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[ScrambledGregs]

So I know I now need to go buy it all on vinyl, and I will, but I have obtained the entire Fugazi catalog via illegal means and holy tapdancing Christ...!! You could release 13 Songs today and it would still sound amazing. Well, OK, their first two EPs. Let's not split hairs. Instead, let's talk about your favorite Fugazi album. Or just how awesuma they are.

p.s. Did Steve Albini ever record them?? If not, when they reunite, he should. Unless it turns out like the new Stooges album, then he should stay the fuck away.

[Misereatur]

Favorite Fugazi album? That's a hard one.

I guess it's down between Red Medicin and Reapeter. With The Argument and End Hits very close by.

[Kyros]

My favorite has to be The Argument, with Epic Problem being my current favorite Fugazi song.  This changes all the time though.

[E. Spaceman]

They recorded the demos for In On The Kill Taker with Albini. Didn't work very well.


My favourite three Fugazi albus are the last three, End Hits, Red Medicine and The Argument. Number one is probably Red Medicine, it is almost perfect.

[greenMonkey]

It's super hard to pick out my favorite Fugazi album.

I listened to them in almost chronological order, so I have much more listening time with the older ones.  I really enjoy all the albums, and it's tough to rank them.  But here's a rough ranking; this is just how I'm feeling right now.

1. Repeater + 3 Songs
2. End Hits
3. In On The Kill Taker
4. 13 Songs
5. The Argument
6. Red Medicine
7. Steady Diet of Nothing

Repeater has consistently been my favorite, with numbers 2-6 constantly shifting about as I listen to each album more and more.  I used to love Red Medicine and dislike In On The Kill Taker; now they have shuffled around.  I used to listen to The Argument incessantly and find End Hits somewhat boring; now they have switched.  I find that the more I listen to each album the more and more I like it, and the harder it gets to rank them (well, except for Steady Diet.  It's a good album, but not close to the others in my opinion.  The only song I really enjoy is KYEO.).

[Misereatur]

I feel the same way about Steady Diet of Nothing. It's a good album, but it's my least favorite Fugazi album.

Other then that, KYEO is one of my favorite Fugazi songs.

[Ernest]

Tommy must be locked out of his house.  It's amazing this thread has been on here this long without a treatise of sorts from him.

Anyway, I'll weigh in on Fugazi.  I started with The Argument.  I would have liked to start with 13 Songs, but the record store only had The Argument and I had not yet discovered Soulseek.  Thus I have never really been able to dig 13 Songs,, though I do really like Repeater.  When I got Red Medicine, it immediately became my favorite album.  However, after going through their discography again. I have to say that The Argument seems like their all-around best album.  What a way to go out, really, after the slightly disappointing (IMO) End Hits.

Anyone who can should get Fugazi's documentary Instrument.  Also read Tommy's Quiki page about Fugazi.

[Johnny C]

I don't know why we expect him to write a treatise when he's already practically written a book.

[Ernest]

I know, right?

[Johnny C]

Why doesn't he write a book?

[Ernest]

He could call it Bands I Have Enjoyed, and have a picture of Dmitri Mendeleev on the cover.

[Johnny C]

I would title a book with that photo on the cover Your Shame, I See It Burn.

[a pack of wolves]

p.s. Did Steve Albini ever record them?? If not, when they reunite, he should. Unless it turns out like the new Stooges album, then he should stay the fuck away.

He did, but neither he nor they were happy with the results so it was never released.

I've never had a consisten favourite, but Steady Diet of Nothing and 13 Songs have always been my least favourites. They did the style of 13 Songs better with Repeater, and Steady Diet feels too uninspired. If any other Dischord band had recorded those songs I'd probably play it pretty regularly but with Fugazi it's just so overshadowed by the rest of their back catalogue.

