Gotta Lotta POLLING To Do - ILM Artist Poll #29 - Your HÜSKER DÜ Nominations Thread

Land Speed Record: 0
Everything Falls Apart: 0
Metal Circus: 1
Zen Arcade: 3
New Day Rising: 6
Flip Your Wig: 4
Candy Apple Grey: 3
Warehouse: 1
The Living End: 1
7": 1

Seeing a lot of bell curves here.

I hope someone else voted for From the Gut.

Land Speed Record: 0
Everything Falls Apart: 1
Metal Circus: 1
Zen Arcade: 3
New Day Rising: 5
Flip Your Wig: 3
Candy Apple Grey: 3
Warehouse: 2
7": 2

surprises for me-
1. no desire to vote for anything off Flip Your Wig.
2. "Sorry Somehow". After years of humming the chorus in my head, but not playing the record, it suddenly sounds a lot like a Reigning Sound blue eyed soul joint to me now. Never ever thought of the Du as earthy like that.

I like them more as players than as songwriters at this point, which may be why my interest takes a nosedive after New Day Rising. There's a bootleg of Zen Arcade raw mixes, without the vocals, and hearing that a few years ago pushed ZA back past NDR as my favorite. Everything Falls Apart remains really underrated. Pop tracks I was sure I'd vote for, like "I Apologize" and "Makes No Sense" seem pretty thin to me now, indie rock templates that were improved upon by their followers. The restrictions of hardcore, especially the span when they both loved and hated the restrictions, brought out the best in their chemistry.

So I've got a ballot of 20 specifically unranked songs. (in other words, it's not a mistake.)

Should I assign each song 22 points, what the No. 10 spot receives? If you add up all the possible points and divide by 20, you get 22.6.

(Or should I throw this ballot right BACK IN THEIR FACE.)

I'd e-mail the person back, ask for their however-many least favourite from the list, and deduct a point from each.

Or if that feels like work, do the same, but pick your own least favourite...

That second option is definitely out. The first maybe sounds like ... more work?

I'd give each song 17 points -- docking everything five for not doing all their homework.

That's my ballot. I hate ranking songs. Picking 20 is "ranking" enough. But tell me what I can do.

It's no big deal, Josh. I just have to assign some value to the songs to make them count for anything.

Three things:

1. Realizing that after all this time, I really like a lot of the less-melodic stuff off of Zen Arcade more than I thought. Kind of wish that HD had taken a little more time before jumping into pop on NDR.
2. Production on Zen Arcade not bothering me at all.
3. More than for many other bands, finding it really hard to rank things after the first three songs. I like a lot of this stuff, but rarely find myself thinking that any one is *way* better than a lot of the others. Relatively consistent band, I think...

Never understood the production hate for NDR and ZA. Always thought the production on those was ideal. Still think production from FYW on is baffling.

HD are a band that i can love and get a handle on on a bunch of different levels. for instance, a song like "diane" floors me because it's so deliberately and explicitly spelled out, unfolding as a vignette of grim reflections, whereas the likes of "i'll never forget you" pummels me through its sheer physical weight and charged emotion that spills out, without buffer or restraint, as a deluge of swelling rage that can barely contain itself.

Metal Circus: 2
Zen Arcade: 2
New Day Rising: 4
Flip Your Wig: 4
Candy Apple Grey: 2
Warehouse: 4
7": 2

Though, honestly, The Living End: 7

didn't vote for the song, but when i listen to "too far down", there's a point about half way through where i suddenly start thinking i'm listening to American Music Club.

Vote regret: omitted "I Don't Know What You're Talking About."

Poll posted. My results seem unlike others.

EFA - 1
MC - 1
ZA - 3
NDR - 1
FYW - 4
CAG - 2
W:SandS - 7
Singles - 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNyzk7LXlEk

Really feeling Amusement lately. Great barking Bob vocals - DON'T DO IT!

I voted almost all Hart, and almost all pop, but I love the AAARRRRGH! factor of Husker Du, too. Even by the standards of hardcore they were pretty fast and in your face. Land speed record, indeed.

