Exploitive, money-grubbing pukes

This really pisses me off. Ready?

Minor Threat was a band who's importance to punk, hardcore, thrash and independent music cannot be overstated. These are the guys who literally coined the term "straight-edge" and actually followed all the beliefs they espoused in their songs. While all of their tunes are about a minute long, a lot gets said in those minutes. Self-aware, anti-drug, anti-alcohol, anti-establishment. All fiery messages.

And fiercely independent.

Ian McKaye (founder of the band) released all of MT's material through his own label, Dischord, and never signed to a major, despite constant courting. This attitude continued even after Minor Threat broke up. McKaye's Fugazi project is famous for never charging more than $8 for any show.

And they do great shows.

So, put more distinctly, Minor Threat was independent, anti-establishment and fierce about it.

Enter the corporate, exploitive, money-grubbing pukes.

Here is the cover of Minor Threat's Complete Discography.


...

And here is the poster for Nike Skateboarding's "Major Threat" Tour.


Don't you just want to shoot these people?

It would have been different if McKaye and Dischord had given their OK for this, but come on, folks. This is Ian fucking McKaye! Who in their right mind would think he would license this classic image to a huge company like Nike? And guess what?

He didn't.

Pitchfork Media asked Dischord if Nike had even requested permission to use the image and...

"No, they stole it and we're not happy about it. Nike is a giant corporation which is attempting to manipulate the alternative skate culture to create an even wider demand for their already ubiquitous brand. Nike represents just about the antithesis of what Dischord stands for and it makes me sick to my stomach to think they are using this explicit imagery to fool kids into thinking that the general ethos of this label, and Minor Threat in particular, can somehow be linked to Nike's mission. It's disgusting."

Grrr.

Now I'm sure that some bobbleheaded idiot out there is going to say something along the lines of "Go back to Russian, you commie. We live in a free market society and Nike did nothing wrong."

(this assuming that folks like that can string that many words together at one time).

Well, you know what? Fuck you. Go drink a Pepsi and listen to more Britney, you MTV brainwashed moron. This is just blatant exploitation and theft. It's grotesque.

Bastards.

(OK. I'm done.)

Nike has yet to steal the following:

Analog Pussy - Underground
(stomping, acid-drenched, put-ya-hands-in-da-air-ness)

Entombed - Left Hand Path
(the definitive death metal classic)

Lull - Cold Summer
(the icy, dark middle of nowhere)

Terminal Head Case - Epoch
(tripping out with the Zonal Twins)

Proem - Socially Inept
(glitch groovy pretty perky)