Thursday, Jul 24, 2008
After 20 years, the Fugazi frontman and co-owner of Dischord Records is still a punk and a prince.
Jan 8, 2001 | If you frequented the Georgetown Häagen-Dazs shop in Washington in the early '80s you are probably familiar with Ian MacKaye's early work. The singer, guitarist and underground entrepreneur developed his scooping arm there, alongside childhood friend Henry Rollins. MacKaye soon cut the apron strings and pursued full-time work as co-owner of Dischord Records and as a member of many legendary D.C. bands, including Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Embrace and Fugazi. Dischord turned 20 last month.
No one imagined that the then 18-year-old MacKaye and his Teen Idles band mates were launching a company, let alone one that would command the respect of critics and punks alike two decades later. It was an inauspicious launch -- the $600 for the production and distribution of an eight-song 7-inch came out of the band's cigar box -- but Dischord quickly became a fully articulated expression of the politics and passion that haphazardly brought it to life. Its sphere of influence has widened exponentially over the years, but Dischord has never veered from its original course. The two cd retrospective it plans to release by early summer attests attests to this.
Today, MacKaye runs the label with former Teen Idles and Minor Threat band mate Jeff Nelson and five other employees. Dischord's enduring success is due in large part to the popularity of Minor Threat and Fugazi. Minor Threat are among the few early-'80s American punk bands that continue to sell thousands of records both domestically and overseas. And Fugazi are responsible for the lion's share of the more than 1 million albums Dischord has sold, despite a deliberate absence from commercial radio and MTV.
The label operates in its original location, a bungalow-style house in Arlington, Va. The house itself is woven into modern music folklore. According to legend, when Pearl Jam visited D.C. on the group's first national tour, Eddie Vedder, unimpressed by the city's monuments, asked his unofficial tour guides to take him to the Dischord house.
It's hard to imagine where thousands of acts would be -- Rage Against the Machine, Nirvana, the Beastie Boys, Sleater-Kinney -- had Dischord never emerged on the cultural landscape in the '80s. Unlike many independents, Dischord does not behave like a miniature major label. None of the dozens of bands that have released records with MacKaye ever did so under any contractual obligations to the label. Compact discs, vinyl and all other release formats are congruently priced with production and distribution costs. The 26-song Minor Threat discography CD is available from Dischord, for example, for $10 postage paid.
MacKaye has been criticized for being the quintessential punk rock "no" man. Most critics of this mind-set hang their hats on the blunt, anti-substance-abuse lyrics he penned as a teenage frontman for Minor Threat. The same ill-fitting Puritanism has been forced on Fugazi. Yet in Dischord's endurance, and in Fugazi's demonstrated preference for social action over braggadocio's invective, MacKaye is proving he values affirmation over protestation.
Since his days as an adolescent ice-cream technician, MacKaye has lived out a simple yet revolutionary philosophy of dedication to community in art and ideology. Dischord buys advertising in fanzines that may only reach 30 people. MacKaye and his fellow Dischordites reply to all correspondence. Fugazi have more crowd-drawing power in every corner of the globe than many of today's multinational-backed rock bands, yet the group actively seeks out small, independent concert promoters. At every opportunity, whether it's providing healthcare coverage for Dischord employees or playing benefit concerts for local charities, MacKaye reinvests in community.
Get Salon in your mailbox!