Out of Step

Classic hardcore punk! For my money, though, one of their compilations would be a better pick because it'll feature stuff from their self-titled and "In My Eyes" as well. All three releases are short enough that the compilations make for a better-suited experience overall, but I can't complain too much. Anyway, it does everything about punk so well. It's got attitude, edge, energy, and not stick around for more than 30 minutes. What's more punk than that? Also, Cashing In is an all-timer closer. Great record.

i have been waiting so long for this album to come up in the rotation. fuck yes.

This was a lot cooler than expected... I always figure this early HC stuff is just amateur noise, and it kinda is but it's catchy enough that it doesn't matter. better than black flag 4/5.

Ah, Out of Step. This album was my anger management therapy back during my teen years. I still come back to it from time to time when I'm in a particular kind of mood. This is really the epitome of a perfect hardcore punk album, full of wonderful little nuggets of burning intensity. It's brutal, blistering, raging, snotty, and entertaining as hell. Not a bad song on here. Fave Songs: Betray, Cashing In, Out of Step, Think Again, Sob Story

I get it, but I don't like it. Not a melody to be found. Glad it was so short.

One of the best punk rock albums of all time, bar none Most of the songs are filled with absolute anger and range I REALLY recommend you, the reader, listen to this

H A R D C O R E ™️

PLEASE SIR MAY I HAVE SOME MORE 🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵

Most of the way through Out of Step, I had a grin on my face. It has all the aggression you could want in a hardcore band, but the stop start rhythms, angular compositions, lack of cliches, turn on a dime performances, and thoughtful, angry lyrics give some nourishment for the soul and intellect as well. It doesn't hurt that, for hardcore, there's actually quite a bit of variety in the grooves and tempos. If I have a minor complaint, it's that I couldn't understand all the words, but that's kind of a given in hardcore.

The amount of pioneering Minor Threat accomplished in their short time together is amazing. Bigger fan of the first two 7”‘s but this album slaps hard. Fave Tracks : “Out of Step” “Betray”

If you ask me, this is THE quintessential hardcore punk album. Not the greatest of all time, perhaps, but the most core to the sound and ethos... but also, maybe the greatest lol.

Such a fundamental album in the evolution of punk and it’s nothing but pure energy and aggression and FUN! 21 minutes put to great use.

Crazy that people continue to make hardcore punk when it so clearly peaked here. All 26 songs that minor threat recorded are worth your time but these are the most essential.

I just got back from a relaxing weekend at a friend's cottage by the lake, it was serene and completely stress free. I had to catch up on my 1,001 ratings and this came up. Aggressive, angry and pissed off are words that come to mind. This definitely jars me back to reality. I can't say that I identify with it, but I respect their energy.

This is an album from my youth. Ian MacKaye being a big hero of mine. If I listened to it today without hearing it in my teenage years I don't know what I would rate it. Because of its influence on me its a easy 5.

Hard to deny this is is excellent (despite not being able to trust Ian MacKaye, his goobolini or his innate ability to appear on literally every single music documentary I've ever seen). Perfect demonstration of short fast loud. There is beauty in simplicity.

In my home town everyone had the Complete Discography by the time we were up-and-coming punks. Minor Threat had been broken up for well over a decade and we already had Fugazi. But that never stopped me from feeling the impact of this band like a punch in the face. I loved them. I was straight-edge for some time due to this band. I hung out with anti-nazi skins and generally thought the D.C. scene was worth revisiting for inspiration. Hearing these songs in their "release" format is a treat. Did I just say "a treat"? Jeeze, I'm getting old. Well, that's the way it goes, isn't it? Yeah!

wow, best one so far!

Oof, very enjoyable. I would take this 10/10 times over the Ramones. Only my second punk album in this journey but much more my speed. 5/5

Listened to this twice. i love it. The lyrics are great. "Boo-fucking-hoo". So great. I love the shittiness of it all.

