The star of this album isn't really Ian or Guy, it's Joe.
― Master of Treacle, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 16:21 (ten years ago) link
Provisional.
― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 16:25 (ten years ago) link
joe/brendan are the stars of fugazi imo
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 16:26 (ten years ago) link
i feel like the growth from record to record is a result of their interaction becoming more and more intricate
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 16:28 (ten years ago) link
totally. they had this way of progressively getting tighter and looser together.
― some dude, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 16:36 (ten years ago) link
anyway no idea what i'd pick from this. "glue man" maybe but that's bc of what "glue man" is live
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 16:37 (ten years ago) link
I chose Burning, but I love every track.
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 16:39 (ten years ago) link
It's poseur, you poseur.
― Your Favorite Album in the Cutout Bin, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 17:01 (ten years ago) link
listening to this... "glue man" i guess. i can appreciate how much fugazi started out fully formed and that this stuff is of a piece with the later full-lengths, but it's funny to me that there are so many people for whom this is THE fugazi record, i can take it or leave it.
― some dude, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 17:37 (ten years ago) link
"glue man" maybe but that's bc of what "glue man" is live
yep, I think that's why I might have to vote for it - saw them end with it on the Repeater tour and can summon up the memory, crystal clear, 20+ years later.
― money, chicken and other DNA (sleeve), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 17:50 (ten years ago) link
How does Ian mispronounce 'interpretation,' exactly? I have no memory of this.
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 17:57 (ten years ago) link
"interpetation." He omits the second r.
― Shart Week (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 19:45 (ten years ago) link
Oh, c'mon with this now. Waiting room, duh.
― Airwrecka Bliptrap Blapmantis (ENBB), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 19:56 (ten years ago) link
I think Waiting Room is a perfectly respectable pick, but if you think it's a total "duh" vote then you haven't, like, lived in the record, man
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 20:16 (ten years ago) link
Currently torn between "Waiting Room" and "Promises." Eventually gonna vote for "Waiting Room."
― 誤訳侮辱, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 20:20 (ten years ago) link
"Give Me the Cure" is a personal fave, but I could make a case for any of those first seven tunes, man that first ep might be one of the best ep/mini albums ever
― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 20:44 (ten years ago) link
i don't know what i'll vote to but it wont be Waiting Room for sure.
too much of an icon to vote to.
― nostormo, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:31 (ten years ago) link
I've never understood how "Waiting Room" came to be the essential Fugazi track in so many people's minds. I love it, but I don't see it standing head-and-shoulders above 40 or 50 other great Fugazi songs.
I voted "Give Me the Cure", largely for nostalgic reasons: it was the first Fugazi song that really blew me away, back when I downloaded it off Kazaa on a dial-up connection sometime in 2002 or '3. I loved the fake-out on the first "gimme the shot!" when you expect it (or I expected it) to really kick in. Instead it builds to that moment gradually, going one notch higher on the second verse, then finally exploding at the end. SO great.
― JRN, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:39 (ten years ago) link
yeahi'll vote for Give Me The Cure too
― nostormo, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:41 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, it's Waiting Room. Not only is it a terrific song, but it's worth remembering this is what all the Minor Threat fans heard the first time they played the record... the shape of punk to come.
There are other songs in Fugazi's discography that are better than Waiting Room, and there are 12 other excellent songs here too. I could almost vote Suggestion or Margin Walker or Promises, but it just feels unnatural to go against Waiting Room.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:42 (ten years ago) link
but Kazaa is dangerous! it's full of VIRUSES!xxpost
― nostormo, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:42 (ten years ago) link
I certainly get why Waiting Room is a huge anthem, and it's an awesome song, but I agree it's not the quintessential Fugazi track for me, it's more like the hit jam written by a normally non-hit-oriented band.
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:43 (ten years ago) link
The Chili Peppers cover was the last nail in the song's coffin
― nostormo, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:45 (ten years ago) link
This is exactly right. For those of us who are over 40, this was literally a cassette we were handed by a friend in a bedroom or a car or the smoking section outside our high school. "Dude, you've gotta hear this—it's the guy from Minor Threat's new band and it's fucking awesome." And "Waiting Room" was the first song. Plus, that bass line. Come on.
― 誤訳侮辱, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:45 (ten years ago) link
that explains why you should vote for it
― RAWK of Agger's (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:47 (ten years ago) link
the answer is not Waiting Room.
I don't wanna hear it. Know you're full of shit.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:47 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, I wonder if there's a dividing line between people starting at the beginning and people working their way backward. I mean, if the first Fugazi album I'd heard was Red Medicine, Waiting Room might seem a little basic. But if you had spent time with Minor Threat prior to 1988 and then heard Waiting Room, that's a moment preserved in amber.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:48 (ten years ago) link
yeah i can see that. I mean really it's a pretty incredible debut overall and WR is as sick an opener as there ever was.
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:49 (ten years ago) link
it's hard for me to remember. I got into them around the Killtaker time period, and I may or may not have heard 13 Songs before I actually heard that record, b/c it was all through a friend. I do remember exactly the feeling of Fugazi guitars mixing with teenaged hormones though.
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:50 (ten years ago) link
please stop using "yeah" at the beginning of a sentence
― nostormo, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:51 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, okay.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:52 (ten years ago) link
i heard "Waiting Room" a lot when it came out, didn't know it was Fugazi for ages, partly i don't think i connected it in my head with Repeater which was the first album of theirs i bought
― RAWK of Agger's (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:52 (ten years ago) link
yeah thanks
― nostormo, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:52 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9WCOpahJB8
― am0n, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 22:07 (ten years ago) link
this thread is giving me residual fears of being a poser
― no fomo (La Lechera), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 22:41 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P4KcNmaR0Y
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 27 August 2013 23:32 (ten years ago) link
My musical friends, the answer is clear: Margin Walker 4EVA!!!!!!!
― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 00:20 (ten years ago) link
If the transition from Suggestion to Glue Man was an option, I'd vote for that in a heartbeat. As it stands...this is pretty tough. Margin Walker doesn't do anything for me, which is weird, because it used to be my favorite track.
I'm surprised that the most-played Fugazi tracks on Spotify are almost entirely from this album, but I guess I shouldn't be?
― zchyrs, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 00:34 (ten years ago) link
the answer is waiting room, hoser
― President Keyes, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 01:13 (ten years ago) link
I don't think they ever released anything as perfect as the first, self-titled EP. Heard it at the 331 Club all the way through a year or two ago and it's just nonstop creative beauty, this slab of punk art that's also cathartic. Second EP's too neat and tidy for me on replay over the years, the production muffled--glad they came back with Repeater.
My ranking:
Waiting RoomBurningBad MouthSuggestionBulldog FrontGive Me The CureGlue Man
― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 01:31 (ten years ago) link
So everyone likes the first EP more than Margin Walker? The latter was the first Fugazi recording I ever owned; I played it a hell of a lot and know it really well. (Red Medicine was probably already out but I'd read about them, was intrigued, and this seemed like the cheapest thing to buy at the time.) I don't think I've heard all of the s/t. Is it challops if I'm considering "Provisional"?
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Wednesday, 28 August 2013 01:55 (ten years ago) link
"Promises" obv v strong too.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Wednesday, 28 August 2013 01:58 (ten years ago) link
Oh, I notice that someone else said "Provisional" too. I feel less challopsy.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Wednesday, 28 August 2013 02:04 (ten years ago) link
THAT'S THE PRICE YOU PAYFOR HOPING EVERY SLIP'S NOT A SLIDE
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 28 August 2013 02:50 (ten years ago) link
I LOVED "Promises" live. "Go where you think you wanna go..."
― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 03:16 (ten years ago) link
Just listened to the whole thing and the Margin Walker EP still connects with me more. Associations and familiarity might have a lot to do with it but I also think it's both hookier and more interesting sonically. Really like the bass on "Burning Too".
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Wednesday, 28 August 2013 03:18 (ten years ago) link
I def came to this band as a Minor Threat (and Embrace) fan, but for whatever reason Margin Walker was the first one that hit me hard. Maybe because nothing on it is as filler-y as "Bulldog Front"? That's the one weak link here for me. Also it is even more political and direct that the 1st EP, which I dug at the time.
and c'mon, lots of us heard these first on vinyl.
― money, chicken and other DNA (sleeve), Wednesday, 28 August 2013 04:28 (ten years ago) link
(or cassette)
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Wednesday, 28 August 2013 04:28 (ten years ago) link
I think with Margin Walker, Guy's lyrical thing - intense personal/political poetry - arrived seemingly so fully-formed and artful. Ian was still evolving from the bluntly literal stuff that made so many people detest his shtick (e.g. "I don't like parties / they avoid the truth" from that Embrace record, which was just three years earlier). So the early Fugazi songs by Ian are more of an evolutionary step away from Minor Threat, whereas Guy is just doing his thing that he's been doing since Rites of Spring, but doing it really well. I kind of consider "Do You Like Me" a sequel to "Margin Walker," which is almost Travis Bickle-ish or something:
You make yourself so beautiful,You make yourself so, so beautifulAnd now i feel like i'm going,I'm going to set myself on fire.I'm going to set myself up at a window,This margin walker wants a clear view,This margin walker wants a clear shot,And now i'm shooting it right on you.Untraceable, untranslatable,I can't explain all i ever wanted to doTrajectory passing right through meThreads my needle sends it right through you.You make yourself so visible,You make yourself so, so visible,And now i feel like i'm in the tread ofSome bastard jealousy.Up here, above the avenue, up here, whereThe things you do,They lend me a problem with the language,Split my seams and then they drop in a fuse.
― Walter Galt, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 10:40 (ten years ago) link
For those of us who are over 40, this was literally a cassette we were handed by a friend in a bedroom or a car or the smoking section outside our high school. "Dude, you've gotta hear this—it's the guy from Minor Threat's new band and it's fucking awesome." And "Waiting Room" was the first song. Plus, that bass line. Come on.
― 誤訳侮辱, Tuesday, 27 August 2013 21:45 (Yesterday) Permalink
Hahaha, so OTM
― chr1sb3singer, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 13:39 (ten years ago) link
Also "Margin Walker" is a totally awesome song
― chr1sb3singer, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 13:40 (ten years ago) link
There's no fucking way I could pick a single song from this. This comp is a pass down generation to generation gateway on par with, dunno, the first Violent Femmes record. Albeit in a different musical direction.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 13:45 (ten years ago) link
I do love on "Margin Walker" how he never starts singing tones.
― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 28 August 2013 16:31 (ten years ago) link
I'm a poseur. I voted for "Waiting Room."
― the vineyards where the grapes of corporate rock are stored (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 3 September 2013 20:01 (ten years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Wednesday, 4 September 2013 00:01 (ten years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Thursday, 5 September 2013 00:01 (ten years ago) link
wow, surprising #2
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Thursday, 5 September 2013 00:04 (ten years ago) link
I thought I voted for "Lockdown"... I guess not!
Great song:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZqPbyEuWpk
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 5 September 2013 00:44 (ten years ago) link
I think I forgot to vote. I was a little surprised by how much I liked "Lockdown" when I relistened.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Thursday, 5 September 2013 02:34 (ten years ago) link
All three of those zero-point songs are great, actually!
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Thursday, 5 September 2013 02:35 (ten years ago) link
Some classic anthemic choruses.