Original subtitles

[Electric guitar distortion]

['Stumped' by minor threat plays]

[Calm electric bass plays]

Ij'j'

J“ the way it goes I

ij'j'

j“ each way it goes I

j“ where did we go? I

j“ why did we go? I

j“ why did we go? I

j“ where did we go? I

I how did we go? I

j“ why did we go? I

j“ the way it goes I

people said you cannot do this here.

This is a radical kind of music and it can't happen in D.C.

We've got to stop talking and start walking.

There always were creative people here,

in the middle of hostile or inhospitable surroundings.

Their value system is radically different from that of most Americans.

[Cymbal crash]

So how could punk thrive in D.C. and

still matter to people around the world?

And the answer is:

Because D.C. was so hard to have a punk scene in.

And once it took root, it grew in ways we could have never imagined.

[Guitar thrumming]

The D.C. scene, it wasn't New York.

It was small.

It's not like something you could just go to and be there.

It's like we had to make it, every step of the line.

[Guitar thrumming continues]

I was called the first punk in D.C.

Because I was the first person to cut off my hair and wear a dog collar.

If that's all it takes, well you know so

fashion-wise I guess I was.

But I also just really embraced the community

and I encouraged people to go to each other's shows

and be there because it was so exciting to me.

It was thrilling.

[Electric guitar plays]

['Creep skin' by afrika corps plays]

J' I've got creep skin thin as a pin yeah I

j' cheap skin j“

another project.

Just like at the same time, '76-'77

everybody's going, I'm going to form a band.

That was the beginning of the diy thing anyway

so it was encouraged to make your own records.

Punk, diy, New York was just starting out to do records.

This is neat.

J' I've got creep skin I

I was thinking back to an issue of flipside

and they were talking about a D.C. family tree.

[Singing continues]

It started with 1979 and bad brains.

[Raucous music plays]

['How low can a punk get' by bad brains plays]

And I was like, there were so many bands before that

going back to the mid-seventies in the D.C. scene.

So I thought uh, I'm going write a letter.

Send it to flipside.

I start off.

Dear flipside,

the D.C. punk scene began as far back as 1975-76

with bands such as overkill, the look, the slickee boys.

In the following two years, bands of power and energy

played the D.C. circuit as well as frequent out of town dates.

['Manganese Android puppies' by the slickee boys plays]

There was a group of people who

wanted something more primitive,

more raw,

more...

More you know...

More from the garage.

[Female voice singing]

And the keg had the first punk scene in D.C.

Even though it was basically a heavy-metal dump,

next to a strip bar.

[Crowd cheering]

[Intense drums play]

The first show I ever saw at the keg was

overkill playing some stinky night

I forget, Monday, Tuesday...

That would be “punk night“.

J'wooj'

['human ways' by overkill plays]

[Guitar solo]

We dared to suck.

In other words,

we weren't afraid to be horrible

in our eagerness, to be something or another.

Because what was happening is

people were demanding

that the clubs let them play more of their original music

rather than covers.

And it was being allowed to some extent.

['Joke's on you' by razz plays]

[Applause]

Thank you.

Like '76, '77, I would see people in the audience

in places like the keg and it developed they had bands.

I remember we met people from the bad brains.

They were on the scene towards the tail end of our thing there.

[Rock music plays]

You should be well aware of this everyone:

That no matter what that's being created in your backyard,

the fact of the matter is...

[Pounding on table]

That it's created in your back yard and it's important

because if it's not the greatest at least it's certainly a beginning.

I'm going to tell you something everyone,

these people, the slickee boys you know,

they pioneered the first punk rock scene in Washington D.C.

Hello, how are you?

How did the band get started?

I wanted to play some wild music back in 1976

so I asked my friends, Marshall especially here

because he plays lead guitar.

I just started getting people who were interested

in our type of music together.

[Guitar grinds]

[Crowd cheers]

100% guaranteed

even buyer's remorse, you can bring it back.

Thanks a lot.

When Kim asked me to join the band,

I said “I don't have to wear stage clothes?“

and he said “no...

And I just said, “I'm in.

I'm so in“, I said “I can sing like guy songs?

I'm in.

Thanks for joining me tonight.

I have Marshall Keith from the slickee boys.

Hello.

And me and Marshall are going to talk about

some D.C. stuff within the show.

Put a bullett through the juke box

this was kind of our first song that sounded punk.

Okay, let's see if this sounds punk.

J“ but when I hear the j'

j' jukebox play that funky disco sound I

j“ my mind goes blank I

j' because I don't boogie down I

J“ blast it I

j“ blow it with a nuke j'

j' gonna make my stand I

j' on the am band I

j' makes me I

j“ wanna puke j'

j' the number one gizmo is standing there I

[p. Ragan] There's something about D.C.

Rolling up the streets at 6 pm

because it's a government place

and not encouraging too much individuality

for people that are so extremely individual

like Martha and Kim.

And every time there was a place that would sort of form a scene,

it would be quickly shut down.

Back in the day, we used to have to like beg for a gig

and Howard, our bass player, he talked to this place called shalimar

into putting on a punk show with slickee boys and white boy

for two nights.

[Chuckling]

It was going to Friday and Saturday.

[Electric guitar]

Everyday pressures and frustrations tend to build up.

Jim Kowalski like millions of other Americans has found

a way to vent those frustrations.

[Bellowing yell]

The lead singer looked like he was just like a banker.

But anyway, it was him and his son and

and his son played lead guitar and he sang.

If D.C. seems like a town that punk shouldn't happen in,

then maybe that's exactly where it should happen.

And it did make us want to scream

and play really loud, driving fast music.

[Rousing music plays]

I was shocked

when I saw, oh my god, they put their own record out.

And on the back you can see it's like a D.C. house

it made me thing that you could put out a record.

It just had never occurred to me until that moment.

It's such a weird record but I loved it.

Mr. Ott gets up there with his green wig

that he made out of a toilet seat cover.

And the owner was just going crazy.

And of course we never did do the second night.

I have the flyer for it.

The second night didn't happen.

[Raucous music plays]

And nobody was really getting covered by any of the newspapers,

the slickee boys, nobody was really getting covered.

And it felt like something has to happen here.

Because at that point, radio was kind of it.

To try to get in the mindset that there was nothing else,

zero.

There was no other way to listen to anything.

It's so impossible to comprehend that these days.

[Bell toll]

Good morning, this is xyra with revolt into style

and it is 3 o'clock am.

You're listening to wgtb fm, 90.1...

So it wasn't just the music.

It was the attitude, the lifestyle,

the creative freedom.

And I think people became excited by that

because people used to show up

and sit behind me and I didn't even know they were there.

The security was so lax here at that time.

People would just come in?

They'd come in and sit down and I'd turn around

and there's these 15 year old kids who snuck out

of their parents' house.

- They'd show up. - That's awesome.

And they later formed bands.

[Fast snare drum]

In case president Carter is listening,

if you have any questions on rock 'n' roll please call me up.

