Bent edge or curved edge was a

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

subculture that was formed as counter-movement to the

straight edge Straight edge (sometimes abbreviated sXe or signified by XXX or X) is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs, in reaction to the excesses of punk subculture. For some, thi ...

movement. It was started by members of Washington, DC hardcore scene who were fed up with the rigidness and intolerance in the nascent straight edge scene. To combat straight edge, they started throwing beer and drug-fuelled punk shows. The point of these shows was to be the complete antithesis of straight edge. Quickly, this idea spread throughout the US. As early as 1982, only a year after ''Straight Edge'' was released, audience members were approaching

Minor Threat Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C. by vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Brian Baker and guitaris ...

while they were on tour telling them that they were bent or curved edge. To

Ian Mackaye Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye (; born April 16, 1962) is an American musician. Active since 1979, he is best known as the co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label and the frontman of hardcore punk ...

, "the anti-movement started before the movement began. People were rebelling against straight edge before there was even a movement to rebel against". Bent edge was also part of a rising anti-Dischord sentiment among many people in the

punk scene The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual freedom ...

. At the time that bent edge started, there were several people living in the Dischord Records House that were not straight edge. Straight edge and non-straight edge people mixed freely, but as time went on, the tolerance in the straight edge scene faded, adding momentum to the bent edge ideals.

Bands

Black Market Baby Black Market Baby was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C. They were one of the groups that created the original punk rock scene in the Washington area in the 1980s. They were extremely popular locally, and were known to be an excell ...

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite book, last=Andersen, first=Mark, title=Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital, year=2003, publisher=Akashic Books, isbn=1-888451-44-0, page=125, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CU1jKq0TlvQC&dq=%22bent+edge%22&pg=PA125, author2=Mark Jenkins {{cite book, last=Beebe, first=Roger, title=Rock Over the Edge: Transformations in Popular Music Culture, year=2002, publisher=Duke University Press Books, isbn=0-8223-2915-8, page=343, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qxn8mPy5x3IC&dq=%22bent+edge%22+punk&pg=PA343 {{cite book, last=Hannon, first=Sharon M., title=Punks: A Guide to an American Subculture, year=2009, publisher=ABC-CLIO, Incorporated, isbn=978-0-313-36456-3, page=161, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5CrUGq8t77kC&dq=%22bent+edge%22+punk&pg=PA161 {{cite book, last=Kuhn, first=Gabriel, title=Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics, year=2010, publisher=PM Press, isbn=978-1-60486-051-1, page=37, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rp_tVcHOV0oC&q=bent+edge 20th-century music genres Straight edge Hardcore punk genres