Fugazi- Repeater (1990)

I’ve never been a big fan of Minor Threat. I mean, they’re ok, I own their stuff, and I’m aware of their importance to the D.C. scene, straight edge and all that. But I tend to prefer, Bad Brains aside, my early ‘80s US punk to hail from California, where the bands tend to be more varied and interesting. Minor Threat, to me, is the American Sham 69.

But with this, the first Fugazi record, my respect for Ian MacKaye increased hugely. Superficially, in some ways, it sounds like Minor Threat. But, in most ways, it doesn’t sound like them at all, sort of the PiL to their Sex Pistols, much more structurally interesting. I’m no musician, so I couldn’t tell you whether this has any great level of technical complexity or not. But the progression from Minor Threat is fascinating, and is an interesting if rather late (1990!) example of the many ways in which punk segues into post-punk. And I love that: from the Ramones’ famous “here’s a chord, here’s another, here’s a third, now go and form a band” ethos it’s fascinating to see, as here, how punk musicians all negotiate in their different ways how to rediscover complexity without being pretentious.

I know naff all about how music works. But I know I love the time signatures, structure and weirdness of this album. And this is just the start for Fugazi.