Twenty, thirty years from now, when the story of Fugazi is written by smarter people than me, they will probably point at “The Argument” as their crowning achievement, the culmination of their evolution as a band and the pinnacle of what they could do.  That would be hard to argue with.I point to this: I…… Continue reading Discography: Fugazi, Part 8: The Argument

It became fitting that Fugazi released an album of outtakes (and documentary) when they did.  The band had already gone their separate ways and were making music together less and less frequently.  The writing should have been on the wall.It’s hard to call “Instrument” an actual album, as it’s not.  It is exactly what it…… Continue reading Discography: Fugazi, Part 7: Instrument

“End Hits” deserves the shit that it’s gotten from Fugazi fans, but that doesn’t stop it from being a great album.If “Red Medicine” was the beginning of a new era for the band, “End Hits” is them pushing the envelope of that era, seeing what the limits are.  It’s as if they were pleasantly surprised by…… Continue reading Discography: Fugazi, Part 6: End Hits

“Red Medicine” was the first Fugazi album I ever bought when it was released.  Up until this point, I’d been playing catch up.There’s a decent argument to be made that this is their best album.  It’s certainly the first salvo of the band taking their songwriting to the next level.Right from the start, something is…… Continue reading Discography: Fugazi, Part 5: Red Medicine

If there was a darkness about “Steady Diet of Nothing,” “In on the Killtaker” was Fugazi exorcising it.”Killtaker” alternately features the most aggressive and, up until that point, the most beautiful songs Fugazi had recorded.If you were unsure what you were going to get after “Steady Diet of Nothing,” you knew from the first song,…… Continue reading Discography: Fugazi, Part 4: In on the Killtaker

I hadn’t realized until this moment that I associate most Fugazi records with specific seasons. “13 Songs” was a winter album. “Repeater” was a summer album. “Steady Diet of Nothing” took me back to winter.That’s appropriate, given that winters where I grew up were long and boorish, a seemingly infinite slog of depression. “Steady Diet”…… Continue reading Discography: Fugazi, Part 3: Steady Diet of Nothing

If I had any doubts about how great Fugazi was, those were removed when I heard the title track on “Repeater.”  The chorus is not remotely something you’d expect from anything resembling a punk band.  And that rhythm section?  Holy cow.  This was a band that clearly knew what they had in Joe Lally and…… Continue reading Discography: Fugazi, Part 2: Repeater

Fugazi was working class punk rock when so many other punk rock bands seemed like they were still living off their parents.For as liberal as they were, Fugazi spoke to my blue collar surroundings and helped me to realize that those to things were not antithetical. You could sit at a crimping machine attaching to…… Continue reading Discography: Fugazi, Part 1: 13 Songs

The first concert I ever attended was at Kent State University. It was a double bill, with Tesla and Great White. Some band called Badlands opened. Shut up. It was the 80’s.I remember that I didn’t wear my glasses because I thought I might lose them and probably because I thought they were severely uncool,…… Continue reading Live! Music!

I don’t mean that the album is transitional, I mean that the album is the perfect encapsulation of being a teenager, perhaps more specifically a white boy not living in a city.I would love to think that my teen years were grunge, but that’s probably more the romanticized view than anything else. The reality is…… Continue reading Faith No More’s “Angel Dust” is Gloriously Adolescent