Culture

Ian Mackaye is NOT dead

by Kaitlin | October 2, 2007 at 02:21 pm

8875 views | 4 Recommendations | 2 comments

Nothing like a little punk rock rumour to get the nets a-movin'...Google Trends was alight with searches today that would alarm any good punk fan:

ian mackaye died, ian mackaye dead, ian mackaye death

That's right...for the better part of today, fans of Ian MacKaye, legendary DC punker (Fugazi, Minor Threat) thought their hero was dead. All this from a little internet rumour--which appears to have no original source--posted on the online forum lemmingtrail:

Ian Mackaye, lead singer of influential hardcore band Minor Threat as well as Fugazi passed away today in a Baltimore hospital room. Outside a Fugazi show in New Jersey last night, the singer was struck by a car passing by the front of the Ventura Theatre. Brunswick police say that the driver allegedly stopped, but then fled the scene. There is now a police investigation underway.

Mackeye was rushed to St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, where he was pronounced dead this morning at 6am. This is a tragedy for the underground music as a whole and we need to stand together at this time of loss.

A second look pokes some holes in the MacKaye death myth: as posters wisely pointed out, Fugazi is not currently touring (they've been on official hiatus since 2002), and if MacKaye was hit by a car in New Jersey, why was he in a hospital in Baltimore?

Not wanting to ignore a potentially big story, the Baltimore Sun pursued the rumour. The result of their search can be found in their cultural blog, Critical Mass, under the fantastic headline Ian MacKaye is alive. Elvis is still dead.

The best part? MacKaye had to remove his own death from Wikipedia...twice.

So breathe easy, punk fans. Ian MacKaye is still very well alive and kicking...and hey, nothing like a good death rumour to get the internet talking about you again.

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Brian A Kennedy

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 04:37 on October 3rd, 2007

Great stuff, Kaitlin -- I got a little freaked out when I first heard the rumor myself.

ryan

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 06:20 on October 3rd, 2007

Kaitlin, generally I'm averse to negative stories, like there were no earthquakes in California today, but this is an important one. Thanks for setting the internet straight on this one.