Hmm, is "Land Speed Record" the closest thing to the elusive triple pun album title other than "12 Inches of Snow?"

I love Amusement!! I'm not easily amused by YOU.

I'm not easily amAAAAzed

WHAT DO I WAAAANT?
WHAT'LL MAKE ME HAPPY?
(scream the two syllable word of your choice repeatedly)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKzuIjnDJyY

also lol @ that image
what do i want?
giant plate of food

^^ voted for this song btw

I love the version of ''You're So Square'' on here that turns into "The Wit & Wisdom".

Also, this blog corrects it, but on my boot at home, "Celebrated Summer" is listed as "Sons of Bitches".

http://captainsdead.com/husker-du-live-at-first-ave-8-28-85.html

I click on this thread every morning feeling like a lonely freak who listens to hardcore Husker Du with regularity and has no interest in Zen Arcade onward

Not the same, but my favorite Wilco record might be A.M.

you are not a lonely freak
i like both sides but my heart belongs to noisy bob and spazzy grant

I appreciate hardcore Du for velocity and sheer rush, but I was never a hardcore kid -- they only clicked with me when they started with the catchy tunes. My ballot is slightly Grant-heavy, but even the Bob stuff is the catchy stuff. Pop Du 4 life.

Which is to say, if they had been a band capable of LSR but not of "Books About UFOs," I doubt I would have cared much.

There was a thing on a blog a couple weeks ago where they rated every Mould record and they put Everything Falls Apart dead last and didn't even mention Land Speed Record

I can understand loving Metal Circus more than Zen Arcade (I believe Steve Albini did), but I don't understand having "no interest" in ZA. What lost you?

What?! That's awful. I'm not even all about LSR, but Everything Falls Apart is pure gold.

I will repeat: I hope someone else voted for From the Gut. To me, that is the shortest sweetest representation of what I love about this band. It's not the world's best song or anything, but it has the parts I want.

oops xp

(sorry)

what do i want?
giant plate of food

Descendants lyrics, iirc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-uLTTT3BPc

Which is to say, if they had been a band capable of LSR but not of "Books About UFOs," I doubt I would have cared much.

― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, November 21, 2012 10:10 AM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is OTM.

I think people were more distraught (re that blog) abt Flip Your Wig being the best rated HD record and Copper Blue winning overall.

Seriously? Copper Blue?

HOWEVER
I just remembered that I wrote Bob Mould an embarrassing email fan letter when he first started blogging because I was just totally amazed that I finally had the chance to tell him in actual composed sentences how much his music meant to me. He very graciously wrote back! So I guess I only say "seriously?" because I think Copper Blue fails to represent the masterful variety of his songs even if it's a great pop record.

It was short, not all that embarrassing. Just super earnest :-/

Yeah it was on a blog called "Stereogum".

I can understand loving Metal Circus more than Zen Arcade (I believe Steve Albini did), but I don't understand having "no interest" in ZA. What lost you?

This is not the right thread for me to really say so!

The crunchy hardcore songs on side two of Zen Arcade are the best. Had trouble narrowing it down to just two of those tracks. BEYOND! THE! THRESHOLD!

Zen Arcade re-sequenced as a hardcore EP entirely weeded of tuneful singing = still classic!

Husker Du, What's to Forget? EP

Side A:

Beyond The Threshold
Indecision Time
Pride

Side B:

I'll Never Forget You
What's Going On?

"Reoccurring Dreams" is its own hardcore EP.

Pride
a) stupid
b) selfish
c) all of the above
d) priiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide

xpost on the crunchy hardcore. Totally otm. I used to skip that part back in the 80's, but now find it by far the best part of Zen Arcade. I'd add Masochism World to the "hardcore EP." I'm loving the weird rhythmic thing , and the way it's like half bash-it-out hardcore, but then it's got Who backing vocals in the middle. FWIW, What's Going On was my #1.

I think people were more distraught (re that blog) abt Flip Your Wig being the best rated HD record and Copper Blue winning overall.

Haaa. FYW is my favorite HD album. And Bob Mould's too, I think!

(not that we should put too much stock in Cranky Bob's view of anything Du-related.)