I'm not really a fan of either, but I bet a Jesus Lizard show would have been a lot more fun. Yes, fun is a criterion. And Fugazi's piety could be really irksome from time to time.

TJL.

that damned fly wrote:

Get dog costumes wrote:But this lyrics issue? Seriously? The Jesus Lizard's lyrics are mostly stupid, save the occasional cool concept like "Lady Shoes."

"lady shoes" was just two "jokes" sang back to back. the yahoo group has an mp3 of yow telling these jokes while the band tunes up or resolves some gear issue.

Right. That's what I meant by a cool concept.

that damned fly wrote:fugazi's lyrics could be sharp social commentary, or weird melancholic wailings, but pale in comparison to TJL's strange moods and images. which are oddly enough, perfect matches for some of the cover art. specifically the bucknall paintings and the ones done by yow.

Again, David Yow never sang any words that would mean much if they weren't coming from his mouth with Denison, Sims, and McNeilly playing incredible music along with it. Like I said before, that's just fine, and I enjoy TJL's lyrics and vocals and wouldn't change a thing about them. Maybe it's even beside the point to compare bands' lyrics outside of their songs. But Fugazi wrote a few things that could have some power when read on a sheet of paper by someone who had never heard the songs, and that is a rare feat for a rock band.

Get dog costumes wrote:...Fugazi wrote a few things that could have some power when read on a sheet of paper by someone who had never heard the songs, and that is a rare feat for a rock band.

point taken. they also wrote some shit that would put a 15yr old's poetry notebook to shame in it's hackiness.

sparky wrote:Fugazi lyrics don't do much for me. David Yow's a poet, I think. With economical use of words, he conjures up the strangest and weirdest images and situations. That you can barely make them out is no bad thing: occasionally, a line jumps out coherant and startle me. Their records are a rare example of ones with lyric sheets that I've spent some time reading.

I didn't see this post before I wrote my last one. I thought of writing something to the effect of "No one spends time analyzing a TJL lyric sheet," but now I'm glad I didn't.

Some of the good Yow qualities you cite - imagery, discordant lines, indecipherable vocals, and especially economy - are things I enjoy about Fugazi's delivery.

that damned fly wrote:point taken. they also wrote some shit that would put a 15yr old's poetry notebook to shame in it's hackiness.

Yeah. I'm not defending "What could a businessman ever want more, than to have us sucking in his store" here.

i still give it to TJL, even though it was mostly nonsensical or weird or perverse, it just had weight.

even fugazi's most aloof lyrics are still too topical for me.

fugazi. they did too much too well for too long. can't be beat, even by a gang of sweaty pervs.

I'm with Fugazi on this one. Much love for The Lizard, but Fugazi had more of an effect on me.

(I feel this poll could possibly serve as one of those "Beatles or Elvis" discussions where one's decision is supposed to tell something about the person's personality... I'll leave it up to someone more clever than me to work out the details.)

141 people wrote:My allegiance lies with:
Fugazi
49% [ 70 ]
The Jesus Lizard
50% [ 71 ]

Total Votes : 141

Wow. Ultimate Thunderdome, indeed. Holy shit.

god this one was rough.


I saw both bands about the same number of times (9-12?), and feel really lucky to have gotten those chances. A friend gave me LIAR and Godflesh's PURE on the same day when I was fifteen. I put on the Lizard first and have never listened to that Godflesh record. sorry, Godflesh!

I took every chance I could get to see them. I have this soundboard cassette of them playing live in a vfw hall in Peoria. They were playing under a giant banner that read:

"FOR GOD AND COUNTRY"

fucking monumental. I have been slacking on getting this transferred. It is so good. the funny thing is that with the recording, you can't tell how batshit yow is. I've seen him do some despicable things live, too. He choked this girl I knew with his legs and punched some guy unconscious one night and mashed his junk in some friend's faces while beating some dude with a microphone, but the scariness of it was mostly exhilarating.

Fugazi was a happy accident. It was a few nights before the Rainbo rollerskating show in Chicago and I was down @ school in Champaign. Someone sold my ticket for the Chicago show, so I got a ticket for Peoria (ha!) and ditched class to go see Make*Up, not having a strong impression of fugazi from the records. Turns out, they are great (duh).

