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Marginal Man

Formed in 1983 by three former members of Artificial Peace—Mike Manos, Pete Murray, and Steve Polcari—alongside Kenny Inouye and Andre Lee, Marginal Man’s two-guitar set up and stylistic variety allowed for a layered melodic sound that helped define the post-hardcore era, as evidenced on their 1984 album, Identity. Throughout their initial run of 1983-1988, Marginal Man was a guiding force between waves of the D.C. scene.

Drawn from the Paul Bushmiller collection on punk, the Sharon Cheslow Punk Flyers collection, the D.C. punk collection, and the D.C. Punk and Indie Fanzine collection at Special Collections in Performing Arts at the University of Maryland.

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Fliers

Faith flier with a background image of the band performing on stage and various stylized text.
Faith, Minor Threat and Marginal Man - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., January 2, 1983
Marginal Man flier with black text and illustrations on a light yellow background. There is a prominent illustration on the left of a four-fingered hand with text under it that says '...I'm different... Ha...'
Marginal Man, Iron Cross, The Faith concert flier, Georgetown University Hall of Nations, Washington, D.C., March 11, 1983
Flier with black and orange text, and an image of the four band members.
Crucifix, Marginal Man, Faith and Hate from Ignorance - Wilson Center, Washington, D.C., May 6, 1983
Flier with bold, stylized text and one image at the center showing two figures in the dark holding a light and a strip of fragmented small images at the bottom showing various scenes and faces.
Insurrection, Marginal Man and Second Wind - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., July 24, 1983
Hand-drawn flier. There is a drawing of a crying man at the center, standing with his hands in his pockets, and to the right of it is some text written in German.
Marginal Man, Second Wind, and Insurrection - 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., July 24, 1983
Flier with a dark background image of a large group of people in cloaks with their heads down, and overlayed on this is cut-out style text (white letters on black background).
Marginal Man - Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. - May 25, 1984
Flier in the style of a comic-book cover with bold text and a large, centered illustration of fantasy figures (mix of humans and bats) falling from a cliff into water.
Marginal Man - Wilson Center, Washington, D.C. - October 13, 1984
Marginal Man flier on orange paper with a photo of bandmembers and a cartoon of a bearded Smurf holding a gun to another Smurf.
Marginal Man - The Playground - West Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, April 12, 1986
Marginal Man flier on a pink paper with an illustration of a mother listening to the radio with her child.
Marginal Man - WMUC, College Park, Maryland, April 26, 1986
Fire Party and Marginal Man flier with the title written in marker and a photo of a fire.
Fire Party and Marginal Man - d.c. Space, Washington, D.C., April 24, 1987
Fugazi flier with hand-drawn titles and details and a drawing of three figures in front of a bowl of pasta.
Fugazi, Marginal Man, Ignition, and Fire Party - Wilson Center, Washington, D.C., September 3, 1987
Marginal Man flier with a woodprint-styled illustration of a man playing the banjo.
Marginal Man - The Roxy, Washington, D.C., September 29, 1987
Marginal Man poster showing a cartoon man standing in a dark pool of water.
Marginal Man poster, circa 1988
Marginal Man flier with dense lines of music acts and dates.
Marginal Man concert flier, 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C. - March 24, 1988

Zines

Metrozine Issue 3. Stylized text and a picture of the drummer.
Metrozine, Issue 3, Fall 1984
Metrozine, Issue 11 with handwritten title and an illustration of two Japanese samurai.
Metrozine, Issue 11, circa 1985

About

Persistent Vision presents the University of Maryland's digitized special collections materials related to punk in the Washington, D.C. area. Most of these materials reside at Special Collections in Performing Arts (SCPA) in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. These materials help to tell the story of a subculture and a community that has thrived since 1976.

Curators: John Davis, Ben Jackson
Design: Ben Jackson, Natalie Salive
Authors: Ben Jackson, John Davis, and Jessica Grimmer

With help from: Cindy Zhao, Jeremy Gottwig, Amanda Henderson, Gabby Cameron, Hayden Kramer

Contact Us

Special Collections in Performing Arts is located in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library on University of Maryland’s College Park campus.

For general information about the library and our collections, contact us