d. All of the above. After all, you can recognize trouble when you see it.

      Maybe you can. Maybe not. Thanks to a small but tenacious group of young people, what you think you're seeing may not be what you get. From L.A. to D.C. and beyond a developing social movement is giving adolescents an alternative to the drugged-out rebellion once waged by many of their parents who were teenagers during the seventies.

      They are the sons and daughters of the flower generation and they embrace a lifestyle called straightedge (also known by the symbol sXe). The lifestyle not only takes the drugs and promiscuous sex out of rock 'n roll but forbids alcohol and smoking as well. Many straightedgers are ethical lacto-ovo vegetarians. Some are vegan -- they don't eat or wear anything from an animal. All this occurs at a time when local and national leaders are facing statistics that indicate adolescent drug and alcohol use is escalating at almost epidemic proportions.

      Locally, straightedge bands such as Earth Crisis, Strife and Snapcase can frequently be seen performing at the Fireside Bowl and Metro. Their music, a cross between punk and heavy metal, is not unlike that of nationally known bands like Korn, Pantera and Rage Against the Machine.

      According to Tony Brummel, ``Straightedge flies in the face of most conventional thought. A lot of people expect that anyone who likes hardcore music uses drugs, drinks and lives a pretty immoral life.'' On the contrary, these young folks have pulled away from the excess-is-best philosophy of more traditional rock 'n roll rebels, he says. Brummel is the founder and ``guy in charge'' of an independent record label called Victory Records located on west Fulton Street.

      Straightedgers can be identified at rock concerts by a black ``X'' marked on the back of their hands. Although the movement was once dominated by white males, worldwide the number of females, Latinos and Asians of both genders is growing. Band members and recording executives say straightedgers can be found in countries across the globe from Brazil to the Netherlands, Australia to Japan. There is even an all-female straightedge band from Sweden, called Doughnuts.

      As a social movement straightedge appears to be a labyrinth of false perceptions. The kids like to look wild yet they live cleaner lives than the Pope. The music, with a typical punk rock combative style, has lyrics that invoke gentle themes. Also, while the tone of these hardcore songs may sound like hellfire and brimstone, the straightedge lifestyle is not in any way connected to religion. The dancing looks aggressive but isn't harmful, proponents say, because it offers a healthy release for pent-up adolescent angst.

      One thing straightedgers do have in common with their Hippie forebears, though, is a heightened social conscience. The lyrics of straightedge songs, shouted over the heads of that aggressive-looking crowd, intertwine themes of social change and clean living. These heirs apparent to the crown of social protest tackle such thorny social issues as racism, sexism, homo-phobia, animal rights and the environment; all within the context of clean living as the ultimate rebellion.

      University of Chicago psychology professor and author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (cq) says, "Movements like this have always been around. It's often a surprise to adults when they learn know how many young people share a unified system of values like these. It is very difficult these days to get through high school amid the drug and alcohol use by one's peers. I wish them luck.''

      Punk legend has it the term "straight edge'' was first coined in 1982 by Ian MacKaye (cq), then-lead vocalist for a Washington, D.C.-based band called Minor Threat. Today MacKaye is with a group called Fugazi and refuses interviews to discuss the role he played in setting off an international subculture. A spokesperson for the singer says that MacKaye simply got tired of talking about a song that is fifteen years old and doesn't care to be known as the father of straightedge.

      Nathan Brackett, an associate editor for Rolling Stone magazine, says, "A lot of people thought the hardcore scene and straightedge had gone away. But it has stuck around on a smaller level and now seems to be making a comeback along with other things from the eighties." Straightedge remains an underground subculture, he says, because most hardcore bands probably prefer their low profile status and there is no formal network among fans.

      According to Brummel, in the US there are less than 20 full time professional bands who are considered straightedge. Brackett agrees with that estimate, adding, "You're not likely to hear straightedge bands on commercial radio stations or see them on MTV." He says Rolling Stone doesn't cover the current hardcore music scene and even in New York City there are only a limited number of venues for straightedge.

      Brummel, 26, says he got involved in straightedge as a teenager because he thought it was cool to chose a positive lifestyle. He believes it offers teens an alternative way to rebel.

      "This is the real rebellion,'' says 18-year-old Kevin White of suburban Naperville. A College of DuPage freshman, White says the straightedge lifestyle means he has not fallen for the media hype that glamorizes drugs, drinking, smoking and sexual promiscuity. He says he regrets having spent hours staring blankly at the, ``shrine of bad taste, MTV,'' before he became straightedge.

      "I wish I didn't have all the worthless knowledge that TV has put into my head,'' he says.

      Although Brummel is straightedge, the majority of bands who record on Victory are not. Two, Syracuse, NY-based Earth Crisis and Strife, from Los Angeles, are among the handful of Victory's straightedge bands. All but one, Doughnuts, a female group from Sweden, are male. Which explains why some people are intimidated by straightedgers. A few tend to be too rigid for most people's tastes. Some are but the majority are not, says Brummel.

      Rick Rodney, 24, lead vocalist for Strife, says, ``Just because people do drugs I'm not going to pass judgment on them. We have to accept ourselves as human. [We're] not perfect. I'm not going to do [drugs] because straightedge saved my life. But I can't run other people's lives for them.''

      Rodney admitted that he experimented with marijuana and alcohol as a teenager in Los Angeles, ``Until I realized that all my friends and I ever did was sit around and complain about things. We never did anything positive.'' That's when he became attracted to the idea of straightedge and decided to make a change in his life. The choice cost him friends, he says.

      "A lot of former friends thought I was a nerd. We just didn't have anything in common anymore. So I started Strife with a few kids who were like me,'' says Rodney. Today the group tours the United States and Europe where, he says, straightedge is also a small but tightly-knit group.

      Jason Florin (cq), 19, of Naperville, says he also lost friends when he adopted the straightedge lifestyle. ``I lost a girlfriend. She wanted to party all the time and I wasn't into drinking anymore so we broke up,'' he says.