Oh god, you reminded me of this guy in his 40s I worked with on my uni work placement who was the āoffice jokerā whoād sing lines from Marillion at me when I was wearing it. I never knew what the fuck he was doing as Iāve never listened to them and always remember those moments being nothing but awkward. No idea how youāre supposed to react in work situations like that.
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oh, Iām just about to leave for work! Biggest 5 going, will write more, possibly much more, later.
5 based on the albums I know. Little bit of catching up to do - havenāt heard The Argument. Will correct that today. Repeater and Red Medicine are the ones Iāve spent most time with.
Love the story about big wigs from Atlantic(?) Records shutting down back stage at a Fugazi gig to flex their muscles and offer them a huge record deal and Fugaziās response was essentially āFuck off, what do I need you for? Iāve got my own label alreadyā
Iāve gone with a 4 just now because I really havenāt listened to them as much as I should, I love The Argument and End Hits. Might listen to some of the rest of it today and bump up the mark accordingly.
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This is great innit?
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5/5 you ice cream eating motherfuckerā¦
but iām clueless on my favourite album. Going to think about it hard and get them on all day before choosing i reckon. So so good. Lots of other folks will articulate it better than me today iām sure but important in so many ways. Everything they have done musically, and with dischord and DIY generally is next level. As with many it opened my eyes to what was possible and how sticking to your guns is an option.
In all honesty i was a fan of them without particularly liking the music for ages 
I loved their ethics, and they clearly influenced so many bands i enjoyed. I loved minor threat and Rites of Spring but something just didnāt really click with fugazi for some reason It was probably seeing some of the live stuff on the instrument soundtrack (used to be the music vhs everyone had at one stage) when it all started to make sense and ludicrously that was the first LP i bought as it was the only one in the record shop. I then gradually went backwards and fell in love but when The Argument came out i just didnāt get it and wasnāt that arsed. Cue one of my biggest gig going mistakes in not pushing myself into buying a ticket to see them in brum. Was too broke but i could have found the money somehow 
. In time i grew to love that LP, and all of them and now they easily count as one of my favourite bands.
The rhythm section is a thing of beauty in fugazi, the Blueprint (
) for how a punk band can elevate themselves to something else entirely. Ian and Guy then work as foiling leads exceptionally well. Not sure another band has ever been so good at building the tension in songs before exploding.
Anyway, so many amazing songs so hereās some for the thread that may not get chosen elsewhereā¦
I love the clip of them in the correctional facility on Instrument also. I find the little things which you see and absorb when youāre younger which end up having a lasting impression interesting, and Fugazi have a lot of that for me. (Not that iāve ever played a prison gig :-D)
I love Joe Lally and his bass playing so much also 
his solo album There to Here is worth a listen, and heās in The Messthetics with Brendan who are good fun. Really enjoyed it when they toured the other year.
Coriky are great also, and feel like possibly the closest weāll ever get to a new fugazi lp. Well worth a listen.
These could end up topping the table if too many people donāt find Ians voice irritating 
Be interesting to see how the thread goes. Total love in? Not sure thereās much dirt
Along with Dave Grohl and Henry Rollins though, iād be happy never to see Ian pop up as a talking head ever again.
Back to the score - 5 of course! There should really be a 5.1 option just to ensure they go top.
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Iāll put a post later about what they mean to me, and my history with them, but in the meantime this is a cut and paste of a introduction to Fugazi I wrote for somewhere else a few years ago:
The lowdown on Fugazi
Fugazi are a Washington DC band, formed in 1987 and officially still extant, although they have been āon hiatusā since 2002. The four members are Ian MacKaye (vocals and guitar), previously of hardcore legends Minor Threat, Joe Lally (bass), Brendan Canty (drums) and Guy Picciotto (initially only backing vocals in a hype man role, the Flavor Flav to MacKayeās Chuck D, but subsequently second guitarist and co-lead vocalist). Their music is rooted in punk, but moves outwards to encompass much more. Thereās a strong dub reggae influence from their earliest recordings, not least in their use of space ā they took a traditionally dense and claustrophobic sound and found the space that was hiding in it all along. The guitar style is unusual. Thereās no real differentiation between lead and rhythm, rather both guitarists occupy different parts of the sound spectrum, with Picciottoās needling treble interlocking with MacKayeās chunkier riffs. The real musical stars of Fugazi are the rhythm section. Lally and Canty are just superb, with sensational interplay, drive and groove. They deserve to be spoken of in the same breath as Entwistle and Moon or Jones and Bonham. As their career progressed, the records became more experimental, embracing elements of funk, jazz and post-rock.
If they had only left us their records, Fugazi would still be a band for the ages, but their business practices were also highly influential on underground rock in the 90s and beyond. They were fiercely DIY, recording and releasing all their records themselves on MacKayeās own Dischord label. They chose not to sell any merchandise ā if youāve ever seen a Fugazi T-shirt, itās a bootleg ā and kept concert ticket prices as low as possible. None of this seems to have hurt them. Repeater has sold more than two million copies across the world, and their final tour saw them selling out three nights at the Forum in London. They were a very political band (Iām going to find the YouTube clip of them performing outside the White House for the comments), but not particularly preachy or sanctimonious. Their lyrics are often elliptical and allusive, and when the politics are clear, itās often on a personal level, as in āSuggestionā from the first EP, where MacKaye sings from the point of view of a woman suffering everyday sexual harassment.
