Gotta Make Polls for the Polls I Make - ILM HUSKER DU POLL RESULTS

hey pp did you get my ballot last week? i never got a response but you may not have been handin' em out

I recall seeing yours. I tried to answer each ballot to confirm. PM me your email or real name, and I can check later.

As for the poll, I'm going to microwave some lunch and come back in a few minutes.

Stations, stand by for DU! </paul_harvey>

Before we get started, just one more thing - I'll be providing a few links here and there with each song, but if you want to stream the actual releases themselves, subscribe to this Spotify playlist.

And if you go over there right now, you will see:

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt203/pplains/Husker%20Du%20Poll/hardly_getting_over_it700.jpg

30. “Hardly Getting Over It” - 126 points
• Live at First Ave
• Bob Mould with Dave Grohl

When at last, Husker Du "broke the mould," heh heh heh.

Good track. Voted for it. Glad it just squeaked in.

Nice graphic...All 30 will be ballads, right?

Every single one of 'em, clem. Just like No. 29

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt203/pplains/Husker%20Du%20Poll/turn_on_the_news700.jpg

29. “Turn On the News” - 140 points
• ''Private Remaster''
• Big Trouble House from Dü Hüskers tribute

Still not sure how this is supposed to sound like "Freebird", but my ears are tin anyway.

i see what you've done with the numbers on yr graphics pp

I hope this isn't a pain-in-the-butt request, but could you share how many votes each track received?

I can possibly share that after we're through here.

I didn't originally because, 25 ballots, most would only see 5-10 votes anyway.

Gotcha.

i voted for turn on the news!! that song rules.

This didn't make my list, surprisingly since at one time, it may have been my favorite HD song.

The lyrics are damn good though, if not a bit cheesed. You could make a fresh newsclip video for this song, lyric by lyric, for every decade since it was released.

Genuinely surprised at this being #29...thought it was a lock for the top 10.

"turn on the news" is alright, but it's never been a favorite - too self-aware/unemotional an anthem maybe

"turn on the news" is always a delete-whenever-i-transfer-zen-to-a-new-playback-device.

but then i forgot to vote so whatevs.

what? i'd like to see how it does up against "rockin in the free world" for cheesed out but fun chuggy rock anthems about current events.

i remember being a young lad at the rock'n'roll hall of fame and being excited to find zen arcade on one of their "500 artists that matter"-type computers. the selection to listen to was "turn on the news" - complete with the long-ass "sound of tv" intro

"rockin" is waaaaay more intense

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt203/pplains/Husker%20Du%20Poll/I_apologize700.jpg

28. “I Apologize” - 144 points (tie)
• Live, 1985

too low!

This might be the only band where not a single track posted will get a meh from me, even if I didn't vote for it. Unless, like, "Dead Set on Destruction" makes it to number one.

oh shi –

Making my ballot, I figured out that I like both this one and "If I Told You" just the same.

This one didn't make my ballot, but glad it showed up.

Listening to "Hardly Getting It Over It" and I'm just noticing how ELP that synthesizer sounds.

that's the part that reminds me of "speed of sound"! here, around 2:40

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e01JS23vmT4

sorry for the youtube

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt203/pplains/Husker%20Du%20Poll/its_not_funny70028.jpg

28. “It's Not Funny Anymore” - 144 points (tie)
• Grant Hart, live in L.A., 2011

re-hearing "I Apologize" - the arpeggio, the topic, the way the harmonies work - I was struck by how much it's like So. Central Rain played in double-time.

"It's Not Funny" one of the best Grant songs I didn't vote for, for no good reason.

Will have to catch up at home...No offense to anyone who voted for it, but I'm glad "Turn on the News" is low. It got so much attention at the time, starting with Christgau. I've always considered it quite bombastic. I went back and checked yesterday, and it hadn't gotten any better.

not shocked xgau was at the forefront of the "turn on" love, it is very "new clash?"