Fugazi was incredible. They stopped the show (bed for the scraping) three times because of two idiots 'moshing' and Ian asked everyone to sit down. about 500/1000? people gladly sat on the floor and the two fist-fighting mosh dudes stayed standing, got uncomfortable and left. It was beautiful.

This is the show I think of when I think of Fugazi even though I've seen them be brilliant maybe seven times after that night. The idea that they can control a group of wild kids that large with logic and reason and decency and still just scorch live? awesome.

what a fucking great show.

what a great band.

That said, I don't find myself ever listening to the Jesus Lizard. I'll listen to Red Medicine and the Argument over and over, though. I love how those Fugazi records sound, and that really appeals to the record fan in me.










Fuck.
























the Jesus Lizard.

kerble wrote:god this one was rough.


I saw both bands about the same number of times (9-12?), and feel really lucky to have gotten those chances. A friend gave me LIAR and Godflesh's PURE on the same day when I was fifteen. I put on the Lizard first and have never listened to that Godflesh record. sorry, Godflesh!

I took every chance I could get to see them. I have this soundboard cassette of them playing live in a vfw hall in Peoria. They were playing under a giant banner that read:

"FOR GOD AND COUNTRY"

fucking monumental. I have been slacking on getting this transferred. It is so good. the funny thing is that with the recording, you can't tell how batshit yow is. I've seen him do some despicable things live, too. He choked this girl I knew with his legs and punched some guy unconscious one night and mashed his junk in some friend's faces while beating some dude with a microphone, but the scariness of it was mostly exhilarating.

Fugazi was a happy accident. It was a few nights before the Rainbo rollerskating show in Chicago and I was down @ school in Champaign. Someone sold my ticket for the Chicago show, so I got a ticket for Peoria (ha!) and ditched class to go see Make*Up, not having a strong impression of fugazi from the records. Turns out, they are great (duh).

Fugazi was incredible. They stopped the show (bed for the scraping) three times because of two idiots 'moshing' and Ian asked everyone to sit down. about 500/1000? people gladly sat on the floor and the two fist-fighting mosh dudes stayed standing, got uncomfortable and left. It was beautiful.

This is the show I think of when I think of Fugazi even though I've seen them be brilliant maybe seven times after that night. The idea that they can control a group of wild kids that large with logic and reason and decency and still just scorch live? awesome.

what a fucking great show.

what a great band.

That said, I don't find myself ever listening to the Jesus Lizard. I'll listen to Red Medicine and the Argument over and over, though. I love how those Fugazi records sound, and that really appeals to the record fan in me.

wha!? i just read that whole book, and this:

the Jesus Lizard.

is how you end it? it's like ron just killed harry potter. what happened?

That said, I don't find myself ever listening to the Jesus Lizard. I'll listen to Red Medicine and the Argument over and over, though. I love how those Fugazi records sound, and that really appeals to the record fan in me.

that is the very reason why i pick fugazi. i'd heard of jesus lizard well before hearing of fugazi. and unlike everyone in the world including the band i think their live record "show" is the best. when i was younger and first heard it it really freaked me out and cracked me up; it was the first tjl record i'd ever bought and all of their studio stuff i heard after that paled in comparison. i'd never enjoyed anything so rock heavy so, so much. i'll still listen to "show" and privately air guitar and make rock faces like a total tard.

but fugazi... it's just a gut reaction for me to answer fugazi, whenever anyone asks who my favorite band is, even if i haven't listened to anything by them in months and even if another band engages me more in the current period of my life. "steady diet of nothing" was the first record of theirs i'd owned. i had heard of them through friends and promptly went to the record store and blindly picked something out -- this was about '95, a few months after red medicine came out. i remember at first thinking ian mckaye had the lamest grunty retard voice i had ever heard in my life and really struggled to get into it, but after awhile i started to like it the way i can enjoy the dull pain of a toothache, and not long after that fugazi became a crucial part of my listening diet and changed the way i heard music. fugazi. fer realz.