December 14, 2007
MacKaye Mildly Endorses Minor Threat Hot Sauce
The Brooklyn-based Wheelhouse Pickles company has been selling a hot sauce named after the seminal D.C. hardcore band Minor Threat – and the band’s co-founder Ian MacKaye has given it his conditional blessings. The famously anti-commercial MacKaye, who not too long ago blasted Nike for ripping off a Minor Threat album design, was sent a sample of the sauce with a label similar to the Minor Threat illustration “Bottled Violence.” And after tasting the sauce, MacKaye unexpectedly agreed to let Wheelhouse use the name, though without the artwork: “I don't have an occasion to eat a lot of hot sauce, but I also thought the Minor Threat stuff was nice.”
Wheelhouse owner and MacKaye fan Jon Orren – who graciously showed Gothamist his company’s pickling process last year – was inspired to name the sauce after the band because the fruity, Caribbean-themed sauce is more mild than your average hot sauce. His dream is to see Minor Threat become a mainstream American condiment. (The sauce, not the band.) Made from a rare, mild breed of habanero peppers, Minor Threat is inspired by “the legendary West Indies’ mustard- and mango-based habanero sauces, only it mysteriously privileges the pepper's fruitiness over its notoriously overwhelming heat.”
We never went into trademark law like our parents wanted, but we’re wondering if MacKaye would have been able to stop Wheelhouse from using the name “Minor Threat” even if he wanted to. MacKaye is typically non-litigious – all the deals made with bands on his Dischord record label are done with a handshake, no contracts – and it’s doubtful that the “Minor Threat” name is trademarked. So without trademarks on his bands’ names, what’s stopping a line of FugaZip-Lock Bags?
We interviewed MacKaye, but he said nothing about hot sauce.
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FugaZip-Lock. Good one John!
It would be weird if, on the off chance that this stuff became a household name, that one heard "Minor Threat" all the time in a different context. Kind of like when VH1 ran that game show "Never Mind the Buzzcocks" 24-7..
We use "guilty of being white" non-dairy creamer at my office.
How about some Dead Kennedys beer..."too drunk to f**k" pale ale?
I doubt they could use the name Minor Threat without the band's approval. "Minor Threat" is strongly associated with the band and is not used in any other commercial context, so people would assume there is some relation.
I'm also a big fan of 'Out of Step' dance studios where I take tango lessons, and 'I'm Seeing Red' optometry studios. Great eye doctors there.
I like to use "Filler" packing foam for all my fragile item shipping needs. "Straight Edge" brand rulers are better than their warped competitors, and "I Don't Wanna Hear It" earplugs are perfect for getting a good night's rest next to your snoring partner.
Maybe I can finally go public with my 'Slip It In' Black Flag-themed condoms and the 'Tooling For Anus' Meatmen-style anal lube.
"...and it’s doubtful that the “Minor Threat” name is trademarked. So without trademarks on his bands’ names, what’s stopping a line of FugaZip-Lock Bags?"
The band's name certainly is a trademark, because a 'trademark' is simply the words or symbols that identify and distinguish the source of the goods of one party from those of others.
The name is not a [i]registered[/i] trademark, but much like with copyright you can establish trademark rights without taking the step of formally registering it.
Regardless of whether it's registered or not, you couldn't call another band Minor Threat. Whether you could label a line of food products with that name isn't so easy to answer, but that answer wouldn't hinge on whether the name is registered as a trademark.
Polite New Yorker, you're amazing! Plus you totally beat me to it as I felt a "Slip It In" reference coming on.
Ok, so the Minor Threat Sauce is actually mild. I wonder if this guy is going to rip him off again w/a hot version called "Bottled Violence." Then maybe Ian would be "Seeing Red". Or maybe not, maybe he'll just endorse it again for those traditional meals served on "Salad Days."
I guess he's finally looking back and laughing.
For the record, you people are the best group of recondite punners ever. Huzzah for Gothamist readers!
Thanks alot friends.
GAME: Make-A-Band-A-Food
...
Frank Blackened Catfish
Sole Asylum (alternate: Sole Coughing)
Husker Stew
Kyle Mignon
Gang of Four Cheese Pizza
I Love You But I've Chosen Prawns
Nine inch Snails
...
http://www.chunklet.com/index.cfm?section=blogs&ID=261
GAME: Make-A-Band-A-Food
...
Frank Blackened Catfish
Sole Asylum (alternate: Sole Coughing)
Husker Stew
Kyle Mignon
Gang of Four Cheese Pizza
I Love You But I've Chosen Prawns
Nine inch Snails
...
http://www.chunklet.com/index.cfm?section=blogs&ID=261
Ian was a bit peeved at Nike when they had the Minor Threat album-impsired artwork. So much so that Nike pulled the campaign.