genre’s name would preclude any thoughts of mine that they wouldn’t be militant or a bit preachy. However, does this mean that Minor Threat caused the downfall of the DC scene?
No. Probably not. They simply tapped in to what at least part, what seems to be a large part, of the scene wanted: social and personal change for the better. I fail to believe that Ian would ever think that people would listen to his music if it wasn’t fun. And I fail to believe that he isn’t having fun making it. Working towards change isn’t a constant joyride. In fact, it’s serious stuff. So yes, his music isn’t “fun” in the Reel Big Fish or Sum41 sense of the word. However, it’s fun in the Laverne and Shirley “we’re gonna make our dreams come true” sense of the word. Personally, I live my life by the latter.
justinª