In On The Kill Taker by Joe Gross (33 1/3 Book)

By June 1993, when Washington, D.C.'s Fugazi released their third full-length album In on the Kill Taker, the quartet was reaching a thunderous peak in popularity and influence. With two EPs (combined into the classic CD 13 songs) and two albums (1990's genre-defining Repeater and 1991's impressionistic follow-up Steady Diet of Nothing) inside of five years, Fugazi was on creative roll, astounding increasingly large audiences as they toured, blasting fist-pumping anthems and jammy noise-workouts that roared into every open underground heart. When the album debuted on the now-SoundScan-driven charts, Fugazi had never been more in the public eye.

Few knew how difficult it had been to make this popular breakthrough. Disappointed with the sound of the self-produced Steady Diet, the band recorded with legendary engineer Steve Albini, only to scrap the sessions and record at home in D.C. with Ted Niceley, their brilliant, under-known producer. Inadvertently, Fugazi chose an unsure moment to make In on the Kill Taker: as Nirvana and Sonic Youth were yanking the American rock underground into the media glare, and “breaking” punk in every possible meaning of the word. Despite all of this, Kill Taker became an alt-rock classic in spite of itself, even as its defiant, muscular sound stood in stark contrast to everything represented by the mainstreaming of a culture and worldview they held dear.

This book features new interviews with all four members of Fugazi and members of their creative community.

Foreword Rob Sheffield
Introduction
A Brief History of Four Musicians
Interlude: A Comment on Ritual, or How Fugazi Wrote Songs
"Steady Diet of No Reverb"
The Albino Demo
"Facet Squared"
“Public Witness Program"
"Returning the Screw"
Interlude: The Sleeve
"Smallpox Champion"
"Rend It"
"23 Beats Off"
"Sweet and Low"
"Cassavetes"
Interlude: Punk vs. the Pop Charts
"Great Cop"
"Walken's Syndrome"
Two Finales
Interlude: Live
Afterword
Acknowledgements
Bibliography

“Written with a fan's loving attitude and a journalist's eye for puncturing false narratives, this entry in the 33 ? series is a great primer for those new to Fugazi as well as an illuminating read for those who wore out their Kill Taker cassettes long ago.” –  Pitchfork