Hüsker Dü Classic or Dud?

Warehouse is rather overrated. I'd personally start with the live album the Living End. The early stuff is performed with more structure and the Warehouse era stuff has a bit more grit. Chase your favorite melodies off that to their studio albums. I personally go for Zen Arcade sonically (add psychedelic to "non-macho hardcore"). But New Day Rising and Candy Apple Grey also have a lot of strong songs. A lot of people swear by Flip Your Wig but I've always felt there's a lot of filler on that. But, The Living End is what I probably play the most.

brad- i think you're a newcomer so I'll tell you that we have done this (and a sugar and a bob mould thread). go to search, look it up and revive it if you like.

Ok, maybe not! Also, the thought of Bob Mould and Grant Hart being lovers makes me queasy.

Bob Mould = yum, Grant Hart = YUCK, Bob Mould + Grant Hart = SUPERYUCK.

Haha there's a joke here waiting to be made.

Don't confuse the term Colege Rock in the 80's with today's version. That was before the catch word "alternative" came up.

Search: "Whatever" -- after that, flip a coin and see how I feel.

Hate's such a strong word. A good song here or there, but def. over-rated.

You idiots wouldn't good music if it bit you in the arse. They are overall THE major influence for the music you listen to today. Get Metal Circus, New Day Rising, and Zen Arcade. BTW they are behind REM for top college albums in the 80's

This is supposed to be convincing? They're just "behind REM?" Bwahahahahahahahahaha!

Uh, what?

Haha, they had a gay singer too!

but do i like their music?

not really.
m.

Not private enough, haha!

I'm just mentioning that they're gay, Brad, not saying anything homophobic. I'm gay myself, actually. Just having a bit of fun.

btw, Henry Rollins isn't really gay, but he should be.

Other threads of note for your to Dü:
Husker Du : Classic or Dud, Search and Destroy.
Husker Du Dreams
POO! Husker Du
Bob Mould: Classic or Dud?
reoccurring dreams vs dreams reoccurring vs no dream reoccurring

To paraphrase Run-DMC, "not gay as in bad but gay as in good!"

Good thing I didn't bring up the "Two Fat Fags and a Guy with a Moustache" parody.

I swear I'm not homophobic, I just like to laugh a lot (preferably out loud).

Funny thing was, the guy with the moustache was the gayest looking one!

Ain't that the truth! Wonder what happened to that guy, anyway.

This is just thinking out loud, but isn't just about every band overrated?

their singles were pretty great, search: "makes no sense at all", "eight miles high", "could you be the one?"...

"no reservations" is the only song i like off of Warehouse.

No, some are severely under-rated. Like Antman.

Grown men to tears.

you know what, i'd probably like a few more if i gave it another shot, it's been a long time.

anyone interesting in attempting actual interesting and/or useful content in re: HD = main i-word on pixies = main i-word on nirvana?

or is it just "sounds quite like" as per usual?

I quite like to. maybe tomorrow (this is a good direction for this thread to go to otherwise you might as well delete it).

I'd rather make stupid comments about their moustaches and sexuality.

[/jockist]

I think the Huskers/Pixies comp. comes from the story (perhaps myth) that Kim Deal responded to Charles Michael Kitteredge Thompson IV's want ad looking for musicians wanting to sound like "Husker Du crossed with Peter, Paul and Mary" more than anything else.

though actually i quite like the idea that "influence" in fact largely refers to whoever was mentioned in the original ad!!

"we are 'influenced' by the people we felt constrained to tell one another we wanted to sound like, before we actually met and found out what we could and couldn't manage, musically"

I'd rather read about gay men with moustaches. Y'know, like police fiction or something.

Okay, time to leave work.

