Straight Edge: A Substance Free Sub-Culture

Twenty years ago Ian Mackeye wrote the lyrics:

"I'm a person just like you,
But, I've got better things to do
Than sit around and fuck up my head,
Hang out with the living dead,
Snort White Shit up my Nose,
Pass out at the shows
I don't even think about speed,
That's something I just don't need,
I've got the Straight Edge"

This song entitled "Straight Edge" began a new subculture among the punk movement. This would latter include a close correlation with vegans, often handing out animal rights literature at the punk, "hardcore" shows. Straight Edge was, and still is, a movement against alcohol, tobacco, and drug use. This ideal is carried out most effectively within the music scene closely tied to Straight Edge.

Mackeye wrote that song in 1980 for his band, Minor Threat, an influential presence in the Washington D.C music scene. Soon after, other bands across the country began to embrace the Straight Edge concept and incorporated them into their lyrics; bands like Youth Crew, Uniform Choice, SOA, and Teen Idles. The 90's saw a rejuvenated push for the Straight Edge cause mostly due to pro animal rights and straight edge bands like One King Down, Brothers Keeper, and primarily Earth Crisis.

"Street by Street,
Block by Block,
Taking it all back,
The youth immersed in poison,
Turn the Tide counterattack,
Violence against violence
Let the roundup's begin,
A firestorm to purify the bane that society drowns in."( Firestorm, by Earth Crisis.)