In 1980, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, a pair of Washington, D.C. teenagers, put out a record.

The short EP – a collection of raw, pissed off, boldfaced punk anthems by their own band The Teen Idles – went largely unnoticed beyond the D.C. scene. However, it is arguably the most important U.S. punk record ever released. Along with the Teen Idles first album, the audacious duo had just given birth to Dischord Records and with that, they’d accidentally created an outlet for the sound that would later be known as hardcore.

A few months down the line The Teen Idles had ostensibly become Minor Threat and the label had released of a series of demos and EPs by seminal hardcore bands Government Issue, State of Alert and Youth Brigade. MacKaye and Nelson had inadvertently galvanised a burgeoning underground U.S. music scene and over the next few years the pair released countless influential albums through Dischord, sparked a national interest in alternative culture and permanently fused punk with pace and politics.

Of course the releases featured in this list are just the tip of a very large, very noisy iceberg. But now the label’s entire back catalogue is on Bandcamp there’s really nothing stopping your from getting severely stuck in. From spawning genres to kicking off a revolutionary youth movement, these five records prove how one independent label from Washington, D.C. changed punk forever.

Minor Disturbance by Teen Idles

The Teen Idles - Minor Disturbance

1980

The clenched fists that adorn the cover of the Teen Idles’ solitary studio recording are marked with thick black crosses. This symbol, originally a method used by venues to mark out punters as below legal drinking age, eventually became synonymous with the straight edge movement. An actual revolutionary youth movement.

On the command of MacKaye and his cohorts, young people began to eschew drink, drugs and casual sex in favour of a clean lifestyle that stuck a firm middle finger up to the mind-controlling substances they saw as state-issued agents of apathy.

Side B by Void

Faith / Void - Split

1982

When I first heard this record it was easily the fastest thing I’d ever listened to. Void’s side of the record is one of the very earliest examples of a style of metallic hardcore that would later become known as crossover thrash.

Bands like Cro-Mags, DRI and Suicidal Tendencies would simply not exist without this extremely loud, incredibly fast record.

End On End by Rites of Spring

Rites of Spring - End on End

1985

Rites of Spring’s debut album opens with the strained urgency of frontman Guy Picciotto eking out the line, “Caught in time so far away from where our hearts really wanted to be.” Of course, in today’s musical climate this kind of sensitive male expression wouldn’t be surprising at all. But on a hardcore record? In 1985? Forget about it.

Rites of Spring are frequently cited as the proto-emo band and their only album End on End is a 50-minute screech through chaotic personal anguish and lovelorn punk rock. Rest assured, however, this record is far removed from its cultural ancestors so you won’t hear any Patrick Stump-esque warbling here. Not that I’d be completely averse to that…

Fumble (remastered) by Scream

Scream - Fumble

1989

OK, so apart from being an excellent example of a hardcore band slowing things down and refining their sound, this is also one of the earliest recordings to feature Dave Grohl on drums. While on tour with the band Grohl met Melvins frontman Buzz Osborne who later introduced him to Kurt Cobain. Can we credit Dischord with the entire genre of grunge, the ensuing explosion of alternative culture into the mainstream and, ultimately, every hit rock single that has come since?

Yes. Yes we can.

13 Songs by Fugazi

Fugazi - 13 Songs

1989

It’s 1989, the end of a decade, and playtime is officially over in the Dischord office. Fugazi have released two excellent EPs and someone’s had the super smart idea of jamming them together to create the best album of all time (all opinions my own etc).

Fugazi’s functionally titled opus 13 Songs is one of those records that is constantly cited as an influence but largely remains dusty in terms of mainstream exposure. Resting, once again, on the genius of Ian MacKaye the band foreshadowed post-hardcore with stop-start time signatures, intellectualised lyrics and melodic tendencies.

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