Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	87/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Alternative Press	8/10
Entertainment Weekly	B
NME	8/10
Pitchfork Media	8.5/10
Q
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Spin	9/10
The Village Voice	B+

The Argument is the sixth and, to date, final studio album from the post-hardcore band Fugazi released on October 16, 2001 through Dischord Records. It was recorded at Don Zientara's Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, VA and the Dischord House between January and April 2001. Upon release it was met with critical and commercial success. It was the band's last release (simultaneously with "Furniture") before going on indefinite hiatus in 2003, until the release of First Demo over thirteen years later.

The Argument saw Fugazi continue to expand upon the more experimental art punk leanings of Red Medicine and End Hits while also heavily incorporating other instruments, such as piano and cello into their sound. The album also featured the first extensive contributions from outside musicians, most notably longtime stage-tech Jerry Busher, who added percussion on a second drum set to several of the album's songs as well as Kathi Wilcox of Bikini Kill and Bridget Cross of Unrest who provided additional backing vocals.

When asked about the meaning of the album's title by Guitar World in a 2001 interview, singer/guitarist Ian MacKaye described it (and the song title from which the album name comes), as "an anti-war manifesto." MacKaye expanded upon this by stating, "A main point of the song is that I will not agree with war across the board. It also talks about a greater argument: that these giant airplanes are dropping tons of homicidal weaponry, blowing the shit out of everybody, and guys are running around with guns. And that is an argument of colossal scale."

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Wikipedia