Itās the music thatās key, though. Crass were similarly radical in approach, for instance, but Iām not going to seriously suggest we should be listening to them in 2017. Fugazi were thrilling and visceral. They made you think and they made you dance, and they made some of the very best rock music ever recorded.
The best place to start:
Iād have to pick Repeater, from 1990. Itās their first full length LP, and all the elements Iāve raved about above are present and correct. The opening four tracks are presented as one piece of music with no gaps, and itās as good a twelve minutes of rock n roll as you will ever hear.
The absolutely essential masterpiece(s):
The compilation ā13 Songsā combines the self titled and Margin Walker EPs, from 1988 and 1989 respectively. Itās notable for including āWaiting Roomā, which has an absolute monster of a bassline. If youāve only heard one Fugazi song, Iād bet good money it was this one. 1993ās āIn On The Killtakerā hits the sweet spot between early aggression and later experimentation. Itās probably my own favourite of all their records. Their last (to date!) album, āThe Argumentā from 2002 was a fine and noble way to go out, a restaking of claims after a muted reaction to itās predecessor āEnd Hitsā.
Recommended if you likeā¦.
I suppose their antecedents would be people like Gang Of Four, but their real legacy is in their influence. If youāve ever enjoyed any vaguely alternative American rock music from the last twenty years, chances are those musicians listened to Fugazi
Advanced listening/watching/reading etc.
āSteady Diet Of Nothingā from 1991 was the follow up to āRepeaterā. Itās in the same vein as that record, a bit denser and darker perhaps, but still excellent. āRed Medicineā (1996) and āEnd Hitsā (1997) are the later, more experimental records, where Fugazi incorporated psychedelia, musique concrete and other forms into their work.
Thereās also a band sanctioned documentary, directed by Jem Cohen, called āInstrumentā that is well worth a watch, if only for the incredible footage of Guy and the basketball hoop.
In addition, Dischord now maintain a site (the Fugazi Live Series) where you can download recordings of almost every show the band ever played, for a suggested cost of $5 per show. I have the first and last shows I attended (Nottingham 1992 and Exeter 2002) and they are excellent.
Where others fear to treadā¦.for completists only:
The soundtrack to Instrument was released as a standalone album. Itās scraps from the cutting room floor, jams and noodles. It sounds more like Slint than it does Fugazi. Itās a curiosity, but it should be at the back of the queue when youāre lining up albums to listen to.
There are a couple of 7ā³ releases that are worth finding. The ā3 Songsā EP was out a few months before āRepeaterā, and is bundled onto the CD release of that record. āFurnitureā is an old song that was dug up and released on vinyl alongside the final album in 2002. In 2014, Dischord put out an archival release of the first Fugazi demo cassette to mark the completion of the Live Series.
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I still listen to crass in 2021. Am I doing it wrong?
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I love Crass, love the imagery, the stance, the pranks, the mythology. I just donāt listen to them very much anymore.
Yeah, KYEO is one of my favourite Fugazi tunes!
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The little furniture EP is very nice too.
Also First Demo was lovely present they gave us all. I made my mate go off as he was drunk (and leaning into it) when I claimed First Demo as one of my albums of the year that year. He wanted to disallow as a re-release but we all overruled him.
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Easy 5 innit!
Changed my life. So glad I got to see them on that last tour (Exeter).
If anyone has a very high tolerance for Ianās punk archiving, I recommend this!
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I really like 13 Songs. Have to be honest and say Iāve not really clicked with anything else theyāve done at all, and Iāve tried a lot of it. Difficult one to score.
Went back to Killtaker as it was the album I had before and turned it off after about 30 seconds. The vocals are terrible.
Did a bit of jumping around on Spotify and Iāve decided Iām happy never listening to them again.
1 seems mean for a band with a song as much fun as Waiting Room but here we are.
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this was me until I joined this forum, was told many times by musical friends that I would love them. It didnāt help that Spotify always shoved āWaiting Roomā in my face every time it went into auto-shuffle. I couldnāt get past Guyās vocals (they are pretty rough, donāt lie) and some of the tracks almost reminded me of hip-hop which I wasnāt really into
When I joined DiS I was kindly recommended IOTKT and Red Medicine which I liked but, it wasnāt until I heard The Argument that it all fell into place. Give this one a go if you havenāt, just listened this morning during my workout and itās bliss.
side bar: donāt flame me but this could be a RHCP track
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Yeah I think a lot of people donāt like the straining-to-take-a-shit vocal style but I love it. I reckon itās the thing that holds them back from wide adulation most.
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One of the reasons I consider Red Medicine my favourite is that I think Guy as a vocalist really turns a corner by that point. Also dig Joeās vocal input on that too.
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