This is GREAT punk.

Still super fresh US hardcore punk

intense and straight forward straight edge hardcore with all the elements for hardcore punk fans.

A 21 minute album, what a breath of fresh air. This is the kind of punk I like: high energy, high angst, and a surprising amount of talent in the (otherwise garage-quality) instrumentals. Crazy that this is Minor Threat's only album, considering I recognize the name, and perhaps even crazier that this was released in 1983. The influence that this had on rock for the next decade or two thereafter is palpable. Favorite tracks: Look Back and Laugh, Sob Story, No Reason, Out of Step. Album art: Simple but effective. A black sheep out of step with the herd. Plus the crude illustration of the black sheep opposed to the fine drawing of the rest captures the nature of punk music itself really well. 4/5

Was loud and fun

I never listened to Minor Threat in High School even though I was into punk rock - if I did this album probably would have changed my life.

Solid hardcore punk. You can feel their youth frustration. Love the cover art and how short the album is

There have been some stinkers for me this week so I'm excited to see this album pop up. I need some energy, and I've heard Minor Threat was a huge influence in the early punk scene in the US. This didn't disappoint, it's a pretty short album with 9 songs that are around 2-3 minutes each. The album comes in fast and hard, and blasts by, this almost reminds me of early Thrash metal in a way with how the instruments and played. The singer is yelling and swearing, and generally pissed off then you hear about the straight edge life and the lyrics of Cashing Out were awesome. I had fun with this one, would definitely listen to it again.

Pivotal moment in hardcore punk. Angry and energetic, the influence of this EP could be heard in thrash (especially the rapid power drumming and fast-changing guitar), grunge (the deep distorted guitar), alt rock (the vocals and guitar melody is resonated in the likes of the Pixies), and of course post-hardcore (e.g. Fugazi), which would lead to emo and skate punk and all sorts of other genres. Some of their best songs are here, but probably not as memorable as First Two Seven Inches. Still, these songs are complex. "Sob Story" and "No Reason" are only 2 minutes and yet they sound like 8 songs with how they completely change the structure so immediately. "No Reason" stopped like 5 times in the middle only to start up again, and features possibly the shortest guitar solo in history. Very punk to not give a shit. I'm really glad this is only 20 minutes. With how condensed these songs are, it would be too overwhelming for this record to go on for a traditional LP length. Yet, Minor Threat does this better than almost anyone else in the hardcore-adjacent genres, and so I'm glad this is represented on this list. Truly an essential listen. Started off with a bang with "Betray" and ended just as nicely with the slow melodious "Cashing In." Favorites: Betray, Look Back & Laugh, No Reason

A landmark in post punk. A scrappy, do it yourself attitude really bolsters these songs.

The realization of the promise of punk.

weirdly, i appear to like minor threat more now than i did when they released this record

Balls to the wall hardcore punk. Pure blast of energy, anger, intensity, with awesomely fast + heavy guitars/bass/drums. Will save this one for those days I need it.

The bass work is so sick

Nice to hear some more Punk music. Good album, doesn't overstay it's welcome as an EP. Always surprised to see this kind of music was a thing that early on.

Mostly felt to me like proto-Fugazi (with the latter being distinctly more fully formed), which is probably some kind of deep heresy. Which is not to say I didn't like it. Although it can feel preachy I admire the purity of this vein of punk, and the virtue of not overstating its welcome never hurts.

Chugs along in the hardcore punk style and unlike some other bands you feel these guys really mean it.

Fuck yeah. They have a sound and they stick to it, and why shouldn't they when it's this fun to listen to. Definitely an album I'll return to if I wanna let off some steam. 4.5

It’s fucking great and as others have said, probably the quintessential hardcore album. The straight-edge aspect of Minor Threat was always a turn-off to me, not because of the message, but because of the militant and obnoxious attitude of some of the fans. …but that’s not the fault of the band. Anyway, the world needs more 22 minutes albums. Doesn’t matter the genre, make your records quick and to the point, give them a sense of purpose and urgency, and have them hit like a punch in the face that leaves the listener wanting more.