[KharBevNor]

I still don't get this band. They sound completely unexceptional except for the odd good bassline or cool bit of thrash, their lyrics are pedestrian, the vocals flat and characterless, and they look like maths teachers even when they take their shirts off. I can see why people would like them, but not why so many people react in a manner that recalls furiously masturbating whilst weeping tears of sorrow and joy at the very mention of their name. I could probably learn to like them, but I have yet to put the effort in, probably out of spite. I will almost certainly never be able to understand what makes people think of them as revolutionary or life-changing. Haven't you guys heard the X-Ray Spex?

[Ernest]

they look like maths teachers even when they take their shirts off.

I don't want to start a fight, but I really have to say something about this because you say it every time you mention them and it seems like a cheap shot.  I don't think it's fair to say that.  They tend to dress in t-shirts and jeans, much like normal to fairly hip people.  Are you trying to say they look like squares or something?  Really, I want to know what actually bugs you about the fact that they dress like normal people.

[Johnny C]

I listen to so many bands that look like math teachers that it isn't even funny. I also listen to Pavement who look like English teachers.

[Misereatur]

I like the fact that when people see Ian Mackaye, Joe Lally and Guy Picciotto walking down the street they have no idea that in their spare time those guys rock the fuck out.

Also, Flaming Ostrich, it sounds like Khar actually tried to listen to Fugazi and understand why people like them so much but he still didn't like them. Maybe he doesn't like Fugazi, but he gave them a chance. I doubt if I'd do the same for a band that I don't like.

[ScrambledGregs]

I've decided to slowly work my way through Fugazi's discography in a kind of repeater boomerang fashion. You start with their first album/EP, go to the next, go back to the first, go to the second, go to the third, go back to the first, etc. So far it's working out magnificently, though I am depressed that I wasn't born earlier/didn't get into good music earlier to catch them live.

p.s. Guy Picciotto dances how I wish I could dance.

[Stefan Autsa]

My maths teacher was a totally sexy lady.

Fugazi are hot!

[KharBevNor]

  Are you trying to say they look like squares or something?

Pretty much. Also, I despise maths because it gives me headaches.

I guess on its own its nothing, it just adds to the image I have of them being absolutely unremarkable. 'Normal to fairly hip' is somewhat synonomous in my mind with 'mediocre'. I hold the scandalous opinion that image can be, or maybe just is, an important component of the overall experience of a band, just like their sleeve art, ethics, general aesthetic and so forth which, whilst not of course actually affecting what the music sounds like, still adds or detracts from it. In Fugazis case the whole package to me says 'meh'.

Plus, at the end of the day, I know that at least one person is bound to get really annoyed about such a statement.

[Emaline]

I love Fugazi. 13 Songs is alright. I do love Waiting Room a lot though.

[Johnny C]

I hold the scandalous opinion that image can be, or maybe just is, an important component of the overall experience of a band, just like their sleeve art, ethics, general aesthetic and so forth which, whilst not of course actually affecting what the music sounds like, still adds or detracts from it. In Fugazis case the whole package to me says 'meh'.

I think their aesthetic is just as true, if not more so, to the nature of their music as anything showy.

[Ernest]

I hold the scandalous opinion that image can be, or maybe just is, an important component of the overall experience of a band, just like their sleeve art, ethics, general aesthetic and so forth which, whilst not of course actually affecting what the music sounds like, still adds or detracts from it.

I suspected that you thought that.  Now I know.  I guess the reason I always rejected image is that it always seemed vapid.  In middle school a lot of my friends were buying stuff from Hot Topic, and as silly as this may sound, I'm pretty sure that is one of the main reasons I tend to reject images.  I tend toward bands that look like everyone else, but don't sound like everyone else (of course I know your opinion is that most indie sounds the same).  However, I guess it is worth acknowledging that clothes and image have always had a part in rebellion.  Still, I don't feel a need to dress much differently or listen to bands who do.  I think my stance is not unique on these boards.

