The punk band Henry Rollins compared to The Beatles: “Those guys could really play!”
It is no secret that punk rock, as a genre, is among the most musically inept in a technical sense. After all, punk was not about playing complex riffs or reading sheet music. It was rooted in a rebellious attitude and defiant nature. As such, comparing any group of the punk era to the most influential band of all time, The Beatles, is a pretty contentious thing to do. However, if anybody is qualified to make that comparison, then it is the ex-Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins.
A self-confessed music obsessive, Rollins has been an integral part of the punk scene in America for the past four decades. A native of Washington D.C., he had front-row seats to the incredible hardcore scene which blossomed in the city in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In fact, he was so deeply ingrained within the local scene that it didn’t take long for him to be plucked out by punk godfathers Black Flag, who recruited him as a frontman in 1981. Since then, he has seemingly devoted himself to educating others on the joys of anti-authoritarian punk rock. In other words, he really knows his onions.
Over the years, Rollins has taken every opportunity to espouse his love for his contemporaries. From gushing about The Clash to discussing the genius of John Coltrane, the frontman’s taste is as eclectic as it is educated. One group that always holds a special place in Rollins’ heart, however, is Minor Threat. Rising through the ranks of the grassroots scene in D.C. together, Rollins forged a close friendship with Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye, who he lists as potentially the greatest musician within that scene.
“I remember when he wrote ‘Straight Edge’ on his mother’s piano,” Rollins once recalled to Louder, “I saw that. It’s easy on piano.” It might have been easy, but it was still pretty unheard of for a punk frontman to be proficient on the piano back at the height of the hardcore scene. It was around this time that Rollins made his own first steps into the musical world, forming State of Alert in 1980.
After watching Minor Threat, though, it became obvious to Rollins that State of Alert was never going to get anywhere. “It was Minor Threat that had songs,” he explained, adding, “They were like The Beatles. My band and the others were just a blurry mess. […] I mean, those guys could really play.” In the context of the hardcore scene, Minor Threat might as well have been The Beatles. Nobody could get remotely close to them in terms of musical proficiency and incredible songwriting.
That sentiment was echoed by Rollins, who went on to say, “By their third show, everyone in the audience kind of already knew the songs.” That was particularly impressive, given the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it performance style of MacKaye and company, giving audiences little time for the lyrics to sink in without being crushed by endless stage-divers.
Minor Threat and Ian MacKaye would go on to be incredibly influential in the face of hardcore and punk. MacKaye certainly lived up to The Beatles comparison purported by Rollins by forming the Dischord record label and fronting the legendary post-hardcore outfit Fugazi. Just as no other band had the same impact on rock and pop as the Fab Four, no individual person has had the same impact on American punk as Ian MacKaye.