So work has been pretty shitty the past few weeks, and in anticipation of another such week, I burned myself a two-for-one CD of Complete Discography with The CD Version of the First Two Records. As oddly twee and definitely banal as it is to sit in my cube petulantly slashing through CRS reports and news stories with impetuously youthful (in the one case, explicitly adolescent) protest music blaring through my tinny set of headphones; it’s actually kind of nice. Nostalgiac, sure. But edifying too.

I’m struck by just how savvy MacKaye and Hannah were at such respectively young ages. By their ability to juxtapose unabashed pop ‘n’ roll with grating noise experiments. To make bold, dead-earnest statements next to wry, cynical in-jokes.

“Thurston Hearts The Who” is still the best diss track-cum-art project ever put to wax.

And remember when Rage Against the Machine did that cover of “In My Eyes”? Yeah, Rage Against the Machine are the Eagles of agitprop rock.