Where Zen Arcade threatens to veer off the road at any second, New Day Rising never strays an inch off course. Like a longer, happier, yet more raging Metal Circus...I see this album as being the fulcrum for all that came before and all that would come after in their recorded output. Featuring their most consistently catchy songwriting, as well as incredibly pointed production, the band is perfectly in control no matter how noisy they get. Before New Day Rising, the band was never this focused. From this point on, the songs would slowly get quieter (I miss Spot) and weaker until the band faded away.

Despite the fun of Everything Falls Apart, and the bewildering thrash of Land Speed Record...the band's early work was nothing too special (although personally I prefer Rhino's re-release of Everything Falls Apart (and more) to their other releases). Also, although there were hints of this in Flip Your Wig, their move to a major label had an effect on their music akin to a scary drunk sobering up. While there are still some bright moments, overall I find this work embarrasing.

Still, their core output from 1983-1985 paved the way for a new breed of American rock music, including the Replacements, the Pixies (note Frank Black's propensity to (ab)use his voice for drama and noise within the context of a Pop structure), etc. Nirvana started out sounding more like the Melvins, but took elements from other Northwest rock groups (Green River/Mudhoney), whose regional styles were often depressive introspective and/or flippant sexual take-offs of the earnest catharsis that bands like Husker Du immersed themselves in. So while the lineage may not be direct, Nirvana might not have sounded the way they did without Husker Du. The book "Route 666: On the Road to Nirvana" does a good job of looking at these issues.

So overall, and especially in the context of what was going on around them musically, Husker Du are a classic in my book. Though I would be willing to consider the possibility that their existance was happenstance, and oweing to a fated zeitgeist more than individual inspiration/ability...

Something similar could be said of most of those profiled in Azzerad's book, "Our Band Could Be Your Life."

Eight Miles High
In a Free Land
Everything Falls Apart
Diane
Something I Learned Today
The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill
Green Eyes
Broken Home, Broken Heart
Books About UFOs
What's Going On?
Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely
Monday Will Never Be the Same
Whatever
Games
One Step at a Time
Pink Turns to Blue
New Day Rising
The Biggest Lie
Terms of Psychic Warfare
Chartered Trips
These Important Years
Celebrated Summer
Divide and Conquer
You Can Live at Home

I really do think if they didn't look like truck drivers, there would be no question about their place in the canon.

Not from where I sit.

You think you've made it to the top because people know your name,
It's still the same
Your daydreams aren't forever, better get your shit together
For a new game

Back to your day job
Back to your girlfriend
Back to your hometown
The biggest lie

Passing harsher judgement, but you brought it on yourself
By being you
You trade your work for no success, you tried to be a hero
But you end up nothing

I say this as someone who has done his share of obsessing over the Pixies, made compilation tapes, etc. Only one reporter's opinion, mind you. Speaking of, Minutemen still edge out all of the above in my book...

I don't see how quoting Missy helps your case.

I'm tempted to say that Husker Du : alt.indie.rock :: Sex Pistols : punk rock - they've been swallowed up and absorbed and regurgitated to such a degree that their own impact, musically, has petered out to a big ol' pfffft of whatever, while claims can be made of other groups (hello, Buzzcocks) having a similar effect. That said, I can't think of any DIRECT antecedent that is completely beholden to the Du - there was a cool line in the Spin Alt Guide about Nirvana mixing the Husker's "Whatever" with the Replacement's "Nevermind", but, other than that, it seems that any Husker influence attributed to a rock groop is more a result of Husker Du doing a similar guitar rock thing first and folks simply accepting Husker's influence as a dogmatic given.

Like, shit, if they're these doods playing 3-to-4-chord pop songs w/ all this distortion & screaming that sound more like the Beatles or some 60s hippie shit than that girl group doowop stuff Joey Ramone jones'd, then it's GOTTA be because of Husker Du, yeah?

