Husker Du

[ghost of miles]

Recently I finally picked up the CD version of one of my favorite 1980s albums, Husker Du's NEW DAY RISING. Anybody else hooked on this band's white-noise melodicism? Man, I loved these guys--at one time I had the LPs of EVERYTHING FALLS APART, ZEN ARCADE (a double), NEW DAY RISING, FLIP YOUR WIG, and CANDY APPLE GREY, as well as the 45 of "Eight Miles High" (which, fortunately, I hung onto). Bob Mould and Grant Hart each had unique songwriting strengths, and from 1983 to 1987 they recorded an incredible amount of material (not quite on the Black Flag level of three albums a year, but impressive nonetheless). Saw 'em in Indianapolis in 1985 (got into the bar with a truly bogus ID) and they smoked through a 2-hour set that ended with a hair-raising, nearly-apocalyptic "Eight Miles High." By the time WAREHOUSE: SONGS AND STORIES came out, I had drifted away from them, well into my Sonic Youth phase, and to this day I still haven't heard that last record, though friends give it mixed marks. BTW, I believe "Eight Miles High" has been re-issued as a CD5, along with a single from FLIP YOUR WIG that includes their cover of the Mary Tyler Moore theme.

[Big Al]

Yeah, that move to Warne Bros. kinda mellowed 'em out. I liked WAREHOUSE at one time, but now it just seems kinda forced, overblown. Still, any band that can close it's career with a tune as earth-shattering as "You Can Live at Home" is still one that can claim one helluva legacy.

[ghost of miles]

Listening to "Terms of Psychic Warfare" right now, and suddenly struck by how Dylan-ish Grant Hart could be at times. (Thinking of "Books About UFOs" as well.) Didn't really follow him after the breakup--Bob Mould just a bit (I liked one of the Sugar albums).

Big Al, you ever read GET IN THE VAN? It's a not-too bad compendium of pieces about a dozen or so American indie bands from the 1980s and early 90s, Husker Du included.

Edited March 20, 2004 by ghost of miles

[BFrank]

You know, I've still got the "Warehouse" LP, and still haven't listened to it very much. Certainly nowhere near as much as "Flip", "Candy" and "Zen". I have that "8 Miles High" 45, too. I always loved that tune and when that came out, it was great!

Use to have a Sugar CD, but gave it up a while ago.

[Indestructible!]

Hi Gents,

Yep, was a HUGE Husker Du fan back in the day.... "Land Speed Record"!!!!!!

Man, did I also love most of the cats on the SST record label!

Cheers,

Shane

[dave9199]

I mean this when I say this: One of my Top 2 or 3 bands. Heard them in March 1985 on local college radio (New Day Rising just out), but didn't buy that album (my first) until October when Flip Your Wig came out. I do think their Warner years are weaker in comparison, but I love their hardcore years as much as Zen, Rising & Wig. The live album The Living End is on of the greatest live albums ever because of it's sound & energy. I saw them 3 times:

1. Paradise, MA 1986-a month before Candy Apple Grey came out-I got a bootleg of this show as I didn't remember too much of it as I only had 3 albums at that time, one being Land Speed Record which I just listened to today. I still love this album.

2. The Orpheum, Boston, MA 1987-Warehouse tour-they played the whole album in order, kinda dull, but I talked to Greg Norton before the show. I was almost in tears during the show from meeting him.

3. The Living Room, Providence, RI 1987-this show has 2 songs on The Living End; From The Gut & Data Control. The audience was fucking wild. It almost made me leave early because I got pushed to the back. I went down early & got to watch their soundcheck & talk to all of them. Got their autographs too. Still got them.

That was it. Two months later Grant Hart left the band after Bob Mould cancelled their appearance at an AIDS benefit that Grant was helping set up. Grant was going through herion withdrawl at the time and ran out of methodone to help. Mould thought he wouldn't be able to play, but Hart said he would.

Husker Du also brought on the SST experience: The Minutemen, Black Flag, Meat Puppets, Sonic Youth (this is when I heard of them), Dinosaur Jr. I still have cds of all of these bands but not as many as I used to.

As far as post-Husker, Mould's best were his first Workbook & I like Black Sheets Of Rain. I liked Sugar's first one Copper Blue when it came out, but his stuff got real weak after that one. I don't buy his stuff anymore.

Grant Hart is different. I was always a Mould fan, but Hart's solo stuff is still good, maybe because he doesn't put out as much as Mould has. First one on SST Intolorence; perfect bookend with Mould's Workbook ironically enough. He did 2 albums with his post Husker band Nova Mob. I love the first one; The Last Days Of Pompeii, but the second one called Nova Mob was horrible. There's a live album of him acoustic that's an import called Ecce Homo that I haven't heard. His last one so far, Good News For Modern Man, is a continuation of the sound on Intolorence and the songs are very good though his stuff, I'm sure, is harder to find than Mould's. And what about bass player Greg Norton? I don't think he recorded after Husker. He's a chef in Minneapolis last I heard.

