― strapped, Tuesday, 19 November 2002 23:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Keith McD (Keith McD), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 01:17 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Xibalba (xibalba), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 02:48 (twenty-one years ago) link
Where Zen Arcade threatens to veer off the road at any second, New Day Rising never strays an inch off course. Like a longer, happier, yet more raging Metal Circus...I see this album as being the fulcrum for all that came before and all that would come after in their recorded output. Featuring their most consistently catchy songwriting, as well as incredibly pointed production, the band is perfectly in control no matter how noisy they get. Before New Day Rising, the band was never this focused. From this point on, the songs would slowly get quieter (I miss Spot) and weaker until the band faded away.
Despite the fun of Everything Falls Apart, and the bewildering thrash of Land Speed Record...the band's early work was nothing too special (although personally I prefer Rhino's re-release of Everything Falls Apart (and more) to their other releases). Also, although there were hints of this in Flip Your Wig, their move to a major label had an effect on their music akin to a scary drunk sobering up. While there are still some bright moments, overall I find this work embarrasing.
Still, their core output from 1983-1985 paved the way for a new breed of American rock music, including the Replacements, the Pixies (note Frank Black's propensity to (ab)use his voice for drama and noise within the context of a Pop structure), etc. Nirvana started out sounding more like the Melvins, but took elements from other Northwest rock groups (Green River/Mudhoney), whose regional styles were often depressive introspective and/or flippant sexual take-offs of the earnest catharsis that bands like Husker Du immersed themselves in. So while the lineage may not be direct, Nirvana might not have sounded the way they did without Husker Du. The book "Route 666: On the Road to Nirvana" does a good job of looking at these issues.
So overall, and especially in the context of what was going on around them musically, Husker Du are a classic in my book. Though I would be willing to consider the possibility that their existance was happenstance, and oweing to a fated zeitgeist more than individual inspiration/ability...
Something similar could be said of most of those profiled in Azzerad's book, "Our Band Could Be Your Life."
― Ryan McKay, Wednesday, 20 November 2002 03:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
Eight Miles HighIn a Free LandEverything Falls ApartDianeSomething I Learned Today The Girl Who Lives on Heaven HillGreen EyesBroken Home, Broken HeartBooks About UFOsWhat's Going On?Don't Want to Know If You Are LonelyMonday Will Never Be the SameWhateverGamesOne Step at a TimePink Turns to BlueNew Day RisingThe Biggest LieTerms of Psychic WarfareChartered TripsThese Important YearsCelebrated SummerDivide and ConquerYou Can Live at Home
― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 20 November 2002 05:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
I really do think if they didn't look like truck drivers, there would be no question about their place in the canon.
― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 20 November 2002 05:51 (twenty-one years ago) link
Not from where I sit.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 05:56 (twenty-one years ago) link
You think you've made it to the top because people know your name,It's still the sameYour daydreams aren't forever, better get your shit togetherFor a new game
Back to your day jobBack to your girlfriendBack to your hometownThe biggest lie
Passing harsher judgement, but you brought it on yourselfBy being youYou trade your work for no success, you tried to be a heroBut you end up nothing
― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 20 November 2002 05:59 (twenty-one years ago) link
I say this as someone who has done his share of obsessing over the Pixies, made compilation tapes, etc. Only one reporter's opinion, mind you. Speaking of, Minutemen still edge out all of the above in my book...
― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 20 November 2002 06:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
I don't see how quoting Missy helps your case.
― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 09:44 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 09:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
― David Gunnip, Wednesday, 20 November 2002 09:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 09:53 (twenty-one years ago) link
― andy, Wednesday, 20 November 2002 10:53 (twenty-one years ago) link
― RickyT (RickyT), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 10:54 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 20 November 2002 11:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
― brad, Wednesday, 20 November 2002 19:15 (twenty-one years ago) link
I'm tempted to say that Husker Du : alt.indie.rock :: Sex Pistols : punk rock - they've been swallowed up and absorbed and regurgitated to such a degree that their own impact, musically, has petered out to a big ol' pfffft of whatever, while claims can be made of other groups (hello, Buzzcocks) having a similar effect. That said, I can't think of any DIRECT antecedent that is completely beholden to the Du - there was a cool line in the Spin Alt Guide about Nirvana mixing the Husker's "Whatever" with the Replacement's "Nevermind", but, other than that, it seems that any Husker influence attributed to a rock groop is more a result of Husker Du doing a similar guitar rock thing first and folks simply accepting Husker's influence as a dogmatic given.
Like, shit, if they're these doods playing 3-to-4-chord pop songs w/ all this distortion & screaming that sound more like the Beatles or some 60s hippie shit than that girl group doowop stuff Joey Ramone jones'd, then it's GOTTA be because of Husker Du, yeah?
It's been a while since Husker Du popped my cherry - we used to be inseperable, but I don't go hang out with them much anymore. It's crass to say, but they served their purpose. Yeah, once in a while, I get nostalgic, and I throw on one of the Big Three records, but I enjoy them more if I try to hear what I heard back then (the "power", the emotion, the soft & prickly feedback) than listening to them in the now - current timeframe listening has me focusing on stupid shit like the crappy drum sounds, or the cloying lyrics, or all that other nonsense. Nowadays, I like Husker's failures (cf. _Everything Falls Apart_, "...Skin a Cat", "The Baby Song") more than their successes (cf. the "good" stuff).
― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 20:32 (twenty-one years ago) link
Outside of the music, one of the things that I could relate about bands such as Husker Du, The Minutemen & The Replacements at the time was that they looked like people in your neighborhood. They sure as hell didn't look as silly as Motley Crue or Bon Jovi or some other popular crap when I was in high school.
― earlnash, Friday, 14 February 2003 18:39 (twenty-one years ago) link
And his name was Frank Beard! Oh wait a minute, what am I saying...
― Paula G., Friday, 14 February 2003 18:53 (twenty-one years ago) link
― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Sunday, 9 March 2003 02:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
Although, something interesting: if any band ever equalled nostalgia without ever even having heard them before, it was definitely Husker Du. They just sound nostalgiac. How interesting that their name comes from an old (Norwegian?) boardgame that means "Do you remember?" (The Wikipedia article was a great read and talks about how they came up with the name. Also in the article, there's a cute song described by the then-to-be singer of Semisonic about his old girlfriend and the band they used to see together: "Remember when you held my hand you used to say I love them so much/Lonely when I hear the band/Do you remember, do you recall?" That this is an homage to Hüsker Dü is confirmed by the album's liner notes, which have the words "do you remember? dü you recall?" written across them in large letters.)
Probably the first and best emo band. Wow, Sebadoh is indebted to them, I think. Just realized that. Husker Du were less whiney even when they were whining, though. They sounded pretty damn macho for non-macho psychedelic hardcore.
― Hüsker of The Corn, Saturday, 28 January 2006 13:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― blunt (blunt), Saturday, 28 January 2006 14:34 (eighteen years ago) link
Amazing how I can still get such a visceral reaction by someone suggesting Husker Du aren't for the ages, even years after I listened to them regularly.
Mould was hit or miss after the Du (Workbook + Cooper Blue, yes; Black Sheets of Rain + FU:EL, no) as the lyrics got even sappier and the production more polished, but I'd take Flip Your Wig through Warehouse with me anywhere.
― Mitya (mitya), Saturday, 28 January 2006 14:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 28 January 2006 17:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― Hüsker of The Corn, Saturday, 28 January 2006 17:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 28 January 2006 19:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jimmy Mod (I myself am lethal at 100 -110dB) (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Saturday, 28 January 2006 19:53 (eighteen years ago) link
"for the sake of influence" makes no sense, Geir. You mean like: "Oh they weren't even trying to write good songs, they were just trying to be influential!" Or maybe you mean, "Pffft! They weren't even GOOD, they were just incredibly influential!" Duh, makes no sense. Try again.
― Hüsker of The Corn, Saturday, 28 January 2006 21:09 (eighteen years ago) link
Once the band got over the noisecore of the early releases, they unleashed a string of amazing recordings that I still enjoy to this day. The Living End might be my favorite live album and I hate live albums.
― Brian O'Neill (NYCNative), Saturday, 28 January 2006 21:22 (eighteen years ago) link
And, no, I wouldn't say I hate them. Just that, well, I find that their albums sounded more or less like bad demos, not letting the songs come through properly.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 28 January 2006 21:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Saturday, 28 January 2006 21:25 (eighteen years ago) link
hongro rating production over songwriting shockah.
― j blount (papa la bas), Saturday, 28 January 2006 21:51 (eighteen years ago) link
I like a kind of production that lets the songwriting come to the forefront. That is, the vocalist is the most important "instrument", and the producer's job is to get him heard properly.
My Bloody Valentine may be the worst produced band ever for that exact reason.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 28 January 2006 22:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 28 January 2006 22:37 (eighteen years ago) link
????
x-post
― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Saturday, 28 January 2006 22:38 (eighteen years ago) link
Obviously, their SST records were recorded with a limited budget. Are the vocals mixed low on their Warner Brothers albums? (I don't remember them being so.)
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 28 January 2006 22:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― cancer prone fat guy (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 28 January 2006 22:46 (eighteen years ago) link
Listening to "Makes No Sense at All," the vocals are clear, guitar is clear, drums are reverby but fairly clear, bass is (for the most part) MIA.
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 28 January 2006 22:54 (eighteen years ago) link
this is not a comment on the relative mertits of the song, which is great
― cancer prone fat guy (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 28 January 2006 22:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 28 January 2006 22:58 (eighteen years ago) link
haha i dont know if i can remember a single husker du bassline.
― cancer prone fat guy (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 28 January 2006 23:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Saturday, 28 January 2006 23:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Saturday, 28 January 2006 23:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― truck-patch pixel farmer (my crop froze in the field) (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 28 January 2006 23:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Saturday, 28 January 2006 23:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― Hüsker of The Corn, Sunday, 29 January 2006 00:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 29 January 2006 00:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― xgurggleglgllg (xgurggleglgllg), Sunday, 29 January 2006 00:51 (eighteen years ago) link