The Teen Idles

Genre:Hardcore Punk


The Teen Idles were an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in August 1979. Teenagers Nathan Strejcek, Geordie Grindle, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson were the band's continual members. Their recorded output consists of two demo sessions and one EP—1981's Minor Disturbance—released prior to their breakup in November 1980. The Teen Idles were the first band to be signed to the influential independent record label Dischord Records. They were an early landmark in both the straight edge and D.C. hardcore movements, while MacKaye and Nelson would later form the seminal punk outfit Minor Threat.
The Teen Idles were among the first punk rock groups from the early 1980s hardcore movement to break out of their regional scene to tour and sell nationally. Inspired by other American punk bands like The Cramps and Bad Brains, The Teen Idles' music was an early version of hardcore punk, and an attempt, in the words of MacKaye, "to get away from a really corrupted music." Their appearances, lyrics and musical style sought to revive a punk movement that they believed had lost its original zeal.

In 1978, Washingtonian Ian MacKaye discovered punk rock through a local college radio station, Georgetown University's WGTB. He met Jeff Nelson, a classmate of his, after Nelson set off a pipe bomb outside their school and MacKaye went to investigate. The two became friends and quickly discovered their shared interest in punk. MacKaye and Nelson saw their first punk show in January 1979—a benefit concert by The Cramps for WGTB. The concert inspired the pair; MacKaye later admitted, "It blew my mind because I saw for the first time this huge, totally invisible community that had gathered together for this tribal event. I thought, 'This appeals to me.


This is the world I think I can breathe in. This is what I need.'"After seeing a Bad Brains concert, teenagers MacKaye and Nelson began playing in a punk band, The Slinkees, with school friends George Grindle and Mark Sullivan. The Slinkees played a single show before Sullivan went to college. After a failed attempt to recruit MacKaye's friend Henry Garfield (later Henry Rollins), the band recruited Nathan Strejcek as a vocalist. The Slinkees soon renamed themselves The Teen Idles. After touring and practicing for several months, the band recorded two demo sessions at a local studio in February and April 1980, despite the engineer and a visiting band openly laughing as they recorded. They also began playing at house parties and pizza parlors, as well opening for Bad Brains at an art gallery called Madam's Organ.

To revive the fervor of punk rock, which the band felt was being distorted by New Wave, The Teen Idles sought to make their appearance as intimidating as possible. They shaved their heads, grew mohawks and wore various punk accessories. Nelson and MacKaye even drove thumbtacks into the soles of their boots so they would make an "ominous clacking" sound when they walked. The band's visual presentation was at odds with their demeanor; according to MacKaye, "in our shows and within our own community, we were totally goofy guys. We were painfully honest — we didn't shoplift, we didn't vandalize, we didn't spray-paint.  We don't do anything — everybody just hates us because of the way we look."