best Fugazi album

wow, hard!

but in the end i went with red medicine

13 songs!!

there should be a "waiting room" option.

Red Medicine here too

in on the kill taker!

it's the only one I listen to nowadays...

but oviously there's ton of good stuff the others have that it doesn't

I have to admit that Red Medicine is the last one I heard in its entirety. WHich is sort of why I wanted to start this poll ... wanted to get a sense of where the later albums fit in. and I don't know *why* I haven't kept up after Red Med cuz I thought it was pretty great (had Ian's most crunching guitar-tone I thought at the time)

the argument was actually my back-up choice

end hits and instrument are pretty negligible, but they came back strong for the last hurrah

Steady Diet's really underrated.

Repeater.

I can't stand Repeater actually.

i dont much care for repeater either...im in for in on the kill taker. with red medicine as a close second. iotkt just has a bit more punch in my memory. its well paced and dynamic. etc...id need to hear it to say more

End Hits!!!

Yeah, I can't really get into Repeater, either - it's a record I admire more than enjoy (like a lot of canonical classical / alt. rock records, actually - cf. most anything Spin or RS has given a handjob). Red Medicine was my first, and End Hits has my favorite non-"Waiting Room" songs ("Caustic Acrostic," "Five Corporations"), but I'm going to have to go w/ The Argument.

Repeater has the tightest, craziest rhythms. U R all old fogeys.

Yeah but it has the worst songs.

I do like the EP they tacked on Repeater a lot.

Argument

hm either repeater or killtaker for me

I do like the EP they tacked on Repeater a lot.

-- Alex in SF, Wednesday, July 11, 2007 11:28 AM (7 minutes ago)

i believe that was the Sub Pop single of the month
/collector scum

we did this

Best of Fugazi records (poll ends 9th of may)

It's funny I sold almost of all of these records during the great indie sell-off at 7 or 8 years ago and now I want to hear them a bunch now. I don't think I ever heard The Argument.

oh <gulp> I never remember seeing that other poll! sorry, should have searched, etc

but I'm grateful for the additional input posted here. feel free to lock...

"ex-spectator" wow

God The Argument is fucking good.

seriously. "epic problem" gives me chills!

they're really an amazingly consistent band.

Does anyone have an opinion on any of these live Fugazi shows on CD?

Another for In On The KillTaker - Argument was bubbling under, though.

Red Medicine > Steady Diet > The Argument > 13 Songs > Killtaker > End Hits > Repeater

I don't really count Instrument

I will never understand the Red Medicine love. It probably has the fewest amount of tracks I feel any need to go back to (there are a few, but still the fewest). I decided to go with 13 Songs, but the Argument was really competing.

I'd probably go 13 Songs > Argument > Repeater > Killtaker > End Hits > Steady Diet > Red Medicine. Though I might actually take RM over Steady (for "Target" 'n' stuff). Point is I don't really go to either much.

I was always partial to Killtaker, but I've yet to hear The Argument. Finally got around to picking it up the other day... unfortunately I'm about 1000 miles from my turntable.

Argument swept me off my feet -- you have to love any band that can do so right afer so long.

red medicine has a couple songs i feel are among their absolute best (do you like me, bed for the scraping) but i had a really hard time getting into the rest of it. i remember when i first started to drive i would play this and it was kind of dangerous because i just wanted to jump out of my seat and dance in the road.

i'll second the repeater love

The Argument

gotta go with end hits -- most daring, most consistent. killtaker and argument tied for second.

i could never get into steady diet -- it always struck me as half-baked.

Really, Red Medicine. Please.

The Argument is shit!!!!

I picked Red Medicine. I think Ian J. might have a few choice words for Steady Diet. Which I need to get still.... I've been saying that for 10 years.

xpost... "half baked" :D

"The Argument is shit!!!!"

jon u mental

albini-engineered, unreleased iotk is better than regular iotk.

i prefer the shelved Timbaland version

u wish

Killtaker is sort of special to me because it was the first one I owned (although a friend had already given me dubs of Margin Walker and Steady Diet, I believe) - it seemed so impenetrable at the time (I was probably 14), yet fascinating - it had that weird cryptic note - "I will not lie" etc. I went to see them at Fort Reno around that time too, and the show was also kind of impenetrable and a little scary, but great too. They were probably the first band I really liked that wasn't either classic rock or mainstream grunge.

eh, the albini killtaker songs are cool and i like them, but i don't think i'd pick a single one over the album versions

The Argument is shit!!!!

Yeah I kind of agree with this! It's pretty boring.

The albini killtaker=talked about for years, rumors, heresay, finally heard it last year=ehhhhhh.

The live tapes I have are awesome, I love the way they run the songs into each other.

