End Hits

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Total Tracks: 13   Total Length: 47:42

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Joe Gross

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Joe Gross hails from Falls Church, VA, one of the Chocolate City's most vanilla suburbs. He has written for Spin, Rolling Stone, the Village Voice, the Washingt...more »

04.22.11
Proof positive that a sustained, articulate punk rock can exist after the first couple of grey hairs.
Label: Dischord Records

Critics adored Fugazi's 2001 album The Argument, but for me, 1998's End Hits was the cruelly slept-on masterpiece, an ode to the emotional entropy inherent in long-term punkhood. The pro-immigration "Place Position" insists on porous borders; "Five Corporations" assaults gentrification's creepy-crawl; "Forman's Dog" addresses the exploitation inherent in disaster-and-crime-porn. The destabilized revolution stays underground and away from prying eyes in "No Surprise." ("No CIA/ No NSA/ Can map our veins," whispers Guy Picciotto.) "With glue and string we try to stay together/ Despite the pain" murmurs MacKaye in "Pink Frosty," a quietly rumbling song as moving as any he's made and proof positive that a sustained, articulate punk rock can exist after the first couple of grey hairs.

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gaaakkkk!

badisotope

If you liked the old Fugazi stuff, like 13 Songs, don't waste your downloads on this. Don't waste your buddie's downloads on this. I deleted this album from my hard drive it was so bad and never burned a copy. I'm not saying anything about the lyrics; they may be great, but I can't force myself to listen to the music long enough to find out. I hate to write anything bad about Fugazi, but this release blows.

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Fugazi At Their Catchiest

reefdog

"End Hits" receives every bit of ire it receives from Fugazi "purists." Yes, it's got "hooks," and some might even accuse bits of suffering from "catchiness" and "melody." These may drive away fans from the "13 Songs" or "Repeater" days, but to any other rock fan, "End Hits" is a treasure trove of brilliant post-punk experimentation. Fugazi use repetition, looping, guitar interplay, bizarre noises, and the insanely awful voices of Guy and Ian to craft a brilliant record that, despite its disparate elements, feels as taught and polished as your big-label pop release, with none of the phoniness. This is anti-establishmentarianism (what?) at its most fist-clinchingly, head-bangingly interesting, and is the obvious album to get as an introduction to Fugazi (followed quickly by "Red Medicine").

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It's Fugazi !

PBR72

You can't go wrong ....... This is an overlooked Fugazi album ... Not as hard as the others.. but still fan - friggin-tastic !..... 5 Corps.... must have !

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Icon: Fugazi

By Joe Gross

"Beautiful, funny people. Generous to and respectful of the people they work with. Inspirational in a lot of ways. Maybe the best band." — Steve Albini on Fugazi From their first public performances in 1987 to the start of their indefinite hiatus in 2002, Fugazi kept every promise they ever made. The D.C. supergroup — Dischord Records co-founder and Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye on guitar and vocals, singer/guitarist Guy Picciotto and drummer Brendan Canty,… more »

They Say All Media Guide

End Hits is a minor blebby for Fugazi — there are some great moments, however, so it’s nothing to disown the band for. The epileptic “Lust for Life”-style “Five Corporations” has the riffs and rage, with Ian MacKaye taking the music industry to task for being the slow, incestuously festering beast that it is. Though the band seems to lack the stamina for instrumental wowing it once had, the songwriting is still there. On point as always, MacKaye remains lyrically immolated: “Check the math here/Check in ten years/Clusterf*ck theory/Buy them up and shut them down/Then repeat in every town/Every town will be the same.” Nigh on two decades of punk army service, MacKaye is still far away from running out of relevant things to say. Other highlights include “Break” and “Place Position.” MacKaye and Picciotto’s mantra-like barking of “yawn yawn yawn” during the latter could stop you to think, “Wait, that was kind of funny,” amidst all the fist-pumping. – Andy Kellman

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