I hope there will be more to post on this topic. Got any questions, I'll see if I can answer them.

They have a chapter in the book Our Band Could Be Your Life.

Edited March 21, 2004 by dave9199

[street singer]

They're one of those bands that I've always meant to give a serious listen to, but...still haven't.

Anyone care to recommend a starting point?

[dave9199]

1. New Day Rising

2. Flip Your Wig

3. Zen Arcade

4. The Living End

Edited March 21, 2004 by dave9199

[kulu se mama]

i saw them on the "wig" "candle apple grey" and "warehouse" tours. the warehouse show is still one of the 2 or 3 best shows i have ever seen. christmas - a rellay good band on big time records opened up (where is their 1st 2 records on cd - a great idea for rhino handmade). then it was on to the huskers. they did not play the whole thing in order, but they did play large chunks of it. one chunked inlcuded ""charity . . .," "ice cold ice," you're a soilder," "too much spice," and "she floated away." that is probably the pinnacle of my concert going experiences. "she floated away" was absolutely awesome.

i had not listened to that album since i got married (1994), but i put it on last fall when my boss died (and my wife was out for the evening). i turned it up to 10 and drank a few beers. it was the only record that made sense.

[ralphie_boy]

Love them! Zen Arcade is a masterpiece IMO. I used to play in a band and we did a cover of Turn on the News - great song! Candy Apple Grey is another fave. I haven't listened to them in quite a while,

[dave9199]

There's a great video called Makes No Sense... that is their first show in London from May '85. It's mostly New Day Rising songs, but it's played with such frantic energy, it's fantastic. You have to know the songs to understand the words though. This video was the first time I saw what they looked like and I thought, "This is the ugliest band I've ever seen."

[John B]

They're one of those bands that I've always meant to give a serious listen to, but...still haven't.

Anyone care to recommend a starting point?

streetsinger - as a fan of unwound you really need to hear Husker Du immediately. I think you will really enjoy a lot of their work. I am a huge fand of theirs and really wish I could have seen them live while they were still active. As far as where to start, dave9199 gave some good recommendations but I would order them differently:

start with The Living End, which compiles live tracks from a tour in 1987. You get the highlights from most of their albums up to that point, including a blistering version of Data Control off of Landspee Record. There is also an unusual cover of Sheena is a Punk Roker thrown in. Great songs, great recording quality and fantastic energy. I'd rather listen to the version of New Day Rising that starts off this disc than the track from the album of the same name.

Zen Arcade is widely considered to be their masterpiece and it deserves all of the accolades that it gets. It is all over the place in terms of material, going from their earlier punk roots and delving into "free jazz"-ish explorations.

Ghost -

I believe Get in the Van is Henry Rollins' diaries from his days in Black Flag. I believe the book you described above is called Our Band Could Be Your Life, by Michael Azzerad. Great book.

[dave9199]

I wish I had something to add here, but I don't right so, so UP!

[Chuck Nessa]

My greatest fear has been a thread about one of the "umlaut bands".

[dave9199]

I only graduated college; can you put that in laymans terms?

[dave9199]

(Several minutes later) Nevermind, I done figured it out (all by myself, I did). Where is the umlaut key on the computer anyway?

[dave9199]

There a video on ebay right now from 1981 of one of their shows. I have a bad copy of this, but the ebay one looks better. It's right at their Land Speed Record time. Twin/Tone actually professionally filmed it, but did nothing with it and it eventually got bootlegged. It's funny to see Bob Mould at 19 or 20 all herky-jerky on stage & Greg Norton without a moustach!

[DrJ]

I think Chuck is talking about metal groups that have the umlaut over one of the letters in their name (usually the O)! Funny stuff, Chuck!

Seriously, though, Husker Du never really belonged in that category. Mould wrote some great pop tunes, they were just filtered through an enlightened garage band filter that was this band. Fun stuff.

I always felt that the claims of their decline with WAREHOUSE were more based on biases against indie bands going to major labels than musically based. It's a fantastic album, by far their most consistent from song to song, and it has for me their crowning pop heaven achievement, "Friend, You've Got to Fall" with those amazing 60's California AM radio single harmonies layered over the guitar mayhem. They also did a good job avoiding the overproduction trap, it still sounds nice and raw.

Before that album, in retrospect to me they were primarily a great singles band - none of their albums, including critic favorites like ZEN ARCADE, really hold interest over their full length, at least now for me. In fact ZEN ARCADE as an album may be one of the most overrated of all time - mostly overblown sludge and experimentation that doesn't come off. At least with the next few, especially NEW DAY RISING and FLIP YOUR WIG, they got back to doing what they did best, writing short pop gems. Nice, concise, melodic stuff like "I Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely," "Flexible Flyer," "Makes No Sense At All," "Never Talking to You Again," and the aforementioned covers of "Eight Miles High" and the Mary Tyler Moore theme, are 80's alt rock pinnacles.

