You know who else had "azi" in their name?

Ian McKay is a fantastic guy. Great article with almost zero possibility of flame. Redlit!

This is not a Fugazi link

I see what you did there.

Saw lots of Fugazi shows back when I used to live in the DC area. Best five bucks you could spend.

Back in '87 I was straight edge for about 2 weeks. Then I met this girl.....

Pailhead was a fantastic EP. Ian + Al Jourgeson, how cool is that?

Minor Threat is and always will be the pinnacle of punk. At least their first album and concerts revolving around it. After that, not so much.

PC LOAD LETTER: Pailhead was a fantastic EP. Ian + Al Jourgeson, how cool is that?

Minor Threat is and always will be the pinnacle of punk. At least their first album and concerts revolving around it. After that, not so much.

Extremely cool. I still bust that out at parties.

makes me proud to be from DC and a fan of Dischord

I for one fully endorse Fugazi's later more progressive and experimental material in addition to their earlier "punk" stuff.

This is a major dividing line amongst their fans.

This is also true with the Melvins.
Melvins no longer do the slow sludge-drudge thing but have put out some very interesting ambient and experimental music.

Too much to bear for the punk-rock kid set.

No, it's a Minor Threat link!

Nice find, smitty! I try not to let myself get too caught up in 'hero worship' but if I was going to have a hero, Ian would be pretty high on the list of candidates.

/been straight edge all 26 years of my life
//tries not to preach it at all
///hates Minor Threat/loves Fugazi...go figure?

Kublai Khan: You know who else had "azi" in their name?

Ashkenazi. Why do you ask?

Bladel: Back in '87 I was straight edge for about 2 weeks. Then I met this girl.....

Straight Edgers have to be some of the biggest douchebags ever. They're right up there with the Christian Metal/Punk/Hardcore bands and fans. But I'm sure the two groups have a good deal of overlap.


Band Member 1: We're the band Sanctified. We play metal and punk, but with lyrics that inspire faith in Christ.

Band Member 2: Yeah. We proved that Christian music can be tough and hard core.

Cartman: Yeah, you guys are real hard core.

Band Member 1: You bet your gosh-darned rear end we are!

mofomisfit: No, it's a Minor Threat link!

here comes the argument...

I saw The Evens last year and finally got to meet the man after 20 years of fandom/admiration. All I could manage was a stilted "thanks for everything.". Even now with the benefit of hindsight I don't think i could have said anything else. I really can't think of any other single person other than my parents that has influenced who I am as a person more than Ian MacKaye.

(Well maybe Tex Avery. I have him to thank for my 7 minute attention span.)

craigdamage: I for one fully endorse Fugazi's later more progressive and experimental material in addition to their earlier "punk" stuff.

This is a major dividing line amongst their fans.

I agree. Am I the only one on earth who thinks 'in on the kill taker' is by far their best?

They played a great show, but sometimes Ian got a little annoying...

All I know about him is that He teamed up with John Frusciante and produced Froosh's DC EP one of the most awesome EPs in existence ever.

seriously, give it a listen

LewDux: Ashkenazi. Why do you ask?

Don't forget the cliff-dwelling Anasazi.

Somehow, I was lucky enough to see Fugazi play twice. In Mississippi. At both shows, Ian asked after the second song if everybody could hear OK. Also, he does not like crowd surfing.

Saw Fugazi in Des Moines. Best show I ever seen. I begged Ian to play instrument at the end of the show. Everyone was shuffling out of Hary Marry's (don't know why as encores are pretty much a given). Ian gives a nod, and goes into a ten song set of all the classics. Half the people missed out on the best part of the show.

Also: Pailhead and the Evens are maybe the best 'side projects' in the history of bands and side projects.

Back when 13 songs and repeater came out, I know for a fact that Fugazi was offered a multi-million dollar deal with Capitol. He said "no thanks". It's to know that there are people who actually live what they preach.

If for nothing else, he should be beaten repeatedly for inspiring all the sXe farktards. They're as annoying as vegans. Great, you're all straight edge/vegan/wtfever. Good for you. Now STFU, nobody cares about your life choices except your mom. And if you're as preachy and pretentious to her as you are to everyone else, she's just as tired of your dumb ass.

/don't preach at me
//i'm here to drink beer and listen to music

mekkab
mofomisfit: No, it's a Minor Threat link!

here comes the argument...

No, I don't want to start an argument, both bands are great, really. I just thought I'd be kind of clever. And I wasn't.

Echoing GossipTrain and craigdamage. I really like Red Medicine a lot for some reason.

I confess to being straight edge for about 10 years, I even have a huge 'sXe' tattooed on my right leg, which was one of the dumber decisions I've ever made. While I think the straight edge crowd isn't as douche-filled as is often reported, I do think they/we have missed the point that Mr. MAckaye was trying to get across. If you listen to "Out of Step" he breaks it down at the end:

"This is no set of rules. I'm not telling you what to do. All I'm saying is I'm brining up three things that are like so important to the whole world that I don't identify much importance in. Because of these thing, whether they are farking or playing golf, because of that, I feel...

I can't keep up"

It took me a while to realize he wasn't telling everyone to shun drugs/smoking/sex etc, he was just stating that he didn't feel that these things were as important to him as he was being lead to believe they should. He was performing in these shows, watching kids drink themselves silly, or out of their minds on drugs, and this was his reaction to it. He thought they were missing the point of the scene they were in. I still like the Straight Edge tunes of Minor Threat, it still preaches a good message about conformity, however, most sXe punk that has followed is crap in the mold of Christian rock.

