Fugazi by Fugazi

Fugazi, the self-titled debut EP from the Washington, D.C. band (it also goes by 7 Songs), was recorded in June 1988 and came out on Dischord that November. Ian MacKaye plays all the guitar; Guy Picciotto is there as a singer but not yet as a second guitarist, and Joe Lally's bass and Brendan Canty's drums hold the whole thing down with a coiled, springy patience that hardcore rarely bothered with.

"Waiting Room" is the calling card, all taut bass and stop-start tension, and it's the sound of hardcore growing up in real time: loud, lean and furious, but smart enough to leave some room. It suits a band that would become known for doing everything themselves and for its open contempt for the music industry. Even the cover photo is homegrown, snapped at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.