The Dischourse

We close out the first season of The Dischourse with an episode low on music but long on heart. Find out what surprises we have in store for Season 2, get David’s take on Hamilton and hear from Nick about a service trip gone sideways in the Dominican Republic. Not to be missed! We’ll be back in September!

We continue our deep dive into the first phase of Fugazi’s storied career, by taking a critical look at the band’s first full-length Repeater, as well as its oft-discounted follow-up, Steady Diet of Nothing. Hear how these two records serve as both a legacy of the band’s early days, as well as an indication of things to come as the 1990s wear on. All that, plus! A Simple Machines records megamix and Nick makes a shocking admission.

Songs in this episode:

1. Fugazi - "Turnover"
2. Fugazi - "Repeater" and "Repeater (Live)"
3. Fugazi - "Two Beats Off"
4. Fugazi - "Shut The Door (Live)"
5. Fugazi - "Song Number 1"
6. Fugazi - "Provisional"
7. Fugazi - "Reprovisional"
8. Judas Priest - "Breaking the Law"
9. Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson - "Say Say Say"
10. Fugazi - "Stacks"
11. Fugazi - "Long Division"
12. Fugazi - "Reclamation"
13. Fugazi - "Latin Roots"
14. Scrawl - "11:59 It’s January"
15. Jawbox - "Footbinder"
16. Geek - "Anticipatience"
17. Lois - "Indie"
18. Superchunk - "Baxter"
19. Swirlies - "Trudy"
20. Fugazi - "Dear Justice Letter"
21. Cleveland School of Rock Kids - "Waiting Room (Cover)"

The Dischourse finally arrives at the altar of Fugazi, with burnt offerings in hand. In this episode, we’ll be taking a look at the bands first two groundbreaking EPs — Fugazi and Margin Walker (more popularly heard as 13 Songs) — as well as the more recently released First Demos. We’ll also take a deep dive into the underground of the late 1980s, a moment when hardcore spirals out in multiple directions just before punk breaks in 1991, and how Fugazi not only challenged orthodoxy, but influenced others to do just the same.

This episode was recorded in early May 2020, and is dedicated to the memory of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and many more. Rest in Power.

Songs in this episode:

1. Trusty - "Goodbye Dr. Fate"
2. NOFX - "I’m Telling Tim"
3. Bad Brains - "Banned in DC"
4. Big Black - "Cables"
5. Judge - "Hold Me Back"
6. Suicidal Tendencies - "Institutionalized"
7. The Obsessed - "Sodden Jackal"
8. Egg Hunt - "Me And You"
9. Ted Nugent - "Wango Tango"
10. Fugazi - "Bad Mouth"
11. Public Enemy - "Bring the Noise"
12. Public Enemy - "Rebel Without A Pause"
13. Fugazi - "Repeater"
14. Fugazi - "Waiting Room"
15. Fugazi - "The Word"
16. Fugazi - "Waiting Room (DEMO)"
17. Fugazi - "Suggestion"
18. Fugazi - "Suggestion (Live)"
19. Fugazi - "Glueman (Live)"
20. Fugazi - "Margin Walker"
21. Fugazi - "And The Same"

You thought we wouldn't talk about 2000s era emo when talking about Rites of Spring? What started off as a joke take when recording an intro for Episode 5 ending up becoming a whole lot more. We dive into a site, Fourfa.com, that seemingly defined our teen years and gave a framework for what it meant to be a punk and emo fan in the early 00s. From there, we naturally ended up getting into the conversation every teenager had to have in 2003: “Is this even emo?” Plus, we fondly remember a truly problematic curio from this time: The Emo Game.

Songs in this episode:

1. Fugazi - “Do You Like Me?”
2. Funeral Diner - “My Fist Smells Like Graveyard”
3. Time In Malta - “What We’ve Become”
4. Indian Summer - “Millimeter”
5. The Get Up Kids - “My Apology”
6. Alkaline Trio - “Private Eye”
7. Jimmy Eat World - “Bleed American”
8. At the Drive In - “Arcarsenal”
9. Taking Back Sunday - “Cute Without the E (Cut from the Team)”
10. My Chemical Romance - “Helena”
11. The Ataris  - “San Dimas High School Football Rules”
12. Dashboard Confessional - “Hands Down”

The late 1980s: Reagan is decomposing in office, crack has flooded the streets of DC, and Revolution Summer is over. In this episode of The Dischourse, we look at a curious time for the label. While Fugazi comes together gradually, the spotlight is ceded to bands like Soulside, Fire Party, Ignition, Three, and Fidelity Jones, several of whom make the trek to Europe, bringing the sound and spirit of DC back to the continent. Also discussed: Nick makes an apology, and David attempts to mansplain Riot Grrrl. Not to be missed!