I'll answer them as best I can.

I do have a few advisors here with me...

We're talking about Georgetown

and this was a catholic university.

[Soft guitar riff]

It's like you're in the heart of the beast and

you're entertaining thoughts of anarchy and revolution.

And unfortunately, the powers that be didn't like that.

So they took it off.

[Guitar riff ends]

[Crowd cheering]

Thank you. Thank you very much Washington.

[Cheering continues]

[Speaker interference]

In the early scene, in D.C.

Most of these people were incredibly sweet,

highly intelligent,

and they were music fans,

they were all collector geeks.

All of us were collector geeks.

[Staccato guitar riff]

There were several good record stores.

But the one that we loved above all others was

yesterday and today records, run by our friend skip groff.

J' mister president... Mister Carter j'

j' I think that I oughta... j“

I tell you what's going on underground j'

and he ran a local record label called limp records.

And a big common denominator with all these people like

Kim Kane and a lot of these other people in these other bands,

they all worked at yesterday and today.

They all had stuff to do at yesterday and today.

And skip was very important to all these bands that

became minor threat, that became fugazi later on.

[Guitar and drums fade out]

It's been a launching pad for local bands such as the slickee boys

and alternative rock star Henry rollins.

J' yeah I

j“ and we're all friends I

j” after with you j'

j” tonight we have at you j'

j“ and now we know it's all true I

I mean especially skip.

He was inviting to all the bands who came to visit.

There weren't that many people that were encouraging

to the D.C. punk scene.

So by 1978, I had moved out of D.C. to New York.

This was the reason I wanted to go to New York to write stuff like this.

[Uplifting saxophone plays]

To me, D.C. was just such an empty pit of misery.

Such a small community, I didn't see anything good coming of it.

I said “you have to get out of here.“

all of you must go.

['Grumpus theme' by chumps plays]

[Guitar tuning]

[Crowd cheering]

The bad brains,

when we saw them in '79,

they reinvented the wheel in front of us.

We had rock records.

We'd seen led zeppelin, Ted nugent, Van halen, we'd seen all that stuff.

And then you see the bad brains and you're like: “Oh,

what was that they just did?“

[whimsical music plays]

Western civilization has been built upon certain principles of

beauty, perfection, and excellence.

In art, Rembrandt, Picasso.

In music, bach, Beethoven,

[sudden punk rock music]

What you are witnessing here is a genuine social phenomenon

called “punk new wave rock 'n' roll“.

Good evening.

You're listening to radio cpr, your community station

here in Washington D.C.

My guests tonight are Darryl jenifer and sid mccray,

founding members of the greatest hardcore band of all time,

the bad brains.

On bass guitar to my left, Darryl jenifer

on guitar, Dr. No.

On drums, Earl Hudson.

My name's hr.

We love all that goes with our D.C. music

and our go-go, funk, jazz and all that.

But “winky“ mccray here,

happened to stumble over some sex pistols

and some dead boys

and you know it was a blessing that we even looked at that

and heard that music and thought:

Man you know what, we're going to make some shit like that.

I hadn't seen anything like that.

It was different, the music was powerful

I just turned my brothers on to what I had seen

and they took it from there.

[Yelling] Are you ready?

I can't hear you!

[Cheering]

I can't hear you!

So when I interviewed hr in 1987,

he spoke about getting the sex pistols record

and listening to it and he's just like “holy shit“

like what the hell is this?

And all of a sudden realizing that this was his path.

What a weird thing to listen to some music and

realize that this is your path.

There's no plan you know

it's not like ok we're going to go be this black rock group, no.

So the only preconception of this that I can tell you is that

when we listened to the ramones and the damned,

we said we'll they're jumping, we're gonna jump too.

But we've got to be able to jump higher, quicker...

It's nothing like we sat back and said...

The only thing we sat back and said:

“If the ramones think they're playing fast, watch this!“

J' I didn't mean to rip off I

j' I thought it was a get off I

j” in mine j'

[intense guitar plays]

J' I tried to make the scene off I

j“ the plan was doomed to set off I

j' on time I

j“ the time that I was wastin' j'

j' I spent on only chasin' in the pits j'

j'and now I paid the price I

if you live in a town like this and there's so many people coming

so many people going,

you better hold on tight.

If you wanna feel like you're a part of anything.

You realize that... when we first heard about punk rock,

we were hearing the English bands and then

there was some New York stuff

and there was Los Angeles bands.

But then to realize that to have a band like the bad brains

being such a center of a musical scene,

people that were here were like:

“Wow, we finally got something of our own.“

[rock music plays]

J” a child is influenced j'

j' by the make believe j'

I to take advantage of this truth j'

j' is cold hearted sin I

I so I say to the youth right now j'

I don't sway to the unjust j'

j' no matter what they say I

j” never give in, never give in j”

j” hey, what can it be j”

j” on the big white screen? J”

j” hey, how can you see j”

j” you're living in a movie? J”

[cheering]

A hundred miles an hour, and like

they made the ramones look like they were asleep.

You know, it's not that they were just a punk band imitating punk.

They were like insane.

A lot of people looked at that and said like:

What we've been doing is kind of derivative and

it's kind of namby pamby and kind of flabby,

you know, this is where it should go.

My man.

- What's going on there? - Not a whole lot.

- Isn't this beautiful? - It's crazy...

Isn't it nice, good to see you my friend.

We did some investigating into positive thinking philosophies:

Think and grow rich, the power to say no.

And in that literature, there was a formula called pma,

positive mental attitude.

And it meant, whatever the mind can conceive and believe

the mind can achieve.

And it would explain to us, point by point,

the dos and the don'ts of a successful corporation.

Everyone desires to be rich and most people believe

riches to consist only in material things that money can buy.

Now here is a list of the 12 things which constitute real riches:

Number one, a positive mental attitude.

Observe that it heads the list.

[Speaker hum]

We came out trying to do a “thinking man's punk“ in a way.

What it is, is it's actually looking for some substance

to put in their music other than “shake your booty“.

And hr you know, pma was a good thing,

positive mental attitude,

that was big on us, that would keep us cool in the hood.

Napoleon hill wrote it, and the bad brains delivered it.

And as a young punk rocker,

I would not intentionally look for a book that

tells me to be a better me.

They just did it without me knowing.

Their positive outlook gave punk rock traction to go forward fast.

I mean is that still working for you, pma?

Yes sir it is, it sure is.

- Me too. - It sure is.

[Punk rock music]

J” hey! I've got my pma j”

j” hey! I've got my pma.. J”

Ian and I met in high school.

He was the curly haired skateboarding guy

and I liked skateboarding also but

I was much more into making bombs,

I just always loved blowing things up.

[Pom]

There was a little clutch of kids and I went over

to see what was going on and

there was this one kid digging a hole in the ground

and putting something in the ground.

And I was like...

Like what the fuck is it?

And they said “oh it's a bomb“

and there was a huge explosion.

