10 Bands That Fell Apart After One Album

Once the '80s dawned, it was about to become a golden era for punk rock...just not on the charts. As much as the Clash may have blown the doors wide open by releasing London Calling just before the decade begun, the underground scenes of America were breaking some new ground, culminating in the post punk and hardcore scenes that launched around the world. Punk had only started to get vicious, and Minor Threat was the band that helped the genre find its teeth.

Though Ian McKaye had already been a seasoned veteran of the DC hardcore scene, Out of Step is punching well above any other punk band at the time, packing every song with nonstop energy that felt like what the Ramones might sound like if you took out all of the pop smarts. Outside of just the speed and intensity, the lyrical style also jumped up a notch, talking about subjects that related more to the average punk on the street, either feeling ostracized on the title track or songs like Betrayed about being hung out to dry by your friends.

There's a certain purity in this music, and it looks like Ian McKaye knew that as well, folding the band after one album and a handful of EPs before starting over one more time with Fugazi. It might have been a missed opportunity to cut things off that hard, but it's probably better to have a spotless version of Minot Threat than one that kept going for too long and tried to sell out.