[schimmy]

I hold the scandalous opinion that image can be, or maybe just is, an important component of the overall experience of a band, just like their sleeve art, ethics, general aesthetic and so forth which, whilst not of course actually affecting what the music sounds like, still adds or detracts from it. In Fugazis case the whole package to me says 'meh'.

I think their aesthetic is just as true, if not more so, to the nature of their music as anything showy.

I think that is exactly it. Fundamentally, to me, Fugazi appear to be about anti-consumerism and by extension, anti-materialism. Observe:

I've not seen a picture of Fugazi that isn't much the same, not one of them is wearing any noticeable logos or images on their clothes. They are dressing exactly how they should to show their ethics. Any other image would be hypocritical.

[Johnny C]

I don't really see Fugazi's aesthetic as a rejection of image so much as a rejection of a stereotype. The image they convey is of a group of people concerned with making music. That's all.

[Jackie Blue]

Welcome to 1989, Gregs.

My favorite album of theirs by far is Red Medicine.  While certain parts of 13 Songs are great ("Margin Walker" is probably in my top 10 songs of all time) as a whole it doesn't really move me like it did when I was 14.

[Ernest]

I don't really see Fugazi's aesthetic as a rejection of image so much as a rejection of a stereotype. The image they convey is of a group of people concerned with making music. That's all.

I think the image they convey is people wearing clothes.

[Johnny C]

I think the image they convey is people breathing air.

[KharBevNor]

  However, I guess it is worth acknowledging that clothes and image have always had a part in rebellion.

Rewind! When did I ever mention rebellion? I don't think you're understanding me as such. What I'm saying is, I don't really agree with Fugazis ethics (or at least not the decisions it leads them to make), and I think their aesthetic presentation is bland. Would you like bands to just have all white album covers? How fantastically boring that would be. Most of my favourite bands tend to use image as an extension of their artistic presentation, crafting total, multimedia art-scapes: Skyclad, Sol Invictus, Death in June, Throbbing Gristle, Coil, Sopor Aeternus, Laibach, Dead Can Dance...I mean, how could you believe Genesis P Orridge in chinos? Boyd Rice in a floppy hat? Death in June aren't the same band without their white masks, sack-cloth and SS uniforms. Sopor Aeternus is  almost as much Anna-Varneys Expressionist meets Noh theatre make-up and bizarre photoshoots as it is the music. Lets just say, Fugazi look boring, and that probably pre-disposes me, or at least justifies me finding, them sounding boring.

[Johnny C]

 

[KharBevNor]

I should maybe listen to like, more than the one Frank Zappa song I have sometime. The guy has some good quotes, and the songs alright, if a bit tedious and silly.

[Johnny C]

That one has his sole hit single, along with a song that makes musical reference to Stravinsky.

[!!!CPAOI!!!]

  Are you trying to say they look like squares or something?

I guess on its own its nothing, it just adds to the image I have of them being absolutely unremarkable. 'Normal to fairly hip' is somewhat synonymous in my mind with 'mediocre'. I hold the scandalous opinion that image can be, or maybe just is, an important component of the overall experience of a band, just like their sleeve art, ethics, general aesthetic and so forth which, whilst not of course actually affecting what the music sounds like, still adds or detracts from it. In Fugazis case the whole package to me says 'meh'.

Plus, at the end of the day, I know that at least one person is bound to get really annoyed about such a statement.

As a fellow metal fan I think it needs to be pointed out that aesthetic presentation is a much more important component in the overall experience of that type of music (and in goth rock, which I am under the impression that you also enjoy) due to the inherently theatrical or fantastic nature of the music itself. 

I'll use Pavement as an example in the point I want to make.  Pavement, as opposed to the guys in Gorgoroth for example, are a bunch of normal looking guys making what might seem to some people (myself included) to be pretty much unremarkable music.  Some people enjoy that because they feel like Pavement are regular dudes making regular music that they, as regular dudes themselves, can relate to on a very personal level.  That's just one example, I'm simply pointing out that the sets of criteria by which these things are judged are very dissimilar. 