Building-block punk. This has a distinct clean-kid vibe to it - checks notes: Ian MacKay, checks out - which is a little unusual for the space. Forty years old, but still feels current. As in, pieces of this are clearly getting released. A palette-cleanser-type listen.

I have occasionally diagnosed the misguided American tendency to follow a genre's tropes by rote, with deviancy from the standard seen as a betrayal. I mean, how many American bands over the years have offered their stab at Dust My Broom, only to reveal a version that's just another version of Dust My Broom, with no original ideas added as if they would profane a sacred article? Or if we consider the vastness rap has the potential to cover, why do so many rappers still restrict themselves to the cul-de-sac of gangsta rap? The American development of hardcore punk strikes me as a paradigm of this genre inflexibility. I talked about it during my review of Black Flag's Damaged, but it feels even more apposite to elaborate whilst reviewing Minor Threat. Let's look at how two countries' independent ripenings of punk servd as a natural experiment: the United States and the United Kingdom. In Blighty, the first wave of punk (Sex Pistols, Clash, Damned blah blah blah) led to no single response, but multitudes upon multitudes of bands each furrowing their own path. What exactly links Joy Division, the Slits, Orange Juice, ABC, the Specials, Sham 69, Crass, Gary Numan and Frankie Goes to Hollywood? Nothing at all, except that they were responding to the same provocations yelled by the 1977 bands. In America though, the inspiring new vistas mapped by the likes of the Stooges became bound, staid territories when American bands decided that punk just meant playing hard, fast and short. Yes, we have exceptions like Devo and the no wave bands, but most American punk sought to codify what became known as hardcore punk. Is it me, or is hardcore a pretty lame name for a genre? Surely it smacks of trying far too hard to sound hard, making it appear rather wussy? And if any hardcore band were wussy, it's obviously Minor Threat. Minor Threat were a group of Washington DC teenagers who became movers-and-shakers in that city's punk scene (sometimes written harDCore, aggravatingly). One of their first releases, the song Straight Edge, was a vow to eschew booze, drugs and promiscuity; this became the anthem for a subculture of abstinents called straight edge. It is this advertising of themselves, this sanctimoniousness, that makes straight edge practitioners insufferable. But it's not really the rejection of intoxicants that offends me, it's the sexual puritanism. Didn't the novel 1984 have a Junior Anti-Sex League? Why would you want to abolish the orgasm? This is not to say I don't appreciate some hardcore punk. Hardcore punk can exhilarate. But just as the body builds up a tolerance to narcotics when overindulged, the soul swiftly becomes blasé to hardcore punk when that's all the waiter suggests. So, the noise on Out of Step (another name that's a cock-obvious yet futile attempt to sound tough) is fine and you may well enjoy the 20 minutes; I did. But it's just one noise, and minute 4 sounds like minute 18. I can't really fathom why Minor Threat became relatively iconic. And the name is only half right: they're not a threat, but they are minor.

Yet another hardcore punk album that is exactly the same and has only it's short runtime going for it

Just yelling drums and guitar.

This is the music you make when you have a singer with no singing abilities, a drummer who’s just learnt the 4 4 rock beat and guitarists who’ve not moved past the most basic of power chords. It’s the absolute maximum needed for making punk...and this contribution is the at the lower end of the spectrum. Give it a miss...1 Star!

It sounds like one song on repeat. It was very monotone. There are many many way better punk albums - why is this even on the list?

Pretty speedy dullness

Frantic and short. so short in fact (21 mins) I listened to the compliation of their initial EPs called "First Two Seven inches" just to clock an extra 19 mins! Proper punk

very cool. Brian Baker!

My father always said, the best 45 minute punk album is 21 minutes long.