It's been a while since Husker Du popped my cherry - we used to be inseperable, but I don't go hang out with them much anymore. It's crass to say, but they served their purpose. Yeah, once in a while, I get nostalgic, and I throw on one of the Big Three records, but I enjoy them more if I try to hear what I heard back then (the "power", the emotion, the soft & prickly feedback) than listening to them in the now - current timeframe listening has me focusing on stupid shit like the crappy drum sounds, or the cloying lyrics, or all that other nonsense. Nowadays, I like Husker's failures (cf. _Everything Falls Apart_, "...Skin a Cat", "The Baby Song") more than their successes (cf. the "good" stuff).

Outside of the music, one of the things that I could relate about bands such as Husker Du, The Minutemen & The Replacements at the time was that they looked like people in your neighborhood. They sure as hell didn't look as silly as Motley Crue or Bon Jovi or some other popular crap when I was in high school.

And his name was Frank Beard! Oh wait a minute, what am I saying...

Although, something interesting: if any band ever equalled nostalgia without ever even having heard them before, it was definitely Husker Du. They just sound nostalgiac. How interesting that their name comes from an old (Norwegian?) boardgame that means "Do you remember?" (The Wikipedia article was a great read and talks about how they came up with the name. Also in the article, there's a cute song described by the then-to-be singer of Semisonic about his old girlfriend and the band they used to see together: "Remember when you held my hand you used to say I love them so much/Lonely when I hear the band/Do you remember, do you recall?" That this is an homage to Hüsker Dü is confirmed by the album's liner notes, which have the words "do you remember? dü you recall?" written across them in large letters.)

Probably the first and best emo band. Wow, Sebadoh is indebted to them, I think. Just realized that. Husker Du were less whiney even when they were whining, though. They sounded pretty damn macho for non-macho psychedelic hardcore.

Amazing how I can still get such a visceral reaction by someone suggesting Husker Du aren't for the ages, even years after I listened to them regularly.

Mould was hit or miss after the Du (Workbook + Cooper Blue, yes; Black Sheets of Rain + FU:EL, no) as the lyrics got even sappier and the production more polished, but I'd take Flip Your Wig through Warehouse with me anywhere.

"for the sake of influence" makes no sense, Geir. You mean like: "Oh they weren't even trying to write good songs, they were just trying to be influential!" Or maybe you mean, "Pffft! They weren't even GOOD, they were just incredibly influential!" Duh, makes no sense. Try again.

Once the band got over the noisecore of the early releases, they unleashed a string of amazing recordings that I still enjoy to this day. The Living End might be my favorite live album and I hate live albums.

And, no, I wouldn't say I hate them. Just that, well, I find that their albums sounded more or less like bad demos, not letting the songs come through properly.

hongro rating production over songwriting shockah.

I like a kind of production that lets the songwriting come to the forefront. That is, the vocalist is the most important "instrument", and the producer's job is to get him heard properly.

My Bloody Valentine may be the worst produced band ever for that exact reason.

????

x-post

Obviously, their SST records were recorded with a limited budget. Are the vocals mixed low on their Warner Brothers albums? (I don't remember them being so.)

Listening to "Makes No Sense at All," the vocals are clear, guitar is clear, drums are reverby but fairly clear, bass is (for the most part) MIA.

this is not a comment on the relative mertits of the song, which is great

haha i dont know if i can remember a single husker du bassline.

Any bass you hear in that song-- which I just listened to-- is BASS. And it's clear!! Very clear! I could play the fucking song easily. All that noisy treble floating atop is GUITAR!

Unless you're listening to a 96kb mp3 or something, of course.

I can't understand how anyone couldn't hear the bass unless they just don't play instruments and can't clearly differentiate the sounds they're hearing. Put it this way: Bob can't play a drone on ONE fret way high up on the neck whilest simultaneously plucking several notes on the deep end (as if a guitar goes that deep, anyway), so the rolling deep notes you hear are bass.

Why don't you transcribe the bass part toward the end of the first verse and into what I guess you could call a recurring bridge (the "I don't know why you want to tell me when I'm right and when I'm wrong" section) part for me. Every note of it.

You're right, though; it is practically mono!

