Artist Biography
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Dag Nasty kept roaring D.C.-styled hardcore alive during the mid-'80s. Although the group was more accessible and melodic than
Minor Threat, it never lost its bracing, blistering edge. Formed by former
Minor Threat and
Meatmen guitarist
Brian Baker and ex-
DYS vocalist
Dave Smalley,
Dag Nasty recorded their first album,
Can I Say (1986), with D.C.-punk guru
Ian MacKaye assisting on the production. The following year,
Smalley left the group; he was replaced by
Peter Cortner, who added more pop elements to the band's sound.
Dag Nasty moved from
MacKaye's Dischord label to Giant in 1988, releasing their last album of the '80s,
Field Day. Along with former
Big Boy Chris Gates,
Baker formed the metal band
Junkyard in 1989, which released two records on Geffen before fading away.
Dag Nasty came back together in 1992, releasing
Four on the Floor
for the growing underground punk scene that was only a few short years
from breaking into the mainstream. The response was enthusiastic, but
the band stepped away from the business again. Ten years later, they
reunited with the emo-rock call to arms
Minority of One and released it on Revelation Records. In 2010,
Ian MacKaye released
Dag with Shawn -- the original recordings from
Can I Say taken from a session with
Dag Nasty's very first vocalist,
Shawn Brown -- on Dischord.
