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American hardcore punk band
the Nashville pop punk band

The Teen Idles were an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D. C., in September 1979. Consisting of teenagers Nathan Strejcek, Geordie Grindle, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, they recorded two demo sessions and the 1980 Minor Disturbance EP before breaking up in November 1980. The influential independent record label Dischord Records was originally created with the sole purpose of releasing The Teen Idles Minor Disturbance 7" record. They were an early landmark in the D. C. hardcore movement, and MacKaye and Nelson would later form the seminal punk rock outfit Minor Threat. The Teen Idles were among the first punk groups from the early 1980s hardcore movement to break out of their regional scene to tour and sell nationally. Inspired by other American punk bands like the Cramps and Bad Brains, the Teen Idles' music was an early version of hardcore punk, and an attempt, in the words of MacKaye, "to get away from a really corrupted music". Their appearance, lyrics and musical style sought to revive a punk movement that they believed had lost its original zeal.

In 1978, Washington teenager MacKaye discovered punk rock through a local college radio station, Georgetown University's WGTB. He met Nelson at Woodrow Wilson High School a classmate of his, after the latter set off a pipe bomb outside their school and MacKaye went to investigate. The two became friends and quickly discovered their shared interest in punk. MacKaye and Nelson saw their first punk show in January 1979—a benefit concert by the Cramps for WGTB. The concert inspired the pair; MacKaye later admitted, "It blew my mind because I saw for the first time this huge, totally invisible community that had gathered together for this tribal event. [ ] I thought, 'This appeals to me. This is the world I think I can breathe in. This is what I need'". After seeing a Bad Brains concert, MacKaye and Nelson began playing in a punk band, The Slinkees, with school friends Grindle and Mark Sullivan. The Slinkees played a single show before Sullivan went to college. After a failed attempt to recruit MacKaye's friend Henry Garfield (later Henry Rollins), the band added Strejcek as the vocalist. The Slinkees soon renamed themselves the Teen Idles. After touring and practicing for several months, the band recorded two demo sessions at a local studio in February and April 1980, despite the engineer and a visiting band openly laughing as they recorded. They also began playing at house parties and pizza parlors, and opened for Bad Brains at an art gallery, in a dilapidated row house in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, called Madam's Organ.

To revive the fervor of punk, which the band felt was being distorted by new wave, the Idles sought to look as intimidating as possible. The band's visual presentation was at odds with their demeanor; according to MacKaye, "In our shows and within our own community, we were totally goofy guys. We were painfully honest—we didn't shoplift, we didn't vandalize, we didn't spray paint. [ ] We don't do anything—everybody just hates us because of the way we look". The band was known for their ability to irritate using their lyrics. Upon returning to D. C., the Teen Idles were asked by Skip Groff, owner of the Washington record store Yesterday and Today, to record some tracks at Inner Ear, a small recording studio in Arlington, Virginia. They were introduced to engineer and owner Don Zientara (the "studio" was a four track recorder at Zientara's house). The Teen Idles played live in the basement while Zientara engineered and Groff produced. Seven tracks were recorded in total. However, the band was undecided about what to do with the tapes and eventually shelved them.

In late 1980, the Teen Idles decided to break up, mostly because Grindle had fallen out with Nelson. Grindle's new girlfriend, a born again Christian, disapproved of the band, causing Grindle to question his role. Tensions between Grindle and Nelson, who was an outspoken atheist, escalated until Grindle decided to quit. Their last show was on November 6, when they opened for SVT at the 9:30 Club. It was a key event for the popularity of all ages shows—where alcohol was not for sale, and thus no age restriction for admission. Previously, at the Mabuhay Gardens in California, the band was allowed entry to the club only after big "X"s were drawn on their hands—this showed that they were under the legal drinking age. The Idles suggested this to 9:30's management, and vowed that if youths were caught drinking, the club could ban them. The management agreed; the Teen Idles' final show passed without incident. After a year in existence, the band had earned a total of $600. They now faced two options: divide the money among the members, or press the recordings they had made with Zientara at Inner Ear. Choosing the latter, Nelson, Strejcek and MacKaye formed Dischord Records with Groff's help, to release the recordings. The band sent the tapes to a pressing plant in Nashville, Tennessee that specialized in pressing country music records. Initially puzzled by the request to put eight songs on a 7" record, they pressed 1,000 copies. For the cover, the band took apart another 7" record sleeve and used it as a template for their own cover design. They photocopied it on 11" × 17" paper, which the band members cut out with scissors, folded and glued by hand, then into these inserted the records and lyric sheets. Released in December 1980, Minor Disturbance was a local success, receiving radio airplay and reviews from fanzines such as Touch and Go, which meant that Dischord now had enough money to release records by other bands.

After the Teen Idles disbanded, Grindle chose not to pursue a career in music. By the time of Minor Disturbances release, Nelson and MacKaye had already formed Minor Threat. The new band's first show was on December 17, 1980. Strejcek became involved in the running of Dischord, until Nelson and MacKaye, disappointed by his lack of effort, "decided to take it back".

The Teen Idles appeared on several hardcore punk compilations throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most prominently the influential collection Flex Your Head, issued by Dischord in January 1982. To celebrate the label's 100th release, Dischord issued the Anniversary EP in 1996, comprising the two demo sessions the band had recorded in February and April 1980.

[[File:Teen Idles Minor Disturbance Album Cover. jpg|thumb|Cover art for the 1980 EP Minor Disturbance, featuring the distinctive "X" marking which later became an emblem of the straight edge movement Black Flag, and the Germs. These influences were reflected in the Teen Idles' songs, which consisted mostly of Strejcek shouting over a one two hardcore beat, with MacKaye and Grindle providing short and speedy riffs, interspersed with quick guitar solos from Grindle.