The Teen Idles
Encyclopedia
The Teen Idles were an American hardcore punk
band formed in Washington, D.C.
in August 1979. Teenagers Nathan Strejcek, Geordie Grindle, Ian MacKaye
and Jeff Nelson
were the band's continual members. Their recorded output consists of two demo sessions and one EP
—1980's Minor Disturbance
—released prior to their breakup in November 1980. The Teen Idles were the first band to be signed to the influential independent record label
Dischord Records
. They were an early landmark in both the straight edge
and D.C. hardcore
movements, while MacKaye and Nelson would later form the seminal punk outfit Minor Threat
.
The Teen Idles were among the first punk rock
groups from the early 1980s hardcore movement to break out of their regional scene to tour and sell nationally. Inspired by other American punk bands like The Cramps
and Bad Brains
, The Teen Idles' music was an early version of hardcore punk, and an attempt, in the words of MacKaye, "to get away from a really corrupted music." Their appearances, lyrics and musical style sought to revive a punk movement that they believed had lost its original zeal.
discovered punk rock through a local college radio station, Georgetown University
's WGTB
. He met Jeff Nelson
, a classmate of his, after Nelson set off a pipe bomb outside their school and MacKaye went to investigate. The two became friends and quickly discovered their shared interest in punk. MacKaye and Nelson saw their first punk show in January 1979—a benefit concert by The Cramps
for WGTB. The concert inspired the pair; MacKaye later admitted, "It blew my mind because I saw for the first time this huge, totally invisible community that had gathered together for this tribal event. [...] I thought, 'This appeals to me. This is the world I think I can breathe in. This is what I need.'"
After seeing a Bad Brains
concert, teenagers MacKaye and Nelson began playing in a punk band, The Slinkees, with school friends George Grindle and Mark Sullivan. The Slinkees played a single show before Sullivan went to college. After a failed attempt to recruit MacKaye's friend Henry Garfield
(later Henry Rollins), the band recruited Nathan Strejcek as a vocalist. The Slinkees soon renamed themselves The Teen Idles. After touring and practicing for several months, the band recorded two demo sessions at a local studio in February and April 1980, despite the engineer and a visiting band openly laughing as they recorded. They also began playing at house parties and pizza parlors, as well opening for Bad Brains at an art gallery called Madam's Organ
.
To revive the fervor of punk rock, which the band felt was being distorted by New Wave
, The Teen Idles sought to make their appearance as intimidating as possible. They shaved their heads, grew mohawks
and wore various punk accessories. Nelson and MacKaye even drove thumbtacks into the soles of their boots so they would make an "ominous clacking" sound when they walked. The band's visual presentation was at odds with their demeanor; according to MacKaye, "in our shows and within our own community, we were totally goofy guys. We were painfully honest — we didn't shoplift, we didn't vandalize, we didn't spray-paint
. [...] We don't do anything — everybody just hates us because of the way we look."
After a number of concerts in D.C. opening for bands such as the Untouchables
, The Teen Idles decided to tour the US West Coast in August 1980. Along with roadies Garfield and Sullivan, the band travelled to California. They were immediately hassled by police upon their arrival, and after challenging the police, Nelson was handcuffed for an hour. The Teen Idles eventually began their tour, but were refused entry at Los Angeles' Hong Kong Cafe because of their age. Originally due to open for the Dead Kennedys
and the Circle Jerks
, they settled for playing the next night, opening for The Mentors
and a band called Puke, Spit and Guts in exchange for just $15. The Teen Idles impressed those at the venue; MacKaye later admitted, "People were freaked out by how fast [we played]."
Upon returning to Washington D.C., The Teen Idles were asked by Skip Groff, owner of the Washington record store Yesterday and Today, to record some tracks at Inner Ear, a small recording studio in Arlington, Virginia. They were introduced to engineer and owner Don Zientara (the studio consisted of just a four-track recorder at Zientara's house). The Teen Idles played live in the basement while Zientara engineered and Groff produced. Seven tracks were recorded in total. However, the band were undecided about what to do with the tapes and eventually shelved them.
