HUSKER DU V. Replacements

lol my bad

also the whole st paul vs mpls thing i can't really put in words but st paul feels different than mpls and the bands fit that

shootin dirty pool

there's tons to be said for either, of course; if forced to chose, my love for "In a Free Land" and my hatred of the last couple Replacements albums would tip me to the Dü.

why can't they both win

― henry s, Saturday, November 17, 2007 4:59 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark

How much rivalry was there between these two? Saw them both play Metro one weekend around 1986 (Replacements Friday, Husker Du Saturday) and Mould made some crack along the lines of, "[sniffing sounds] ... This mike smells like coke ... guess the Replacements were just here ..."

"...Break the Mould!"

Oh, good God, it's an absolute disgrace that Husker Du won this. Husker Du's albums are crap, even the ones that are supposedly great. Bland, boring, and repetitive, they have maybe a handful of good songs, while the Replacements have dozens of great songs and a hell of a lot more variety too. Does anyone even listen to Husker Du anymore? I think they're only revisited because they always end up in critic's choice lists, not because anyone likes or relates to these songs.

are you familiar with the word "challops"?

Sir, I have listened to Husker Du. Husker Du records have come in and out of my record collection. Their albums are tedious, monotonous, and poorly produced. Husker Du, sir, are complete crap.

nuh-uh

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Name one Husker Du song that's better than, say, "Androgynous." ONE!

"Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely"

"Celebrated Summer"

alternately: "Hare Krishna"

"Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill"

"Turn On The News"

"Keep Hanging On"

"Green Eyes"

"The Baby Song"

"She's A Woman"

"She Floated Away"

"Makes No Sense At All"

you guys, he said "one"

"Pink Turns To Blue"

"Too Far Down"

you guys, he said "one"

nah, that was u2 iirc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhbrMgSfR0w

"She Floated Away"

― Waterloo? Oh, we've sunsetted that. (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, April 18, 2012 10:47 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Okay, let's not get carried away.

I like an Irish drinking song as much as anyone else, but

Always member seeing that described in Melody Maker as a heavy metal sea shanty.

don't think it's really arguable that Husker Du are more monochromatic/limited in scope than the 'Mats. kinda amazed they won this poll - I never want to listen to either much these days, but the 'Mats stuff is at least fun. So much of Husker Du's output is horribly thin-sounding and terribly produced, I find it actively painful to listen to that high-end hissing wall of guitars sometimes.

^^^ this. 'Mats>>>Huskers for me, both live and recorded, but HD live was an undeniable maelstrom, like sticking your head in a jet engine (with pop hooks buried beneath the roar.)

If you've never seen this, complete show '85.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnJfONKJZV8&feature=related

"I can't find anything appealing about Huskers" = "other people are only pretending to like Huskers"

It's the old Schoenberg challops all over again

I get the whole thin-sounding production argument against the Hüskers. (I kinda dislike Warehouse more for its production than the Spot records, to be honest.)

That said, there's still some gutsy songs in there. the cuts on Metal Circus, bass-heavy Zen Arcade shit like "Something I Learned Today" or "Standing by the Sea". Yeah, it gets tinny. If you want muddy though, go listen to Tim. (Another great record with bad production.)

Replacements are more organic maybe, to a point, but that doesn't mean they're better.

don't think it's really arguable that Husker Du are more monochromatic/limited in scope than the 'Mats.

Totally agree. You hear one Husker Du song, you've kind of heard them all. I just took the liberty to listening to 5 of the above listed songs in succession, and they all mine pretty much the exact same territory with the one pitiful exception of "The Baby Song." Jesus, how did Bob Mould let that get on an album?

The production may not always have been great, but to say the Du were "Bland, boring, and repetitive" is just nonsense. As for variety, I would argue that Husker Du had two great song writers who both mined different seams and came up with wildly different sets of songs.

Are you tone deaf? You could also say (I wouldn't) that songs like "Lay It Down Clown" and "Little Mascara" pretty much come from the exact same grain.

This is a tough one, but I gotta say Husker Du based on little more than personal preference.

But then, I'll admit- all of their records have terrible production and uneven song quality. The Replacements sound much better as a band and have a considerably higher percentage of good songs to bad ones. Westerberg's voice is untouchable, and their hooks were gigantic.

It took me years to get into Husker Du, and I frequently avowed that they sucked. But then, once, as I sat in the parking lot of my shitty job, blasting music from my shitty car stereo, frustrated to no end by the shitty circumstances of my life, "Pride" by Husker Du came on, and everything suddenly clicked all at once.

In spite of their uneven qualities, Husker Du channels rage, angst and frustration unlike any band from that time. Their music is truly desperate, and I connected with it during those times more than I ever have with the Replacements, songwriting be damned.

Ghosttaster OTM. I had more or less the same experience - love the Mats albums and later came to Husker via solo Bob and Sugar, but only selected songs as none of their albums satisfy me entirely.

I think making Warehouse into a double was a big mistake - the band may well have fallen apart anyway but I don't see how this would have helped them

What those albums could have sounded like with a Gil Norton, Vig or Wallace at the helm.....as opposed to Spot (he worked for the Minutemen - he did not for the Huskers)

Thing is Huskers were much more of a sonically powerful band that its a bigger disappointment that their albums sound like shit - I can only imagine how New Day Rising or Flip Your Wig would have sounded had they come out in 1992 or whatever.

Totally agree. You hear one Husker Du song, you've kind of heard them all. I just took the liberty to listening to 5 of the above listed songs in succession, and they all mine pretty much the exact same territory with the one pitiful exception of "The Baby Song." Jesus, how did Bob Mould let that get on an album?

Basically the Baby Song = Hart/Mould war over songwriting quotas = end of band

I knew it was the Baby Song that did it

I would have been torn in 1984, and it's still not an easy call. TBH, I'm inclined to go with The Replacements, despite my strong inclination to disagree with polio just on principle. The 'Mats are easier on the ear, funnier and more self-effacing, able to get across emotion without bombast, more varied in tone and texture, and more closely connected to the 70s rock I love best (Stones, Big Star, Kiss).

That's not to take anything away from Husker Du. Thin sound or no, I love Zen Arcade and New Day Rising, at least like everything they did. The only reservation I have about Husker Du is a product of their unswerving dedication to "intensity", whether emotional or sonic. These things go hand in hand in their music, the squalls of screaming mid-high fuzz and the earnestly wounded emo wailing, you shouldn't see me crying ice cold ice. Suspect that they're Mould's legacy much more than Hart's, as Hart wrote most of the goofy and generous Husker Du songs I love best: the folk, country and rawk stuff like "Books About UFOs", "Turn On the News" and "She Floated Away".

More than any 80s band I can think of, Husker Du need and deserve a careful remastering and reissue campaign.

re: Ice cold ice stuff - Near the end of the band and definitely on the solo records, the parenthetical statements Mould makes gets on my nerves.

And just a reminder that the Hüsker Dü poll is coming soon, sometime in 2013 or 2014.

If the Man Sized Action record Mould produced during those yrs is any indication, Spot probably made those Husker records sound less thin or at least exactly how they wanted them to sound.

Huskers for me always.

Husker Du is in dire need of a nice catalogue reissue campaign and quality remastering job. I think it would serve their legacy immensely.

i completely agree, but bob and grant apparently can't get it together enough to get the tapes back

Bob Mould's book kind of makes him sound like a jerk