/thinks Bad Brains is better anyway

mofomisfit: mekkab
mofomisfit: No, it's a Minor Threat link!

here comes the argument...

No, I don't want to start an argument, both bands are great, really. I just thought I'd be kind of clever. And I wasn't.

_{/psssst! Thems was Fugazi lyrics I posted!}

GossipTrain: craigdamage: I for one fully endorse Fugazi's later more progressive and experimental material in addition to their earlier "punk" stuff.

This is a major dividing line amongst their fans.

I agree. Am I the only one on earth who thinks 'in on the kill taker' is by far their best?

They played a great show, but sometimes Ian got a little annoying...

'In on the Kill Taker' is my personal fav as well.

I don't give a rat's ass about the straight edge aspect, as I'm a raging alcoholic. I just love the music.

pe_md: Echoing GossipTrain and craigdamage. I really like Red Medicine a lot for some reason.

Red Medicine was a great album, it still sounds brand new every time I listen to it.

I'm not a fan of straight edge, don't really like Minor Threat, and only like one or two Fugazi songs...yet in every Ian MacKaye article he comes across like a really nice, intelligent guy who doesn't preach, just thinks about his own ethics very carefully and does what he wants. You're damned right there should be zero flame in this thread.

I love Minor Threat but I dont really agree with the message, being a smoker and drinker. Solid Punk though.

Good Guys (Dont Wear White) is my favorite jam by them

Oatmealfight, that is awesome!

I am a huge Minor Threat and Fugazi fan. I've only seen Fugazi once, as I lived in Salt Lake in the '90s. I moved to the DC area 6 months after they played their last show. :(

Speaking of straightedgers, Salt Lake has the biggest contingent of asshole racist homophobic militant straightedgers anywhere. I've broken up beatdowns they've committed on friends of mine. fark you, SLC sXe!

I also did not realize the guy from Minor Threat and Fugazi are the same.

Waiting Room is an awesome song.

in '86 we roadtripped to DC from PGH. just to buy ice cream from ian

We saw Fugazi in Los Angeles at the Paladium circa. 1992. Meh.

I saw Fugazi at Midnight Sun in Jackson, MS when I was 18. They rocked. After the show Ian was just hanging out on the stage and talking to the throng of people around. I shouted out, "Hey Mr. McKay!" and that got his attention really quickly. I guess he wasn't used to being called "mister" I shook his hand and thanked him for the show. I'll never forget it.

"I don't wanna hear it! No you're full of shiat!"

Oh yeah, I forgot.

My buddies also enjoyed a port-show Fugazi/Lungfish volley ball game in Iowa City...

...I'm practically famous.

PoSt-show...

I'm not a sailor

i was straight edge for a couple years, round the end of high school, but i figured it just wasn't for me. now, i smoke and drink, but i don't do either to excess, and i've never touched anything harder than a cuban or wild turkey, and i never will.

that being said, i've long been a big fan of this man and his music. i can't decide on which fugazi record is my favorite, they are all good for various moods.

great article.

mercator_psi: Speaking of straightedgers, Salt Lake has the biggest contingent of asshole racist homophobic militant straightedgers anywhere. I've broken up beatdowns they've committed on friends of mine. fark you, SLC sXe!

There's a reason that Mormon and Moron are spelled so much alike. In fact the second M in Mormon is silent.

doctorwormwood: makes me proud to be from DC and a fan of Dischord

one of my best friends and my guitar player was in scream

This is not a Repeater

creepy jackalope eye: I saw The Evens last year and finally got to meet the man after 20 years of fandom/admiration. All I could manage was a stilted "thanks for everything.". Even now with the benefit of hindsight I don't think i could have said anything else. I really can't think of any other single person other than my parents that has influenced who I am as a person more than Ian MacKaye.

(Well maybe Tex Avery. I have him to thank for my 7 minute attention span.)

Almost the same deal, only flip John Doe for MacKaye and Chuck Jones for Tex Avery... except I also got to meet Chuck Jones.

/stammered out a "thanks for everything" to both.

MURDER AND WEATHER ARE OUR ONLY NEWS.
I WILL REFUSE.

Teen Idles? Rites of Spring? Let's kick it up a notch.
How about an Alec MacKaye reference: I KNOW WHAT MY ANGER MEANS.

This thread needs more "The Argument" references.

/my favorite

I love Ian. I met him and he was amazingly logical and kind and intelligent person. Couldn't say a bad word about him. Now I don't drink or do drugs, and never have, and I try to keep that stuff quiet, because in Australia, it's a drinking culture, and that's the way it is. Agree or disagree, I don't care, no one can pretend to have the answers, so live life the way you are comfortable I say. But one thing I will say is that no matter how many douchebag or violent straight edge people there are, it really can't be hung on Ian because he has no control over them or what they believe or do.

Dave Grohl was in Scream.

Psssst. He's in the DC phone book and quite friendly if you wanna call him.

Dragontoes: We saw Fugazi in Los Angeles at the Paladium circa. 1992. Meh.

I was at that show, too.

onion13: Back when 13 songs and repeater came out, I know for a fact that Fugazi was offered a multi-million dollar deal with Capitol.

So I suppose the McCain campaign shouldn't ask for the rights to "Guilty of Being White," then?

/I've only served 72 years of my ti-i-i-i-i-ime!