Songs in this episode:

1. Soulside - "Punch the Geek"
2. Egg Hunt - "Me and You"
3. LCD Soundsystem - "Losing My Edge"
4. Soulside - "Don’t Let Me Down"
5. Soulside - "Name In Mind"
6. Soulside - "Pembroke"
7. Billie Joel - Excerpt from Behind the Iron Curtain
8. GvsB - "Learned It"
9. Fire Party - "Prisoner"
10. Fire Party - "Cake"
11. That Petrol Emotion - "Tightlipped"
12. Ignition - "Throttle"
13. Ignition - "Anger Means"
14. Three - "Empathy"
15. Three - "Swann Street"
16. Three - "Domino Days"
17. Fidelity Jones - "Feeling the Screw"
18. Fidelity Jones - "Venus on Lovely"
19. Pearl Jam - "Even FLOW"
20. Scream - "A-MERI-DUB"
21. Broken Siren - "No You Cannot Go"
22. Fugazi - "In Defense of Humans"
23. Red Emma - "Candle"
24. Good Riddance - "Melt With You"
25. Three - "Swann Street (Acoustic)"

It’s half (and ¾ and ⅞) release madness, with the last few teenage Dischord bands and a whole rainbow coalition of 80s hardcore. After covering the big names up through 1986, we go back through the discography to explore some of the albums and 7”s released with other labels and catch up with the mid-80s sundries. Also explored: Ian MacKaye has given us his blessing so now we don’t know how we’re going to do with all these free mattresses. 

Songs in this episode: 

1. Minutemen - "Corona" 
2. Q And Not U - "Hooray for Humans" 
3. Necros - "IQ 32" Necros - "I Hate My School" 
4. Iron Cross - "New Breed" Agnostic Front - "Crucified" 
5. United Mutation - "Passout" 
6. Man Is The Bastard - "Skull Crusher" 
7. Siege - "Drop Dead" Septic Death - "Hardware" 
8. Drop Dead - "Those We Deny" 
9. Scream - "This Side Up" 
10. Scream - "Bet You Never Thought" 
11. Scream - "Still Screaming" 
12. The Libertines - "Up The Bracket" 
13. The Police - "Don't Stand So Close To Me" 
14. Wool - "Medication" 
15. Scream - "People People" 
16. Scream - "Mineshaft Burning" 
17. Government Issue - "Plan To See" 
18. Lunchmeat - "No Need" 
19. Mission Impossible - "Helpless" 
20. Dain Bramage - "Eyes Open" 
21. The Snakes - "Snake Rap" 
22. The Snakes - "License To Fish"

Rites of Spring may have been singular, but the spirit of Revolution Summer was invigorated by bands like Beefeater, Dag Nasty, Gray Matter, and Embrace, to name a few. We’ll look at how each of these bands brought different ideas and approaches to helping establish a true second wave that ended up laying the foundation for much of Dischord’s output over the next decade.

Songs in this episode:

1. Beefeater - "Just Things"
2. Strange Boutique - "In A Heaven"
3. Beefeater - "Red Carpet"
4. Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Real Men Don't Kill Coyotes"
5. Beefeater - "Satyagrana"
6. Beefeater - "40 Sonnets On Plants"
7. Dag Nasty - "All Ages Show"
8. Descendents - "I'm Not A Punk"
9. Bloody Mannequin Orchestra - "Meal At McDonalds"
10. DYS - "Stand Proud"
11. Dag Nasty - "Circles"
12. Dag Nasty - "Wig Out At Denkos"
13. Bad Religion - "Do What You Want"
14. Junkyard - "Hollywood"
15. Lifetime - "Young, Loud, and Scotty"
16. Gray Matter - "Burn No Bridges"
17. Gray Matter - "I Am The Walrus"
18. Squirrel Bait - "Sun God"
19. Gray Matter - "Retrospect"
20. Embrace - "Dance of Days"
21. Embrace - "Money"
22. Empire - "All These Things"
23. Pailhead - "I Will Refuse"
24. Ministry - "Halloween"
25. Gray Matter - "Oscar's Eye"

In 1983, hardcore was out of gas. But in 1984, records by bands like The Minutemen and Husker Du exploded the conventions what hardcore punk could be. Taking inspiration from these and early UK anarcho-punk, Rites of Spring injected new life and blood into a scene that desperately needed it. We’ll also discuss the importance of Revolution Summer in fostering a more open and politically progressive scene in DC, the establishment of the community organization Positive Force, and, yes, the dreaded word: emo.

Songs in this episode:

1. Bright Eyes - "When The Curious Girl Realizes She’s Under Glass"
2. Foss - "Rise"
3. Egghunt - "Me & You"
4. Fear - "Gimme Some Action"
5. The Minutemen - "Do You Want New Wave Or Do You Want the Truth"
6. Husker Du - "Chartered Trips"
7. Husker Du - "Eight Miles High"
8. Rites of Spring - "Spring"
9. Discharge - "Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing" 
10. Rudimentary Peni - "Dead Living"
11. Venom - "Black Metal"
12. Rites of Spring - "Drink Deep"
13. Rites of Spring - "Deeper Than Inside"
14. Dead Kennedys - "We Got A Bigger Problem Now"
15. 7 Seconds - "99 Red Balloons"
16. Rites of Spring - "End on End (Live 1985, 9:30 Club)"
17. Rites of Spring - "Hidden Wheel"
18. One Last Wish - "Hide"
19. One Last Wish - "This Time"

We continue our journey through harDCore, and see how exposure, the pressure of being a straight edge standard-bearer, and learning to love U2 drives Minor Threat to the breaking point, culminating in the “Salad Days” 7”. We’ll also hear from lesser-known Dischord bands, like Double O and Marginal Man, and discuss whether or not Faith’s Subject To Change EP really does foreshadow emo or not.