[Ernest]

@Khar-  I guess "rebellion" wasn't the word I was looking for.  I know what you mean, though, and I did when you made that post. 

[camelpimp]

Fugazi is one of those weird bands for me; I have albums by them, I can realize they were good, really fucking good, but I don't really like to listen to them. I think this has to do with my own shallowness? I don't know. They're a bit dry. And, yes, I realize that makes no sense.

[anditsdiscontents]

Red Medicine for sure - near perfect album - Target has to be one of my favourite songs of all time.

I got to see Ian Mckaye's new outfit The Evens play at Glebe Town Hall in Sydney. It was the most inspiring show I've ever attended. Blew straight through all the music industry bullshit that I didn't notice I'd gotten used to after a year of living in Sydney, a city pretty much owned by Modular Records and Boundary Sounds.

Music doesn't have to be in nightclubs.
You don't need to drink to listen to music.
You don't need to go and buy a new wardrobe to make music.
You don't need something that can be commodified and even if you do, you don't have to commodify it.
You don't need a light show or a sound guy.
You just go and do it.

It was like every DIY punk show that I'd been involved with back in my home town, but the music was a thousand times better and Henry Rollins was roadying.

Fugazi and their ethics are one of the best things that's ever happened to popular music.

[KharBevNor]

DIY and everything would be great, if it sounded good :p

It just seems really boring and drab to me, thats all. Stripping all the trimmings away somehow just leaves a shadow for me. I like drinking, and dressing up, and dancing. It also seems kind of faux-elitist. It's not like any of my favourite bands have their own line of shoes, or get regular nightclub play (well, at least not in regular clubs). Fugazi are a hundred times bigger than a lot of them. They still put the effort in. Also, I hate it when bands don't have t-shirts. If your band is awesome I want to be able to buy an awesome t-shirt featuring their images and words. Selling t-shirts doesn't make you a slave to the man.

Who did Fugazi actually inspire with all this anyway? It doesn't seem particularly orginal, nor can I really think of a lot of people doing it like that nowadays.

[Spinless]

Well, they championed the 'all ages show' thing their entire lives. I think that is pretty inspiring.
As far as I'm aware, they've never played a single show that wasn't all ages.
You don't have to care about Fugazi's music. They inspired people by just being a small group of great guys who not once compromised their beliefs. They became a hundred times more popular than any of the bands you like and they did it all under their own steam. And I for one am impressed. Fugazi get on a lot of people's nerves because they're seen by some as being elitist vegan monks or something I guess. A lot of people also find the music dull too. I guess they don't have ears.

They thought about how they wanted to be treated and treated everybody else the exact same way. It IS all common sense things, such as giving people respect, generally not being a dick.
But where do you learn the things like that? Pretty much everybody I know is a complete arse. I've been re-evaluating all my friends recently, they're cocks. I wouldn't mind so much, a LOT of people are cocks. But I've known these people long enough to know that they're intelligent enough to know better. Who's taught them how not to be cocks? There's nobody around here saying things like 'Respect people' and 'Be polite'.
These ARE things that you should know automatically. But people tend to just go with the flow. For example, my language was HORRIBLE as a child. I said 'nuff' instead of 'enough' and swore a heck of a lot. I'm still trying to fix it. Now, I know better. But every kid in my school was like that. There was nobody around saying 'Hey, watch your language.'

Honestly? I learnt a lot of these common sense things from Fugazi. Mostly things about how to not be a cock.

Now I watch my language. I tell people to be polite and not to swear. 'Don't be a cock'.

I can't help but wonder if I hadn't  got into fugazi, would people be complimenting me on my 'educated manner of speaking'?

[Johnny C]

The problem with that drinking and dancing and music videos and t-shirts and lighting and all of that stuff is it's not central to the music. Fugazi stripped that stuff away and didn't worry about it because they didn't feel a need to. At the end of the day it's really not about the image or the venue or whether or not the live show has any little frills to it.

