Lexicon:Straight Edge

Even after 20+ years since the name was coined, Straight Edge continues to be one of the most controversial sub-cultures and ideas that have been derived from Punk Rock.

What Is Straight Edge?

Well.... that's a tough one, son. It is open to different interpretations, and there are those out there that believe in two types of straight edge. The section below expands and explains in detail what those types are, but for the easiest way to answer the question, your Straight Edge friend might go out to the bar with you, but isn't going to smoke or drink with you while you all are there. Get over it, be a friend, and stop trying to pressure them into being like you.

What's with all the Xs? Do you all really like Porn?

DC Hardcore

Uh, no. As misleading as the multitudes of XXX billboards for Adult "novelty" stores may be, Straight Edge's adoption of the roman character X has nothing to do with porn. The generally accepted reason for the X to be symbolic of straight edge has to do with the practice of bar bouncers/door attendants marking underage people with an X to show the bartender that they were not old enough to drink. In the early days of punk rock (and sometimes now as well), the only place to have shows was in bars, which sometimes did not close the bar section (although now, because of stricter liqouor laws, this isn't as common), this was the method chosen instead of checking the ID of everyone who came up to the bar.

Straight Edge kids took this symbol as a mark of pride, instead of a mark denying them something. They started wearing it outside of bars/shows, and thus the symbol was born. The first recorded image of the X being used in relation to Straight Edge was on the cover of the Teen Idles' 1980 7" entitled A Minor Disturbance.

Do Straight Edgers beat up non-Straight Edgers?

Just like any sub-culture, there are going to be total fools that miss the entire point of what the sub-culture is about. These people have no heart, conviction, or honor (yet sing along to the atrocious amount of SxE hardcore songs about those subjects), and are only trying to prove how "cool" and "hip" they are. You should discount these people completely (or take the high road and try to educate them, which is VERY preferrable, but harder), whether you are Straight Edge or not. They will not stick with it.

There have been reports of "straight edge gangs" such as Monster Crew in Salt Lake City roaming about picking on people, but this is far from the norm. Monster Crew was responsible for pipe bombings of McDonalds and other places in Salt Lake, as well as a violent attack where a large X was cut into a guy's back with a beer bottle. However, these incidents are about the only cases of anything like this happening, and 99% of what you hear is fabricated rumor. So don't trust it.

Different Kinds of Straight Edge?

This is going to be the most controversial part of this whole section by far...

Most people consider there to be one kind of Straight Edge. This one kind is drasticly different than what the idea was in the beginning (as all ideas are). So I have broken this down into two sections, or the two theories/ideologies behind Straight Edge. The first is the most common, well known type which I will call the "3 Rules". The second, I will just simply not call it by anything but Straight Edge.

The 3 Rules.

Simply put, the 3 rules idea of Straight Edge is focused almost solely and squarely upon 3 things that are mentioned in the song "Out Of Step" by the late, great Washington DC hardcore band Minor Threat. The three rules are as follows:

1. Don't Smoke. This is talking about cigarettes, but logically flows to related things like cigars, chewing tobacco, etc... and expands greatly from tobacco products to any kind of drug. The extent is constantly debated, ie. can a straight edger drink coffee?
2. Don't drink. Focusing on alcohol (of course, no one is going to swear off water) due to the high focus on alcohol not only as a rite of passage from childhood, but as a social interaction device throughout life and a frequent target of peer pressure.
3. Don't Fuck. When this is being explained, it frequently comes up to translate as "No promiscuous sex", as opposed to total abstinence.

While the intentions of the band were not as such, many people took the words to the song to heart and formulated a way of living fashioned around (at least partially) denying themselves things such as smoking, fucking (in extreme examples), or alcoholic beverage. In fact, a second version of Out Of Step was recorded late in Minor Threat's existence where in the "breakdown", singer Ian McKaye says

"I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just thinking of like... 3 things that are so important to the  
whole world... that i don't find much importance in... whether it's fucking... or whether it's   
playing golf... none of that, i feel .. I can't keep up, I can't keep up, i can't keep up.. Out Of 
Step, with the world." 

However, as stated above, the 3 rules came to define what "straight edge" was , as the damage had already been done. Before the second version of Out Of Step was produced, Boston's SSD (Society System Decontrol) had taken the 3 rules to heart (especially guitarist Al Barrille... commonly thought of as the first "militant straight edger"). SSD was instrumental in taking Straight Edge farther than Minor Threat and making it into a national movement of youths rebelling against the pressures of western culture, manifested in promiscuous sex, booze, and addictions such as smoking.

(of course... more to come. I'll be writing this bit by bit for a while. - flexyournoggin)

External Links:

• http://www.faqs.org/faqs/cultures/straight-edge-faq/preamble.html
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A545212
• http://toefur.com/straightedge/articles/angela.html

Definitely anti-Straight Edge links:

• http://members.tripod.com/~XthinkX/files/2020sxe.html (transcript of the 20/20 interviews on Straight Edge)
• http://www.ci.logan.ut.us/police/CS/gangs/gangtypes.cfm (more stupid shit w/ sXe getting called a gang because of Salt Lake city in the mid 90s)
• http://www.time2act.org/archives/1050.aspx (more hilarity)

Louisville Straight Edge stuff

Bands

• Pflanz
• Ganthet
• By The Grace Of God
• Able To Act
• Thrashasaurus Rex
• Invictus

Zines

• I Stand Alone

Misc

• Louisville Straight Edge t-shirt (2004) Front