Career
He is best known as the drummer for the Washington, District of Columbia hardcore punk band Minor Threat. Nelson and friend Ian MacKaye formed their first band, The Slinkees, in 1979. Their next band was The Teen Idles.
He also co-founded the independent record label Dischord Records along with MacKaye in 1980, whose first record was the Teen Idles.
They continue to run Dischord together. The duo also comprised the bands Egg Hunt and Skewbald/Grand Union.
Both bands recorded only one single. Nelson has also played in the bands Feedbag, Three, Wonderama, Senator Flux, High Back Chairs, and Fast Piece of Furniture.
He founded Pedestrian Press in 1988 and Adult Swim Records in 1989.
An aficionado and collector of Jeep Wagoneers and Victorian architecture, Nelson currently lives in the historic "Old West End" of Toledo, Ohio. In 2008 he formed a community organization called Save Our Scott, which led the fight to save Toledo"s oldest high school, built in 1912. (Jessup West Scott High School was saved, and underwent a $42 million renovation).