I really like Epic Problem and a couple of others off The Argument but there are swathes of it I just can't summon any recollection of, which isn't the case with most of their other rekkids

so i've just listened to them all, in order, and yeah, steady diet is pretty underrated!

though "reclamation" is even more tied to "lol p.c. 90s" than "suggestion"

the argument wins this one

and i remember hoping at the time it came out that i wasn't going to be disappointed. it superceded all my expectations, needless to say

Red Medicine vs. End Hits for first is a really difficult one for me.

the first time i heard 'suggestion,' i thought it was about billboard advertising.

albini-engineered, unreleased iotk is better than regular iotk.

both albini & mckaye disagree with you on this matter

and your point is? probably a few mountain goats fans love stuff you wrote off years ago.

The Argument. This one is, happily, a foregone conclusion.

though "reclamation" is even more tied to "lol p.c. 90s" than "suggestion"

there were words on that song? all i remember is the awesome bassline...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

albini-engineered, unreleased iotk is better than regular iotk.

both albini & mckaye disagree with you on this matter

-- J0hn D., Thursday, 12 July 2007 20:24 (4 days ago) Link

it's one of those great "lost" things that when you hear it, it's like...um sounds the same? kinda a little muddier? great album either way but it's no great loss that they went the other way.

a toss-up btw Red Medicine and End Hits for me

fugazi rules so much : )

My favorite Fugazi album was always the new one, but these days Steady Diet sounds botched and muffled; "Runaway Return" is one of the great '90s guitar riffs given place-holder lyrics ("Get your t-shirts here" ha ha fuck you). Margin Walker had flat production, too. Otherwise, I rank by favorite songs:

1. The Argument: "The Argument," "Epic Problem," "The Kill," "Life and Limb" (one of the great extended meditations on violence)

2. 13 Songs: "Waiting Room," "Suggestion," "Burning," "Margin Walker," "Bad Mouth," "Promises" (punky reggae party)

3. Repeater: "Shut the Door," "Turnover," "Repeater," "Greed," "Merchandise" (best anti-drug song ever and four moralist rockers nearly as good)

4. Red Medicine: "Forensic Scene," "Do You Like Me," "Bed for the Scraping" (exploring the middle ground between quiet and loud)

5. In on the Kill Taker: "Rend It," "Great Cop" (SM classic, live favorite)

6. Instrument: "Trio's," "Guilford Fall Demo" (my favorite Fugazi instrumentals)

7. End Hits: "Break," "No Surprise" (warmup for The Argument)

8. Steady Diet of Nothing: "Reclamation" (one of their great riffs, and he's right)

we did this poll and that was the answer:

Poll Results
Fugazi - The Argument 16
Fugazi - In on the Kill Taker 9
Fugazi - 13 Songs 8
Fugazi - Red Medicine 8
Fugazi - Repeater + 3 Songs 8
Fugazi - Steady Diet of Nothing 5
Fugazi - End Hits 2
Fugazi - Furniture 0
Fugazi - Instrument 0

-- Zeno, Saturday, 5 May 2007 17:25 (2 months ago) Link

Joel the point is that everybody involved with that version of the album thought, within a week of hearing it, that they hadn't done justice by the songs. nobody "wrote off" that version, it just didn't really rise to the occasion, and "the unreleased one is better" without something elaborating on the point smacks of insider cultiness.

i thought hstencil was all about insider cultiness

INSIDER CULTS RULE DOOD

i liked insider cults early stuff better

yeah those guys really lost it after that first EP. they smoked me out last time they toured around here, though.

I voted repeater last time, steady diet this time. 'latin roots' is still a great driving song and the misheard coda of "its time to meet jamicans" is always fun. + dear justice letter is the most cryptic tribute (?) ever.

xpost lol

End Hits

I what per/inverted universe is IOTKT a better collection of tracks than 13 Songs, and twice as nice as SDON? Also Red Medicine is teh sukc.

*In

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

lol the one CD my dumbass sister had!

An End Hits boom has occurred since May.

i haven't been heavy into fugazi in years, but it boggles my mind that Killtaker came in last (aside from Instrument.) That and Red Med were always my faves.

Killtaker is third?

It's flattering for the band that every album has its die-hard fans!

i'm happy with these results.

This was a good poll

It's funny when you think a certain album is THE ESSENTIAL album by a certain band just because it's the first one you got and is still your favorite. I AM LOOKING IN YOUR DIRECTION STEADY DIET! Also: Warehouse by Husker Du. And: Slang by Def Leppard. J/K OR AM I!

I don't really care for any of their albums but I still have the Repeater vinyl that I bought at the show.

They were totally better than Beat Happening who opened for them, but totally not as good as Calamity Jane who stole the whole damn show.

does anyone else really love instrumental?

