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 p ...
subculture that was formed as counter-movement to the
straight edge 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 (musician), Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Br ...
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.
At the time that bent edge started, there were several people living in the
Dischord Records House
Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in punk rock. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release ''Minor Disturbance'' by their band The Teen Idle ...
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
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