[Pom]

Of course the administration came out

and then Jeff was digging another one in

and I rememberjust thinking, that's an interesting kid.

I still have a book on one of those shelves,

a book I was writing of all the ways to make bombs and bazookas

and things like that.

[Gentle drum beat]

Ian and I bonded over Jimmy Hendrix,

[soft bass strums]

And we both had sting ray bikes.

We'd jump our bikes on these crappy little ramps we built.

And then one year you drop the bike and

you get a skateboard.

Ah the skateboarding definitely predates everything.

And I grew up basically a block away from the keg.

That's where I first learned to skateboard

in front of there.

I didn't realize the significance of the place.

I just remember drunk people, loudness.

I mean I was 12, 13.

Ian mackaye,

Alec mackaye,

Bert quieroz,

people we knew became musicians.

Ian was always playing a piano.

I remember that from when we were very little kids.

Here in this bathroom is our high school picture.

In the upper right corner there's Ian and I

looking as tough as possible.

We were all Wilson kids and we were like:

“We should form a band.“

the first band we did was with Mark Sullivan but

he went off to college

so we had to replace him and

there was this discussion about like “maybe we should ask nathan“

cause he was like the coolest looking punk.

And I was like: “Are you interested in singing for the band?“

and he was like “sure...

That was the teen idles.

J” I don't care what people say j”

j” I drink milk every day j”

j” I drink milk j”

j” I drink milk j”

j” I don't care what people say j”

j” I drink milk every day j”

j” don't drink lemonade j”

the teen idles were about like

this is a great time in our lives.

Let's have fun, let's not deaden ourselves

you know with drugs and alcohol.

Let's just put on your sneakers and be a kid.

That's the part that really appealed to me.

Any of you all people work for the government?

My dad's state department

my father works for the post.

My father works for the e.E.O.C.

I.r.s.

[Laughing]

Your dad works for the I.R.S.?

So you people all work for the government?

Our dads do.

I've only been to D.C. once.

D.C. is the most powerful city in the world

but D.C. was not known as a strong music town.

I mean there was a good bluegrass scene.

[Bluegrass music plays]

And within the black community there was this fantastic go-go scene.

There were scenes other than ours that predated us and

that were known nationally.

[Upbeat drum beats plays]

Everybody told us that if you want to make it

you've got to move to New York or Los Angeles.

But we thought that was bullshit.

When you're working in isolation

sometimes you come up with the best stuff.

[Drums continue]

By 1979, the scene started to fizzle.

Wgtb went off the air.

Clubs either closed down or changed booking policies.

All we had left was a broken down townhouse

in the Adams Morgan section of D.C.,

madams organ.

J'oh! Ahj'

j” you tell me what to say j”

j” and when to say it j”

j” you tell me what to do j”

j” and how to do it j”

j” and if I ask you why j”

j” you'll arrest me j”

j”and if I call you liar j”

j” you'll detest me j”

j” you control what I'll be j”

j” on sundays j”

we are sitting in what was the living room of

231818th St., northwest, Washington D.C.

When I discovered it, it was madams organ, the art collective.

An artist friend of mine heard that I moved to Adams Morgan

and he said “oh este, darling, I'm so glad that you moved to

the madams organ area.“

and as soon as I heard it I just cracked up

so when we were looking for a name I said,

I've got a name for you, this is a perfect name for us.

Adams Morgan, madams organ.

I don't know, it started out kind of like

a women's think tank with boyfriends and then

and then it took off from there.

I started programming punk rock shows there and

that was the end of the art gallery

and I feel a little bad about that.

So if any of the artists who had run madams organ

ever see this then there is a bit of an apology owed I think.

[Wild rock music with horn section]

[Soft bass plays]

Madams organ really defined a lot of what the D.C. scene became

in later years

though most people would have no idea.

The first time I went to D.C.,

we got invited to madams organ.

I just remember it being so hot, and sweaty, and so packed.

And when I'm talking about packed, I'm talking about 80 people,

or whatever, probably the entire D.C. scene at the time.

This was 1979.

And you were playing in someone's emptied out front room, right.

-Ah don't need no flashing lights. -No flashy light shows.

We're not the clash.

Punk rock was an opportunity to do that,

to be in a room with people. Making something together.

[Guitar distortion]

J” smoke those butts j”

j” think yer cool j”

j” say you like the taste who you trying to fool? J”

j“ nic fit, nic fit, nic fit, nic fit j“

[punk music plays]

J” now yer hooked you can't quit j”

j” without a drag yer gonna break j”

j“ nic fit, nic fit, nic fit, nic fit j“

j” one, two. One, two, three four j”

[speaker feedback]

Cpr, 97.5

with Eddie “the machete“ here in the studio.

It's interesting because this was actually a youth movement,

a movement of young people.

And I was wondering, what was the impetus

for starting a group at the time?

There was a sound that came out that

seemed to nicely fit with our mood

and the razz and the slickee boys introduced an

idea of making music attainable.

And then having a space like madams organ

was another example of what

could happen if you just do it yourself.

It was just incredibly empowering.

At that age, 14.

It never occurred to me that it was unusual that

there would be this kind of squat house

in Adams Morgan run by these weird hippies.

But it was a great space for experimental performance

if you want to call it that

because that is part of what was going on

and for any kind of music to be happening

without critics, I mean you weren't worried about the door.

And there was no financial transaction that

the whole event was predicated on.

J” america's youth, the future don't matter j”

j” been given everything on a silver platter j”

j” america's youth, teenage frustration j”

j” they can't seem to cope j”

j” with life's complications j”

j” america's youth! The re-run generation j”

j” Star Trek and Lucy. Their only education j”

j” america's youth, Woodstock lives on.. J”

it was at times pretty messed up

because it never closed, it was open 24 hours a day

and people come in and go out, come in and go out.

But they did have a lot of brothers and sisters

who had been around from the 60s,

from Woodstock days and they would tell us about things

that had happened to them when they were growing up and what not.

It was a place where you wanted to play punk rock.

Yeah there was that freedom.

You didn't have to worry about putting a dent in the wall

or anything.

And I remember thinking, growing up,

that you get out of high school,

you get a job, and then there's just a line to death.

[Laughing]

And it was like, you really want to have a point in your life

when you can jump out of your day to day boring existence

or depressingness or whatever.

[H. Rollins] You realized, these are my people.

What a bunch of weirdos.

And then you go [snaps]

“Aha, I'm a weird person.“

madams organ was a house full of people like that.

And that was so impactful, to finally have a place I belonged.

And the bad brains actually lived in the house for a while

and practiced in the basement and songs like “banned in D.C.“

were written right there in the basement.

And when I was putting up the posters

it wasn't like “oh, I'm going to hang these things and see what happens.“

it was just like the right time and it was going to be a big thing

that was going to blossom right in front of our eyes.

J” your world is doomed with our own interrogation j”

j” just another Nazi scheme j”

j” the big take over j”

j” the big take over j”

j” yeah j”

[muffled music]

You're no longer a spectator.

