Ian mackaye
Is he straightedge anymore??
drug free is the way too be!
i dont think so, he stopped once all these militant sxe bands came about.
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MovieChat Forums > American Hardcore (2006) Discussion > Ian mackaye
Yes Ian MacKaye is still straightedge...
He will always be. I dont think the rest of Fugazi is straight edge though.
Not that their druggies...just dont think they call themselves straightedge
I read someplace he is... i am too just like to call it drug or poison free i think the rest of fugazi is drug free too. i mean they wont go in a magazine where theres an add for alcohol or cigarettes i would think they are.
shareNo.
shareI think he just avoids the straight edge "label". I don't believe he drinks now or anything, but then again I don't know him personally.
shareI heard the same as Jake, I believe in some zine interview. Ian said something like that he still follows the principles but he doesnt 'claim edge', no label. I *believe* he said something about it getting distorted from what he originally meant it to be into just another scene.
shareIan never wanted "edge" to be another label or another scene. Which is why he doesn't claim it. He still lives by the values though. I read somewhere he got so pissed at everyone trying to turn sXe into a scene he started drinking beer on stage to show people to stop taking it so literally. Don't know if its true though.
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Punk bred. Pop fed.
I believe reading an interview with him where he admits to drinking wine now with meals etc etc..i'll try and dig it out...
I think he was totally annoyed at what straighedge became...
"If the milk turns out to be sour, I ain't the kinda pussy to drink it." -Mr Rory Breaker
What a great idea! You become annoyed because someone takes an ideal in a direction you don't like so you break your own ethics.
In all seriousness, I don't know either way. I'd like to think that Ian is a bit smarter than to thumb his nose at his own ideals just because someone else gets preachy about it. That would be like giving up vegetarianism because you're not a big fan of PETAs tactics. Anyone who goes that far is just as petty as the big mouths who ruin a good thing.
What a great idea! You become annoyed because someone takes an ideal in a direction you don't like so you break your own ethics.
It's not as simple as that. He was singing about personal responsibility. He didn't like the stupid violence for the sake of violence that a lot of people thought was necessary to be a punk. He thought drinking and drugging yourself to death because you didn't want your friends to be more hardcore than you was stupid. That was what straight edge was about to Minor Threat. The idea that you can have fun, and stand for something outside the mainstream, without destroying yourself, or others in the process.
Then all of a sudden a bunch of whiny, image obsessed posers turned it into a militant clique. You were supposed to refrain from drugs and alcohol because your friends were, and fitting in and being just like everyone else is all that matters, right? Then they start telling you that you also have to give up sex, and become a vegan too, or you just ain't SxE enough. Then a bunch of them got it in their heads that the only way to truly be SxE was to start fights with people who weren't into it. Racism and homophobia was embraced in many circles. So yea, I can see why Ian wanted no part of that sort of BS.
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back to the original question. yes, he is sXe by dictionary definition, except for the sex part of course. i know him (not buddies or anything), so everyone's mind can now be at ease.
shareI heard he started using heroin..not kidding!
shareI heard that rumor over a decade ago. It may have been something he said in an interview that was misconstrued... or not. Who cares?
Minor Threat released the song "Straight Edge" twice... [Correction: as "ginz2" has so politely pointed out below, the song is, in fact, Out Of Step] the second release features Ian going into a spoken bit explaining that it wasn't a set of rules and that they weren't trying to tell anyone else what to do.
This whole "straight edge" thing has been overblown for over 20 years now... funny how some things just never die.
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"Knowledge is good." - Emil Faber
I was straight edge in highschool and had the x's on the hand and the whole nines. One of my favorite bands at the time was Gorilla Bisquits. Then things started getting all krishna and then straight edge kids were saying no sex and no meat! That was pretty much the end for me.
When I got into college I started drinking. The funniest thing was I still had xxx on my backpack freshman year. Then one day this dude saw my backpack and says to me, it's nice to see some of us straight edge kids are still around. It was a Saturday and I was mad hung over from a raging keg party at the time. Whoops! I got rid of that backpack that day.