Loved it! Early punk is always a fun listen

OMG can't begin to guess how many times I've listened to this! Punk was massive in my community as a kid, and I naturally gravitated to the older, more simplistically brutal early stuff like Minor Threat.

It's Minor Threat, isn't it, of course it's brilliant, concise and fully rargh. Feeling hyped off the back of it! It created a whole subgenre of punk and inspired loads of kids, even years later, to live cleaner, more ethical lives. And it's got jokes too! Though compared to the earlier stuff, this album is bloated at about 3 minutes a song 😉

very good album, a classic

Great album. Went by in a flash.

"The 'core is gettin' soft..." Wish there was more like this ... So good.

Fuck yeah

Wow, first Two Nickels on the Dime and now Out of Step - it’s Hardcore Week. I’m here for it. This album is such a beautiful bridge between punk and grunge. Love both of those genres - I really like this album.

Ja Minor Threat, je zet het niet snel op maar ik denk dan meteen aan hun hits en een beetje aan Fugazi. Dan heb je de 5 sterren zo te pakken

This is great. It started out good, and carried on good, before ending up with Cashing In, which is just such a hoot that it makes the whole album.

Fuck Yeah

Snappy

Fuck yeah, super stoked for this one! That was a great album. Funny how the songs are all so short. The whole album was just over 20 minutes. Loved it!

Yeah, this is great as it has ever been, and Fugazi even better. On a side note: I would not call it an album but an EP.

This album is going to be a quick one. But hella killer. Look Back And Laugh is awesome. Out Of Step is awesome. This is out of this world for punk albums.

A refreshing change after two days of 50s music. This is proper punk, as it's meant to be. The bass solo in "Think Again" rocks.

Loved this. It was over too soon! If I were at a live show it would've been awesome. "You had us pegged all along. Damn."

Legendary band. Usually just listen to their whole discography because there's unfortunately not that much of it. Wasn't sure which tracks were on this one, but they're all great.

I liked head banging

Classic foundational release for hardcore punk, here in its DC area denomination. Any true punk fan should have this on their shelves, along with the 7' singles. Everything's available in the *Complete Discography* CD by the way. Buy this--or the vinyls--on Dischord, one of the last genuinely independent labels still running to this day, founded by Ian McKaye himself. Technically, *Out Of Step* is more like an EP, but I'm gonna give it five stars nonetheless. This is gonna make up for the outrageous absence of many key albums by Fugazi in Dimery's list, as foundational for post-hardcore / emo / "alternative" rock / "crossover" rock as this one was for hardcore. At least four of those Fugazi LPs should be added to *Repeater* in the 1001 albums book, namely *13 Songs*, *In On The Kill Taker*, *Red Medecine* and *The Argument*. For those who might not know: Fugazi was a band that Ian MacKaye, the frontman of Minor Threat, founded a few years after 1983 with Brendan Canty and Joe Lally, quickly joined by Rites Of Spring's Guy Piccioto to share vocal and guitar duties with MacKaye. Retrospective lists about the supposed greatest albums of all of time often fail to quote them, which is a damn shame. But those lists don't really matter. Anyone who knows a little about music history in the Western world is aware of the band's importance and how their work was influential to so many "rock" subcategories. Going back to *Out Of Step*, what's also thrilling about it is how Minor Threat developped the initial "basic" formula of their first recordings in it so as to infuse some subtle melodicism and a few more variations in their new songs. It's still very much hardcore punk, yet you can sense the direction a lot of bands from the Dischord roster would then follow as they picked up the ball from there (bands such as Dag Nasty, Embrace, Rites Of Spring and Fugazi themselves, eventually). I know I've already used the word "foundational" a couple of times in this review, lol, so I'm gonna say it differently: whole music genres branched out of this particular release, including some where listeners might fail to notice the connection at first. *Out Of Step* is THAT important. Number of albums left to review: 379 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 282 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 147 Albums from the list I won't include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 200

I can only imagine how this landed back in the day. This album is absolutely thrilling and timeless. It just fucking rules.

