Straightedge

Born out of the song "Straightedge" by 1980s Punk icons Minor Threat, Straight Edge music is aggressive Hardcore Punk. Its songs are quick, deliberate assaults with overtly personal and political lyrics. The primary distinction between Straightedge and Hardcore is in the lyrics and the culture of the scene. The reluctant leader of the Straight Edge movement, Minor Threat's Ian MacKaye (who later jump-started Emo-punk with Fugazi), inspired Straightedge kids -- usually heterosexual white males -- to focus on unity and bodily "purity" by refusing drugs, alcohol, and smoking. The underpinning philosophy of this scene -- which sometimes includes abstinence and pacifism -- in some distant ways overlaps with that of the Hare Krishnas.