Music becomes a real part of your life.

And you watch this chapter of music history get written.

Nobody knew what was going to happen.

Remember the time the guy came in with the uzi?

There was times you'd wonder if you were going to live through the evening.

There would just be weird things happening.

I didn't understand why a motorcycle gang would be there.

I didn't understand why a woman who appeared

to be a witch was living in the basement.

And there were huge amounts of pot smoke in the place.

I mean you would definitely get a contact high.

So on one hand, we're 17 and

we're oblivious to all sorts of things but I still remember

being horrified at some of these hippies or yippies

they'd have their babies on their shoulders

two or three feet from the pa monitor, blaring.

And, that's not good for their ears.

J” I used to work as a waitron j”

j” in the lounge of the hiltron j”

j” now I work for my senatron j”

j” and I live in arlingtron j”

j” I live in arlingtron j”

[punk music plays]

It's interesting what happened,

the women left madams organ

and then it was pretty much men.

And a couple of the members got very involved with the yippies

and got involved in the legalization of marijuana.

[Music in reverse plays]

Beautiful, man!

We're winding down from the Vietnam war

and yippies had the balls to like give out a bunch ofjoints,

get everybody high, let's listen to some good music

and give the authorities the fucking finger.

At the time it started to be this

idea that it's important to be as clear headed as possible

and I think a lot of us got that because at madams organ,

there were so many burnouts

from the counterculture of the 60s and 70s.

We were really influenced by that counterculture and existed in that lineage

but we didn't want to be burnouts.

[Rhythmic clapping and soft trumpet]

[I. Mackaye] But it wasn't really hippies that punks hated.

It was this sort of inertia of the 70s.

But I actually grew up as a student of the youth culture

in which people let their freak flag fly.

But to be a freak in 1979, you cut your hair off

and then you become the enemy.

[Rhythmic clapping and soft trumpet continues]

I think we gave the hippies a lot of trouble because

they were older and they didn't really understand us.

But to be fair to them,

they did give these bands the space to play.

And there were all these old hippies saying:

“Ha, ha, teen idles, isn't that cute.“

[muffled guitar plays]

I think dialectic is a better word than confluence.

They did not come together in a stream entirely.

It was a collision but it was a conversation.

It wasn't like the yippies were reaching out to the punks.

It's the punks, that reached out to the yippies for guidance,

I'm not looking for a yippie guy to give me anything about anything.

I got no wisdom from any of those people and in fact

the people that lived at madams organ,

to a certain degree, scared me just a little.

We were being called “suburban white punks“

and we were called capitalists

when all the shows we were doing...

Fuck it I'm going to go get my book

and I'll show you.

[Away from microphone] Three of the teen idles

were natives,

we all lived in the city and we all went to public schools.

Our first show at madams organ we made $45

but then like all these other shows

we were just doing benefits.

We were getting no money.

[Punk music plays]

It was a very politicized time for youth

and this was even pre-Reagan

but there was definitely a left- wing sensibility to the scene.

Madams organ was a good venue for us

as far as being the kind of space where we could be ourselves.

[Speaker feedback]

We were in the punk tradition of social protest

but we were also kind of dadaistic and non-sensical at times too.

This song is about how irritating it is

to do your laundry under late capitalism.

It's called speed wash.

[Crowd cheering]

[Rock music plays]

With the exception of David byers, they were all members of

the young socialist alliance.

So they had a strong socialist agenda.

These are teenagers, right.

[Rock music continues]

So not only was I the only white guy

but I alsojoined a band that actually had a genuine political agenda.

I was 14, I had no political agenda.

I just wanted to meet girls and play guitar.

This is fantastic.

[Intense guitar plays]

D.C. was a predominantly black city but madams organ

was primarily white.

The interesting part about it is that there wasn't really a lot of racial division,

white, black...

I really will say that there was a breakdown,

a breaking away of all those kinds of barriers.

For them to say that things can be different

had a special meaning

right there in the capital of the us.

[Intense punk music plays]

J” daddy was drained today j”

j” the stitched up his faults then sent him away j”

j” lying all clean in a new suit and tie j”

j” he was boxed in the back going along for the ride j”

j” along for the ride j”

[Unintelligible punk lyrics]

[Intense punk music continues]

[Unintelligible punk lyrics]

So the enzymes are not only part of the madams organ story

but almost completely undermentioned,

unmentioned chapter

in that there is no enzymes record, no compilation album they're on,

there is nothing.

[Crowd chanting 'enzymes']

So this is something apparently I wrote

about some early really cool getting together of the local scene.

I wrote it and signed it, I don't remember it but I'll read it.

It says “February 13, 1980, local punk new-wave meeting.

This was called by hr. Of the bad brains

in some connection with yippies from madams organ.

This was about the recent rash of bannings of local punk bands

from D.C. space and of course their exclusion from every other club.“

bad brains did get banned in a lot of clubs.

And they still didn't let us in there

so from now on, boycott!

Nobody goes in there.

“Plans: Number 1:

Hold concerts at madams organ until its lease runs out

and all money to go to renting a larger more permanent club.“

hey that's pretty hip.

So we started doing benefits to raise money for the new space

and I remember hr especially was like:

“Don't worry, we're going to find a new place.“

at some point we were like - “what's going on with that space?“

he's like “it's not going to happen.“

“what about the money we raised?“ And he's like “oh yeah, it's gone.“

we were told it was spent on somebody's rent.

[Thudding rock music with experimental electronic sounds]

[I. Mackaye] And that photo: “Punk rock killed me“...

It might have been their decision to get involved with punk rock that

did the space in

but it's pretty much the only thing that madams organ is known for.

We wouldn't be talking about it if it wasn't for punk rock.

[A. Mackaye] We got used to the idea that we could go to places and see music

without somebody giving us a hard time about it

and then we required it.

[Thudding rock continues]

['Speedwash' by the enzymes plays]

[H. Rollins] As soon as you left madams organ or any club you went into,

you came out looking punk rock,

fairly often,

there's a drunken marine,

cops didn't like you, student jocks didn't like you,

like it's the university rowing team who wanna

beat some punk rockers up.

I would get on the bus everyday after school

and from the old lady in the front to the biggest guy

in the back of the bus would laugh at me,

potentially throw stuff at me,

and maybe kick my ass. [Chuckles]

[Raucous music plays]

We're outnumbered, we're disliked.

All we have is our allegiance, this music,

and when you have alliances like that,

that stuff's forever.

Georgetown punks...

[Guitar tuning]

It's worth considering that teen idles'

first tour was to the west coast.

That group of kids from Los Angeles,

they were doing what they called the crawl -

which later on became slamdancing.

And they jumped off the stage which I had never seen.

They brought it back from California, slam dancing but

the thing is that D.C. became more famous for it,

they did it with all that fast music from California.

There was this rabid love for it in D.C.

