Hüsker Dü - Land Speed Record/Everything Falls Apart/Zen Arcade vs Descendents - Milo Goes To College/I Don't Want To Grow Up/Enjoy

serving dinner in my house often accompanied by a rendition of Hüsker Dü's "portion control"

struggling with The Replacements is crazy talk.

Yeah -- wow, didn't know this, Wiki says ZA and Double Nickels were released the same day, 7/3/84
― WmC,

Joe Carducci says that SST didn't have release dates - the records came out when SST got them. Many stores probably received their first copies of Zen Arcade and Double Nickels on the Dime on the same day, but it wasn't intentional on the labe's or bands part.

That makes no sense at all

I loved all of these bands when I was 14-15 but the Descendents is the only one that I listen to now and wonder what the hell I ever saw in them. Funnily enough, played MGTC and IDWTGU recently on a whim and sorry, those records are terrible, and not just because of the gross incel aspects (but that too)

like i mentioned above, it came out in july but it took me until october to find a copy. stores had to order copies of the german pressing to meet demand. stoner label says OOPS!

"While the band insisted sales would be strong for Zen Arcade, SST initially pressed only between 3,500 and 5,000 copies of the album. The album was out of stock for months afterward and the delay in further copies stifled sales."

its funny cuz i love the title Zen Arcade but it totally sounds like the name of a bad 80s indie rock band.

Yeah, SST distro was infamously fucked up. There are lots of tales of Husker Du hitting town in support of "Zen Arcade" only to find that stores were sold out. Not that the band wasn't notorious for playing sets packed with songs from the next album(s). Here's the setlist from an October 1984 Chicago show, just a few months after "Zen Arcade:"

Something I Learned Today
It's Not Funny Anymore
Everything Falls Apart
Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill
I Apologize
If I Told You
Folk Lore
Terms of Psychic Warfare
Powerline
Books About UFOs
Broken Home, Broken Heart
Diane
Hate Paper Doll
Green Eyes
Divide and Conquer

Encore 1
Pink Turns to Blue
Eight Miles High

Encore 2
Reoccurring Dreams

Encore 3
Ticket to Ride
Bad Moon Rising
New Day Rising

Descendents since they reformed have been shite but I cant argue with the old stuff. I still enjoy it when I hear it, but Husker Du have been one of my fave bands since I discovered them very early 90s, so unsurprisingly I'm voting HD.

Getting excited to see the poll results, this one's gonna be close

no way!!

there is no way this will be close

God the Huskers were such prolific songwriters.

that setlist makes my head spin
i would have been a mess at that show (i also would have been a child but that's beside the point)

Maybe I should have added a retro-ironic 90s style "NOT!", Huskers vs Replacements would be the real contest.

xpost

i've reconciled my answer to that one too.
it's still Dü

Interesting that they ended the set with "New Day Rising" - in the first half of '85 they started their shows with that song more often than not (ofc the album was out by then)

I was more of an ALL fan than the Descendents, though some of those songs have gotten cringe over the years.

re: replacements, to add more beloved bands to my visceral unheimlich list -- hum and poster children, which is a bummer because rick & rose are the coolest.

I went back and listened to some Descendents songs I used to love and got really discouraged because like, Sour Grapes meant a LOT to me when I was a 15-year-old heartbroken teenager and it's obviously super-gross and misogynist. Same with Clean Sheets, Hope, Bikeage, Catalina, I'm Not a Loser... I think I can still get away with Myage, I'm Not a Punk, Tonyage, Parents, Suburban Home, Jean is Dead, Get the Time, Good Good Things, Silly Girl. The songs about farts and food are all probably safe, if not particularly good.