I was sure I Apologize would finish in the top ten.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt203/pplains/Husker%20Du%20Poll/in_a_free_land70026.jpg

26. “In A Free Land” - 147 points
• Original 7” mix

Still think they're singing "In Opryland" during some parts.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt203/pplains/Husker%20Du%20Poll/Flexible_Flyer700.jpg

26. “Flexible Flyer” - 147 points (tie)
• Video

Totally agree about Turn on the News.I have never understood the love for it . Always sounded like a big boring rock song to me

We had a similar discussion on a recent 80s album poll

never dug "flexible flyer"

I like the bounciness of it. Maybe 10000 Maniacs should've done it first.

It is bouncy and fun to skip to, like Books About UFOs, but I didn't vote for it.
"What Do I Want" doesn't have a chance, does it.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt203/pplains/Husker%20Du%20Poll/powerline700.jpg

24. “Powerline” - 149 points
• Live In Indianapolis, 1986

I would like to have Greg's bass line looped in my brain 22 hours a day, k thanx

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt203/pplains/Husker%20Du%20Poll/Diane2700.jpg

23. “Diane” - 157 points (tie)
• Live, from SST's ''The Tour''
• Therapy? with whatever the fuck this is.

Yep, (Powerline) got a vote from me. This has the weird, out there, Hüskers template that I just love - possibly down to Mould being permanently pissed drunk throughout the recording of NDR. The boozey haze.

Used to love Diane but played it too often or it's just not got the staying power

Wow, I didn't vote for any of these so far. Expected to see Diane a lot higher, but it's never really done a whole lot for me. Guitar solo is great though.

I love "Powerline," gave it a top-10 spot. That bass line is great, I could just sing along with it by itself for hours at a time. And have, once or twice.

Is he saying Diane or "dyin'"? *pulls out catch from bong*

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt203/pplains/Husker%20Du%20Poll/she_floated_away700234.jpg

23. “She Floated Away” - 157 points (tie)
• Cover version by Mosquitos

"I had that sound before I heard of him", I mean - he wasn't trying to obscure a debt of influence he owed, more reeling at the fact that he'd never consciously heard of this guy whose style he'd natively worked his own way towards.

I've interviewed him a couple of times, and yeah, he can be a good interview.

I do believe that he had never heard Richard Thompson before, I was reacting more to the gratuitous humblebrag of him picking up an acoustic guitar and then, what do you know, sounding at all close to one of the greatest and most distinctive guitarists of all time.

A subsequent humblebrag comes when someone tells him "A Good Idea" sounds like the Pixies, and gosh, he'd never noticed that before! "There was an unconscious homage too: I didn’t realize the similarities between “A Good Idea” and the Pixies’ “Debaser” until Sugar was riding around America during the summer 1992 dates. I simultaneously laughed and gasped at the horror of having accidentally pilfered Kim Deal’s bass line." Earlier in the book he opens for the Pixies as a solo act, and mentions "I had a few conversations with Charles (aka Black Francis) from the Pixies. We treated each other as equals, a very cordial interaction." Well, yeah, duh. Pixies owed tons to Husker Du, it's part of the lore, and Mould later even mentions the famous Pixies musicians wanted ad. So Mould really didn't need to namedrop in that manner. It reeks of insecurity, as does his claim that Metallica were supposedly fans (so?), or the backhanded namedrop of meeting the Clash in the early HD years, "they were nice chaps, but very intense, as if they were very aware of their importance."

It's hard to know what's up with some of this, maybe it's Azerrad's doing. Like when he writes that the fourth single from "Copper Blue" "would be the upbeat and catchy “If I Can’t Change Your Mind.”" Who writes about their own songs that way?

Ha, I can kinda picture him saying "upbeat and catchy" through clenched teeth and a rictus smile.

Could be a lot more obnoxious. I stopped watching Quentin Tarantino's interviews because I got sick of listening to him talk about his own work like he was his own biggest fan.