Tim, you might try getting a record player that doesn't fold into a suitcase and slide under the bed with your stack of Little Golden Books. The notes are not inaudible at all. If I sat and listened, I could easily tell you: A, C#, B, etc. Husker Du would've sounded shitty with a clicky ultra-defined bass tone competing with everything else. You wouldn't know WHAT to listen to. Not right for the sound. This is why it's not a production issue.

Why don't you go ahead and do it, then? I'm particularly interested in the part I mentioned above. For starters.

the meat puppets first EP is so insane. like, they have no concept of how to vocalize/sing at ALL. which is awesome. it sounds like a no wave record. i think some ILXors have said as much before.

it's too bad Husker Du never sounded like a no wave band!

xpostststs

It's not even so much that it should have been louder. It's just a crappy tone that does not cut through and YOU CANNOT HEAR A LOT OF THE NOTES.

If Husker Du had a fatter deep end, I just don't think it would sound like Husker Du. It would sound thick and chunky.

Bob mostly concentrates on the higher strings and lets the bass fill out the bottom end. He does use barre chords, but the deepness of those chords is totally overpowered by the "bass frequencies" :-)

For a good example of just how LOUD the bass is compared to the guitar, listen to "I Don't Wanna Know If You are Lonely". The guitar is really, really buried behind an ultra loud bass, but it sounds cool. Husker is one of those bands where the bass is so present sometimes you think it's the guitar.

Makes no difference at all
Yeah, it makes no sense at all
Makes no difference at all
I don't know why you want to tell me
When I'm right and when I'm wrong
It's the same thing in your mind
Etc.

And yes, it goes to E minor at the beginning of the "I don't know why you want to tell me" line, and he plays an E on the downbeat, but what is the sequence of notes that follow?

No, he doesn't. It's a lot of chordal playing (open chords a lot, actually, if I'm not mistaken).

First of all, I said "barre chords" and secondly, higher strings are part of the barre chords. A lot of that jangle is barred top 4 strings (skinnier strings), concentrating on strumming the higher strings rather than the deep end "power chord" area. The rest is a lot of slight soloing (I guess you could call it) on the D and G strings with accents on the B and E. But a lot of that midrange noodling goes from open D and G to the middle of the fretboard somewhere.

He plays these a little fancier sometimes than others, adding open strings or bouncing back and forth between the same basic notes, so I'm just going to concentrate on the basic notes:

Walking around with your head in the clouds
B-A-C-G
Makes no sense at all
C-B-G

I don't know why...
E-B->G (interesting little slide)

That's basically it. The stuff is easier to play than to transcribe. And I have to count the frets to find the notes since I play by ear, tab or watching someone. Jam along with the radio and see if those notes aren't correct.

Perfect song for really hearing how the bass and guitar meld is "Something I learned Today." Check it out. Opens with a strong bass line that never disappears so you can hear just how thin and washy the guitar is on top of it. It's one of their best songs, too, so worth a download.

The beginning of the verse? That's not the part I mentioned, but this isn't even right. It starts on G, goes down to F, and then does a little line around C-B-A-G (IV chord down to I) and then to D (V chord).

>>I don't know why...
E-B->G (interesting little slide)

Uh, there's a whole bass line under this section (most of the notes of which are inaudible).

Do you really need me to transcribe this or is it just a challenge? I mean, you can clearly hear it, right? You could figure it out and played it if you wanted to, yes?

I can hear the notes going doot dooty doot and if I had a bass, a room to be loud and some time, I could definitely pick the bass lines out.I think sometimes the notes are not there, because he's playing awkwardly and there really is no note there. There is a specific sequence where it sounds like he would be doing a little 4-noter and two of the notes seem to disappear behind a snare drum, but I think he actually just didn't play those expected notes. He's not a sloppy bass player, but he plays weird at times. Like, he "jazzes up" the odd line.

I really like Crystal off Candy Apple Grey, but most of the other songs just sound like the boring early-90s indie rock they influenced (to my ears).

