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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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. 

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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.

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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.

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.

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.