Washington DC’s Dischord is much more than a record label. Over the years it has become a byword for how a record label should be run: a code of ethics, and a way of doing business that is fair, equitable and proves no-one need be screwed in the sticky world of creating and selling music.
Beyond this, it has helped, unwittingly, spawn a range of influential sounds and styles - from first-wave US hardcore to emo, post-hardcore and jittery, danceable indie rock - and suggested, to those who cared to probe beyond the music, alternative ways in which to engage with the world.
Founded by Ian MacKaye (Fugazi/Minor Threat/Embrace) and Jeff Nelson (Minor Threat) initially to release a posthumous single by their high school band the Teen Idles, and subsequently existing to document the capital’s thriving hardcore scene, the label has carried this torch for over 40 years, maintaining its integrity and changing innumerable lives, minds and listening habits along the way. Not bad for a label whose first release was titled Minor Disturbance.