PS I love lots of early-90s indie rock I'm not dismissing the whole genre just some stuff like Buffalo Tom I couldn't get into at the time

>>I think sometimes the notes are not there, because he's playing awkwardly and there really is no note there. There is a specific sequence where it sounds like he would be doing a little 4-noter and two of the notes seem to disappear behind a snare drum, but I think he actually just didn't play those expected notes.

Saw them in '86 with a reformed Zero Boys opening and it was the first time I was exposed to that ridiculous hardcore circle-dance thing.

xpost

"I think sometimes the notes are not there, because he's playing awkwardly and there really is no note there. There is a specific sequence where it sounds like he would be doing a little 4-noter and two of the notes seem to disappear behind a snare drum, but I think he actually just didn't play those expected notes."

Listen to the very beginning of the song. He starts on the note G. How many times does he play it before he goes down to F? Once? Twice? Three times? On the word "head" ("Walking around with your head in the clouds"), he hits the note C and then goes down. Does he follow the G major scale down (C-B-A and then back down to F)? It sort of FEELS to me like he did, but you really can't hear the B or the A.

After the first line ("Walking around with your head in the clouds/It makes no sense at all") ends, he goes up to D, root of the V chord. When the next line begins, he's back to G. Does he play a line in between these notes or not?

You can't tell. The tone is inarticulate mud, doesn't cut through, and notes are lost.

[I wanted to find a good/big picture of spot to put here, but google image search was no help]

Part of that is the quiet mastering though, it can probably be solved by just cranking the fucker up. Unfortunately I don't have that option living in this flat, too many neighbours to worry about.

You didn't answer any of my questions, for one thing!

There are times when you are not even hearing the bass frequency. It is buried. There are lines being played, but only some of the notes are audible.

I've pointed this out to you in numerous specific parts of the song.

xgurggleglgllg - don't know. that would be harder to figure out than the bass lines for me.

Nor am I convinced that it was intentional. I would bet Greg Norton would have liked his bass to be clearer.

Now, about Husker Du. I hear Greg Norton is a fine chef. -- ACK! beaten by seconds, xgurggleglgllg!

but my point is, she's a bad musician. that was it.

xpost: ha, no -- more like walkman & plane bathroom, convenient access to the latter of which was another plus for sitting at the back in coach. But we digress. BACK TO MUSTACHES.

you can't keep a good song down.

note: I am fanatical fanboy of them I admit, I have multiple presses of every record except the 1st 2 7"s and every promo record (barring 2 I am still on the hunt for)

spot's a funny dude - some stuff sounds fantastic and totally appropriate to the band's aesthetic (meat puppets, minutemen, dinosaur), and sometimes he just suuuuuucks the power right outta the songs (a lotta HD and BF). metal circus is the best they ever sounded though and that's a spot one, so who knows?

I think about this all the time, that you have these somewhat iconic indie bands of the early mid-80s who made all of these albums and toured with whatever gear they could cobble together from pawn shops and today if you go see even a local band getting started, often times both guitarists will have big, expensive half stacks and bass rigs.

I said it on another thread about the SST stuff, but I think at some point Spot's production went awry whenever they got their first digital reverb, as everything went from being real cool and dry to sounding like it was recorded in the bat cave. Zen Arcade, My War and Double Nickels sound real sparse and then the follow ups of New Day Rising, In My Head, Project Mersh and 3-Way Tie for Last has bunches of reverb.

Dinosaur Jr. being a east coast SST band did those records at home in Mass., I don't think they ever did anything with Spot.

I think one of Black Flag's problems on some of the later records is often times they were tracked together overdubbing the bass or guitar, unlike the first stuff which is pretty much the band live in a room.

Easy. You just play the top string open while feeling really sad.

Taking Sides: Keith Morris vs. Ron "Chavo Pederast" Reyes vs. Dez Cadena vs. Henry Rollins -- BLACK FLAG VOCALIST SMACKDOWN!

