Minor Threat - Salad Days 7"

I actually feel unworthy to write about this record or really any Minor Threat record. There are so many people that have more insight and have written far more eloquently than I will even be able to about their music. What I can write about is how great I thought these guys were. They along with the Circle Jerks were my introduction to Hard Core as a kid. I had a neighbor whose older brother was into Hard Core. In fact he drummed for the band Life Sentence in Chicago. I"m sure to doa post about them at some point. Anyway, my my friend made ma a tape of some of his brother's records. The first one he made me, to which I played endlessly had Minot Threat, the red 12" album and The Circle Jerks "Group Sex". I'm pretty sure that same tape also had 7 Seconds "The Crew". That was such a great thing about Hard Core records was that the albums were so short that you could fit a bunch of them on one tape. That tape was a revelation. Up to that point I knew some basic Punk. Clash, Ramones, etc. I was into the who British heavy Metal thing and Metallica was just releasing their first record. I remember thinking Metallica was fast and loud, but then I heard Minor Threat. Life was never the same. Not only were they fast, but they were singing about things that actually meant something to me, instead of songs about evil adn the devil and killing and other dark fantasies. This was real life stuff.

I didn't hear the songs on this 7" until much later in life. To be honest I didn't hear these until I heard them on CD on the Minor Threat Discography. Again the great thing about Hard Core is that you could take a band like Minor Threat and put everything they ever recorded on one disc. These are some of the last songs they recorded and are starting to sound like Embrace. You can hear the future sounds of Emo within these three songs. Things get slowed down and there is a bit more melody than the first records. From what I've read these songs weren't universally loved because they broke from the hard core dogma of faster and louder. If I had heard them when I was 14 or 15 I may have been disappointed as well, but by the time I heard them I was far more open to all different kinds of musical expression. I appreciate the exploration and break from the same old same old.

So take a trip back in time with me and listen to the slower tones of this groundbreaking, legendary band.

Enjoy!

01 Salad Days.m4a

02 Stumped.m4a

03 Good Guys.m4a