[ZeroSignal]

Originally Posted by oompa

maybe they are straight edge because they believe they benefit from it, then you shouldn't need to follow any distinct rules at all, right?

and i also always thought (and heard from a friend who is the only one i know who is sXe) that the sex thing is about not "screwing around", its nothing about having sex with your girlfriend. the way he (and i, because of him) see straight edge, it is about not falling for the cheap thrills that surrounds us today, like drugs/sex/alcohol, for bodily or/and philosophical reasons.

Me in a nutshell. For both reasons mentioned.

Is music technically a cheap thrill? I don't wanna get kicked out of mah club...

[Zepp88]

Originally Posted by Nick

what if you 'love having sex' ?

iv not read this whole thread but from what i did read im dissapointed that no1 quoted bill hicks!!

I already took care of that man. Bill Hicks quotes are mandatory.

[Metal Ken]

Originally Posted by ZeroSignal

Me in a nutshell. For both reasons mentioned.

Is music technically a cheap thrill? I don't wanna get kicked out of mah club...

The one thing i always wondered about it, though:
If you want to not do that shit, cool. But why put a label and force yourself to fit into a crowd? I've known people who abstain from shit, but they dont go around calling themselves straightedge and make sure they check in with the straightedge lifestyle. They just dont do the shit they dont do because it isn't them.

[neon_black88]

Originally Posted by Metal Ken

The one thing i always wondered about it, though:
If you want to not do that shit, cool. But why put a label and force yourself to fit into a crowd? I've known people who abstain from shit, but they dont go around calling themselves straightedge and make sure they check in with the straightedge lifestyle. They just dont do the shit they dont do because it isn't them.

Because its "cool", and you get to wear an awsome cross on your hand that people will ask about?

I'm not saying they're all like that. I've met alot that are.

[daybean]

have you seen some of these guys with those crosses on their hands getting into the mosh pit and trying to kick some ass. they scare me.

[Nick]

no but iv seen them go in a moshpit and get their asses handed to them after they start trying to punch people etc

Originally Posted by Metal Ken

The one thing i always wondered about it, though:
If you want to not do that shit, cool. But why put a label and force yourself to fit into a crowd? I've known people who abstain from shit, but they dont go around calling themselves straightedge and make sure they check in with the straightedge lifestyle. They just dont do the shit they dont do because it isn't them.

thats exactly my problem with a lot of the 'straightedge' group most of them dont give a fuck about what they are doing with drugs or alchol etc. They just want to say 'im straightedge'.

[Desecrated]

Originally Posted by Metal Ken

The one thing i always wondered about it, though:
If you want to not do that shit, cool. But why put a label and force yourself to fit into a crowd? I've known people who abstain from shit, but they dont go around calling themselves straightedge and make sure they check in with the straightedge lifestyle. They just dont do the shit they dont do because it isn't them.

As i said earlier, it's probably because it makes things faster. it's easier to say straight edge then "non alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, drugs user, who also enjoys hardcore music and like to go in the moshpit from time to time."
If I say straight edge I assume that you know what I'm talking abut, it's the same as calling yourself metalhead or new yorker or footballfan.
I mean there is no way that every football fans are the same, and Im sure that you can enjoy fotball without having to call yourself a football fan, but it makes it easier to explain why the hell you need absolute silence every sunday for 2-4 hours.

[Desecrated]

Originally Posted by Nick

no but iv seen them go in a moshpit and get their asses handed to them after they start trying to punch people etc



thats exactly my problem with a lot of the 'straightedge' group most of them dont give a fuck about what they are doing with drugs or alchol etc. They just want to say 'im straightedge'.

I don't see that as a straight edge problem, thats more of a human problem, in every group possible you will have individuals who show up just because they are bored and want to fight.

[Naren]

Originally Posted by Desecrated

I don't see that as a straight edge problem, thats more of a human problem, in every group possible you will have individuals who show up just because they are bored and want to fight.

I remember back in the late 90's a lot of the straight edgers (I was really into hardcore punk, so I knew quite a few straight edge punks, even though I personally wasn't one) called the violent ones "militant straight edge" and said that they were going against what straight edge is all about.

There are people like that in every group of people, whether we're talking about straight edge hardcore punks or metalheads.

[ZeroSignal]

Well I never label myself. Ever. I don't even refer to myself as a "metal-head". I only dress in any black for about 30-40% of the time. I listen to jazz, funk and classical music on top of heavy industrial and just about whatever takes my fancy. I never label myself not because I'm a non-conformist (but I kinda am in a way ) but because I would personally defy those labels just by who I am. If you called me a metal-head I'd show you some of my Preston Reed or some Gustav Holst CDs.

It's as Desecrated said (in his infinite wisdom ), it's just a handy label that works from time to time. I'm "Straight-edge" or whatever, yet I don't listen to hardcore music or care much for punk. As for the whole drawing-Xs-on-the-back-of-your-hand crap that the likes of Bleeding Through do, I'm not at all interested. As I said, it's a label. I don't want, or need, to label myself. It serves no purpose.

I mean, are we expected to call Opeth "progressive-death-metal" when asked about them? Labels serve no point other than to get slightly more accurate descriptions. Even if we were to call Opeth that we still wouldn't have covered their whole sound spectrum because there are some folk, melodic-death and classic rock influences. The genre terms would get very long and unwieldy very quickly indeed.