[7] Along with Embrace and Beefeater, they were one of the mainstay acts of the 1985 Revolution Summer movement[8] which took place within the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk scene.

[10] Vocalist/guitarist Guy Picciotto and drummer Brendan Canty went on to play in Fugazi with producer and former Minor Threat singer Ian MacKaye in the late 1980s, while bassist Mike Fellows formed Miighty Flashlight and has had a solo career.

"[9] They were influenced by The Faith (Eddie Janney's previous band) and their 1983 EP Subject to Change with their introspective lyrics and angry, melody-tinged songwriting.

Its twelve songs were recorded at Inner Ear Studios in February 1985, produced by Ian MacKaye of Fugazi and Minor Threat and Michael Hampton of The Faith and SOA.

The album was re-released on CD and cassette in 1987, with an additional track from the same session, "Other Way Around", as well as the four songs from the Rites' follow-up EP, All Through a Life, Dischord No. 22.

[14] The Rites of Spring personnel reunited for a quasi-reincarnation called Happy Go Licky, releasing an LP/CD of various live concert recordings though never producing any studio work.

[14] Picciotto and Canty eventually teamed up with bassist Joe Lally and former Minor Threat, Skewbald/Grand Union, Egg Hunt, and Embrace singer Ian MacKaye (co-owner of the band’s label, Dischord Records) in Fugazi.

Mike Fellows went on to do session work for the Drag City label and form Miighty Flashlight, releasing an eponymous album under this name in 2002.

[15] Although Rites of Spring are regarded as having "unknowingly created and defined" the emo subgenre of hardcore punk,[16] Picciotto himself has publicly rejected this notion.