Weekly Soundtrack

Hüsker Dü Edition

Well it took a bit longer than I expected, and I’ve probably violated a boatload of international laws to get these songs, but here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The loudest, hardest, fastest and most prolific band of the 80’s, during their heyday (84-87) the Hüskers released a double-album (Zen Arcade), three single albums (New Day Rising, Flip Your Wig, Candy Apple Gray), and another double-album (Warehouse: Songs And Stories). That’s seven records of material in four years. Even for a band with two songwriters that’s a goddamn lot of songs.

Rising out of the morass of American Hardcore, they were the first band to fuse devastatingly emotional songs to the overloaded, amphetamine rush of hardcore punk.  My world would be a poorer place had they never existed.

Due to my undying love, I’m gonna break my ‘three song’ rule here, because three songs could never do them justice. And besides, it’s my site. I can do whatever I fucking want.

“Chartered Trips” from Zen Arcade

This line from a review of Flip Your Wig has stuck in my head since 1985: “If most pop songs consist of passion recollected in the tranquility of a studio, this trio from Minneapolis offers passion re-created in the studio.” That perfectly describes why I consider this their best song. More emotional maelstrom than music, by the last verse Bob Mould is totally spent, gasping for breath, lyrics slurring into unintelligibility. That sort of immersion in a song is often implied in rock, but rarely is it made so real.

“Turn On The News” from Zen Arcade

Maybe the most potent song they ever recorded, and I think they knew this song was special.  The production, with shouted backing vocals and awesome guitar overdubs, clearly overshadows everything else on the record.

“Makes No Sense At All” from Flip Your Wig

Swift, catchy, and loud. Their first major step toward mainstream recognition.

“Love Is All Around”

Yes, the theme from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” This was the B-side of “Makes No Sense At All,” and it garnered almost as much attention as the A-side. Some thought it was a lark (the show was set in Minneapolis, the same city the band hailed from), but I don’t think so. There’s something desperate in the howling backing vocals that makes it more than a joke. Back in the old days this became the theme song for one of my housemates.  I still think of her every time I hear it.

“Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely” from Candy Apple Gray

Grant Hart’s finest three and-a-half minutes. This song is from their major-label debut, and while their sound had cleaned up a bit since Zen Arcade, there was still quite a distance between them and, say, Power Station.

“You Can Live At Home” from Warehouse: Songs And Stories

The last song on their last album, it’s hard now not to interpret it as a commentary on their impending breakup.  The way the guitar rises in the mix during the fade-out blew my 19 year-old mind. Still does.