So I was like, "maybe these Husker Du fans actually have something. Maybe I need to grow up." So I went and tried listening to them for the fourth time in my life. And holy fuck, it continues to be the most boring shit I've ever heard in my life (other than the Replacements). I hope I never learn to like them because it will mean that everything fun in me has died. I'm so sorry for you all. SWA is superior to this monotonous buzzsaw garbage. Fuck Husker Du forever.

honestly sir
fp-ing you for that last sentence

I'll take any FPs thrown at me. I have to stand by my convictions. I have to let the people know.

well you got +1 from me for absolute slander and having a wrong musical opinion

:)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

loooool

when you're right you're right

I went back and listened to some Descendents songs I used to love and got really discouraged because like, Sour Grapes meant a LOT to me when I was a 15-year-old heartbroken teenager and it's obviously super-gross and misogynist. Same with Clean Sheets, Hope, Bikeage, Catalina, I'm Not a Loser... I think I can still get away with Myage, I'm Not a Punk, Tonyage, Parents, Suburban Home, Jean is Dead, Get the Time, Good Good Things, Silly Girl. The songs about farts and food are all probably safe, if not particularly good.

So I was like, "maybe these Husker Du fans actually have something. Maybe I need to grow up." So I went and tried listening to them for the fourth time in my life. And holy fuck, it continues to be the most boring shit I've ever heard in my life (other than the Replacements). I hope I never learn to like them because it will mean that everything fun in me has died. I'm so sorry for you all. SWA is superior to this monotonous buzzsaw garbage. Fuck Husker Du forever.

― peace, man, Monday, September 30, 2024 4:21 PM

The correct answer: Level 42's World Machine

wow

fIREHOSE – Ragin', Full-On/If'n/fROMOHIO vs Screaming Trees – Even If And Especially When/Invisible Lantern/Buzz Factory

i have never heard a firehose or screaming trees album.

I heard that firehose covers EP. It did not convince me to listen to any of their albums.

I'll take any FPs thrown at me. I have to stand by my convictions. I have to let the people know.

husker du… boring? what drugs are you taking

I’ll show you boring

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biMaWL5zm0A

seems like the most sensible place to post this.... i spoke to Ken from Numero (at one of their popup stores) about 2 years back about possibility of more Husker Du stuff from them. he had said the master tape situation is so fucked up with the SST stuff he wasn't sure they could make a traditional reissue programme work, but mentioned maybe doing something with the best live tapes they could find....

then today I see an insta-story from Taylor Hales (engineer at electrical audio) - https://www.instagram.com/taylorhales/ - multi track tapes from New Day Rising tour

excited for whatever this turns out to be!

missed this poll but gotta be hüsker by 1 trillion miles

Also missed this poll and obvs the Du, hugely so. Love the tunefulness of the Descendents at their peak - Bikeage, Clean Sheets, Silly Girl are some lovely pop. But jesus, the lyrics are repellent.

Still love Suburban Home tho.

This week's Mojack podcast interviews Daniel Spector, who was general manager of SST in the late 80s. He said that at that time, many of the master tapes were stored in a not air conditioned storage space in southern California, so if they still exist, are not likely salvageable. Very interesting conversation, with stuff about the Negativland fiasco, SST business evolution and the time Greg Ginn made him go throw what would not be several million dollars worth of Pettibon artwork in the garbage.
https://soundcloud.com/mojackpod/277-minutemen-the-politics-of-time-w-daniel-spector

what would NOW be several million dollars

Thanks for sharing that, Mike!

Where's the struggle? Just good songwriting and performances.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 30 September 2024 bookmarkflaglink

Days after listening to Let it be Answering Machine is the only tune that stuck with me.

They are ok, no more than that.

Really?? Like, Sixteen Blue is this astonishingly empathic, ahead-of-its time take on queerness and displacement within adolescent kids. It destroys me every single time I hear it. I can understand the earlier stuff seeming too t(h)rashy, the later stuff sounding too staid. But Let It Be is magic from start to finish.

^^^^^^^^^^^

I will give it another go.

they might be The Catcher in the Rye of bands--if you didn't grab ahold of them in high school, it might be too late

Otm plus the y were

Otm plus they were petulant assholes like the protagonist

Sorry for hiccup

Unsure if Catcher In the Rye or Trouble Boys is the better book