Help! I don't get Fugazi!

(caveat - I have heard all of 2 tracks.)

I used to absolutely detest Pavement with all of my being. Then I heard "Westie Can Drum" and thought "Hey, this is all right". I like a couple of their other singles, too- "Cut Your Hair", "Summer Babe", the usual suspects- but I doubt I could listen to one of their albums start to finish unless it was in a CD changer with Jonathan Richman and the Voidoids and put on shuffle. I do have an MP3 of Malkmus covering the Cars' "Good Times Roll" live, and he changes the lyrics to go off on how shitty "Forrest Gump" is. That made me laugh.

I think most of my Fugazi problem (like my initial Malkmus problem) emanates from Ian's voice. I can tolerate it with Minor Threat, where he's backed by spaz high-speed hardcore punk, but when it's over sludgy midtempo indie rock feedback it goes from energetic- dare I say "anthemic"? (no)- to just grating. That, or I've just been trained to think that singing over sludgy midtempo indie rock feedback requires a Thurston Moore kind of style.

To their credit, Fugazi have moved well beyond the rigid parameters of "Punk Rock" (however you'd care to define it) some time ago. This isn't to suggest that you'll be spotting any fusion jazz fans or djembe-loving worldbeatniks at their shows, but they're no longer simply "a punk band."

seach: end hits (my favourite, some great guy tracks) destroy: steady diet of nothing, my first exposure to fugazi, nearly put me off them for good. classic: bassist joe lally, punk rock's george harrison dud: all that trite political nonsense.

I second the recommendation for the earlier stuff. Repeater is catharsis in a slipcase.

But back to the point, like Al says, don't lose sleep over it. The whole band is set up to exist for those who care about it and work completely around those who don't.

I'll take the subway then. Thanks.

Nate: I'm not kidding about the all roads thing, we PROVED it by science!

Yeah, I can actually understand why some people wouldn't like them, and yes, I can understand why people would be put off by the voices. Some days I listen to Guy's yelping and just wish someone would put him out of his misery, but then on other days it just strikes exactly the right chord. geeta (I think) was right in that the last two albums feature far better singing than before, and the newest, especially. The first two are very good loud in-yer-face type of records, and then they started to experiment from there, to varying degrees of success. I actually like Steady Diet and Killtaker a whole lot, more from association than for the music itself, probably, even though there are some damn good songs on those two albums ("Facet Squared" kicked my ass for a good couple of years.) But: Red Medicine showed the band actually taking this hardcore sound that they'd virtually defined, and taking it in places that you wouldn't think that it should ever go...and actually making it WORK. End Hits was a bit meandering, but the new one fires on all cylinders.

As far as "Fugazi fans" are concerned...I've met a LOT of them, and NONE of them are ANYTHING like you people are describing. (Well, maybe the chai-in-mug part, but that's really it.) The odd lyric aside I don't think they've ever been as po-faced as too frequently claimed. It's people who pick up on the trappings (the cheap tix etc.) and beat it into the ground. But nobody sez you have to like 'em (though I do), and I feel sorry for anyone so easily guilt- tripped that they feel obligated to do such a thing.

To be honest, I started this thread because I find the fact that I can't quite get into them somewhat inexplicable. Is there something to them that I'm missing, or is the aforementioned Cult Of The Low Ticket Price just in tune with something I won't get?

"Ian MacKaye formed Minor Threat to seize power and install a nazi- communist dictatorship. And also to fund his marijuana habit."????

What a crock. This is a joke, right?

1. live in DC/Arlington suburb
2. get emo specs
3. get DC job (law firm, nonproft, waiting tables)
4. see Fort Reno shows
5. nod head + look very, very serious
6. read about DC scene
7. drop references to the "old 9:30 club" & "DC Space" etc.
8. reminisce endlessly about how great things were back in the day!

