Watch carefully, because in the next sentence, I’m going to make all of my punk credibility disappear. This is the only Clash record I know. I know, right? I tried listening to Sandanista, but what do you even DO with Sandanista? I tried listening to London Calling, but (whispers) I found it really boring.
But, when I stole my dad’s Combat Rock cassette and popped it into my car stereo, my world was turned upside down.
And the gaps in my Fugazi collection continue to grow smaller (one remains, if you’re not counting Instrument Soundtrack as a true album, which I don’t). Margin Walker, their second EP, sees the fearless foursome showing a drastic leap forward in composition that makes Repeater look like a step back.
Somewhere after Demon Days was released, Blur essentially disbanded. So without another outfit, all of Damon Albarn’s creative outlet was directed to Gorillaz.
And that’s where the whole cartoon thing kind of shattered. Continue reading
Even with as long as I’ve listened to Fugazi, I am almost completely unfamiliar with Red Medicine. In fact, the only thing I hear when I think of the album is the super-gained choppy intro and the chorus of opener Do You Like Me? Purchasing the vinyl (and cassette! Gotta love overstock on record companies’ websites) was an act intended to force me to spend time with the record. Well, that and to fill in the two gaps in my collection (Steady Diet of Nothing, I’m coming for you).
For most of my life, The Argument has been my favorite Fugazi album. And while that position has been threatened as I trudge deeper into their catalogue (I’m looking at you, Kill Taker), The Argument remains their most singular and refined statement.
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From what I understand, anytime Steve Albini records something, the band is unhappy with the result and decides to change it (see: In Utero). In on the Kill Taker went through this process, and I’m glad they did, because this entire record is unmistakably Fugazi, and I would’ve hated for it to have sounded like someone besides Fugazi playing the songs. Continue reading
Every so often, a band comes around that is simply the best at what they do, and there’s nothing anyone can do to argue against it. They carry the unstoppable combination of immeasurable talent and fearless experimentalism that makes them legends in their own right and inspire countless others to follow in their footsteps. The Beatles were that kind of band. Radiohead still is (I’ll fight anyone who says King of Limbs wasn’t great). And friends, if you don’t already know, Fugazi was that kind of band. If you know nothing about Fugazi, just know that Fugazi was the Radiohead of punk rock.
From the Jackson Pollock style cover to Costello’s crooning, Armed Forces is an album as cool as Costello himself, what with his thick rimmed glasses, pompadour, and suit-and-tie–a coolness that comes from practically eschewing the whole idea of coolness.
The year is 1964, and the British Invasion has just begun. The Kinks get off of a plane to a throng of screaming fan and play the Ed Sullivan show, setting the all-time viewership record in the United States and becoming the most important band in the world. Years later, the Byrds, after dabbling in folk, rock, and psychedelia, move to the UK and pioneer a genre characterized by fast, brief songs, loud drums, and sneering vocals. The genre is dubbed “punk” by the press, and it spreads like wildfire.