We saw this powerfully aggressive thing,

and maybe a little too aggressive

but we were sort of enchanted by it.

[Guitar bangs and echoes]

Black market baby, teen idles and bad brains

were pretty much what was left of a once flourishing punk scene.

Then the teen idles broke up.

This is the amazing part.

We had $600 bucks saved up and we wanted to put out a record.

[Guitar strum]

Skip groff felt that they should record.

And remember these were D.C. boys.

I don't know how often they came into Virginia across the river

but Ian told me we were saying to ourselves in the car as we came over

“we don't know if there's going to be a 7-11

nearby, maybe we better stop and get some provisions.“

it was just a new frontier, and it was certainly a new frontier for me.

I told them: “Turn it up! Play like you want to play.“

[sizzle]

['Fleeting fury' by the teen idles plays]

[Hard, fast music]

I was a novice to the studio scene.

I did not know that studios tended to split people up,

put them in their own little booths,

put headphones on them, and tell them to turn down.

But I felt that going unrestricted was the way to go

and I've always kept that as my philosophy.

So here are tapes:

Scream, deadline, slickee boys...

When the teen idles ep was recorded and they wanted to put it out on limp,

I said I'm not doing any more limp stuff

and so I said why don't you start your own label and

that's when they came up with the concept of dischord.

[Whistling]

It was founded technically by the four members of the teen idles

but geordie was already losing interest

in being in a band so he was kind of out of it

and Ian and I were fast friends so we just took it over ourselves.

I'd much rather make it while we're not trying to make it,

than uh...

Not make while we're trying to make it.

[Phone ringing]

That's a good one.

[Laughing]

All sorts of things were being tried out and

they were peaking and going down, peaking and going down and

nobody knew what would stick to the wall.

J” no more beatlemania j”

[intense discordant music]

['No more beatlemania' by half Japanese plays]

There was a lot of adventurous stuff happening

and you know, you'd run into a band like half Japanese and

be like: “What the hell is this?“

if you start with the premise that the energy is the thing

then that guitar or this piano, they're just there

for you to focus your energy on.

If you didn't know how to play the instrument,

you did something with it.

Half Japanese is a perfect example.

J” she took my heart and and threw it in the lake j”

j” my baby learned how to face rake j”

[chaotic rock music plays]

J” I used to have fun but now I don't j”

well here I am with the fabulous, cuddly, David fair.

What do you have to say David?

[Laughs]

I ain't got nothing to say.

How does it feel to be so famous these days?

Oh it feels super.

What kind of message are you trying to say?

Love songs and monster songs.

Which do you like better, love songs or monster songs?

Love songs.

[Balloon pops]

The spirit then was that we're going to work together to create a scene

because we started out without a scene and then the bars

and the clubs said “oh,

something's happening here something

that's not garbage music.“

one thing that's extremely important was that when the 9:30 club opened

which was in 1980,

they very quickly had all those all ages shows there, right.

All of a sudden, all those kids that came to madams organ,

they had somewhere to play.

But that never would have happened so easily

if it hadn't been for madams organ.

That's what showed that there was an audience for that music.

Letting minors in,

that was a great thing about 9:30.

And that's what the whole “x“s on the hands thing is,

that means I don't drink, I'm straight,

you know, like when a bartender sees your hand.

That's where it originated from.

That's really, really important.

[Speaker whine]

[Distorted electric guitar plays]

The original punk bands,

we all kind of nudged each other, “aren't they cute?“

but you could see certain bands,

they were progressively getting better and better,

and you knew they were going to be good.

It seemed to me at the time like a bubble gum version

of punk rock

so I thought like “Teenie boppers“, “Teenie punks“.

But it wasn't meant to be like I hate these people,

it was more like, what do ya got next"

kids?

And sure enough, they sure showed me.

[Punk music plays]

J” hey Ronnie j”

j”heyj”

j” hey Ronnie j”

j”heyj”

j” hey Ronnie j”

j”heyj”

j” hey Ronnie j”

Ronald Reagan was in office.

Things was really just going to hell.

So when the so-called “hardcore" scene started,

people just blew up.

They just blew up.

It was just time for some real outrage to lead this thing.

Ronald Reagan, you're so fucked up it makes me puke.

[Guitar riffs]

In the fall of 1980

we saw this magazine article and the writer said

there's this new style of music called hardcore.

Then he referenced black flag, circle jerks,

doa, dead Kennedys, bad brains and stuff like that.

He said, I'm going to characterize this as hardcore

because they've got this fresh new attitude

and they've got a more straightforward musical approach in a way, right.

And the main focus within the hardcore scene

was let's get out there and get people thinking.

So wow, this is serious, we are serious about changing the world,

maybe only a few people at a time right?

[Crowd chanting “DC hardcore“]

Punk rock at the time had become really associated with sid vicious,

the New York scene and this sort of self-destructive junkie culture.

[Crowd chanting continues]

So we said we were “hardcore punk rock“,

meaning that we didn't need to like look tough or

to have this sort of self-destructive nihilistic kind of thing.

We were more committed. It wasn't a dress up thing,

we actually were going to live it.

[Reversed music plays]

[Intense guitar and drums]

J” what are we doing here? J”

j” why did we come at all? J”

j” did we think we'd find the truth? J”

j” an answer to this mystery j”

j” all the signs say beware j”

j” but now I really don't care j”

j” I've come too far to go back j”

a lot of ideas all came together and broke free from

what could have been just a real stupid kind of

forward momentum of just rock 'n' roll

and no time for that.

[Rock music plays]

Hr comes up to me and goes “Henry, you're a singer“

and I said “I'm not a singer, hr“.

He's like “tonight, you're a singer and you're singing with the bad brains.“

and he dragged me up on stage.

In the same way Ian wanted to be in charge of the next band,

Henry formed his own band called soa,

there's always been a friendly rivalry

between the two of them that continues to this day.

When the teen idles broke up, Henry's whole attention span

had to go somewhere else.

Henry is like a shark, he just keeps moving,

he doesn't look behind, he's always looking

at the next project.

[Guitar with distortion]

They were like fourteen, I'm 18.

I'm like, “ok I'm your singer“

and they're like “hmmm.“

and I said “do you guys talk?“

they were like “eh..." And like we barely spoke.

So it was a set that was between 9 and 11 minutes in duration.

Most of it: “Are you ready?“ “Yeah, are you ready?“

[mic feedback] Test. Test. Test.

Test. Test. Test.

Soa was a very hard band but they never play

cause every time they play there's like a riot.

We were the bands who said like “fuck it, we're going harder.“

cause every time someone laughs at us we said: “Fine laugh now cause

we're going to make it harder for you to laugh at us later.“

“Teenie punks, stupid kids“ and we were very tired of hearing it.

I mean if they don't want to take us seriously then

we're going to make it harder for them to take us at all.

