Teen Idles
MacKaye and Nelson's first band (1979-1980), formed while attending Wilson High School. Drew crowds of around a hundred—massive by local standards, second only to Bad Brains. When the band broke up, MacKaye and Nelson took their modest earnings of around $600 and started Dischord Records. They pressed 1,000 copies of the Teen Idles' Minor Disturbance EP, then hand-cut, folded, and glued every single sleeve themselves. Eventually they'd hand-crafted 10,000 copies. The EP became Dischord's first release, establishing the DIY template that would define the label and influence countless independents. The Teen Idles never achieved Minor Threat's recognition, but their breakup created the infrastructure for DC hardcore to flourish.
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Minor Disturbance
Dischord Records' first release (1980), hand-assembled by MacKaye and Nelson who cut, folded, and glued all 10,000 copies themselves over multiple pressings. The DIY approach wasn't ideology but necessity—two teenagers with $600 figuring out how to get their friends' music into fans' hands. Established the template for Dischord's operations: keep costs down, maintain control, learn by doing. The record label born from this release would become more influential than the band itself, providing infrastructure for DC hardcore to flourish and inspiring countless independent labels to follow the same model.