plural::Committed To Excellence::Fugazi's End Hits

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For years now, Fugazi has poked, prodded and provoked listeners to question not only their own positions, but current social and economic situations. Their dissonance and melodies have provided a constant onslaught against ignorance in America, whether it is coming from government ("No Surprise"), big business ("Five Corporations") or other people ("Foreman's Dog"). Fugazi writes revolutionary anthems with no syrupy aftertaste and End Hits(Dischord, 1998) is no disappointment.

The band most known for "Repeater" and $5 dollar shows, has certainly given fans and critics a lot to chew on over the course of their last three albums. 1993's In On the Kill Taker added a much more complex layer of dissonance to the powerful, but slightly straightforward sonic attack of 1991's Steady Diet Of Nothing. After 1995's Red Medicine and its alternations between spontaneous sounds and choppy, interrupting instrumental pieces providing jarring segues between songs, End Hits refines some of that experimentation into a much more cohesive album. The musical and lyrical intensity is present, as always, but the haphazard feeling of many of Red Medicine's interludes is reined in.
End Hits is titled in a way that suggests either finality of a play on greatest hits compilations. The band's vitality comes from an amazing ability to harbor both the energy and anger of punk rock and the willingness to experiment, to play with what is expected of them and to never accept anything as a given or a necessity. Their musical history proves them restless sense and perpetually progressive in their focus. One thing that has remained constant, however is their criticism and constant evaluation of power in America. In "Guilford Fall," Guy Picciotto bellows:

Down at the station
We question our rations
But you seem satisfied
With the little received
Fractured appetite with
Bismuth pink on tap
Ascetic limbs gone tight
And your lips are
Clamped and grey

A constant expectation of something more, or of something good at all drives Fugazi's music.
Fugazi deals with many expectations at one time. Coming from punk roots, some listeners expect something they can slamdance to. At their May 7th concert at the Congress Theater in Chicago, I overheard a disappointed, aging punker complain that he'd "seen better pits at the Fireside [Bowl]," a Chicago punk dive. After nearly 12 years, Fugazi still plays music for change, not for run of the mill punk rock.

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