Looking for that Replacements/Husker Du sound...

Hate Your Friends, Creator, and maybe Lick. Point being: make sure Ben Deily is on the album.

best mid '80s husker du record to come out this year was *dog disco* by leatherface; the previous album i heard by them flipped its wig like new day rising at the metal circus zen arcade as well. (i haven't heard husker's *candy ass grey* and later stuff for decades; ditto any wussy emo dog doo doo the replacements did after *tim.*)

..but yeah, the first squirrel bait EP. and soul asylum's "tied to the tracks" 45. and dinosaur back before they added the "junior." and oh yeah, for westerberg imitations that don't suck, there's "i'm 17" by tommy conwell and perhaps the first (only?) electric angels LP.

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[Then, in a magical town located somewhere in a middle America not unlike Bill Forsyth's Scotland, said A&R man learns the magic of real not corporate rock (even if said message is transmitted through corporate film!) and loosens his tie to follow his long-deferred dream of rocking out himself.]

also with paul westerberg type lyrics like "i'm worse at what i do best"!

right after husker du broke up, that is. d'oh.

Since this thread has gone beyond HD/Replacements soundalikes, I'm gonna throw Flipper and Volcano Suns out there. Check 'em both out, but not because they sound like the two you mentioned.

a LOT of his husker stuff was pretty much 60s pop psych.

i guess i meant more the production...every track is really busy lots of keyboards, etc....his songwriting has always been pretty much classic pop yr right.

As mentioned above, Squirrelbait sounds like a 17 year old Paul Westerberg singing for Husker Du.

Early Superchunk might fit your fancy, I'd start Tossing Seeds comp, On The Mouth or Foolish.

If you like The Replacements, I also think you might like The Grifters, although they are not nearly as punk and have a bit of country and psychedelic in their sound. If curious, check "Crappin You Negative", "Eureka" or "Ain't My Lookout".

The Afghan Whigs earlier albums "Congregation" and "Gentleman" might also work. It isn't punk, but I would think that the Mats and Huskers are pretty big influences on their sound before they got all obessed with R&B.

As Dinosaur Jr is mentioned above, might as well put Sebadoh on here.

Another band not mentioned and not punk, but The Screaming Trees were a melodic band with some big fuzzy guitars, especially on "Buzz Factory". They have a bit of the 60s psych in their sound like Husker Du and Mark Lanegan has a great voice.

Sugar sounds to me a bit like Warehouse era Husker Du run through a big Swervedriver/Catherine Wheel/Ride production sheen. Mind you if you like Sugar, I can't see not liking some of those bands I mentioned either.

Of a slightly lesser order of greatness, Dragnet were around at about the same time and had a sound somewhere between the Ramones, Husker Du and even maybe New Order. They came from Minneapolis and though I can't find much info on them online, i know they had couple of singles ('So Blind' and 'Five Days') and an album called Life In General which are all pretty good. That first single is their best though. I think maybe Grant Hart might have produced some of their stuff but I'm a bit sketchy about it.

Check out the Cateran too if you can find any of their stuff. They came from Scotland and had a couple of albums out (the first being the thrashier of the two) and also a couple of excellent EPs. Quite close in sound to Husker Du, a really nice mix of tunes and general raucousness. Actually there's a Huskers connection here too - IIRC the Cateran were Grant Hart's backing band on his first solo dates in the UK.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SRojH5SLMY

^ Still sounds godlike to me. The Mission of Burma influence is pretty obvious, but that last one minute is just epic, love the sound of those two guitars chasing each others tails like a pair of woozy swallows.

There's some other amazing Targets footage recently uploaded to Youtube too btw e.g...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1rGuIOA1jU

The Young sure are pulling it off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC9xLsNXuGc

If you take Squirrel Bait as an answer, then this amazing song probably follows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-5wRviAG5w

now that's a fucking riff. was SO in love with that song circa 1989. 45 had a pretty hilarious kiss tribute called "rockin' marky" on the b-side, iirc. haven't heard "my pal" in forever, though i've still got a couple old mix tapes on which it appears in a box somewhere. rotating box of mini images during the solo cracks me up. and singer's braces! so cuet!

never followed up. god got any other songs of that caliber?

Alls I know is that a compilation of most (all?) their stuff just came out this year. I don't have it. I bought an LP by them some years ago, only listened to it a few times, but don't remember anything nearly as good on it.

Had the God album too, but I don't remember ever playing it much. Never really thought about them in the same context as Squirrel Bait before, but now you mention it, there is a similarity. Especially the vocals - could definitely hear that God guy yelling 'I don't need no pig stomping on my buzz'.

Have never heard of the Young though, nice Westerbergish raspy vocals there!

Don't the Hold Steady fit this kind of sound pretty well?

no!

I mean, I love the hold steady and all, but it's a very different rock sound/vibe.

I dunno, I'm no expert on the Replacements but I certainly hear echoes of Let It Be and Tim in THS. And Finn came out with this in an interview the other day:

Finn and guitarist Tad Kubler come from Minnesota, and The Hold Steady songs are infused with the place and spirit of the Replacements, who came out of Minneapolis to be the best rock ’n’ roll band of the 1980s — when the teen-aged Finn was discovering music.

“They’re a big part of why I’m in a rock band,” he said. “When we started the Hold Steady, it was, ‘Wow, there are no bands with big guitars and smart lyrics. That’s what the Replacements' thing was. What about a smart band that rocks?’”

That thinking has led many to compare The Hold Steady to Bruce Springsteen, Finn said. But “I’ve listened to 100 Replacements records for every Springsteen record, and I’m a huge Springsteen fan.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cErWMBR8hNk

^ still fucking love this song by Dragnet. From 1986-ish, think they were from Minneapolis

Kind of Husker Du meets Joy Division

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLPS8ldoKc0

^ Homestead Records splashing out at least $150 on a video for the Volcano Suns