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Rating: If ours were a better world, Fugazi probably wouldn't be remembered solely for their political image, for their activism, for their 6-euro concerts, for their 10-euro CDs, for their resistance to the arrogance of the major labels, for their lifestyle in the face of which all these heavily promoted pseudo-punk bands come off as schoolkids. If ours weren't a world turned upside down, Fugazi would be remembered for their songs, and forgive me if that's not a little.
Songs that in all possible worlds are monstrous hits except in ours, which can continue to go to ruin. Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto have simply, over the years, built the most valid post-hardcore mixture of the decade, artists of unrecognized greatness.
Formed at the dawn of the year 1987, and distinguished within that coarse and fierce East-Coast punk scene through numerous major experiences (notably MacKaye with the Minor Threat, negligible with the Teen Idles) and minor (Embrace, precursors of emocore, for better and for worse) Fugazi fly over the end of the decade and the entire span of the '90s through a dozen LPs of caliber and substance, developing over the years a path not linear to trends but opposed to them, riding styles through caresses and kicks in the ass.
Of these numerous works, the best remains the unsurpassed masterpiece at the cusp of the two decades, "Repeater".
Still very current, in it you can see the seeds that later germinated and the branches that were later cut from the trunk called Fugazi, an explosive mix of 30 years of rock and roll, in which they blend garage ("Merchandise") and punk ("Brandan n.1"), emocore ("Shut The Door") and raucous punk (the title track), funk and splashes of metal (the initial "Turnover"), unexpected melodic openings ("Reprovisional")... filthy attitude, above all, in body and spirit.
They will still be great, but never as great. A monument of the decade we left behind, an anthem to the joy of shouting in the ears of then and today's assholes.
I had a dream last night: I put on this CD and cranked it up to the max. Then there's a knock at the door: the police called by the neighbors demand I lower the volume. A fight ensues. Then, at the very moment the bass blast of "Greed" kicks in, I see one of them who just doesn't stop and starts dancing, and I dance with him, and we all dance with him. And we're all happy. And I hear him say that - damn - he should really buy the house next to mine, that they should really search my neighbors, because you never know, you might find a good excuse for an eviction notice.
Then I woke up, and "Greed" was over. It was just my world that was changing, at least in dreams.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Turnover (04:16)
Langour rises reaching, to turn off the alarm
And there's never so much seething
That it can't be disarmed
You just stop it up,
Pass it on
Shove it to shelf it,
To leave it off and turnover
Lounging against your weapons,
Until your muscles find lock
In the ease of that position,
A residue of tremor passes
As some cherie amour suggests
That maybe it was time to smash things up
But just stop it up,
Pass it on
Shove it to shelf it,
To lead it on and turnover
I'm only sleeping
02 Repeater (03:01)
You say I need a job,
I've got my own business
You want to know what i do?
None of your fucking business
But now I'm lying here
Knowing that business had a name,
But now I'm a number
1 2 3 repeater
Down by law, I've got this nasty habit
When I need something I reach out and grab it
Once upon a time I had a name I had a way
But to you I'm nothing but a number
1 2 3 repeater
Did you hear something outside?
It sounded like a gun
Stay away from that window boy
It's not anyone we know
Only about ourselves and what we read in the paper
Don't you know ink washes out easier than blood
But we don't have to try it
And we don't have to buy it
Repeater
04 Merchandise (02:59)
When we have nothing left to give
There will be no reason for us to live
But when we have nothing left to lose
You will have nothing left to use
We owe you nothing you have no control
Merchandise keeps us in line
Common sense says it's by design
What could a businessman ever want more
than to have us sucking in his store
We owe you nothing
You have no control
You are not what you own
05 Blueprint (03:52)
I'm not playing with you,
I'm not playing with you,
I'm not playing with you,
I clean forgot how to play.
But you can still come around,
In fact I invite you down,
Maybe together we can wipe that smile off your face.
'Cause what a difference, what a difference, what a difference
A little difference would make.
We'll draw a blueprint, it must be easy,
It's just a matter of knowing when to say no or yes.
