Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington DC in 1980. Short-lived but very influential, critics have called the band and their work "iconic," and have noted that their "groundbreaking" music "has held up better than [that of] most of their contemporaries." Minor Threat is credited with unintentionally starting the "straight edge movement" from a handful of song lyrics.
They and fellow Washington DC residents Bad Brains set the standard for many hardcore punk bands in the 1980s and 1990s. .