Songs in this episode:

1. Minor Threat - "Out of Step"
2. Minor Threat - "Cashing In"
3. Agnostic Front - "The Eliminator"
4. Minor Threat - "Betray"
5. Double O - "Gray to Black"
6. Goldfrapp - "Deep Honey"
7. The Faith - "Subject to Change"
8. Marginal Man - "Mental Picture"
9. Marginal Man - "Friend"
10. Trouble Funk - "Drop The Bomb"
11. Minor Threat - "Salad Days"
12. The Snakes - "Snake Rap"

As songs like “Straight Edge” and “Out Of Step” filter out of the insular DC scene, they become the rallying cry for thousands of kids, spreading the sound of harDCore around the country and creating tension within Minor Threat. Throughout this episode, we’ll talk about why straight edge caught on in places like Boston, where fearsome straight edge gangs like FSU took root. We’ll also discuss the monumental Faith/Void split LP and how Scream brought some much needed rock classicism to the early Dischord stable.

Songs in this episode:

1. The Faith - "It’s Time"
2. The The - "Infected"
3. SSD - "The Kids Will Have Their Say"
4. Gang Green - "Just One Bullet"
5. Jerry’s Kids - "Is This My World"
6. The Faith - "In The Black"
7. Void - "It’s Time To Die"
8. Void - "Who Are You"
9. Scream - "Human Behavior"
10. Scream - "Laissez Faire"
11. Scream - "Fight/American Justice"

Washington, DC: Seat of power, swamp to be drained, and a city that — in the late 1970s — was not pegged to be the next big scene of anything. This episode delves deep into the bands and sounds that were swirling about in the nation’s capital in the late 1970s. We’ll talk about how those bands, as well as British Oi, California hardcore, and an apocryphal concert by The Cramps in 1979 changed the lives of countless kids, many of whom would go to form bands like Teen Idles, SOA, Void, Minor Threat and many more.

Songs in this episode:

1. Untouchables - "Nic Fit"
2. The Cramps - "Tear It Up"
3. Urban Verbs - "Frenzy"
4. The Knack - "My Sharona"
5. Tiny Desk Unit - "Little Metal Teeth"
6. The Slickee Boys - "Put A Bullet In The Jukebox"
7. Half Japanese - "Calling All Girls"
8. Chalk Circle - "The Slap"
9. Pussy Galore - "You Look Like A Jew"
10. Sham 69 - "Hurry Up Harry"
11. The Damned - "Love Song"
12. Black Flag - "Wasted"
13. Dead Kennedys - "Police Truck"
14. Teenage Jesus and The Jerks - "Less of Me"
15. UK Subs - "Teenage HQ"
16. Teen Idles - "Get Up And Go"
17. Teen Idles - "Deadhead"
18. Minor Threat - "Out Of Step"
19. SOA - "Public Defender"
20. SOA - "Gang Fight"
21. Government Issue - "Rock ‘n Roll Bullshit"
22. Youth Brigade - "It’s About Time We Had A Change"
23. Teen Idles - "I Drink Milk"
24. SOA - "Stepping Stone Party"
25. Untouchables - "Rat Patrol"
26. Sonic Youth - "Nic Fit"
27. Red C - "Assassin"
28. Iron Cross - "New Breed"
29. Deadline - "Aftermath"
30. Void - "Authority"
31. Void - "Dehumanized"

Brief introductions and opening remarks. Find out why David has just the slightest twinge of a southern accent and why Nick still stans for a pre-Real Housewives era Bravo. We’ll also talk a bit about coming to punk in the late 1990s and early 2000s, how Fugazi’s The Argument (and simultaneously released Furniture EP) makes a natural place to start this podcast, and how a label like Dischord could get its start in a so-called musical backwater like Washington, DC. 

(Ed. note: Yes, we know we mispronounce Guy Picciotto's last name. Ian MacKaye was nice enough to email us about it and we never made the mistake after that.)

Songs in this episode: 

1. Fugazi - "Waiting Room"
2. Egghunt - "Me & You"
3. Fugazi - "Furniture" 
4. R.E.M. - "Pop Song ‘89"
5. Sonic Youth - "Silver Rocket"
6. L’Trimm - "The Cars That Go Boom"
7. Le Tigre - "My My Metrocard"
8. Fugazi - "Repeater (Live)"
9. Bad Brains - "Pay To Cum"
10. Parliament - "Chocolate City"
11. Marilyn Manson - "Dope Show"
    (...and a medley of a lot of early '00s TRL jams)