I love "I'm So Tired" off of Instrument.

If this was released after dowloads became common, I'd be disappointed having paid money for it--most of these tracks could have been demo giveaway MP3s on the Dischord site.

the argument holds up so damn well.

It really does. Can't believe that record came out almost ten years ago.

more and more i like early period fugazi and really late period fugazi by far the best...the middle hasn't aged as well for some reason

somehow i never got around to checking out The Argument until, like, a week ago. on first listen, it didn't really grab me at all (and i like Red Medicine and End Hits a lot), but i'll give it time.

hmm weird yeah cuz it and end hits kinda go together for me

yeah not saying it's different or worse than End Hits per se -- it could be just that i had a tape of End Hits i played in my car for years and have never heard The Argument before.

<3 the argument

i have yet to hear the argument. :-(

Don't think I voted on this, would have gone for red medicine

Never voted on this either. Think I might have voted Steady Diet, because it was my first and I played the stink out of it.

Still, everyone saying The Argument is tops is pretty OTM. Never thought I'd love another Fugazi album so much after the ehhh-ness off End Hits. I was wrong.

I didn't vote but probably would have chosen 13 songs because it was the first I had and therefore my intro to them.

maybe we should do this again--i would've gone kill taker.

This thread is making me want to pick up a copy of The Argument.

it has now been almost exactly ten years since a new fugazi album.

this still does not feel right to me.

Last time I saw them live was the tour before The Argument came out and they were playing one or two songs from it during shows. I can remember that like it was yesterday, but the actual album seems like a lifetime ago.

i don't begrudge them hanging it up at all, of course. ("indefinite hiatus" ha ha.) but i always kind of assumed they'd mature into a sonic youth style ongoing concern where we could argue about how good each new album is vis a vis the old ones but without ever making a real stinker.

yeah i feel like they could've aged really interestingly. it bums me out most that Guy's been the most inactive as far as doing any music besides occasional production jobs or sideman gigs, feel like he'd have a lot to offer in some new band or solo project.

i interviewed Beauty Pill over the weekend and they were like "oh Ian was here the other day, and Brendan has been dropping buy and filming, and Guy was here before that etc." and i was like damn i showed up the wrong day.

hmm... I actually didn't realize Beauty Pill was still a going concern.

they've been dormant for a few years but just started recording their new album (in public, in a museum/theatre space in D.C.)

btw if anyone ever feels like going down the live bootleg rabbit hole (they are the only band i do this sort of thing with):

http://symphonyofghosts.blogspot.com/2009/06/fugazi-live-electric-factory.html

the version of "promises" here is titanic, and i like some of the end hits stuff better than the album (which i've never liked as much as the others) versions. makes you realize how fluid and groove-y they were getting toward the end there. (was at this show, actually.)

http://symphonyofghosts.blogspot.com/2009/06/fugazi-live-irving-plaza-nyc-april-04th.html
http://symphonyofghosts.blogspot.com/2009/06/fugazi-live-irving-plaza-nyc-april-03rd.html

these two cover just about everything up through red medicine, and the playing is just savage. good ian/guy audience admonishment, too.

when they were really on, i am totally comfortable saying they were the best rock band i ever saw live.

i only saw them once, at Fort Reno, i think probably their last Fort Reno show. i really did assume there'd be many more.

worst thing is that they're the last band who'd even be like ok let's CAPITALIZE on people missing us and come back and play bigger shows than ever, that kind of inevitable attention has probably partly kept them from doing it

Saw them three times (1990, 1995, 2000)...I feel like I got a really rounded experience of their live career.

i saw them maybe a half-dozen times (?) from the mid '90s to '00. (last show was fugazi, the ex, and lungfish, which may been the best all-around bill i ever saw.) they really swung. (the whole "no set lists ever" thing meant they could fuck up, too, of course.)

i could also listen to them mock idiot teenagers all day:

http://www.chunklet.com/images/upload/6/audio_file/Having%20Fun%20On%20Stage%20With%20Fugazi.mp3

i was surprised that they didn't do a show for j. robbins' kid (although to be fair i was also surprised that jawbox didn't do a show) several years ago when the plan made their first showing in a while.

i know they're scattered, but is there some unknown acrimony that would prevent them from supporting things one would expect them to support with live shows?

I have faith that the only acknowledged hinderance to a reunion is practical: they live in different cities/countries, and can therefore not commit to the rigorous practice schedule needed to pull off what they do/did. But far stranger, more labor-intense reunions have come to be, so ...

Also, Ian (and the others) more or less admit they're in contact and working on Fugazi stuff all the time, in terms of archiving and whatnot.

i don't even know why half the stuff on that live banter mp3 is so hilarious. ian was the undisputed master of a certain kind of '90s deadpan.

