Repeater (album)

Repeater is the full-length debut studio album by the American post-hardcore band Fugazi. It was released on April 19, 1990, as Repeater on LP, and in May 1990 on CD bundled with the 3 Songs EP as Repeater + 3 Songs. It was recorded at Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Virginia, and produced and engineered by Don Zientara and Ted Niceley.

Repeater
Studio album by
Fugazi
ReleasedApril 19, 1990
RecordedJuly–September 1989
StudioInner Ear Studios, Arlington, Virginia
GenrePost-hardcore
Length35:01
42:29 (w/ 3 Songs)
LabelDischord
ProducerFugazi, Ted Niceley
Fugazi chronology
3 Songs
(1989)		 Repeater
(1990)		 Steady Diet of Nothing
(1991)

Repeater is often regarded as a definitive album for the band and a landmark of rock music. It has been described as an "angrier American update of Gang of Four's Solid Gold." It has also been noted for its complex interplay of guitar and rhythm section.[1] It is included in the book 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.[2]

Background

By 1989 Fugazi had made the transition into jamming on and writing new material as a band as opposed to playing songs composed solely by singer/guitarist Ian MacKaye. After the completion of several lengthy U.S. and European tours, they began to work on new material as well as refining songs that they had already been performing live, such as "Merchandise" and "Turnover" the latter of which was originally titled "NSA" in its original form, featuring MacKaye on vocals.[3]

The band once again chose to work with both Don Zientara and Ted Niceley as they had previously, and entered Inner Ear Studios in July 1989 to begin the recording process.[4] The group was only able to record with Niceley present between the hours of 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. because Niceley was splitting his time between the studio and culinary school.[4] Recording for the album was completed in September 1989.[3]

The album cover was based on a photo by Jim Saah.

The album's subject matter addresses a wide variety of themes such as greed, violence, sexuality, privacy, drug abuse and death. MacKaye told Guitar World that the album title "Is loaded on so many levels. It's actually about how things in life repeat over and over. But the title is also a rather obscure nod to The Beatles' Revolver. A record revolves and it also repeats. A revolver is also a gun, and so is a repeater. The title track is about kids repeatedly shooting each other and references the crack cocaine-related violence in Washington, D.C. in the 1980s."[3][5]

Release and reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[6]
The Great Rock Discography8/10[7]
MusicHound[8]
Music Story[9]
The Quietusvery favorable[10]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[11]
Spin Alternative Record Guide6/10[12]
Trouser Pressvery favorable[13]
The Village VoiceA−[14]

Released on April 19, 1990, through Dischord Records, Repeater did not initially reach the Billboard 200 charts or become a commercial success. However, the band spent most of 1990 and 1991 touring heavily, performing a total of 250 concerts between March 1990 and June 1991, routinely selling out 1,000+ capacity venues all over the world. By summer 1991 the album had sold more than 300,000 copies, a large number for a label that relied on minimal promotion.

While major labels began to court Fugazi, the band decided that Dischord was distributing their records well enough and refused the offers.[15] Repeater went on to sell over 1 million copies in the United States alone, and has sold more than 2 million worldwide. The album was also critically well received and featured an alternative rock sound that predated significant releases such as Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten, which would unexpectedly go on to break the genre into the mainstream.[3]

Accolades
Publication Country Work Accolade Year Rank
Spin US Repeater The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985–2014)[16] 2015 70
Top 90 Albums of the 90s[9] 1999 36
Alternative Press[17] US Repeater The 90 Greatest Albums of the 90's 1998 23
Kerrang![9] UK Repeater The 100 Greatest Rock Albums 2006 57
Pitchfork[9] US Repeater Top 100 Albums of the 90s 1999 52
LostAtSea[9] US Repeater 90 Albums of the 90s 2000 51
Pitchfork[18] US "Repeater" Top 200 Tracks of the 90s 2010 58

Covers, samples and tributes

La Dispute covered the title track live.[19] The track "Merchandise" has been covered by Face to Face (on their album Standards & Practices), Ted Leo and the Pharmacists[20] and Dogstar.[21] "Blueprint" was covered by Gogol Bordello live,[22] Ben Lee[23] and Tim Timebomb.[24] The track was quoted by The Knife on the track "Raging Lung" off of Shaking the Habitual.[25] It has also been sampled by Emynd for Stranger Day's track "Not Playin'".[26] "Styrofoam" has been covered by Stereotyperider.[27] "Shut the Door" has been covered by Boy Eats Drum Machine.[28]

Track listing
No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."Turnover"Picciotto4:16
2."Repeater"MacKaye3:01
3."Brendan #1" 2:32
4."Merchandise"MacKaye2:59
5."Blueprint"Picciotto3:52
6."Sieve-Fisted Find"Picciotto3:24
7."Greed"MacKaye/Picciotto1:47
8."Two Beats Off"Picciotto3:28
9."Styrofoam"MacKaye2:34
10."Reprovisional"Picciotto2:18
11."Shut the Door"MacKaye4:49

Personnel
Fugazi
Technical personnel
Album Cover

References
  1. Kellman, Andy. "Repeater – Fugazi". AllMusic. Retrieved April 5, 2011.
  2. Moon, Tom. "Repeater". 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Archived from the original on September 2, 2011. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d Perlah, Jeff. "The Independent". Guitar World. March 2002.
  4. Batey, Angus (May 1, 2015). "Morning Glory: Fugazi's Repeater Revisited". The Quietus. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  5. Berman, Emily. "D.C. Residents Caught Among Crack's Bloody Turf Wars". Wamu.org.
  6. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
  7. Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Canongate Books. ISBN 1-84195-551-5.
  8. Graff, Gary (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (2nd ed.). Visible Ink Press. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  9. "Acclaimed Music". www.acclaimedmusic.net.
  10. Angus Batey (May 1, 2015). "Morning Glory: Fugazi's Repeater Revisited". The Quietus. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  11. Wolk, Douglas (2004). "Fugazi". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 315–16. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  12. Weisbard, Eric (1995). Spin Alternative Record Guide (1st ed.). Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  13. Ian McCaleb; Ira Robbins; Mike Fournier. "Fugazi". Trouser Press. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  14. Christgau, Robert (May 7, 1991). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  15. Azerrad, p. 403–404.
  16. "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985-2014)". Spin. May 11, 2015.
  17. Intern, Editorial (March 10, 2010). "#125 - The 90 Greatest Albums of the '90s".
  18. "STAFF LISTS: Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
  19. "La Dispute Tour Statistics | setlist.fm". www.setlist.fm.
  20. "Ted Leo And Friends Take Unexpected Turns Live". The Chicagoist.
  21. News, Dallas Morning. "KEANU REEVES GIVES DOGSTAR ITS CELEBRITY". OrlandoSentinel.com.
  22. "setlist.fm - the setlist wiki". www.setlist.fm.
  23. "Ben Lee Will Cover Fugazi, Sonic Youth, Daniel Johnston, Pavement And More On New Covers Record, Quarter Century Classix « American Songwriter". September 18, 2019.
  24. "Tim Timebomb and Friends | Search Results kevin bivona". timtimebomb.com.
  25. says, Jeff Goodwin. "Album Review: The Knife, "Shaking The Habitual" | WRMC 91.1 FM". Retrieved 2019-03-13.
  26. "Yet Another Fugazi "Cover"". Washington City Paper. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
  27. "Stereotyperider - Under The Influence". Discogs. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
  28. "[COVER] "Shut the Door" - Fugazi" – via www.facebook.com.
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