, was a key event for the popularity of all-ages shows—where alcohol was not for sale, and thus no age restriction for admission. Before playing at the Mabuhay Gardens in California, the band were only allowed entry to the club once big Xs, to show that they were under the legal drinking age
, were drawn on their hands. They suggested this idea to the 9:30 club management back in Washington, and vowed that if youths were caught drinking, the club could ban them. The management agreed; The Teen Idles' final show passed without incident.
After a year of touring, the band had earned a total of $700. They were now faced with two options: to divide the money between each member, or press the recordings they had made with Don Zientara at Inner Ear. Choosing the latter, Nelson, Strejcek and MacKaye formed Dischord Records
with Groff's help to release the recordings. Released in January 1981 with an initial pressing of one thousand copies, Minor Disturbance
was a local success, receiving radio air-play and reviews from fanzines such as Touch and Go
, which meant that Dischord now had enough money to release records by other bands.
After The Teen Idles disbanded, Grindle chose not to pursue a career in music. By the time of Minor Disturbance' s release, Nelson and MacKaye had already formed Minor Threat
. The band's first show was on December 17, 1980. Strejcek became involved in the running of Dischord Records, until Nelson and MacKaye, disappointed by his lack of effort, "decided to take it back." The Teen Idles appeared on a number of hardcore compilations throughout the 1980s and 1990s: Dischord, to celebrate their one hundredth release, issued Teen Idles
in 1996, comprising the two demo sessions the band had recorded in February and April 1980.
, The Teen Idles "played proto-hardcore tunes that skewered their social milieu". MacKaye later explained in the hardcore documentary Another State of Mind: "When I became a punk, my main fight was against the people who were around me — friends." When MacKaye was thirteen he moved to Palo Alto, California
for nine months. On his return, his friends had begun taking drugs and drinking. He remarked, "I said, 'God, I don't want to be like these people, man. I don't fit in at all with them.' So it was an alternative."
The graphic emblem most associated with the Straight Edge movement—a black "X" typically drawn onto the wearers hands with a marker. According to MacKaye, "We were in San Francisco, and we played a place called Mabuhay Gardens. They figured out we were underage, and they wouldn't let us play. We worked out a deal with their management that we just wanted to play and we weren't going to drink, so they got a marker and put a big 'X' on our hand, So we came back to Washington D.C. and went to this nightclub, the 9:30, and said 'Hey look, we're not going to drink and we will put this 'X' on our hand. If you see us drinking you can throw us out forever. We are not going to drink, we just came to see the music.'" The band adopted the marking, and though it was initially meant to signify youth, it became a wider emblem for bands prepared to play to audiences under the legal age to be served alcohol. MacKaye noted that at the time the symbol "wasn't supposed to signify straight edge—it was supposed to signify kids. It was about being young punk rockers...it represents youth."
Most of the band's lyrics were written by MacKaye. Like the group's appearance, their lyrical subject matter reacted against the then dominant New Wave scene, and the perceived complacency that many first wave punk bands, including The Clash
and The Damned seemed to have fallen into by the early 1980s. In "Fleeting Fury", Strejcek pleads, "The clothes you wear have lost their sting / So's the fury in the songs you sing". The Teen Idles were strongly influenced by punk bands in Washington and California, such as Bad Brains
, Black Flag
and The Germs
. These band's influence is reflected in The Teen Idles' songs, which consisted mostly of Strejcek shouting over a one-two hardcore beat, with MacKaye and Grindle providing short and speedy riffs, interspersed with quick guitar solos from Grindle.
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
band formed in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in August 1979. Teenagers Nathan Strejcek, Geordie Grindle, Ian MacKaye
Ian MacKaye
Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, label owner, and producer. Active since 1979, MacKaye is best known for being the frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well...
and Jeff Nelson
Jeff Nelson (musician)
Jeff Nelson is best known as the drummer for the hardcore punk rock band Minor Threat. He and friend Ian MacKaye formed their first band, The Slinkees, in 1979. Their next band was The Teen Idles. Nelson and MacKaye founded Dischord Records in 1980, whose first record was the Teen Idles. They...
were the band's continual members. Their recorded output consists of two demo sessions and one EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
—1980's Minor Disturbance
Minor Disturbance
Minor Disturbance was the sole studio extended play by the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk band The Teen Idles, released on Dischord Records in December 1980...
