Minor Threat
First Demo Tape

THE REVIEW

I had decided not to buy any damn record anymore. It seemed to be working... it seemed like a good remedy for know-it-all-ism, and then I had decided that I would dedicate May entirely to revisiting the entire Melvins discography in anticipation of the Italian tour (which was canceled). I was having fun... sure, a few exceptions could be made... a bit of Dinosaur Jr has never killed anyone... a '13 Songs' by Fugazi is always welcome... in short, it was going great... until a warm afternoon.

I went downstairs to buy a gift for a friend (a live DVD by De Gregori), I entered the damned record store. I took a look... checked a bit to see what was there and, more importantly, what wasn't there. I got to the indie section letter M and what do I find?

Minor Threat "First Demo Tape" for 5 euros... I mean, I can't let it slip away... it has to be mine... these songs aren't all on the complete discography... Minor Threat is Minor Threat... Ian MacKaye is Ian MacKaye... okay, I'll take it with the consequent destruction of all my good intentions. Oh well.

The EP (8 songs in 9 songs... how wonderful is hardcore) was recorded four months after the band's formation at the usual Inner Ear Studio and features the noted lineup (MacKaye, Preslar, Baker, Nelson) with the addition of Henry Garfield (better known as Henry Rollins) on backing vocals, which, by the way, you can't hear at all... but the pictures inside the record prove me otherwise.
After the recording, the band decided not to release this record as it sounded too slow to them... but are they kidding? I mean, are they serious? I don't think so... it seems powerful, clattering... I mean, full-on Minor Threat style... pure hardcore.
The thing that stands out the most is the mischievous voice, beautiful, hoarse, and with a lazy tone of MacKaye (the personality, in my opinion, the strongest and most destabilizing in the punk/hardcore world... the first to reject punk while being punk... the first to say: "Damn! Hold on a second. Think, people... don't get wasted from morning to night, don't slash yourselves with shards of glass... you are human beings and not idiots, or at least, hopefully not").

Then, what catches my attention is the sound of the guitar (the distortion of the guitar). Much fuller than that of other bands of the time, more fuzzy, more violent. Another noteworthy fact is the drums, which sound exactly halved compared to the punk rhythm... and if they asked Nelson to do a cover of Minor Threat, what would he reach?... half of half?

Anyway, the setlist is this:
1. Minor Threat
2. Stand Up
3. Seeing Red
4. Bottled Violence
5. Small Man, Big Mouth
6. Straight Edge
7. Guilty of Being White
8. I Don't Want to Hear It

ENJOY!!!