Just live your life in moderation and you'll be OK kids, take it from an old timer.
Just live your life in moderation and you'll be OK kids, take it from an old timer.
Great story and good advice. Anyone who lives their lives by extremes tends to come off as a bit of a dolt or a nutbag regardless of the side.
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"Knowledge is good." - Emil Faber
out of step not straight edge. get your facts straight
shareout of step not straight edge. get your facts straight
I'm sorry... you are correct. Thanks for the polite correction. It's refreshing to see that decency and good manners haven't fallen by the wayside.
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"Knowledge is good." - Emil Faber
Brilliant answer to a total a**hole. Well done!
shareYou guys are all high. He picked up a mad crack habit.
It was Washington D(o)C(rack) in the 80's after all.
I guess you could say I was straight edge until just before I turned 18, of course it wasn't by choice or anything, I was never faced with the opportunity. I have nothing against straight edge in the traditional sense, but this trend of no foreign substances, no sex ever and we'll kick your ass if you disagree, that's what pisses me off. Those people need a drink and they need to get laid.
"I've got a weird thing for girls who say aboot."
He was here in Newfoundland a few years back and did a spoken word / q&a type thing. I don't think he is straight edge anymore, just still stands strongly against substance abuse.
- KGH.
"A monster reincarnation of Horatio Alger."
as for the sex thing. i could be wrong. but i do think ian always included that. i'm 24. i'm straightedge and vegan. before being vegan the meat eating thing never came up about me being edge. i do agree some people do blow it up. way up. i have friends that drink, smoke and eat meat. i'm fine with you doing whatever you want. it's not my choice what you do.
as far as him still being straightedge. i don't think so. i read on the internet (and i know the net is full of *beep* that he decided it got way out of control when a kid walked up to him and told him he sold out because he was drinking a coke
No, you can't be sXe you're entire life an not be pro-creative.
Fact is, while the philosphy keeps you out of trouble, the scene makes you naive. I was sXe (without even trying) from 85 to 95. Once I actually got a girfriend, screw the philosophy. Eventually, every dog gets laid.
All in all, it was an idealistic movement that was conservative in it's nature, but completely opposite of how humanity really works. Hell, beer and wine has been in the diet of most humans since ancient egyptian times. Minor Threat is actually considered a right wing bands in most modern circles as is their right wind idealogy.
Is Ian still in the same mindset? No. But the concept of excess still goes against the original groundwork he laid down. In the end, you're following someone elses rules.
minor threat considered a right wing band? what idiot town are you from? what idiot scene did you come from, that is the first time i ever heard someone even consider that. no one from hardcore today would consider them at all right wing or their ideals in a way right wing.
by the way, it was against the idea of promiscuity, the jock idea of *beep* yeah man i want to get laid'. those simplistic human ideals. not actually having sex.
thats the thing you dont get about the ideal, it was a *beep* you to social values and to human nature which mackaye still does. it became a label and a movement but the ideal is still pure.
no wonder you're not edge anymore or even got the edge, you never got it.
The Church of Samuel L. Jackson and Latter day Snakes
A few points I should bring up:
1 - There's nothing in Straight Edge against sex. When Ian said "Don't *beep*" in Out of Step, that was a personal creed he followed at the time. Of course he has a long term girlfriend now and it would be only natural if they had sex. It wasn't even the same song anyway..the ethics are more about making positive, non destructive decisions. Some sexual situations are negative, but some are positive.
2 - I believe Ian MacKaye doesn't use. If he drinks at all, he would only do it in moderation. I believe he's also a vegan. He seems to be very self conscious about keeping his body and mind clean, even now.
3 - Straight Edge really isn't all that extreme, especially if you keep it in context as a personal lifestyle decision. I'm Edge, and I'm 24. I claimed at 12. I personally just am not interested in following any other lifestyle, and yet I support legalization of all drugs, and prostitution, and believe it's nobody's place to preach to another on how to live. I like positive, progressive Edge bands like Good Clean Fun and don't try to force my ethics down anyone else's throat. The kids who are militant about it are kind of sad, and many of them drop out anyway.