A near-perfect blend of Joy Division, Fugazi and a splash of Husker Du.
Ah--- 1989. I was 16 and living in D.C.
Ok, technically I lived in Falls Church, VA but that's inside the beltway. In retrospect, '89 was an awesome year for music, though at the time I vividly remember thinking that good music was dead. I probably saw Fugazi a dozen times in 89 alone. They played non-stop around here and even though I enjoyed their music we'd always go "Damn, that wasn't as good as Minor Threat" or "Shit, Embrace was better than this". That still didn't stop me from picking up
7 songs on vinyl as soon as it was released. I watched Fugazi play everywhere from church halls, to a park across the street from the white house. It was like "Hey, you wanna go see the Toasters on Tuesday, Fugazi on Saturday and Token Entry on Sunday?"
"Yeah cool, but I only got like fifteen bucks, so let's skip the Toasters, I just saw them like three weeks ago."
"Yeah, ok."
Sunday afternoon meant going to the hardcore matinee at the Safari Club. I think I saw every single band signed to Revelation Records that year. We also did the Fall Brawl, the Superbowl of Ska, and various Dischord bands were playing all the freaking time. One of the guys from Iron Cross worked at Tower records, the guys from Scream lived close by, and you'd be talking to someone at a show and realize "Oh shit, you're in Government Issue aren't you? I saw you guys not too long ago. Good show man."
In retrospect, it was an incredible time to be in the area and at the age I was at. I only wish I had appreciated it more at the time and been less of an angst ridden dick. Come to think of it, I'm still an angst ridden dick, only a middle aged one now.