fugazi - red medicine (1995)

impossible

probably "target"

this was one of the first records i just could not get into before i played it over and over.

in college i was very preoccupied by this comparison

http://www.furia.com/page.cgi?type=twas&id=twas0021

There are moments on this album that could pass for King Crimson, guitar squalls that Adrian Belew would be perfectly at home with. It fascinates me to watch how the outlying factions of progressive rock and straightedge punk, originally polar opposite genres, have nearly converged. By building up their sonic vocabulary from the stark minimalism of 13 Songs, the band has reached a complexity level comparable to the one that some of the maximalists have now reached in the opposite direction. Fugazi, the champions of sweaty mosh-inducing pandemonium, have now made an album that in a few places reminds me more of the studio-processed solipsism of Aphex Twin than it makes me think of the snarling abandon of the Sex Pistols.

"By You" without any hesitation, one of my very favorite Fugazi songs

I couldn't get into this either when it first came out, aside from "Do You Like Me." I actually sold my copy for I could buy other albums. (In my defense I was very young.) Now I can't even remember what I found so offputting about it at the time; this has become the golden example for me of everything a punk album can be

as far as i can recall it just seemed like this cacophony to me

that's what I love about "By You", the descent into the howling maelstrom

and the ~45 seconds of feedback at the end

that rolling bobbing rhythm section

In what universe is this not "Bed for the Scraping"???

impossible

probably "target"

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Friday, August 8, 2014 9:53 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

same.

my favorite album of theirs.

I did "Bed for the Scraping" at some punk karaoke thing a few years ago and it was the most fun I've ever had at karaoke

Latest Disgrace

a thousand grudging young millionaires

My first impulse was "By You". I wondered if I would be the only person to say so. I'm pleased to see that I'm not. I'll probably give it a good listen before voting though.

first 50 seconds of 'downed city' p. important for the album construction, a callback to the 'version' sound. i don't know if i ever noticed before that they're just tacked on to the little song that follows.

Fugazi were kind of proggy in a way but were there specific tracks that reminded you of King Crimson, j?

no, not that i recall, i was just convinced of the point anyway

it's possible that glenn m repeated himself when reviewing 'thrak', which might have drawn the connection a little further

Best Fugazi album, voted for "Forensic Scene."

I usually think of The Argument as my favorite Fugazi album, but this one is hard to argue against, too

i keep meaning to try this album again - far and away my least fave

I don't think I ever really thought of this as a punk album, at least not by any traditional definition. (I also never really thought of Fugazi as "champions of sweaty mosh-inducing pandemonium" tbh.)

great opening and closing tracks and voting for "target," though

outta curiosity, people who rate this highly in the discography - was this your first fugazi album? just curious if there's a known-it-since-high-school "doorway" factor or not

that's not a dismissal, fyi - a lot of my fave indie group's albums are the first i heard - just curious if the album was approached with an awareness of earlier stuff.

By You!!!

I'm pretty sure I owned In on the Killtaker first, and had probably heard some of the older stuff via friends. But this was the first one I really connected with and absorbed.

xps

I had been following them very closely since Margin Walker (slept on the debut for some reason even though one of my roommates at the time had it), had already seen them 3 times by the summer of '95 when this came out. RM is definitely my favorite full-length. I also really dig 'Birthday Pony" and 'Version", I can't even remember the songs y'all are raving about so I should probably give this another listen

the first one i listened to was Repeater, but I like this one and the Argument best, I think I related more to the variety in instrumentation and approach on 'em. that could have been because the mindset i had as I was sorta growing outta punk rock though

I'm still not crazy about the pre-IOKT albums, I like them better once they get weird.

i had heard 'kill taker' before, i picked it up used (a rare early foray into buying used cds) because some city kid i knew said something favorable about fugazi. i don't recall being very impressed by it, most of the music i had heard up to that point was classic rock or radio alt-rock, and in that light 'kill taker' sounds kind of crummy.

i didn't live anywhere near easy access to records or people who listened to records, so i found out about fugazi from the internet. or maybe that best buy commercial where they say they have pavement and fugazi cds (man).

so 'red medicine' wasn't my first but it was the first one i actually paid attention to (and again, because a cool morally strenuous socialist punk guy in my dorms was so adamant that the band was great).

