1. June 2005
Nike Skateboarding has issued an apology to Minor Threat and Dischord Records for a promotional poster titled "Major Threat" that closely mirrored the album art of the band's 1981 self-titled EP.

2. "Minor Threat's music and iconographic album cover have been an inspiration to countless skateboarders since the album came out in 1984," reads a statement posted yesterday on the Nike Web site. "And for the members of the Nike Skateboarding staff, this is no different. Because of the album's strong imagery and because our East Coast tour ends in Washington, D.C., we felt that it was a perfect fit. This was a poor judgment call and should not have been executed without consulting Minor Threat and Dischord Records.”

3. Nike's choice of poster art comes as a blow to the fiercely independent Minor Threat and Dischord Records, a label which has built a business model founded on consistently choosing art over commerce.
In a statement posted on the Dischord Records Web site last Friday, the label lamented the ad: "To longtime fans and supporters of Minor Threat and Dischord this must seem like just another familiar example of mainstream corporations attempting to assimilate underground culture to turn a buck. However it is more disheartening to us to think that Nike may be successful in using this imagery to fool kids, just beginning to becoming familiar with skate culture, underground music and DIY ideals, into thinking that the general ethos of this label, and Minor Threat in particular, can somehow be linked to Nike's mission."

4. Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band that formed in Washington, D.C. in 1980 and disbanded in Despite being so short-lived, the band had a strong influence on the hardcore punk music scene.
Minor Threat's song "Straight Edge" became the eventual basis of the straight edge movement, while the band often professed their own "straight edge" ideals.[1]
All of Minor Threat's records were released on Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson's own Dischord Records label.

5. I'VE GOT STRAIGHT EDGE I'm a person just like you But I've got better things to do Than sit around and smoke dope 'Cause I know I can cope Laugh at the thought of eating ludes Laugh at the thought of sniffing glue Always gonna keep in touch Never want to use a crutch I'VE GOT STRAIGHT EDGE