Ice Cream Eating Motherfuckers would be a great name for a band.

dude can swear

the nerdiest wearable thing i own is a t-shirt with part of the ice cream motherfuckers rant on it

i feel like a dead fan when i talk about these guys, jesus

There was a lot of discussion of Red Medicine in ILE today, so I listened to it for the first time (I loved the first two EPs and Repeater, but hated Steady Diet of Nothing, so I wandered off and never heard anything after). It's great! I really like the noise-dub instrumental stuff (clarinet!) as much as the actual songs, but of course I would. I also listened to In On the Kill Taker and that was good, but not as interesting as Red Medicine.

Poor Instrument.

having quickly revisited the catalogue again recently, i stand by my idea that i would rank their albums from most favorite to least favorite in exact reverse chronological order. they really did just get better and better.

"By You" is my single favorite Fugazi song altho there's some stiff competition, it sounds like a god damn hurricane

do you like me intro is the best thing they ever recorded but that whole album is great. seems a lot of the punks hated it at the time

the earlier stuff is obviously good but doesn’t grab me like it used to. the argument still mostly holds up but sometimes I think it’s too perfect. idk if that makes sense

love by you

"too perfect' makes sense to me, actually. I never spent much time with that one or Kill Taker, tried and tried with Steady Diet and eventually gave up, still listen to Red Medicine and Repeater and 13 Songs, I should probably revisit End Hits.

end hits was my fave fugazi album for a long time

i think it's red medicine now

i checked out the argument from the library in high school circa-2004 and i did not really like punk rock before that, so it significantly changed my life. by the time i was in college fugazi were my favorite band. it's always the worst irony that i got into them after they went on hiatus, i would definitely only invent the time machine to see a fugazi show

might’ve been just the right age for Killtaker but that’d be mine. i should revisit RM & EH though

i saw em live in Jxn MS around that and it was jaw dropping. saw them again during college touring RM and it ruled but I was well-lubed on bourbon & drugs

"End Hits" is both my least listened to and least liked, but that has less to do with the quality of the record and everything to do with the quality of the rest of catalog. The "In on the Kill Taker" book really helped contextualize the band's evolution for me, and made a good case for that one being the definitive Fugazi album, or at least the first to truly capture the band's ambitions and power in full effect. In particular the book emphasizes the group's improv powers, which is why all those live releases are so illustrative. I think it's in the recent Tape Op interview where Ian says something about "Waiting Room" on the EP/13 Songs being just sort of a well-recorded work in progress, because in his mind the band subsequently played that song hundreds of times, and each time was essentially a new version, or a further refinement, or revealed a fresh facet.

YeaH it always seems like among the hardest core of fans EH was the 4 ⭐️ and all the rest were 5.

I spent So Much Time w 13 Songs and the first 3 LPs it’s hard for me to properly gauge

man end hits is way better than “the four star record in the five star catalog,” the true heads have always been offtm here

it’s their scariest record too

I'm team End Hits, fucking classic and so underrated

For whatever reason, it's never quite gelled for me the way the others do. It definitely leans into their more experimental, weird side, which isn't a bad thing at all, just not what I always want to hear. Their best albums balance that a bit better, imo. Still plenty to like, but it certainly is not the album I would send a newcomer to first, or second, or third, or fourth ...

this revive is gonna make me hunt down my dvd copy of instrument

Haven't seen it forever, but I do notice it's streaming on Amazon, so maybe I'll watch that today!

lmao at the idea of watching the fugazi doc on amazon prime

in the future we’re all ice cream eating motherfuckers

Listened to Fugazi a bunch back in the 90s but like some other bands, just has not been an obsessive listen. 'Steady Diet of Nothing' has been the one I have listened to the most over the past few years. They slowed the tempo and brought in the groove I thought on that one the best like "Stacks" and "Reclamation". It's got a bit of early Wobble/Levene PIL in it's sound.

*rewatches instrument*

wow i had/have such a crush on guy and also wanted to become him

Just a heads up, Guy Picciotto of Fugazi and Jem Cohen will be giving an introduction to a screening of Instrument at the Paris Theater in NYC on Thursday, September 5. It's located right next to the Plaza Hotel, right off of Fifth Avenue...as Cohen said when thanking the programmer, "we're rarely associated with Fifth Avenue." FYI, it's an extended intro that starts at 10:15 p.m. so with the two-hour running time, it will go well past midnight, maybe close to 1 a.m.

I saw tonight's (Sunday) screening which was sold out, albeit with a handful of seats that remained unoccupied, and it was pretty great, especially since I never got a chance to see Fugazi. Made me regret that fact even more! The programmer said Thursday's screening was a late arrangement because this one was the fastest-selling screening they had this season.