This was the first Fugazi album I bought/owned, but not the first I had heard. I love it, definitely my favorite album of theirs all the way through.

This actually was my first Fugazi album, too, and I didn't like it at the time. I had to sort of restart, get into 13 Songs and then the rest of their discography before I began to like this one. Eventually I grew to love its avant edge (I also think End Hits is really under-appreciated, so that's where my biases are at) and its pacing and payoffs.

Red Medicine really seems like the record that was the model for the weirder, turn of the century Dischord stuff like Black Eyes and Different Damage, so that's probably colored my appreciation for it over the years, too

yeah i already was heavily into the earlier stuff (heard a decade after they were made, via my college radio station) when i got around to red medicine. The Argument is one of my faves but it's weird and pop, where red medicine sounds to me like they were sick of their standard mode of attack but not sure WHERE to go. Argument sounds very sure, and I like my Fugazi with all guns blazing.

It's been a long time since I revisited though.

i'm still in my "end hits is the best" phase

my first fugazi album was the argument which i checked out from the library when i was in high school

Not that this is the most important metric, but I can listen to The Argument without evening considering skipping a track, something I could not say about Red Medicine or End Hits

i didn't think the last two were bad at all, i played them at the time, but for some reason i haven't felt like going back past 'red medicine' in years, more than a decade probably

it's just the most striking record

i voted 'weight room' good 4 pumping iron drug-free

from what I recall from the Instrument documentary, this one was the big turning point where the old school punk fan thickies fell off the bandwagon because it WASN'T PUNK. i think tis maybe their best along with End Hits...

I remember when this album came out how Maximum R&R went crazy screaming about how their beloved hardcore heroes went prog rock.

downed city

"Do You Like Me" sounds a little like Unrest at :51.

It totally does, I somehow remember making that exact comment when the album came out.

Hm, I found this pretty hard to listen to when I just put it on now. "By You" still sounds really good, though.

IDONTWANNABEDEFEATEDIDONTWANNABEDEFEATEDIDONTWANNABEDEFEATEDIDONTWANNABEDEFEATED

sund4r i know for a fact that you have listened to microtonal black/death metal in the last 9 months, how could this be harder??

(asking not to accuse but to probe)

Not that this is the most important metric, but I can listen to The Argument without evening considering skipping a track, something I could not say about Red Medicine or End Hits

― Evan R, Friday, 8 August 2014 15:00 (4 hours ago) Permalink

... in contrast, there are maybe 6 songs off of Red Medicine I would even *consider* voting for:

1. Do You Like Me?
2. Bed For The Scraping
4. Birthday Pony
8. By You (pretty forgettable imo, but a lot of other folks seem to dig it so whatever)
10. Target
13. Long Distance Runner

pretty sure those 5 tracks (skipping "by you") are the ones i still have

"latest disgrace" and "forensic scene" are all time. "back 2 base" also a scorcher

I dig the squealing sax on "Back to Base" but the song feels kinda... minor? couldn't see myself voting for it but I'm glad it's on the album

I'm gonna relisten though cuz I don't remember what the other two sound like

oh right, "Latest Disgrace" is the "take yr medicine" one--nice groove in the first verse, everything after that is too scattered to leave an impression

"Forensic Scene" = I like the singing on the chorus; would probably rank this ahead of "By You"

Unfortunately, I meant "hard to listen to" in the sense of "something about this doesn't seem as appealing as it used to" as opposed to "challenging my musical preconceptions". The more straightforward rocking parts of the first two tracks weren't really doing it for me when I listened today. Not sure exactly what the issue was; I might say it was the voices but I enjoy their voices in other contexts.

i meant that microtonal black/death is hard to listen to ; )

Only if you are not kvlt, obv.:P

masterpiece

forensic scene

In On the Kill Taker...uh, kills this album. The definitive Fugazi album for me

I would argue this as the songwriting is better

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

this seems like such a 'magic eye poster' album, people alternately describe it as really slow, really abrasive, really exciting, really weird, really accessible, etc. depending on how much they like it.