And lots more on Husker here:

Hart or Mould?

Sadly, the use of all electronic devices is prohibited during takeoffs and landings. Brilliant idea, though.

Husker Du is like a jet engine designed by Keith Moon. You don't wanna get too close. And I can't think of any bands allegedly influenced by Husker that you could say that about.

Sure, but I BROKE TEH RULES.

Wish I still had that muddy cassette bootleg of the Du at 7th Street Entry in 1984. Hellacious roar in a small room.

All I recall thinking about HD's production was that the drums were unnecessarily loud on every one of Grant's songs.

Wait a minute...I thought there was a best Husker album poll here. Please point me to it. Thanks.

There is a poll, but I can't find it either.

Fuck! Look I really need someone to tell me which album to try. Something early. Please. I need to know which album got the most votes. Thanks.

Convention says go with Zen Arcade or New Day Rising.
i say both.
I think new day rising just beat zen arcade in the poll but I cant remember even though I think it was my poll.

Thanks! So sad that we can't find it. What about Land Speed...

it prob got the least as it was a superfast live record. I tried the ilx google search and still cant find it.

What about Metal Circus?

Best Hüsker Dü Album (POLL Ends 4th May)

Metal Circus is awesome too. I love them all really. Warehouse is my least fave but it does have some cracking songs

Metal Circus and Zen Arcade are my faves.

Heheh. Okay I'll write this down right now. Thanks guys.

Warehouse was the only album I ever had of them. I taped it from the radio station I DJ'd at years ago. It had some great moments...but very long.

just trust me when i saw New Day Rising, Zen Arcade, Metal Circus and Flip Your Wig are infinitely better! The others I would say are too, though for some reason there's a split with Candy Apple Grey. Here in the UK it's highly rated but not so much in the states. Warehouse is seen by fans as the weakest. and yes, it is a bit long.

Candy Apple Grey is the New Day Rising, man.

as far as the HD/Pixies/Nirvana connection goes (way upthread), on the acoustic demos released as Frank Black Francis, Charles calls "Caribou" the one that sounds like Husker Du...also on one of those stupid f#$king lists...25 band in the last 25 years or something, Charles says that when he formed the Pixies he owned five albums, "and three of them were Husker Du."

I just heard their cover of the Mary Tyler Moore theme "Love Is All Around"!!! Wow that is fucking cool as shit. Totally missed that during my entire recent Husker Du trip.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/88/MaryHat.jpg

HAHAAHAAHAH! WOOOO HOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You made my night.

bump
because- i just had a thought

somefker remaster them or 'whatever' it is you do.please

everything they did

anybody questioning the Du's massive influence needs interrogating. they will be proven wrong

Remasters/reissues of the HD back catalogue have been held back indefinitely due to either a) the fact that the guys just can't get along, despite Mould being interested in handling things (which might be the problem right there) or b) the master tapes are lost in a dusty old box somewhere between Lawndale and Texas.

What a dull band.

It might all be the supposedly notorious bad transfers done by SST for their CDs, though, for all I know, I have nothing on vinyl. But everything sounds so thin!

Jack Brewer says that they paid some kid to drop a needle on the vinyl to 'master' many CD issues. Dude's got no reason to lie about that.

I said it on another thread about the SST stuff, but I think at some point Spot's production went awry whenever they got their first digital reverb, as everything went from being real cool and dry to sounding like it was recorded in the bat cave. Zen Arcade, My War and Double Nickels sound real sparse and then the follow ups of New Day Rising, In My Head, Project Mersh and 3-Way Tie for Last has bunches of reverb.

Actually, by the time those last three records came out, Spot had pretty much quit producing records for SST. He only had a hand in New Day Rising (on which Mould's guitars sound amazing, IMHO); Project: Mersh was Ethan James and Carducci, and 3-Way Tie was James again. I think SST must've had a hard-on for James because he used to be in Blue Cheer, but a lot of the stuff he produced sounds off.