A hardcore punk classic for sure. The only problem is nobody, I mean NOBODY listens to just this album. You listen to the complete discography album. It's only makes sense. I don't care if it's technically a compilation, it's the definitive Minor Threat album because it's got ALL the classics. I mean I guess you could just listen to this if you're a vinyl nerd or something. Yeah this is a 5. It's too damn good. If you don't understand that you might need to flex your head.

Fast paced, full of anger and indignation, , doesn't stick around too long, and catchy to go with it. Basically, everything you could want from a hardcore punk album.

Already love this. Moment in time. 8/10

Phenomenal album!

4.5

Legendary shit!!! This album has everything: Classic tracks, catchy melodies, great playing on all sides, high energy and it’s only a little over 20 minutes long! You gotta love a band whose full recorded discography is shorter than 50 minutes. A personal favourite for sure

All the boys in the straight edge scene are in the basement huffing gasoline

Great album

Absolute classic hardcore punk. Only album with 2 guitars and a definite maturing in their sound. Bass work is amazing.

Hell yeah, this album showed that hardcore can be about politics but also could be about personal matters. It inspired me to write songs which were both political and personal.

Great early and influential DC hardcore. The cries of my people.

One of the most influential American punk/hardcore albums of all time! Still as good today as it was in 1983. Enough said.

"Out of Step" is the only studio album by American hardcore punk band Minor Threat. It is noted as being a critical release in punk rock, influencing the grunge, post-hardcore, skate punk and the thrash metal musical genres and the youth crew (straight edge - no drugs or alcohol) subgenre of hardcore punk. The lyrics have themes of self reflection, youth frustration, personal problems and difficulties with friendships. Minor Threat is Ian MacKaye (lead vocals), Lyle Preslar (lead guitar), Brian Baker (rhythm guitar), Steve Hansgen (bass) and Jeff Nelson (drums). Fast guitar slashes open "Betray." The band kicks in. MacKaye screaming about frienships changing. Dual guitars and the band gets groovy then goes back to thrash. At three-minutes, it is one of the longest songs on the album. We get a bass start in "It Follows." The thrashing guitars. All the things that MacKaye didn't like (cliques, herd mentality, bullies) have followed him into his hardcore group. "No Reason" has dual lead vocals. Another fun song. There's no place to be an elitist. The band actually pokes fun at themselves on the closer "Cashing In." They're only in it for the money. We actually get a guitar solo. The band shows it's melodic chops too. If you're looking for some good ole' hardcore punk, this is your album. MacKaye's lyrics are direct and maybe too preachy but you know where he stands. The band does show signs outside hardcore with the melodic and groovy/funky ventures they take. MacKaye would take this style a step further with Fugazi but this album is great on its own.

I dig it! Nice surprise.

Absolute genius :) Ian Mackaye is one of my idols and this was a perfect perfect record

1/2 of the iconic Häagen-Dazs Duo. One of the best to ever do it

A great one today. Short, dramatically. Influencing, and really good sounding. I learned that the entire straight edge culture came from this band who only had one 20 minute album. Also this sounds like early offspring, so that's cool

I want to tell you a little story 'Cause it makes me warm inside It's about some friends growing up And all the things they tried I'm not talking about staple shit They went for something more I guess it was too much dreaming Too much to hope for One day something funny happened But it scared the shit out of me Their heads went in different directions And their friendship ceased to be I'm telling you I want it to work I don't like being hurt Something's not right inside And I can't always put it aside What can we do, what can we do? Try I guess I make it too much shit Someday we'll look back and laugh Mr. President, go away Come back and fuck with us some other day Mr. Feelings, run and hide You have no right to what you feel inside Motherfuckers, quick to kiss Talk your shit, but don't fuck with this All I want to know is Am I holding on? Am I moving on? What can we do, what can we do? TRY Look at those assholes, ordinary fucking people. I hate 'em. - Repo Man 5/5