i tried to give my other favorite songs a chance, but 'do you like me' just comes first and that's all there really is to it

your eyes / like crashing jets

probably my favorite opening line of an album ever.

my first fugazi. generally preferred ian's bark to guy's insinuations, but i think i voted for 'by you'

This is a tough one. I'm going with "Back to Base" just because I love sub-two-minute songs and Fugazi (my favorite band) doesn't have that many. And that song packs a lot into 1:45. But there are six or seven other songs I might have chosen on a different day.

All my favorites on this album are Guy songs. Voted "Forensic Scene" but it's almost arbitrary - there are at least two or three others I'd be just as likely to vote for.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Now I feel bad I didn't vote "Fell, Destroyed," just to give it a vote.

i tried to give my other favorite songs a chance, but 'do you like me' just comes first and that's all there really is to it

― j., Friday, August 29, 2014 8:44 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Except the stupid intro.

Forgot to vote so consider another point for By You

stupid intros are what makes this record great!

they're just gearing up, it's good and obnoxious

Ha, the intro might be my favourite part of "Do You Like Me?".

BUT NOT RELIGIOUS

fwiw this is an obvious towering masterpiece on first listen imo

been listening to their albums in order like 'yeah this is good, I can see where this is going', and this is where it was going

ivy said this in the RYM comment box: "you know how in on the kill taker has that really sick middle section where everything becomes kind of vague and noisily amorphous? this entire record takes place in that space"

very well-put, can only concur, this album takes place in a really weird and singular yet gripping & urgent zone (exactly what it's urging is the puzzle, the ambiguity). has the quality of good experimental fiction. write-in for the liminality poll haha

Plus, it has that track where the dude yells “I’m sick with this” and then the guitar goes baDADADAbaDUDADUbaDADADAbaDUDADU and everyone has a good time

If one was ranking riffs based on “sick” factor, that one’s definitely up there. Like it’s probably not actually the best track on the album (as decided by this poll), but it’s just so sick and fun you can’t help but vote for it.

I also only just realised the dudes are doing a spiderland thing in the bottom of the album cover. Never saw their heads before!

Anyways yeah, I started with this album too early and it ruined all other fugazi for me. This is the album and whatever, the other stuffs good but it never got better than this

Swan’s “to be kind” sounds like a lamer version of the first 40 seconds of “forensic scene” and I love to be kind

Also good lord what an opener! I was actually hopeful the album would just be its first 50 seconds, and then it kicks into just the sickest little punk number with some actual good lyrics and the funnest little refrain, do you like me followed by guitar squeals, a sick sick sick sick solo that crashes out and DAMN IT DOESNT STOP BUILDING.

Do you like me? I love you!

I’ve scratched and broken a lot of cd’s, but this is the one I regret scratching up the most. I need to buy it again

I have uncorked the Red Medicine Energy :D

does sound like some sort of alt reality energy drink tbf lmao

That’s what this album has over all the others. The best, most special, alt reality form of energy, in abundance

I’ve said this on the internet too many times but this is one of my favorite albums by anyone (and frankly it’s my favorite Fugazi record)

“ Anyways yeah, I started with this album too early and it ruined all other fugazi for me. This is the album and whatever, the other stuffs good but it never got better than this”

HP OTM, this is exactly what happened to me

I wonder how “weird” this seemed at this time? On the other end of 00’s “alternative”, it feels almost by the number? I can respect in 1995 though, and for previous fugazi fans, there were probably a lot of “wait, wtf is this” moments throughout. Those first 50 seconds set the stage for a lot of what you’re going to find on this album I.e. weird-ass sonic variety for a punk (let’s just call it energy?) record

Repping this as a favourite album commands respect 🫡

the hardcore kids interviewed in the instrument film seemed to think it was shit but hardcore kids have very particular standards. time flattens things and it doesn't strike me as all that weird or inaccessible next to other 90s alt/indie albums (including mainstream stuff)

the noise at the beginning is my favourite thing fugazi ever did the rest of it is pretty great too and probably their best work

That podcast that focuses on every single Fugazi track, one at a time, ending with an interview with Guy and Ian, iirc spends some time on those noisy interludes.

the one called the alphabetical fugazi? I'll give it a listen

Yeah, that's the one. I've only listened to the final episode, though, with the interview, but it was honestly pretty illuminating.