J” some guy's got your money j”

j” there's two things you can do j”

j” you can always give it up j”

j” but what does that leave you? J”

j” some guy's got you cornered j”

j” he thinks he's got you licked j”

j” if you don't do something soon j”

j” your ass is gonna get kicked j”

[Raucous punk music plays]

Well bad brains played in my mom's basement

and then soa practiced there

then my mom said, “that's it“.

[Intense electric guitar plays]

Meanwhile we were writing all these new songs

and they were pretty cool too.

And that was going to be our next 45.

And then I joined black flag,

and I went away.

[Guitar feedback]

He was able to join his favorite band

and we were so much younger. It was obvious...

We were not a national act, I was going into the 11th grade you know.

And we weren't going to be a national act.

[Feedback continues]

Black flag came and played and said they needed a lead vocafisl

would Henry be into it?

I just said: “Go up there, be yourself, ain't nothing to it but to do it“

and that's just what he did

and he took all his clothes off and there was sweat pouring down.

['The man won't annoy ya' by bad brains plays]

[Reggae music]

The bad brains split for New York

and they kinda became not our band anymore.

They spent way more time in NY than in D.C. as a band

and obviously had a huge influence

on bands in New York.

There's a slew of bands that you know are there because of the bad brains.

Punk rockers who grew up here and then went to New York

would say: “It's so provincial and New York is so much cooler“

and of course if you grow up in D.C. you have a chip on your shoulder.

So I think the bad brains decision to move to New York

was like throwing salt in the wound for us.

And I remember when they moved I was just gutted.

['Pay to cum' by bad brains plays]

[Energetic music plays]

[Distant siren]

Bad brains

slickee boys

tru-fax and the insaniacs

these are people who were encouraging us.

These are people who were craftsmen.

They knew how to play their instruments but they

also knew that these are kids

who know what they want to do,

let's help them do it.

[Band tuning up]

[Crowd murmuring]

And when the bad brains had left,

I think that maybe minor threat filled that vacuum to a degree.

It was the right thing for the right time.

[Guitar drones]

That is the dischord house which is where we moved

a year after high school.

We were obsessed with Coca-Cola.

And this is where dischord had its headquarters and

that was our band minor threat practicing in the basement.

Jeff was a total hard worker.

He spent hours drumming every day and

he had high goals for himself.

Ian was similar in that he saw

early on in his life, production and progress.

[Intense guitar and drums play]

The pa could suck and it would be amazing.

Here they come again, no way they're going to be as good,

they were always better.

That's the band.

They're going to be huge.

You can sing along to every lyric.

You remember every melody.

Finally we have our Beatles.

['Screaming at a wall' by minor threat plays]

[Intense guitar and drums]

J”you built that wall up around you j”

j” and now you can't see out j”

you know we heard it we were like, holy fuck!

That's really turning it up a notch.

And people were like “whoa",

this is fucking crazy, right?

To the people that hated punk rock,

it became even more offensive.

['It follows' by minor threat plays]

J” it followed me j”

- hello? - Hello.

I think your program is terrible,

the language used on the records, it's just really atrocious.

You can talk gutter talk or you can talk like a person that's educated.

Well we're talking angry so we use angry words and

we're not singing about getting laid or

getting stoned all night long or any of that.

Well I think if you cleaned up your act you'd have a lot more following.

Maybe we don't want the following.

We're not bending for you, we're bending for ourselves only.

And obviously we're succeeding.

You're succeeding in being repulsive.

That's in your eyes.

Whose mother was that?

Not my mom, I'll tell you that.

['In my eyes' by minor threat plays]

J” what the fuck have you done? J”

j” it's in my eyes j”

[punk music plays]

J” it's in my eyes j”

j” it's in my eyes j”

j” and it doesn't look that way to me j”

This building, the Washington coliseum

is where the Beatles played their first live concert in the United States,

February 11th, 1964.

[Crowd cheering]

They played 12 songs and it took them one hour to do it.

And for minor threat, 12 songs would be...

13 minutes.

So that shows you how things have progressed

from 1964 to 1980.

[Beep]

[Punk music plays]

It was the equivalent of sprinting for your whole half an hourset

to try and play some of the minor threat stuff now, 30 years later,

I would probably play for about a minute and then I would collapse.

[Music continues]

This is where you really see the influence of bad brains.

You can listen to the sex pistols, as cool as they are,

you can track that back to Chuck Berry.

Whereas when you hear the minor threat stuff,

there's a lot in there that's not predictable.

It's not just a rumble and it's not just a roar.

It's packed in so hard.

J” stand up j”

j” stand up j”

j” stand up j”

j” and be counted j”

[beep]

[Crowd cheering]

It's mainly about the emotion, the rawness, the speed.

It was a drama that was an audio drama.

Then you add in the audiences who,

for our shows, couldn't have been more into it.

They knew every word and they were in it.

So I used to say that a lot of what we did when we played was

more like a church setting than a show.

[Low music plays in reverse]

When we got together as a band, it was understood

that I was going to leave the next September to go to college.

So the idea with the band was that it was going to essentially what,

a 9 month band.

When Lyle left, of course we broke up cause

that's just the way,

we just don't replace members.

[Reversed music continues]

It's just multiplying.

Now we have our own office.

We sent out 400 records today.

['Total mash' by scream plays]

Here's a label that basically comes out of one of the bands,

the teen idles, and then it starts to try to help every band.

It didn't matter if it was to put out a government issue record

or what was the next project, it was to keep it going.

['6 o'clock news' by red c plays] J” sex and violence j”

j” I like to watch j”

j” destructive earthquakes j”

j” catastrophic shocks j”

when they started sending us checks,

I called Ian up and I said:

“We don't have an agreement for you to give us checks

it's supposed to go into your company.“

John said that it was never the plan. And Ian said “no, no,

we're doing ok now, you can cash the checks... we're fine.“

we said one thing we wanted to do was to put out a sampler

with all the bands.

We had 4,000 copies printed up and we sold out in one week.

They called us “Georgetown punks“, a put-down,

“Teenie punks“,

“muscleheads“, another put-down.

So Ian comes up with “flex your head“.

Like if you're gonna be a musclehead,

then flex this muscle,

that's where that whole phrase comes from.

Think, use your head.

That's classic Ian, channeling twain.

These records were not promotional items, that's for fucking sure.

We were documenting music that was important to us.

That was the idea.

And actually that, for me is still the idea to this day.

Jello biafra of the dead Kennedys

once remarked that one of the things that used to distinguish the

DC punk scene was that we were pretty insistent on documentation.

The bands would just go and record all the songs we knew,

and also on archiving, people saved stuff.

Ian got into that and thankfully guys like Kim Kane, same thing.

Here you go, early 80s, this one's just early 1980.

You see in this room a lot of first wave punk rock bands,

UK subs, pure hell, pil,

gun club, buzzcocks, the fall.

And I've met many of these people, members of these bands and

I've asked them, like “do you have any tapes?

Where's the this, the that, the flyers?“

and you'd figure they would have had just boxes of the stuff.

But it's amazing to find out they have nothing...

Like nothing.

