Felt like they were on the rage as I was finishing high school, but now they’re nowhere to be seen.
I’d wager most of you haven’t even heard the term ‘straight-edge’ in months, or possibly years.
Briefcases. Once briefcases no longer became practical, laptop satchels had a moment, but then the straight-edged kids realised that backpack was just superior in every way, so they begun to one-strap it out of convenience, and once you carry a backpack with one strap, that’s a slippery slope to being chill
Still here some 30+ years later. For a lot of people it was a passing phase and there was a lot of tough-guy bullshit that I think many people who felt marginalized bought into. But not everyone…
I read an interview one time (I think with one of the guys from Snapcase) that SE is just the beginning. If all you did was apply that label to yourself but not use that as a stepping stone for anything else in your life, then what good was it. That resonated with me a lot.
I don’t really go around advertising SE because I’m a middle-aged dude at work or at his kid’s volleyball game and I don’t really define myself by one label or lifestyle choice anymore. Being punk/alt/whatever at almost 50 looks different than it did at ages 16-22.
I’m grateful for the HC/punk family I grew up with and the memories of that scene I have and that I was able to avoid some of the pitfalls around me in my younger days.
I have never heard this phrase before but… I listen to hardcore, don’t do tobacco or recreational drugs, only drink non-alcoholic beverages (<= 0.3% ABV), don’t cook meat at home & basically live on a low-meat diet… so hol up (insert shocked Pikachu face)
I’m not into punk though so I guess that disqualified me
The 3 straight edge kids I knew all became public school teachers
My Sociology teacher in highschool was straight edge.
The said it was the straight edges or the crust punks and he was uncomfy in itchy clothes.
I used to be straight edge (or queer edge?), but gave up a few years ago. I need my vices just so I don’t feel dead inside 24/7.
I was straight edge when I was in school! I hit 20 and decided to try every drug. It was awesome.
The movement started in the early 80s by Ian Mackaye from the straight edge band Minor Threat?
Ian has always had the position it was a personal choice. Not some dogmatic bullshit. They were just kids who wanted to get into shows.
The song straight edge was just his personal opinion. Bands like SSD (Society System Decontrol) took it a little further. And then the NYHC scene in the mid to late 80’s took it even further. That’s how you ended up with Earth Crisis and victory records in the 90’s.
He doesn’t really like being tied to the straight edge movement.
The documentary “Salad Days” has a great interview with him about it
He also has a good interview in this book:
Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics
Sure did. X
Disclaimer: I was never straight-edge then, but was definitely picking up what Minor Threat and Fugazi were putting down.
I mean they may not know what straight edge means, but there are a shit-ton of people who don’t do drugs or alcohol…
I don’t do either but I don’t call myself straight edge because everyone I knew who did was an asshole.
Considering all the straight edge people I know seemed more into it to hate drugs and drug users more than about keeping a “straight edge”, they probably got absorbed into the manosphere somewhere.
Legitimately, the straight edge people I knew in high school are all republicans now.
I’m still here!
Okay but why, acid is basically risk free
Except if you have unmanaged blood pressure problems I think but it helps manage it as long as a dose won’t pop your skull off
Some people don’t want to try it. I love acid, and I think a lot of people could use it, but for some people it doesn’t sound like something they’re interested in so no harm done by them not doing it.
Why would I take acid, though? Do you live your life on why-nots?!
I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink coffee and avoid caffeine in general… Why would I do fucking acid? Plus, surely that’s expensive, no? I’ve never actually encountered any acid IRL so I’ve no idea how hard it might be to find, would I to look.
Oh, you’re scared of trying new things that might get you in trouble, that’s fair, police states and whatnot
I’m not sure what you mean LOL
Not sure how you got that idea from what I wrote, but drugs are actually legal to buy and consume where I live. Doing acid wouldn’t get me in trouble with the authorities! Well, unless I had a really bad trip and did illegal things, I guess, but I doubt that’s likely.
HxH username? (If not, ignore me, if so, nice!)
Nah, it’s just my name! I am a big fan of HxH, though, and used to have a Gon Freecss profile picture for the longest time.
A lot of straight edge teenagers either lose their edge (leave alternative subcultures) or quit going straight (start using psychoactive substances). That said a lot of punks wind up sober and at that point can be considered straight edge.
So where are they? The sort of places alternative folks gather when not consuming substances. They’re at an anarchist books to prisoners program, or food not bombs, maybe one is in the band at a small punk show you’re going to. Hell maybe it’s even one of your coworkers.
Subcultures are really easy to see in high school because teenagers often don’t like to code switch and they’ve got little filtering. Add in that its easier to be sober when you’re a teenager and it feels rebellious and like you’re saying fuck you to the man. Meanwhile at 30, especially if you’re deep in alternative subcultures, you’ve probably learned the demons your friends are trying to drown in whiskey. You may have friends who had the whole Pat the Bunny arc. Loudly announcing your sobriety and acting like it’s super cool is one thing at 16 and another thing when someone you know just fell off the wagon.
Oh also as adults a lot of them are more annoying about being vegan than being sober.
I was agreeing with you cause I haven’t really seen or used my straight edge since high school. Here I am thinking I don’t even have a ruler. Then I read the comments. I guess it’s not the literal straight edge.
To quote NOFX:
It’s not the right time to be sober, now the idiots have taken over.
To quote 3Oh!3:
X’s on the back of your hands, wash them in the bathroom to drink like the band
And to think they retired in 2024. 4 decades of no sobriety
To quote Leftover Crack:
And all the boys in the straight-edge scene are in the basement huffing gasoline
God is dead to me!
Maybe once you grow up you become first a Sober person, then a Teetotaler.
You’re not allowed to be Sober if you don’t have an addict phase, it’s discrimination quite frankly, you have to go straight to Teetotaler
I was straight edge but as a method to avoid drugs and alcohol as a youth. Around 18 I gave that up as did most of the edge kids I knew. I think out of the ones I still know only one maintains edge.
Because as an adult, you can simply choose whether to use drugs/alcohol and it’s not a big part of your identity like it was as a teen.
