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Rating: A cover featuring a black sheep breaking away from the white sheep; the first punk wave extinguished by drugs; a group of young people with clear ideas, the story of a life: Minor Threat.
If I'm not mistaken, Minor Threat were the first foreign hardcore band I ever listened to, and this is one of the greatest punk masterpieces ever made. The track lengths are extremely short, yet these songs stretch well beyond the HC average, reaching up to three minutes and showing an interest in song structure that, without ever straying from the punk ethos, manages to bring it to the next stage.
In fact, I believe there's real sense in talking about the tracks as distinct from each other, unlike what often happened on much of the debut or on records by contemporaries like Agnostic Front, to name just one. Personally, I love the anthemic "It Follows," "Betray," or the final "Chasing In." A great strength of the band – which in this too shows itself not to be a slave to HC conventions – is its ability to inject a massive dose of melody, in my opinion laying a strong foundation for the thrash metal that would develop in the following decades.
All of the songs on this album are a concentrate of essential yet spot-on riffing with echoes of hard rock tradition, punk frameworks built onto much more ambitious tracks, choruses that get stuck in your head and make you want to play the whole album again the moment it ends. Surely, this record raised the bar even higher compared to the great but raw debut: Minor Threat thus became the standard-bearers of the genre (and I think even today there wouldn't be few people who would unhesitatingly answer "Minor Threat!" if asked who the greatest hardcore band is).
In other words, this is a bold album, and it remains bold. Bold because it broke with the idea that hardcore had to be done a certain way by strict rules, bold because it had the guts to shake off the past. On that note, how could we not mention the concept of "Out of Step": "I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't fuck: at least I can fucking think." This was the concept on which the poetics, rhetoric, and lifestyle of MT were based. Do I really need to be the one to tell you how disruptive this message was? And how disruptive it still is? Let's stop and think: for once, the ones playing this so-called "music for misfits" were kids with clear ideas, who didn't just want to make a mess, who had a constructive lifestyle and a well-structured interest in the musical component. And that's why, I like to think, that if this were released today the cover would be the opposite: a white sheep running away from the black sheep.
"Can't keep up: I'm out of step, with the world." Score: 90/100.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Betray (03:04)
Maybe it was no one's fault
I know it wasn't mine
But now that you've moved along
I guess I'm next in line
I thought we had the same ideas
But you, you proved me wrong
I've been played the fool before
But never for quite so long
Betray!
So what now? Do we shake hands,
And go on our seperate ways?
Or do I open my mind
And bump you into the haze?
No, I'll see you tomorrow
Same channel, same time, same place
I'm not going anywhere
'Cause I quit your fucking race
Betray!
Goddammit, we were supposed to stay young
And now it's over, it's finished, it's done
Normal expectations, they were on the run
But now it's over, it's finished, it's done
It's over, it's finished, it's done!
02 It Follows (01:50)
I thought
I had left it behind
In another fucking time
When boys were boys,
Girls were girls
And faces were hard ot find
It followed me!
It followed me!
It followed me!
It followed me!
All the stupid thinking
The stupid people thought
The rules that we lived buy
The friends that we bought
The asshole with a strong arm
In the shape of floating friends
The young ladies and their secrets
In the soap that never ends
It followed me!
It followed me!
It followed me!
It followed me!
I thought I had outrun
When I crossed the tracks
I thought I had gotten away
When it tapped me on the back
It followed me!
It followed me!
It followed me!
It followed me!
05 Sob Story (01:50)
Life's not been good for you
It's just not fair
You did nothing to deserve it
You did nothing at all
Sit back and watch
It turns from bad to worse
No matter how loud you cry
It always Hurts
Boy I'm glad I'm not in your shoes
How could things
Get any worse for you?
You're so fucking alone
How could things
Get any worse for you?
I don't blame you
When you piss and moan
Everybody gets
What you should've got
Everybody takes
Your opporatunities
Everybody gets
The breaks that belonged to you
Everybody takes
Your jusy desserts
Life's not been good for you
It's just not fair
I've got some news for you
Nothing is fair
I wish there was a way
To make it all better
I pray for a way
To make you happy
'Cause I'm sick and I'm tired
Of your whining, complaining, bitching, etc.