['My rules' by void plays]

[Heavy punk music plays]

J” everywhere I go I see their rules j”

j” they're on the streets and in the schools j”

j” authority says one thing for sure j”

j” life can't be without structures j”

j” I'm not at the hand of their tools j”

j” I'm going to live by my rules j”

j” why should I listen to those fools? J”

j” I'm going to live by my rules j”

[s. Groff] Punk has always been much more identifiable with a city or an area.

The kids were very proud of their roots

and you get a lot more of the information and the perspective of

how their roots were shaped and how their music was formed.

The DC flag, I can remember a time when nobody knew what it looked like

then DC punks started replacing

those three stars with “x“s.

Now you see it as a hardcore symbol.

We got really DC centric

and when you'd travel you'd put your DC flag somewhere obvious.

When I was playing around with some of the first ads,

I realized that DC happened to be in the middle of hardcore.

Of course then years later, you just can't get away from it.

I mean, every review, you know, har“do“core

I think for better or for worse,

DC will forever kind of be associated with like hardcore.

[Crowd chanting “DC hardcore“.]

At first bands like soa and minor threat would open

for bands like the slickee boys.

But once the hardcore thing started really going,

there were enough hardcore bands

and there was enough of an audience

that if you put 3 hardcore bands or 5 or 8 hardcore bands

together on a bill

you could get a crowd.

So we didn't need to play along with the

earlier generation bands like tru-fax or the nurses.

J” she's not playing my heart j”

and we're seeing, kind of like

“we're like the new kids, fuck you guys.

Fuck you older guys.“

which, to be fair there probably was some of that attitude.

J” she's known for looking like winter j”

j” empty eyes under sodium lights j”

j” taking ideas from old newspapers dressing in black and white j”

but before there were bands like minor threat,

sure as hell we were punks.

['I don't wanna hear it' by minor threat plays]

J” I don't wanna hear it j”

j” I don't wanna hear it j”

j” because I know that none of it's true j”

j” I don't wanna hear it j”

I started feeling kind of out, you know...

Some of the hardcore was getting so hardcore

that it wasn't my sound and I started to feel like ok,

it's the old guy in the back of the room with the long hair.

J” yes we all know it's true.. J”

you know in the early days we were actually

ostracized and banned from some clubs because we were a punk band

but compared to nowadays we weren't.

J” if it was once, now it's here to stay j”

they were just everybody's band

because they were punk and they were rock and

they were new wave and they were everything.

They were surf and they were rockabilly.

They were you just like...

You know, they were a rock band.

Slickee boys were singing about cars and girls

and a lot of times we got criticized for not having enough angst

because we didn't have angst, we were having fun.

I mean what's angst about being on stage

with like your best friends and playing loud fast rock 'n' roll?

But the younger guys had points they were trying to get across,

and I think their message was positive,

but it was a little more serious.

[Electric guitar plays]

That's what punk really is.

It's a music that's not a product.

It's a music that you're doing for the hell of it, for your friends

and if they like it, that's good enough.

I had stopped fretting over having

moved away from New York just as the New York punk scene

was really starting to like surface.

Because something that I helped contribute to the creation of,

the fact that it's still important to people around the world,

to me is a lot more satisfying

than just going to New York and being in bands and you

make it or you don't make it.

['Heart on' by the slickee boys plays]

As the punk scenes grew around the world

an entire separate world was being created.

“Putting D.C. on the map“ was a slogan that I came up with

in an ironic way but it ended up being kind of true

I think we did play a part in helping to make a name for DC musically.

[Electronic hum]

I think people were jealous of the DC scene because it was together.

People really felt you know: “We're going to change things all together.“

and a lot of those people really took that with them for a long time and

kept it with them in their hearts.

That strength from the DC punk scene really reverberated

into other scenes

and certain bands who got really huge referenced the

DC hardcore scene as a core reason why they even existed.

They rebuilt the entire DC punk scene,

from the bands to the audience, from the records to the fanzines.

It was an incredible fact and

everybody that was laughing then became very serious.

[Punk rock music plays]

After the 81 dead Kennedys tour,

I was more impressed with what was going on in DC than

anywhere else.

I think I probably had time to listen to minor threat's demo by then

and I think I got a government issue one and might have gotten

an soa tape too. I'm not sure.

There was none of the New York pretentiousness

and wanting to be liked by idiot critics or package

yourself in some way that will make you seem unique

and brilliant and all that.

Even as feisty as the people were,

there was a warmth and love and

just like a spirit of this is positive energy, we really like what we're doing.

[Electric guitar riffs]

[Guitar distortion]

- Did you ever see minor threat? - No.

Where you been?

Steve albini had this kind of end piece in some magazine

and he wrote the 10 greatest guitar players of all time,

and he put me in it.

But I started to think “what is going on here?“

hr said to me: “You asked a question

and people want you to answer it now, people want to know more.“

like you started this straight edge thing, like they want to know more.

And Ian says to me, you know, “would you maybe consider coming back to DC?“

and it took me 20 seconds to go “0k!“

after the hiatus, we seriously went out to tour the country.

That's when I figured out that this was something

a little bigger than just a local band.

[Guitar riffing]

[Fast drumming]

The words “straight edge“, where did you get that from?

When the teen idles broke up,

Jeff and I drove all around

and we got into this thing where we were

always like “straight“ whatever.

We were going to use it as a name of a band but since we went with

minor threat we just said we'll just use that for a song.

You know the idea was you know, obviously, straight edge,

like you have the edge over someone else if you're sober.

Ian had started this movement called the “straight edge movement“

and he was a clean shaven, Coca-Cola drinking type dude.

He ain't nothing like he used to be, let me tell you,

he had a mob that used to follow him around

and his brother here

would be the only one who would talk with me

cause I couldn't talk to him after about 3 or 4 months,

he became an overnight...

It's just me and him.

Professional.

[Fast music plays]

I remember when seventeen magazine did a thing about straight edge.

But straight edge really was just

the kind of the glossy magazine cover of the whole thing.

[Drums and bass play]

It was really just about doing it for yourself

and taking responsibility for what you were doing.

[Speaker whine and feedback]

Straight edge, so many people have just said like:

God, “that song, more than any of the others,

people always said that really gave me an idea of how I want to live“ and stuff like that.

All these kids considered like the epitome of straight edge,

they hung out with all these other kids who weren't exactly straight edge.

I mean I drank back then, it wasn't like a big huge issue or division.

Well that makes sense, you don't need to mess yourself up

so this is probably a decent pursuit.

Cause you'd go to other towns that had kinda

picked up on the DC straight edge thing

and they would give you shit as soon as you pulled out a beer.

Ian was just speaking from really his own heart

and it became bigger than himself,

and it wasn't his intention.

['Straight edge' by minor threat plays]

J” I've got the straight edge j”

one of the things about our culture is that people were dflven

in this notion that a form of rebellion

was in self-destruction.

