The author recounts their teenage years in Aberdeen, where binge drinking was a common practice among peers due to a lack of youth clubs. Their interest in music grew through weekly readings of Kerrang! and the discovery of influential bands like Fugazi and Minor Threat. Inspired by Ian MacKaye's approach to music and personal independence, the author embraced the straight edge philosophy, rejecting drugs and alcohol as a way to express rebellion against societal norms, despite not being outwardly rebellious in other aspects of their life.
I didn't come across any youth clubs or anything particularly productive. You drank beer or alcopops in some shady lane, and you drank so quickly that you'd get drunk but then be sober enough to get home at 11pm so your parents wouldn't notice.
Ian MacKaye, a member of Fugazi, was an important figure for me: he had a very specific way of approaching music and was fiercely independent. I was inspired by him, shaving my hair and wearing a beanie.
Not taking drugs or drinking alcohol seemed like the most radical way to be rebellious. In Minor Threat's song Out of Step, MacKaye sings lyrics such as I don't drink, but he shortens it to don't drink, so it sounds more like he's telling you to do the same.
It wasn't so much the music itself that grabbed me, it was more that I became interested in this perspective of questioning the mainstream.
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