—released prior to their breakup in November 1980. The Teen Idles were the first band to be signed to the influential independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
Dischord Records
Dischord Records
Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in the independent punk music of the D.C.-area music scene. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles...
. They were an early landmark in both the straight edge
Straight edge
Straight edge is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs. It was a direct reaction to the sexual revolution, hedonism, and excess associated with punk rock. For some, this extends to not engaging in promiscuous sex, following a...
and D.C. hardcore
Washington, D.C. hardcore
Washington, D.C. has had one of the first and most influential hardcore punk scenes in the United States since the early 1980s.Among the earliest DC punk bands were the Bad Brains, Slickee Boys, Teen Idles, Minor Threat, S.O.A., Chalk Circle, Velvet Monkeys, Void, The Faith, DC Youth Brigade,...
movements, while MacKaye and Nelson would later form the seminal punk outfit Minor Threat
Minor Threat
Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1980 and disbanded in 1983. The band was relatively short-lived, but had a strong influence on the hardcore punk music scene, both stylistically and in establishing a "do it yourself" ethic for music distribution and...
.
The Teen Idles were among the first punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
groups from the early 1980s hardcore movement to break out of their regional scene to tour and sell nationally. Inspired by other American punk bands like The Cramps
The Cramps
The Cramps were an American rock band, formed in 1976 and active until 2009. The band split after the death of lead singer Lux Interior. Their line-up rotated much over their existence, with the husband and wife duo of Interior and lead guitarist Poison Ivy the only permanent members...
and Bad Brains
Bad Brains
Bad Brains is an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1977. They are widely regarded as among the pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members objected to this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of...
, The Teen Idles' music was an early version of hardcore punk, and an attempt, in the words of MacKaye, "to get away from a really corrupted music." Their appearances, lyrics and musical style sought to revive a punk movement that they believed had lost its original zeal.
Formation
In 1978, Washingtonian Ian MacKayeIan MacKaye
Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, label owner, and producer. Active since 1979, MacKaye is best known for being the frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well...
discovered punk rock through a local college radio station, Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
's WGTB
WGTB
WGTB is a student-run internet radio station at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The station was originally founded as an AM station in 1946 by Rev. Francis Layden, SJ, moving to FM in 1960. In the late 1960s and through the 1970s, the station attracted attention in the Washington, DC area...
. He met Jeff Nelson
Jeff Nelson (musician)
Jeff Nelson is best known as the drummer for the hardcore punk rock band Minor Threat. He and friend Ian MacKaye formed their first band, The Slinkees, in 1979. Their next band was The Teen Idles. Nelson and MacKaye founded Dischord Records in 1980, whose first record was the Teen Idles. They...
, a classmate of his, after Nelson set off a pipe bomb outside their school and MacKaye went to investigate. The two became friends and quickly discovered their shared interest in punk. MacKaye and Nelson saw their first punk show in January 1979—a benefit concert by The Cramps
The Cramps
The Cramps were an American rock band, formed in 1976 and active until 2009. The band split after the death of lead singer Lux Interior. Their line-up rotated much over their existence, with the husband and wife duo of Interior and lead guitarist Poison Ivy the only permanent members...
for WGTB. The concert inspired the pair; MacKaye later admitted, "It blew my mind because I saw for the first time this huge, totally invisible community that had gathered together for this tribal event. [...] I thought, 'This appeals to me. This is the world I think I can breathe in. This is what I need.'"
After seeing a Bad Brains
Bad Brains
Bad Brains is an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1977. They are widely regarded as among the pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members objected to this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of...
concert, teenagers MacKaye and Nelson began playing in a punk band, The Slinkees, with school friends George Grindle and Mark Sullivan. The Slinkees played a single show before Sullivan went to college. After a failed attempt to recruit MacKaye's friend Henry Garfield
Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian, publisher, actor, and radio DJ....