But it seems really clear to me that that is not rebellious,

it's not revolutionary,

because it doesn't do anything to the state except get rid of their problems.

[Crowd cheering]

[L. Preslar] One of the things that became evident

was that Ian was on a mission.

Why don't you people get a hold of your shit...

And I didn't feel like I had any real choice in the matter.

[I. Mackaye] That's only because I am most outspoken.

I think everyone has something to say but I'm

the only one who will say anything.

And a lot of people don't have anything to say except

“fuck society“ and bullshit like that.

[L. Preslar] And I once got into a big argument

with Jeff Nelson because

Jeff told me “it wasn't fun any more to be in the band“

[suspenseful guitar plays]

And I said to him, “it's not supposed to be fun...

I mean we can have fun

but this is supposed to be about making something,

we're doing something here.“

[j. Nelson] We had a song called “out of step with the world“

and I brought up to Ian that I wanted to add an “I" so it would say,

“I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't fuck“

which would have had a much different sound to it,

in other words, not a directive.

Ian was not happy with that at all

and he was so mad he kicked a hole in the door.

The hole is still here to this day.

So we would definitely butt heads over stuff like that.

['Out of step' by minor threat plays]

[Punk rock music plays]

This is the drawing I did for minor threat's “out of step“ ep.

Someone just emailed me this amazing tattoo

somebody got of this and this on their feet.

Somebody did this and it's totally about minor threat for their child.

It's the iPhone cover.

This is Chuck d and flava flav of public enemy.

Ian was teasing me because one of the first tattoos I ever got were

the black flag bars and out of step.

And out of step didn't have anything to do with the straight edge stuff,

it had to do with, when I'm 98 years old,

I'm still going to be out of step with everybody else.

[Hard, fast rock]

J” I can't keep up, I can't keep up j”

j” I can't keep up j”

j” out of step with the world j”

bands looked at it and said well ok:

“What can we do that's different than minor threat

or bad brains?“

and of course it can't go on forever.

J” I wake up and I see you everyday j”

[aggressive music plays]

J” never hear a thing I say j”

j” I come to you with all my problems j”

j” you don't care, you won't be bothered j”

j” who are you and why am I here? J”

j” who are you and why am I here? J”

[Intense musical buildup]

[J.nelson] In DC, void represented a high water Mark

of cacophony, chaos, rage and anger.

[D. Zientara] At some point you just can't outdo it,

when the movement is too solid so that you

can't do any more in it

and that's what happened.

[Fast drumming]

[Crowd chatter]

The DC scene was nothing like when I was a youngster

going to madams organ.

All of a sudden the scene goes from like 40 people to

400, to 800 to 1200

because here comes the suburbs.

And with it comes cool bands, cool people,

in comes the jock, and maybe he becomes a fan

but all of a sudden, you're like “are you really into this or

are you showing up because this was covered in the Washington post?“

[intense guitar riff]

[A. Mackaye] Then there were these TV shows

that interjected these punk rock tragedies.

[D. Ferrando] The worst portrayals of punk rock ever.

[A. Mackaye] And people watched those shows and

and they absorbed that as fact.

[I. Mackaye] Then suddenly at the gigs we

had people who were like punks

behaving like what the television had purported punks to act like.

[Rock music]

J” I wanna see you choke j”

[a. Bonafede] There was anger with earlier punk rock too

but it also was just really fun.

And to me hardcore attracted this huge contingent of varying

types of angry people, people who had these very negafive

views of minorities and of women

and you got this white supremacist thing.

[Music plays in reverse]

[C. Connolly] And then I became totally disinterested because

I was not interested in being involved in something

that was actually violent.

[I. Mackaye] People were like “this is weird.“

there was so much violence, there were all these skinhead kids,

very macho.

I think we felt like time to recreate, let's do something else.

[J. Nelson] There always are new people coming into the scene,

as it should be and that's not going to stop.

And I don't think it's fair to say that when

minor threat broke up, things fell apart

but by 1983 there were a lot of people in this DC scene that were

really ready for something else.

So this is a really fun poster.

This turned out to be minor threat's last show.

And what's really great is that they spelled our name wrong.

[Amplifier feedback]

[A. Mackaye] It's a defining thing about our scene,

that bands just break up

and do it again in some other form.

Accepting and embracing the idea of destroying to create again,

people felt like they should do that.

They were ok with the idea of dismantling it and making something new.

And when you do that you feel like you are really making quality work.

J” slow down j”

j” slow down j”

j” down j”

[bass guitar plays]

I've thought of that so many times,

wondering why more people don't keep on keeping on until they've

run out of things that won't work for then they're bound to find

the thing that will work.

[Upbeat rock music plays]

[A. Mackaye] These bands that were here were so mighty,

there was such an amazing energy.

There was so much going on.

What's next?

There seemed to be this little pause.

[M. Hampton] I remember about two dozen people in my living room

talking about the nature of music and hardcore and

talking about what we should do next, collectively.

I remember people becoming more socially aware,

politics, and animal rights, things like that.

I don't think I would hang out with people that don't understand

the social implications of punk rock.

Do you know what I mean?

You start out with straight edge

and then the next natural step is vegetarianism.

You start off with a clean head and everything else falls into place.

Everything else makes sense.

[H. Rollins] And that's always been my version

of the DC punk rocker:

Is like, vegan, smart, voting, at the protest march.

And the DC scene always had that.

[Driving rock music plays]

[C. Haskett] Something cool persisted which didn't persist in a lot

of other places.

DC kind of dodged a bullet

and punk transformed into something affirmative.

I mean look at some of the bands that come out of it.

Look at rites of spring,

that's one of the best bands that's ever existed.

[Driving rock music continues]

[A. Mackaye] Pma...

I think that's what the thing really was.

It's people trying to rouse each other,

saying like “whatever you were doing, do that some more.

Get back into it. Do it harder.

Whatever way is next.

Don't stop now.“

j” I want to talk, j”

['nudes' by rites of spring plays]

J” like I'm talking to myself j”

j” I wanna reach j”

j” yeah I could be someone else j”

j” and when a touch j”

j” when a touch becomes too much j”

j” you know j”

j” I could be someone else j”

j " and I... j"

j” yeah I know enough not to hope to know j”

j” but it's so hard j”

j” cause the night can fill my eyes j”

j” and you give me some distance j”

j” I can get so hard to find j”

j” and when a word, when a word cuts in too close j”

j” I can always get so hard to find j”

j”andlj”

j” I know enough not to hope to know j”

ij'j'

J” so clear j”

j” to have not been clear at all j”

j”igotsofarj”

j” to have come against a wall j”

j” the first, the final, no middle j”

j” well it seems so real to me j”

j” to each his own illusions j”

j” if I could only believe j”

j” we'll do it in a cabin j”

j” we'll do it in a car j”

j” we'll do it on the freeway j”

j” cause you're taking me too far j”

j” knocking down guardrails j”

j” the speed of sound j”

j” knocking down guardrails j”

j” pow pow j”