Frustrating, frustrating, always waiting for the bigger axe to fall.
A patient game that i can't find my way to play.
Never mind what's been selling,
It's what you're buying
and receiving undefiled.
06 Sieve-Fisted Find (03:24)
Here comes another problem
All wrapped up in solution
It's ugly as it's strapped on
And twice as hard to get behind
Another sieve-fisted find
Lost, lost again. please, please let me get my hands on it.
Here comes that self-same problem
All stalled on same self again
It's as ugly as the last one and twice as
Far from unwound by this charged head
Standing on this thin base of neck
And now i'm pushing past the red
I said I'm pushing past the red.
Another sieve-fisted find
Lost, lost again
07 Greed (01:47)
You wanted everything
You needed everything
You wanted everything
You needed everything
Everything is...
Everything is...
Greed
08 Two Beats Off (03:28)
I cut my nails to the quick
But still i was caught with my hand in the till
Red-handed.
Give me something,
Give me anything
The threat of everything is when it becomes nothing at all
Fingers reaching, trophy swelling
That's when desire trips me up.
Got a new technique money let's the pieces fit where they fall.
Privilege - it sanctions everything.
Security - a net under it all.
My fingers reaching, the trophy swelling
That's when desire trips me up.
I cut my nails to the quick
But still I was caught with my hand in the till.
Red-handed
09 Styrofoam (02:34)
There are no more races to be run
There are no numbers left to be won
Everybody's down we pulled each other down
There never was a truth to be found
We are all bigots so full of hatred
We release our poisons
There are no more cultures left to slide
There are no more people to be tried
We're in our minds five billion pieces so defined
Read it in a book, it was underlined
We are all bigots so full of hatred
We release our poisons like styrofoam
10 Reprovisional (02:17)
Somewhere in these private minds,
The last one comes out just in time
To clear out the chambers and sew up the lips,
'Cause that's the price to pay for hoping every slip's not a slide.
In other words not to get it wrong,
It's pointless to walk when it's past time to run.
Secured under the weight of watchful eyes,
Lulled to sleep under clear expansive skies.
Somewhere in these prying hearts
Conflicting histories tear us apart
And we hope we don't get what we deserve,
Hide behind the targets in front of all the people we serve.
11 Shut the Door (04:49)
i broke the surface so i can breathe
i close my eyes so i can see
i tie my arms to be free
have you ever been free?
she's not breathing
she's not moving
she's not coming back
i burn a fire to stay cool
i burn myself, i am the fuel
i never meant to be cruel
have you ever been cruel?
she's not breathing
she's not moving
she's not coming back, back, back
shut the door
shut the door, so i can leave
shut the door
12 Song #1 (02:54)
Song number one is not a fuck you song
I'll save that thought till later on
You want to know if there's something wrong?
It's nothing
It's nothing
Everybody's talking about their hometown scenes and
Hurting people's feelings in their magazines and
You want to know what it all means?
It's nothing
It's nothing
Fighting for a haircut?
I say, grow your hair
Crying for the music?
Well, I doubt you really care
Looking for an answer?
You can find it anywhere
It's nothing
It's nothing
Life is what you want it to be so
Don't get tangled up trying to be free and
Don't worry what the other people see
It's nothing
It's nothing
(repeat to end)
13 Joe #1 (03:01)
Living, in the past
For the future isn't here unless it is cast
Sullen nights on a screen
Searing through the break, the thoughts underneath
He is Joe, he is Joe
Joe #1
Our favorite son
Never once did you say
That I's have to pay for the reasons you'll never explain
Come down to the screen
Searing through the break, the thoughts underneath
He is Joe, he is Joe
Joe #1
Our favorite son
14 Break-In (01:32)
And he's happy because she's got skin
And she's happy just to let him in
When he asks will you let me in?
And from a place where they share skin,
They say come inside and he's happy because she's got skin
And it's sweet when she let's him in,
No sin but there's a time when the skin wears thin
And she's working on another skin deep inside deep inside break-in
And he wonders will my money, will it cover for me
Can i stay outside and let it cover for me?
She can't get outside, she can't get outside
She's the covering
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