(later Henry Rollins), the band recruited Nathan Strejcek as a vocalist. The Slinkees soon renamed themselves The Teen Idles. After touring and practicing for several months, the band recorded two demo sessions at a local studio in February and April 1980, despite the engineer and a visiting band openly laughing as they recorded. They also began playing at house parties and pizza parlors, as well opening for Bad Brains at an art gallery called Madam's Organ
Madam's Organ Blues Bar
Madam's Organ Blues Bar is a restaurant and nightclub located at 2461 18th Street NW in Washington, D.C.'s Adams Morgan neighborhood. A local landmark, the bar is popular for its nightly live music, especially blues and bluegrass. Regular performers include Bobby Parker, Ben Andrews, Catfish Hodge,...
.
To revive the fervor of punk rock, which the band felt was being distorted by New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
, The Teen Idles sought to make their appearance as intimidating as possible. They shaved their heads, grew mohawks
Mohawk hairstyle
The mohawk is a hairstyle in which, in the most common variety, both sides of the head are shaven, leaving a strip of noticeably longer hair...
and wore various punk accessories. Nelson and MacKaye even drove thumbtacks into the soles of their boots so they would make an "ominous clacking" sound when they walked. The band's visual presentation was at odds with their demeanor; according to MacKaye, "in our shows and within our own community, we were totally goofy guys. We were painfully honest — we didn't shoplift, we didn't vandalize, we didn't spray-paint
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
. [...] We don't do anything — everybody just hates us because of the way we look."
After a number of concerts in D.C. opening for bands such as the Untouchables
Untouchables (D.C. band)
The Untouchables were one of the bands that laid the groundwork for the legendary DC hardcore punk scene of the early eighties / late seventies. The band existed from October 1979 until January 1981....
, The Teen Idles decided to tour the US West Coast in August 1980. Along with roadies Garfield and Sullivan, the band travelled to California. They were immediately hassled by police upon their arrival, and after challenging the police, Nelson was handcuffed for an hour. The Teen Idles eventually began their tour, but were refused entry at Los Angeles' Hong Kong Cafe because of their age. Originally due to open for the Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
and the Circle Jerks
Circle Jerks
The Circle Jerks are an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Los Angeles, California. It was formed by Black Flag's original singer, Keith Morris, and future Bad Religion guitarist Greg Hetson. They were among the preeminent hardcore punk bands of the L.A. scene in the late 1970s.The band...
, they settled for playing the next night, opening for The Mentors
The Mentors
The Mentors are an American heavy metal band noted for its deliberately sexist shock rock lyrics.They formed in 1977 in Seattle, Washington and relocated to Los Angeles, California in 1979, where their irreverent attitude aligned them with the city's punk rock scene. Their music has developed...
and a band called Puke, Spit and Guts in exchange for just $15. The Teen Idles impressed those at the venue; MacKaye later admitted, "People were freaked out by how fast [we played]."
Upon returning to Washington D.C., The Teen Idles were asked by Skip Groff, owner of the Washington record store Yesterday and Today, to record some tracks at Inner Ear, a small recording studio in Arlington, Virginia. They were introduced to engineer and owner Don Zientara (the studio consisted of just a four-track recorder at Zientara's house). The Teen Idles played live in the basement while Zientara engineered and Groff produced. Seven tracks were recorded in total. However, the band were undecided about what to do with the tapes and eventually shelved them.
Breakup and Minor Disturbance
In late 1980, The Teen Idles decided to break up the band, mostly due to the fact Grindle had fallen out with Nelson. Grindle's new girlfriend, a born again Christian, disapproved of the band, causing Grindle to question his role. Tensions between Grindle and Nelson, who was an outspoken atheist, escalated until Grindle decided to quit the band. Their last show, on November 6, as opening act for SVT at the 9:30 Club9:30 Club
Foo Fighters Promise to come back to D.C. and play the 9:30 ClubNightclub 9:30 is a nightclub and concert venue in Washington, D.C. Originally located at 930 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C., in the 1970s it was called the "Atlantis Club", and hosted primarily rock, New Wave, and punk bands...
, was a key event for the popularity of all-ages shows—where alcohol was not for sale, and thus no age restriction for admission. Before playing at the Mabuhay Gardens in California, the band were only allowed entry to the club once big Xs, to show that they were under the legal drinking age
Legal drinking age
Laws about the legal drinking age cover a wide range of issues and behaviours, addressing when and where alcohol can be consumed. The minimum age alcohol can be legally consumed can be different to the age when it can be purchased. These laws vary among different countries and many laws have...
