For The Record-23. August. 2025

Some thoughts on Fugazi, five dollar shows, and the fleeting joy of IRL chats.

I don’t remember the first time I found Fugazi. If pressed, I’d say Margin Walker somehow found its way into my circle of friends. It might’ve been Flipside, too, for that matter. I also can’t imagine life without this band.

I was probably 13 or 14 at the time, and in the middle of my divorce from pop radio. For all its charm, Z100 and I just weren’t working out. And while I was already infatuated with college radio, I still had this idea in my head of what a rock star musician looked like. And it didn’t look like Ian MacKaye & Fugazi. These guys wore pocket T-shirts and shorts (like me!). They didn’t have long hair like the bands on MTV—in fact, they usually shaved their heads. They sang about things like sexism and not being what you own. They made sure to remind us that they owed us nothing.

And speaking of MTV, why didn’t I ever see them on there?

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