When freshman Kerry Emery arrived at Ohio University, she knew she wasn’t interested in the party atmosphere.
Emery considers herself to be straight edge, a lifestyle in which a person abstains from drinking, drugs or promiscuous sex.
“I’ve seen other people get drunk and do drugs and I thought it looked stupid and I didn’t know what was so fun and cool about it; it seemed pointless to me.” Emery said.
While straight edge scenes are more prevalent in cities like Columbus, where the straight edge group Courage Crew lives, the Athens music scene is geared more toward indie rock bands than toward the hard and fast sound of straight edge hardcore.
“(With so much drinking here) I feel like there is an opportunity to impact people and make a change,” OU freshman Tyler Barton said. “(But I feel like) there’s no voice of reason here, and I’ve had to explain to a lot of people what straight edge is.”
Straight edge culture officially began in the 1980s with punk band Minor Threat and their 1981 song “Straight Edge,” sung by Ian MacKaye. MacKaye said that by abstaining from drugs and alcohol, he had an advantage, or an “edge,” compared to the typical rock and roller who indulged too heavily, according to Straightedge.com.
The letter X became a straight edge symbol when the underage hardcore band Teen Idles wanted to perform at a bar in Washington, D.C. The bar owners drew big X’s on the band member’s hands so that they could perform in the club and the bartenders would know not to serve them alcohol, according to Discord.com.
Today when straight edgers go to see bands play, they often draw the X’s on their hands before arriving at the venue, regardless of their age, to indicate their pride in being straight edge; XXX has also become a prominent symbol, one X each for no drugs, no drinking and no promiscuous sex, according to Straightedgelifestyle.com.
Twenty years later, straight edge music and culture is still alive and well today in bands like Throwdown, Casey Jones and Champion.
“I became straight edge in eighth grade,” said Barton. “I got into Throwdown … and that was when I saw other people there that were substance-free and were conscious of what they put into their body, like I was.”
Having a hometown where substance abuse was prevalent encouraged Tyler to remove himself from those situations at a young age.
Recently, a small amount of straight edgers, including Barton, have decided not take prescription drugs or drink caffeine because it is technically a stimulant and an addictive drug.
Another extension of straight edge is “hate edge” — extreme straight edgers who greatly dislike anyone who is not straight edge and have been known to start fights with anyone they see smoking or drinking.
Barton used to be a supporter of hate edge but he said he realized that violence wasn’t accomplishing anything.
“Taking a violent standpoint is hypocritical (to the straight edge movement), but when I was younger and saw the negative effects of substance abuse, seeing a straight edge dude beating up a drunk was cool to me,” Barton said
For some students being straight edge is a lifelong commitment, but others have changed their minds over time. Brian Roberts, an OU senior, was straight edge for most of high school, but became less enthusiastic about it soon after he graduated and “broke” edge a few months into college.
“I wasn’t militant about it at all, I just didn’t want to drink at that time,” Roberts said. “It became something that meant more to those around me than to myself, so I broke edge … my parents even bought me a case of beer and said congratulations!”
Although he is no longer straight edge, Roberts is still dedicated to his love for straight edge music.“If it’s loud and fast, chances are I’ll like it.” Roberts said.
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