, were drawn on their hands. They suggested this idea to the 9:30 club management back in Washington, and vowed that if youths were caught drinking, the club could ban them. The management agreed; The Teen Idles' final show passed without incident.
After a year of touring, the band had earned a total of $700. They were now faced with two options: to divide the money between each member, or press the recordings they had made with Don Zientara at Inner Ear. Choosing the latter, Nelson, Strejcek and MacKaye formed Dischord Records
Dischord Records
Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in the independent punk music of the D.C.-area music scene. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles...
with Groff's help to release the recordings. Released in January 1981 with an initial pressing of one thousand copies, Minor Disturbance
Minor Disturbance
Minor Disturbance was the sole studio extended play by the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk band The Teen Idles, released on Dischord Records in December 1980...
was a local success, receiving radio air-play and reviews from fanzines such as Touch and Go
Touch and Go Records
Touch and Go Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, USA.After its genesis as a hand-made fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s alternative and underground rock scenes, Touch & Go carved out a reputation for releasing adventurous...
, which meant that Dischord now had enough money to release records by other bands.
After The Teen Idles disbanded, Grindle chose not to pursue a career in music. By the time of Minor Disturbance
Minor Threat
Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1980 and disbanded in 1983. The band was relatively short-lived, but had a strong influence on the hardcore punk music scene, both stylistically and in establishing a "do it yourself" ethic for music distribution and...
. The band's first show was on December 17, 1980. Strejcek became involved in the running of Dischord Records, until Nelson and MacKaye, disappointed by his lack of effort, "decided to take it back." The Teen Idles appeared on a number of hardcore compilations throughout the 1980s and 1990s: Dischord, to celebrate their one hundredth release, issued Teen Idles
Teen Idles (EP)
Teen Idles was an extended play released by Dischord Records to commemorate the label's one hundredth release. The EP contains material from the two demo sessions the band recorded in February and April 1980...
in 1996, comprising the two demo sessions the band had recorded in February and April 1980.
Musical style and outlook
According to journalist Michael AzerradMichael Azerrad
Michael Azerrad is an American author, journalist and musician. He grew up in the New York City area and received his BA degree from Columbia College in 1983...
, The Teen Idles "played proto-hardcore tunes that skewered their social milieu". MacKaye later explained in the hardcore documentary Another State of Mind: "When I became a punk, my main fight was against the people who were around me — friends." When MacKaye was thirteen he moved to Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
for nine months. On his return, his friends had begun taking drugs and drinking. He remarked, "I said, 'God, I don't want to be like these people, man. I don't fit in at all with them.' So it was an alternative."
Most of the band's lyrics were written by MacKaye. Like the group's appearance, their lyrical subject matter reacted against the then dominant New Wave scene, and the perceived complacency that many first wave punk bands, including The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
and The Damned seemed to have fallen into by the early 1980s. In "Fleeting Fury", Strejcek pleads, "The clothes you wear have lost their sting / So's the fury in the songs you sing". The Teen Idles were strongly influenced by punk bands in Washington and California, such as Bad Brains
Bad Brains
Bad Brains is an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1977. They are widely regarded as among the pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members objected to this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of...
, Black Flag
Black Flag (band)
Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...
and The Germs
The Germs
The Germs are an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California, originally active from 1977 to 1980. The band's early lineup consisted of singer Darby Crash, guitarist Pat Smear, bassist Lorna Doom, and their most consistent drummer Don Bolles. Germs have since reformed in 2005 with Shane...
. These band's influence is reflected in The Teen Idles' songs, which consisted mostly of Strejcek shouting over a one-two hardcore beat, with MacKaye and Grindle providing short and speedy riffs, interspersed with quick guitar solos from Grindle.
Discography
- Minor DisturbanceMinor DisturbanceMinor Disturbance was the sole studio extended play by the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk band The Teen Idles, released on Dischord Records in December 1980...
, Dischord, 1981 - Teen IdlesTeen Idles (EP)Teen Idles was an extended play released by Dischord Records to commemorate the label's one hundredth release. The EP contains material from the two demo sessions the band recorded in February and April 1980...
(1980 demo). DischordDischord RecordsDischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in the independent punk music of the D.C.-area music scene. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles...
, 1996