What a dull band.

You've obviously never heard Metal Circus, then.

I thought they were great at the time, but posterity hasn't been kind. The whole wall-of-guitar-fuzz thang sounded shockingly fresh when I first heard it, but it was eventually done better harmonically by Sonic Youth, and melodically by My Bloody Valentine.

I still listen to SY and MBV regularly, but can't really be bothered with the Huskers these days. Also, they had the worst drum sound ever committed to tape. Not their fault I'm sure, but it still counts against them......

Remasters/reissues of the HD back catalogue have been held back indefinitely due to either a) the fact that the guys just can't get along, despite Mould being interested in handling things (which might be the problem right there) or b) the master tapes are lost in a dusty old box somewhere between Lawndale and Texas.

-- MacDara, Friday, August 15, 2008 11:56 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Link

grant hart's famous quote: "We'll reunite - IN COURT!"

Raw Patrick. Sore Cunt.

You are so wrong sweetnuts. So fucking very wrong

remastering would probably help these to an extent but these albums were not recorded well to begin with, they are never going to sound amazing

sound good enough to me

grant hart's famous quote: "We'll reunite - IN COURT!"

Also, "We'll reunite when Bob comes down off his high horse... -- and Grant comes off his HORSE HIGH!"

"could you be the one" is better than anything sonic youth have ever done. MBV better than both though.

remastering would probably help these to an extent but these albums were not recorded well to begin with, they are never going to sound amazing

-- akm, Saturday, August 16, 2008 12:03 AM (19 hours ago) Bookmark Link

yeah listen to the originals on vinyl and it's not tons better.

but i've come to accept that spot was a terrible producer who for some reason was a perfect fit for husker du. i think that hellish hi-mid-range roar sort of saves husker from being more ordinary....i think if these records sounded "better" they would be worse.

Only ten slots between now and the Husker Du ILM poll. We might get into it by the time autumn closes in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NcZ5BwQukE

http://i.imgur.com/xUbslS7.jpg

done

spent the afternoon on a kick & i think grant hart might be my favorite rock songwriter of the era (defined as broadly as you like)

really hope they never get back together. but they better fucking get on with remastering the catalogue.

bob on that idea:

I haven’t given it that much thought. If it’s going to happen someday, I’m sure it would be a perfect storm, where everything just lines up all at once. But yeah I don’t push it, I don’t think about it. As I said before, I’m pretty busy these days, and keeping track of everything is a challenge.

so if god magically farts them out, then maybe.

I think SST must've had a hard-on for James because he used to be in Blue Cheer, but a lot of the stuff he produced sounds off.

I learn something new every day. I had no idea Ralph Burns Kellogg and Ethan James were the same dude.

woah, me neither!

the living end is a killer live album. i put it next to television "live at the old waldorf"

http://blog.thecurrent.org/2017/07/grant-hart-joined-by-greg-norton-dave-pirner-lori-barbero-at-emotional-hook-and-ladder-show/

jesus, grant looks rough

oh and i came in here with the intention of just posting CLASSIC without seeing why this was bumped but they need to remaster/reissue their records because HD is so under appreciated and under the radar in a way that seems insane to me, more kids that would love them are missing out

earlier today someone called a little drywall mistake a "husker du" and i said "oh...is that where that comes from?" and she said no, it wasn't

Wonder what the status on that Numero set is. Or whatever that was.

thanks for the bump i'm listening to Flip Your Wig now

Numero was previewing Everything Fall Apart remaster on Spotify.

i hope I'm not reading anything between the lines of that concert post.

Not super helpful wrt dates but looks like they might be getting a proper overview.