Sheep. They’re everywhere. Those woolly, innocent-looking creatures, just grazing in fields, but don't be fooled. They’re not as harmless as they appear. Oh no, they’re watching us, I tell you! Have you ever looked into their eyes? There’s something there, something sinister. They communicate in ways we can’t even comprehend, plotting and scheming while pretending to be these docile animals. Think about it. Why are there so many of them? They outnumber us, and yet we think we’re in control. We shear their wool, milk them, and even eat them, but that’s exactly what they want us to think. It’s all part of their grand plan. They’ve infiltrated our farms, our petting zoos, and our storybooks. The sheep are everywhere, silently biding their time. And then there's their leader. You know the one, that black sheep. The one that stands out, the one that doesn’t follow the herd. That’s the mastermind. It’s coordinating the others, sending signals through those eerie bleats. It’s no coincidence that when you see a black sheep, something goes wrong. They’re the overseers, making sure everything goes according to their secret agenda. Remember that nursery rhyme? “Baa Baa Black Sheep, have you any wool?” It’s a code. It’s been right there in front of us all along. Those aren’t just words; they’re instructions. The black sheep, the wool, it’s all symbolic. The sheep have been whispering their plans to us since we were children, and we didn’t even notice. And the way they move in unison, like they’re controlled by some hive mind. Have you ever seen a flock of sheep being herded? It’s like watching a well-oiled machine. They know exactly where to go, what to do. They’re training, practicing for the day they rise up. And those sheepdogs? They’re not herding the sheep; they’re working with them, keeping them in line, making sure they don’t give away too much. They've got us all out of step, just like the song says. We think we’re the ones out of step, struggling against the system, but it’s the sheep that have us dancing to their tune. “I can’t keep up, out of step with the world,” Minor Threat sang, and maybe they were onto something. The sheep have us out of step, out of sync with reality, making us believe we’re the odd ones out, the misfits, while they march in perfect formation, slowly tightening their woolly grip. And those sheep hybrids you hear about? Dolly the sheep? A clone! They’ve cracked the code of genetics. They’re experimenting, trying to create the perfect sheep, the ultimate overseer. We think we’re cloning them, but what if they’re cloning us? Creating perfect human-sheep hybrids to infiltrate our society. We could be living among them right now! Stay vigilant. The sheep are not what they seem. They’re out there, watching, waiting. And when the time comes, they’ll make their move. You’ll see. You’ll all see. Baa, baa, black sheep, indeed. They’ve got us out of step, and it’s time we started marching to our own beat, breaking free from their woolly chains.

OMG ONE OF MY FAV ALBUMS ALREADY!!!!!

I know of minor threat as I've heard them referenced by a lot of bands I grew up listening to, but never given them a proper listen. Man, this was great. Exactly what I imagine when I think of what hardcore punk should sound like. I'm sure I've got minor threat to thank in part for inspiring a lot of bands I loved growing up Short, energetic, left me wanting more. Definitely be back.

Incredibly influential on all the pop punk I listen to, can hear a lot of offspring in this. It's great in it's own right though, has the wry, sardonic lyrics that most my favourite bands have. Ian MacKaye is the most principled man in music and though I think Fugazi are more interesting, in 1983 this must have been revolutionary. This album doesn't get close to outstaying it's welcome, very easy to put on repeat. 4.5.

Very good, very influential. I’m sorry I just don’t want to write these things sometimes.

OG Punk Rock (80s)

Great! too short but definitely listening to again.

It had me from the very first notes! This album is great! I love punk rock!

Very good. But not as great as their first two EPs. The title track is one of my favorite Minor Threat songs. 7/10

Yes

Bängeri Hardcore punk

At first I thought it was just a punk album, but seeing that it was one of the first bands to set the trend it gave it a new meaning to it, for what it meant it deserves some kudos