It is the work of a band in touch with one another, weathered and familiar enough to finish long dormant ideas alongside completely new work. Released alongside Furniture, an EP of old songs recorded contemporaneously, The Argument comprises material that was decades in the making, plus in situ studio constructions and improv spin-offs. Largely written and demoed with a sense of purpose following the end of touring behind End Hits, there is a history-encompassing undercurrent to the record. The members of Fugazi weren’t strangers to the idea of complex, stunted legacies themselves thanks to their work with Minor Threat, Rites of Spring, Embrace et al, but their story is more nuanced and satisfying even if it doesn’t have a proper ending. DC punk bands were always good at breaking up – so good, in fact, that it was both a running joke and a driver behind the truly wild number of great groups to emerge from the city – but they almost always upped and died with something left unsaid. In the annals of great sign off records, The Argument deserves its own chapter. “I do feel like we were just getting good, and The Argument was a great record that we should try and top,” bassist Joe Lally told the A.V. They still play together sometimes, but even then it’s one of those hiatuses that feels like it might still be in place when the meteor with Earth’s name on it rounds the corner. It’s not their final record because, technically, they haven’t broken up. Twenty years ago this month they released The Argument. READ MORE: The Guitarist’s Guide To Grunge: Essential bands, gear and players.They also meant every undulating groove, scraped guitar hook and nagging melody. Fugazi meant it when they said ‘Let’s take the violence out of the scene!’. Where these two lines intersected and caught fire was in the total commitment behind every one of their moves. If Fugazi’s beliefs – community, anti-consumerism, dancing not moshing, all ages $5 shows – suggested a band who’d neither bend nor break, their music suggested something altogether more malleable.
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