CANDY APPLE GREY has some of their best and worst tunes. In the former: "Hardly Getting Over It" is another masterpiece, not a "single" type tune but still brilliant, and "Eiffel Tower High" is sheer catharsis.

Edited March 28, 2004 by DrJ

[dave9199]

I understand what you're saying DrJ. To me it feels like weaker songs started to get put on albums starting with Candy Apple Grey. There were still great songs, but some seemed almost generic though still sounded better live. Maybe that's it, listening to songs from Warehouse live on The Living End, there's more energy there, but that energy loss in production started on Flip Your Wig when they started to produce themselves despite great songs, but also the songs started to have more depth to them when played at a medium tempo. I'm not saying there wasn't generic sounding songs earlier on either, hardcore becomes generic after (or during) one album, but it's that energy I love which is why I have this opinion no matter how awful, from a song writing point of view, those songs are, I don't think they are weak. It's more the excitement than the song during that period.

I think there's a case to be made for albums written while finding your voice for songwriting (Land Speed Record, Everything Falls Apart, Metal Circus & even Zen Arcade because of it's experimentation with their sound), and the albums written when you've hit a peak (New Day Rising & Flip Your Wig), and then the burnout of the other side of that peak (Candy Apple Grey & Warehouse). From 1982-1985 they were recording their next album while the previous one was being released. I think anyone would start to burn out going non-stop like that along with touring.

I read somewhere that at the time of their breakup, they were working on their next album and in retrospect, Grant Hart said he felt they were about to make their worst album. I have a practice bootleg from 11/87 that has six instrumentals on it, all their new stuff at that time. I feel starting with some of Flip Your Wig, they would've fit perfectly on a John Hughes movie soundtrack. Two of the songs are on The Living End, "Now That You Know Me" & "Ain't No Water In The Well". I still would've liked this album had it come to frution, but I think I understand what Hart was getting at. He also felt Mould's songs were getting more "square", which pretty much means they didn't care for each others songs anymore. It's time to call it a day when that happens. Also when Mould tells Hart after Warehouse that he will never have 50% of a Husker album, time to tell 'em to go fuck himself & leave.

Edited March 28, 2004 by dave9199

[Chrome]

Hmmm, seems like there's a lot of anti-Bob Mould feeling out there ... I think both Copper Blue and File Under: Easy Listening, his Sugar CDs, are fantastic, and I heard him on NPR once and he seem relatively articulate and likeable (although that's really all I know about him).

But based on the two CDs above, I picked up Husker Du's Warehouses disc, and I really never got anything out of it.

[John B]

Hmmm, seems like there's a lot of anti-Bob Mould feeling out there ... I think both Copper Blue and File Under: Easy Listening, his Sugar CDs, are fantastic, and I heard him on NPR once and he seem relatively articulate and likeable (although that's really all I know about him).

But based on the two CDs above, I picked up Husker Du's Warehouses disc, and I really never got anything out of it.

Have you heard Beaster, by Sugar yet? IMO it is far superior to File Under Easy Listening.

[Robert J]

I got tickets for Bob Mould's fall tour of his new album "Body of Song". He's playing Toronto October 2. I've not heard the album yet. Most amazingly Brendan Canty - drummer for Fugazi and on the CD - is performing with him

Here's the tour sked

http://www.bobmould.com/tour/dates/

[dave9199]

I wonder if Grant Hart will be putting out an album in the future. Last one was 1999 Good News For Modern Man. I'd buy something by Hart, but I'm lost on Mould.

[BFrank]

I got tickets for Bob Mould's fall tour of his new album "Body of Song". He's playing Toronto October 2. I've not heard the album yet. Most amazingly Brendan Canty - drummer for Fugazi and on the CD - is performing with him 

←

They just added "Body of Song" to eMusic today. Listening to the clips - it sounds pretty good. Very Husker Du-ish.

[Jad]

I'm just waiting for the inevitable reunion tour. What with the Pixies and Dino jr. getting back for some shows, anything can happen.

Never saw the Huskers live, but caught Bob a few times. The first was his tour for his first solo album. Man, that was a fantastic show. I remember sheets of beautiful white noise.

But my favorite was a solo acoustic show he put on just before he put Sugar together. Small seated crowd, he took requests and questions from the audience (one I remember "Who would you have play at your picnic?" "The Beatles and Sonic Youth"). He was totally relaxed and even let out a few laughs. Not at all as dour as he usually seems to be.

"Land Speed Record" is one of the greatest concert (show?) recordings ever.