I wonder how “weird” this seemed at this time? On the other end of 00’s “alternative”, it feels almost by the number? I can respect in 1995 though, and for previous fugazi fans, there were probably a lot of “wait, wtf is this” moments throughout. Those first 50 seconds set the stage for a lot of what you’re going to find on this album I.e. weird-ass sonic variety for a punk (let’s just call it energy?) record

― Peach’s burner account (H.P), Thursday, 19 October 2023 11:00 (three hours ago) link

There were always these pockets of people who seemed to think that Fugazi was still the same band they were circa "Waiting Room" or were actually Minor Threat (I remember being so embarrassed when people yelled out Minor Threat song titles at shows) and so there was some talk about how weird or "what a sell out" (?) Red Medicine was but they probably hadn't listened to a Fugazi record in yrs or heard anything that was coming out on Dischord around the time (Lungfish, Hoover, Smart Went Crazy, etc). The movie captures this very well. End Hits was much more polarizing iirc

I loved it the second it came out, even though I was thinking I was kind of over them at the time, I didn't really love In On the Killtaker, maybe the Fugazi record I've listen to the most? Maybe

Another thing is that even though really didn't do any interviews or ads to speak of they where generally accessible to a wide grass roots audience (all-ages, cheap tickets, tons of gigs, cheap records, word o' mouth) there were a ton of people who I knew who were into Fugazi but wouldn't listen to say Sonic Youth or Pavement for any reason and also had deeply strange takes on them, I knew this girl who heard that Ian was a drug user and cleaned up for tour but totally did drugs and I remember just being "c'mon you don't actually believe that" but she did.

The 90s were weird.

lj if you love this one, i have great news about end hits and the argument

The only Fugazi record that's never vied for my fave is End Hits, but of course, some people love that one! Red Medicine rules, though. Kinda came out at the peak of post rock, so I've sometimes listened to it through that prism.

1995 is a (the?) year to beat in terms of killer LPs

I remember Ian did an interview in The Netherlands with an underground magazine after Red Medicine came out. He told the interviewer what a red medicine was after the interview - he didn't want it printed.

I bought a used CD of this in 2005, knowing only a handful of their songs, none of which I think were on this album. I was pleasantly surprised at how weird it was, and it remains my favorite Fugazi album.

Incidentally, I recently came across the phrase "red medicine" while reading Midnight's Children; it's a reference to mercurochrome. Naturally it made me wonder, but who knows?

End Hits is probably my favorite overall, but it is hard to choose, I really do love them all basically the same

I lived in a little bubble in the mid-90s as far as music is concerned. My friends and I fumbled around in the dark finding new bands and albums, so I wasn’t too aware of what other Fugazi fans thought of RM when it came out (though with in a year or two I’d start to get a better sense of that Minor Threat/13 Songs fan base).

I discovered Fugazi in 93 or 94 and basically ate up everything through Killtaker all at once. Loved them all head and shoulders above most other bands—all classic, no dud (even Steady Diet which gets unfairly shit on). Maybe that’s why I view those albums as one era of the group. You definitely see an evolution happening over those albums but they also have a consistent sonic quality.

Red Medicine was the first Fugazi album I bought on release, and it definitely to me felt like a level up. I LOVED all the adventurousness of it, and the variety. This was also the first album, for me, where I felt that Guy had become the best thing about the band. (I’ve since reconsidered and think he’s arguably been the best thing about the band all along).

Also agree with the above sentiment that End Hits was a lot more polarizing on release than this was. Even I didn’t love EH at the time. Looking back, I’ve forgotten why I felt that way. I was wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuHwmqb2asA

Red Medicine does seem like the start of their weird-out era