I like the drinking and dancing and music videos and t-shirts but I feel it's absurd to call a band on not doing it. If I called on every band that I thought could do something that would make me like them more I would. Being a judge of the band and the music, though, just like everything else, means accepting what they did do and making a value judgement based on that as opposed to what theoretically they should have done.

[Ernest]

If your band is awesome I want to be able to buy an awesome t-shirt featuring their images and words. Selling t-shirts doesn't make you a slave to the man.

Understandable.  I want a Fugazi shirt.  However, Fugazi doesn't not sell t-shirts because they hate band merchandise, but because it wasn't practical for them.  They didn't have a lot of people on tour with them to help them with that stuff, so they just didn't do it.  And Fugazi certainly doesn't try to keep the other bands on Dischord Records from merchandising.  I recently saw a picture of a guy in a Medications t-shirt.

There was nobody around saying 'Hey, watch your language.'

I understand what you're saying but this one doesn't make a lot of sense.  Have you ever heard Ian Mackaye talk?  Every other word is "fuck."

[Spinless]

Yeah, Ian Mackaye says 'Fuck you', but he won't say 'Fuck you. You cocksucking cock head.'
He won't insult people. 'Fuck you' is NOT an insult. I never said Fugazi taught me not to swear.

"Excuse me sir, why did you do that?"
"Because it was just fun."
"Oh, thanks. Fuck you."

There's a certain way you have to talk to people. You have to give them a certain degree of respect if you really want them to listen to you.

[Jackie Blue]

What about those of us who think Pavement DID make remarkable music?   

[Spinless]

What about you? If you like something, great. Like it. I think the message here though is that it wasn't Fugazi's music that made them popular. Although, it certainly helped a great deal.

[Jackie Blue]

Everyone I knew who got into Fugazi in the late 80s got into them solely for the music.  I don't think any of us had even once seen a picture of the band or read an interview with them.

Maybe it's different now that everyone has the internets, but back then, we just listened to the songs and dug them.

[ScrambledGregs]

At this point why do we even try to debate Khar about music, let alone Fugazi, a band we all know he doesn't like?? It would be as futile as me going into a thread about whatever metal band and saying I don't like them and the fact they dress like Blade: Trinity extras makes them even worse.

Anyway, I love everything about Fugazi though I think they're in that category of being their completely unique band which nobody else can be like. Do you know how hard it is to be a straight edge vegan?? I mean shit, I can't give up drinking for more than a week at a time, and giving up meat is too much work. Besides which I don't want to live forever. My point is, I respect Fugazi and their whole 'ethics' but what matters the most to me is that their music is really fucking good.

[Jackie Blue]

Ian and Guy haven't been straightedge for some time now.  Guy smokes pot and Ian owns a bar and drinks sometimes.  Ian may also smoke pot but I have not witnessed it firsthand as I have with Guy.

[Ernest]

At this point why do we even try to debate Khar about music, let alone Fugazi, a band we all know he doesn't like??

Because Khar is at least a reasonable person.  Also, we know he doesn't like Fugazi. but he doesn't seem to actively dislike them either. 

witnessed it firsthand as I have with Guy.

For serious?

[KharBevNor]

At this point why do we even try to debate Khar about music, let alone Fugazi, a band we all know he doesn't like?? It would be as futile as me going into a thread about whatever metal band and saying I don't like them and the fact they dress like Blade: Trinity extras makes them even worse.

Do you even have any idea what music I like and why?

Also, I mean, seriously, without me to prompt your moving eulogies to Fugaxzi, this thread would just be 30 hipsters cumming on Ian Mackayes face.

[!!!CPAOI!!!]

You, sir, have a gift for disturbing mental imagery.

[Jackie Blue]

witnessed it firsthand as I have with Guy.

For serious?

Guy and I have a mutual friend, that I met in the early 90s, and I generally end up seeing him once or twice a year these days.