The problem is that the most interesting personality in the band - and the one most likely to write the most illuminating account, bias and all - is no longer with us.

I say illuminating - Greg is in a unique position in that he’s neither Grant but Bob but he’s said a fair amount from his perspective since the Azerrad 80s book and I don’t know if he ever had the interest in anything further

Neither Grant *nor Bob

Re “history as written by the victors” point upthread, I think it’s sometimes unfortunate that the last word from an insiders POV is often from the person who in many ways I’d read last, but OTOH we could easily have nothing.

There's a great oral history on the '80 Minneapolis scene by Magnet, but the Hüsker Dü parts do get uncomfortable in how contentious they are:

https://magnetmagazine.com/2005/06/12/a-tale-of-twin-cities-husker-du-the-replacements-and-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-80s-minneapolis-scene/

For example:

Norton: When Bob said we were going to do the individual songwriter credits, I thought it was just Bob being pissed off at Grant, not realizing I was the only one who thought the songs the three of us worked on were collaborations. I mean, it said, “All songs by Hüsker Dü.” Bob went back and changed it, so he got all the money.

Hart: Bob can stink up a room without saying a word. The guy has an intimidation factor that’s exponentially greater than anyone I’ve ever met in my life. He can loathe you through a wall. Bob had all of this contempt. It was like, “Why are you in a band with me if you fucking hate me so much?”

-

Mould: When David committed suicide, that was the beginning of the end. Everyone sort of retreated into their own corners and dealt with that in their own particular ways.

Hart: That makes a great fucking story. Bob, I’m sorry your friend died and everything, but you’re still a prick.

-

Hart: Bob said, “It’s up to you, Grant. Should we go on and play, or do you just want to head home?” And I’m like, “Hell, man, let’s go play.” “Well, Grant, we already canceled it.” “OK, so you wanted to give me the fucking opportunity to think you gave a fuck.”

-

Norton: I was pissed off at Grant. I was pissed off at Bob, too. It got to the point with Bob that I realized I had nothing in common with him. It was obvious he didn’t give a shit about me anymore, so whatever. It was fine.

-

Norton: Grant would say he quit the band in December when we were on the last tour. Then Bob got himself a lawyer and had himself removed from the contract. So according to Grant, he broke the band up. According to Bob, he quit the band. Bob would probably say he fired me. Leading up to when Bob withdrew from the contract, I had had conversations with him about me and him keeping the band together with a new drummer. At the same time, Bob told Grant, “Let’s you and me keep the band going and kick Greg out and get a new bass player.” Basically, it comes down to this: Who do you believe? I don’t doubt Bob had plans for a solo career and this was a great time for him to get it started.

(I should add, this was published in 2005, when relations between all three were probably at an all-time low.)

I'm essentially hate reading this thing at this point, but gah, when he hits his pro wrestling writing stint, or dalliance with electronic music, or the death of his fucking dog, he just becomes even more insufferable. He's always right, only he knows what's going, all he's doing is the right thing, why do other people keep messing it up? He alludes to the lawsuit Hart and Norton tried to file to get the SST rights:

I offered to pay for the lawsuit, but in return Grant and Greg would have to stay uninvolved so that I could sue SST myself without encumbrances, changes, or midstream indecision. I had Josh Grier draw up an offer for a one-time payment of $15,000 each to Grant and Greg. As ever, they would retain co-ownership of the Hüsker Dü name, but would be silent partners in this lawsuit.

I didn’t care about the name Hüsker Dü, nor holding sole ownership of the SST catalog. I had, and still have, no interest in the name Hüsker Dü or in recreating or revisiting that part of my life. But while conducting research for this book, I found and reviewed the document, and it most certainly appeared as if I was trying to buy them out. And yet it meant so little to me that I’d forgotten about it until seeing the document.

Yeah, no shit, Bob.

Always wondered what Gibby Haynes meant when he said "he went all Bob Mould on me"