This article appeared in the Metro a couple of week ago, heralding the resurgence in the Straight Edge movement amongst the youth of the UK. Originally inspired by the lyrics of 1980s US punks Minor Threat, followers of the Straight Edge lifestyle abstain from drinking alcohol, smoking, taking drugs and promiscuous sex. The peer pressure to do these things is perhaps at its height within the youthful sections of society. The symbol of the movement even came from youngsters, as the X tattoo that adorns many Straight Edgers was itself adapted to show solidarity with underage gig-goers who were marked in felt-tip with an X on their hands so that they could not be served alcohol.
This Saturday sees the 10th annual National Edge Day. Every year for the last 10, the Straight Edge movement has celebrated, taking the 17th of October as an unofficial holiday in order to bring their community together to party hard and sober.
While the Metro article is informative to those who don’t know much about the sXe movement, a quick google finds many message-boards criticizing the article, as one user, states that “these stories do come around once every three years”. Another user notes that “there was a funny bit in the Metro piece about how Straight Edge was all over Reading festival as loads of kids had X stickers on their tops. Totally ignoring the fact that was a promo for the band The XX”.
It seems as though the mainstream media view the sXe movement as something that fluctuates in popularity, as the article probes the ‘falling off the edge’ of older members in asking “how long can the movement continue?” This is clearly not the case, as Phil Wilkey, the editor of www.straightedgelifestyle.co.uk notes that he was slightly misquoted in the Metro article and that numbers of Straight Edgers are always “pretty solid, it’s always been an underground movement”.
The Metro article does highlight, without meaning to, a big draw for many of those within the movement, in juxtaposing the lyrics of Minor Threat, asking their fans to think for themselves and describing the seeming violence of the mosh pit. Many young people decide to take the Straight Edge stance in order to feel more deeply, a sense of relief from their pressured lives, from these punk gigs, by taking part in moshing and in not anaesthetizing themselves through drink and drugs as many of their peers do. Yet while this abstinence is applaudable, there is a clear difference from those in the Straight Edge movement and those who are merely teetotal.
Ian MacKaye, the singer of Minor Threat, rerecorded the song Out of Step, the song that in many ways started the movement, with a spoken word section highlighting how his lyrics were not a “set of rules” to be followed with fanatic faith, as many Straight Edgers have done. Independent thought is clearly essential. Yet some of the scene has become more extreme and fanatical with a stereotype developing, of Straight Edgers pushing their views on those who do drink alcohol and the notorious group Hardline being involved in a Fight Club-esque arson of a McDonald’s and bombing of a mink factory. MacKaye’s initial message to bring attention to things that are “important to the whole world” has been somewhat lost. Yet the community is still strong and majority of the movement aren’t terrorists, and do just merely abstain from drinking alcohol, smoking and taking drugs, which is to be admired in many ways.
The Metro article may have arisen because of a perpetuating circle in which more people become Straight Edge because the media pays more attention to it. There may also be a thread that Straight Edging is more pertinent in the current financial climate, where there has also been a trend of health consciousness and an increased awareness the effect of leading an unhealthy lifestyle can have, as a result of the media attention focused on binge-drinking Britain.
The Straight Edge movement most certainly has it’s heart in the youth of today, and whether or not it is enjoying a resurgence is certainly up for debate, but moderation is clearly the sensible factor that needs to be taught and implemented between those young people who are binge-drinking and Straight Edgers.
Here are some interesting communities, blogs and documentaries about the Straight Edge movement:
[...] by Punk Rock Feedmeister on Oct.13, 2009, under Twitter Is there a Straight Edge resurgence in the UK? http://www.faceyouthlab.com/?p=238 [...]