06 No Reason (01:57)
So you hate me
That's the way it goes
What the fuck?
I guess I'll never know
If it makes you feel better,
Then I guess it's just as good
You know I'll never accept it,
'Cause I never thought you could
Sit in the same room
We look the other way
Fuck conversation
We've got nothing to say
I'm sure we both hate to be ignored
Haven't we met someplace before?
What's the problem?
Is it justified?
Or are we dealing
With our fucking pride?
Do you really want to leave it alone?
I don't know what it's worth to you,
It's all I fucking own
Sit in the same room
We look the other way
Fuck conversation
We've got nothing to say
I'm sure we both hate to be ignored
Haven't we met someplace before?
Haven't we met before?
07 Little Friend (02:18)
There are no words
For what I want to say
No description
For what I feel
It's a non-emotion
It's something gray
Way down
Inside of me
You could call it anger
You could call it fear
You could call it frustration
That's as close as you'll get
Now I'm waiting
For security
There's something racing
Inside of me
I'm waiting, I'm waiting
For a sign
Waiting for something
Got nothing but time
You could call it anger
You could call it fear
You could call it frustration
That's as close as you'll get
And you could call it anger
You could call it fear
You could call it frustration
And you'd still be wrong.
And why not?
I said I'm waiting
Waiting for a sign
Just me and my little friend
He's deep inside
08 Out of Step (01:20)
(I)don't smoke
I don't drink
I don't fuck
At least I can fucking think
I can't keep up!
Can't keep up!
Can't keep up!
Out of step with the world!
(I) don't smoke
I don't drink
I don't fuck
At least I can fucking think
I can't keep up!
Can't keep up!
Can't keep up!
Out of step with the world!
Listen,
this is no set of rules
I'm not telling you what to do
all i'm saying, is that i'm bringing up like three things
that are like so important to the whole world,
that i don't have to find , much importance in
because of these things, whether it's fucking or playing golf,
i feel that...
I can't keep up!
Can't keep up!
Can't keep up!
Out of step with the world!
09 Cashing In (03:43)
How do you do, I figure we've met
My name is Ian, and I'm from Minor
Threat
You know, I count on music to be a good bet
??? after every
cent
(Yeah, yeah)
We don't care
We don't pose
We'll steal
your money
We'll steal your shows
I've got some money, and I'm
feeling fine
A couple of dollars, everything in time
Well you know, I'm
gonna be all right
With the money I'm making off of YOU
tonight
(Sucker!)
We don't care
We don't pose
We'll steal
your money
We'll steal your shows
(You know something?)
The
trouble with money, is that I want more
So let's, let's raise the price at
the door
How much tonight, three dollars or four?
You know we'll make a
million when we go on tour
(Yeah, that's the way I've been thinking
about it)
We don't care
We don't pose
We'll steal your
money
We'll steal your shows
(You know that's the way it is, man,
it's dog-eat-dog, ha ha!)
I'm taking a walk on the yellow brick
road
I only walk where the bricks are made of gold
My mind and body are
the only things I've sold
I need a little money 'cause I'm getting
old
(Well, that's the way it goes, isn't it? Yeah!)
We don't
care
We don't pose
We'll steal your money
We'll steal your
shows
Yeah, you don't care and we don't pose
We'll steal your money,
we'll steal your shows
That's the way it is in this world...right?
Ain't
that right?
Boy, you had us pegged all along...damn!
There's no place
like home
There's no place like home
There's no place like home
So
where am I?
There's no place like home
There's no place like
home
There's no place like home
So where am I?
There's no place
like home
There's no place like home
There's no place like home
So
where am I?
There's no place like home, right?
There's no place like
home
So where am I?
There's no place like home
There's no place
like home
So where am I?
Cashing In
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By teenagelobotomy
"Out Of Step" is the true manifesto of Minor Threat and the whole movement, even more than "Filler."
This devastating piece is the only one in old style from the work and a powerful declaration of Straight Edge philosophy.