Fugazi's first couple of EPs are okay (one or two good songs here and after are really good) but jeez did they get boring quick. I can't quite understand this as I liked Minor Threat and Rites of Spring a lot (even more at 16 for obvious reasons) and was prepared to love Fugazi, but I never could get over the fact that a) they didn't write very compelling songs and b) somehow both these guys became some of worst lyricists ever (old Mackaye crony Henry Rollins has them beat of course). I used to buy every album the week it came out even ($8 what the fuck, right) but I haven't done so since Red Medicine. I support the idea of Fugazi (independent label, $8 CDs and vinyl and $5 shows--probably more now with inflation--and hell they even talk a good talk with their influences and ideas) much more than I do the actual music the make. Still, I like the song "Margin Walker" and a couple of other things here and there and they were at one point (10 years ago anyway) a great live act. Pity 'cause they seem like they should be so much more than that.

A two-trick band, but the tricks are pretty good, or were at least all them years ago. Repeater's the best album by far. Later stuff sounds better, but is somehow more forgettable.

Ian once made fun from the audience of one the Hated's guitarists for his inability to keep his instrument in tune, then apologized from the stage, as conditions at the venue made his guitar similarly go cra-zee. At the same gig, Joe Lally and I got into an Alphonse and Gaston routine complementing each other's playing. "No way, dude, I SUCK -- you're a REAL bass player." So, nice people.

My favorite Fugazi story, which I was priveleged to witness: Mark (Moss Icon drummer) to Ian: "Hey, Ian, what does Fugazi mean?" Ian (rapidly, bored, repeating a stock answer): "Viet Nam fighter pilot slang. Means 'Fucked-Up Situation.'" Mark (genuinely confused): "Oh. I thought it meant pizza. Somebody told me it meant pizza. Doesn't it mean pizza?" Ian: "We've got to do sound check now."

1. I have tremendous respect for them as a band/unit/whatever. They have the power to stick to their guns, regardless of the coercion of money and the opinions of others (like all of this blabbering).

2. Their music is good, and on occasion, absolutely terrific. They have a very solidified relationship as musicians, and they create music that is an extension of that relationship. I dig it.

3. the film INSTRUMENT saved my belief in "punk rock." NOT PUNK ROCK like the MTV minds think, but in the sense that a culture was created for the people involved, a grouping where the ones on the inside called their own shots, and stood for what they believed.

So there you go.

Hey, I inject marjuana all the time. It's awesome, man.

Suede sings about it = it is not hawdkoah.

"SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE'S injecting MA-RA-JID-WAN-NA..."

The Minutemen were hawking the socialist gardening agenda.

Bad Brains were actually Jehovah's Witnesses.

Naked Raygun were avid volleyball enthusiasts.

haha

I miss them. Pretty was always a fan since their first EP and seeing them summer '89, but they did get boring at times, like a post-punk jam band. I'd like to hear them try to write an album for of songs as catchy as "Waiting Room."

great thread title

Help!

I don't really get them either, though I don't actively dislike them.

I can't remember whether I just threatened to make Nate a tape and settle this once and for all or actually did make Nate a tape and did settle this once and for all, but it's a moot point because I just now made a CD and here it is (Nate, let's settle this once and for all):

http://blogs.citypages.com/pscholtes/2008/08/fugazi_mixtape.php

Help! I don't get Fugazi!

coyotenate.jpg

With multiple Fugazi threads revived, I was REALLY hoping for some kind of exciting news :(

coyotenate.jpg

Oh no, if I don't get Fugazi by tomorrow night, Ratface and Scags are gonna KILL me!

Can someone refresh my memory, please?

I recall that a renowned punk rock journal (I think MRR) slammed Fugazi by comparing them to a pompous prog rock band (I think Yes) and that it was a minor controversy at the time.

Am I getting my facts right here?

I remember at least one review of Red Medicine that called the guitar playing Frip-like.

Two more releases from the Dischord website's Fugazi Live Series moved today to the band's Bandcamp page (as well as streaming on the DSPs): of the two, this 06/98/92 one from Berlin is wowing me at this very moment FWIW: https://fugazi.bandcamp.com/album/fugazi-live-at-tempodrome-berlin-germany-06-28-92-fls0478