The Minutemen were working-class intellectuals whose commitment to DIY ethics made them one of the most influential groups of the '80s punk underground. This primer illustrates their faculty for packing as many ideas as possible into songs that typically lasted less than two minutes, including rousing anthems of social unrest ("This Ain't No Picnic"), funk-informed cultural shockers ("Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs") and poetic monologues set to sunny Cali-twang guitars (“History Lesson Part 2”).