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2017/06/12/husker-du-box-set-numero-group/

I've heard so many mixed things. If Mould said Zen Arcade is off the table, and SST (as always) is part of the problem, then it's likely we're not seeing remasters of (many of) the albums. But I've also seen/read stories of Mould trying the muscle out the other guys, in which case we'd likely see ... nothing. But I've also seen/read accounts of HD sharing legal representation/signing contracts, so ... don't know what the holdup is. All those teased pictures imply live stuff, which would be awesome but not as awesome as remasters. Or maybe expanded remasters of stuff it can wrest from SST? Who knows. Don't see why they are all being so cagey is anything firm is afoot.

Any heavily teased massive project that does not involve some or all of the key albums would be a huge disappointment.

I can only guess that's partly accounting for the secrecy and delay, as they try to negotiate their way around whatever stumbling blocks still exist. But it seems unlikely to pay off, given it's not happened any time in the past 30 years anyway.

How did the Meat puppets get their material away from SST and how does that differ from the HD situation. Cos the Rykodisc cds were like 20 years ago. Not sure what the situation with their back catalogue is now though.
But then again there was less infighting i guess.

from what I know they worked with the same lawyers the puppets and dino Jr did but the contact was worse in some way

the set as I understand is remastered Everything Falls Apart, remastered Land Speed Record, the other set from the show LSR was recorded from, some odds n sods and outtakes, also I believe a PRE Landspeed live show where I guess they had material before they became a hardcore band that is more melodic and slower. apparently

I love Husker Du as much as Dylan or the Beatles or anybody. But in a weird way, this reminds me of when I worked in a record store in the mid-'80s--an overpriced upstairs adjunct to the main store downstairs, carrying '50s and '60 imports--and people kept asking about Dave Clark Five albums, then in legal limbo. It was amazing how much interest there was in them at that particular moment (maybe they'd been used in a film or a commercial?), and no one could buy anything except horrible re-recorded budget versions. I kept thinking that the Dave Clark Five and whoever owned the rights to their stuff should act quickly while people still cared, because in another 10 years no one will.

Think maybe it was Dave himself who was responsible for that

He screwed up releases of Ready Steady Go for a while, inserting DC5 performances where they shouldn't have been. & not issuing things that should have been.

there was something mentioned on Greg's fb page the other day but greg himself pretty much said hes not involved in it

I remember for years the Galaxie 500 albums were unavailable, and I'd also heard it was due to problems with Rough Trade. Then I interviewed Dean Wareham once, maybe c. "Penthouse," and asked him about it, and he was all, no, we have the rights, just haven't gotten around to them yet. At least the Huskers albums have never been out of print.

Dino, Meat Puppets, Sonic Youth all managed to get their records from SST, right? I assume Soundgarden, too?

re: DC5, yes, Dave Clark himself controlled their recordings. Whenever a reissue offer came his way, he asked for ridiculous money. Over time, as everything fell out of print, oldies stations stopped playing them -- no way to upgrade their old 45s or carts from those 45s -- and by the '90s they were forgotten. Clark was reduced to agreeing to release a substandard best-of CD on Hollywood Records...which I think is now out of print.

The PBS doc on him is unintentionally hilarious, and somehow omits the fact that he didn't even play on their best/biggest hits (Bobby Graham did).

Yeah Harold Bronson (cofounder of Rhino) had a great/telling story about this re DC5 a few years back

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harold-bronson/the-dave-clark-five-dave-_b_5091519.html

Problem is none of them get along and Bob has all the power because he still has a successful solo career and can basically pick up the phone and given day and get 20 grand to do a show.

I'm sure Ginn has a price but I'd guess that money would have to come from Bob and he doesn't need this to happen

Wow at that Huffpo article.

Because of Disney’s unfulfilled enticements — among them, getting the group’s songs into Disney movies and installing a DC5-themed cafe in the United Kingdom Pavilion at Disney World’s Epcot, Dave told me — he was able to extricate himself from the deal with five years left in the contract.

Grim thought but given the animus between Bob and Grant, do you think Bob is running out the clock waiting for Grant to kick the bucket or is that too dark even for HD

http://blog.thecurrent.org/2017/07/grant-hart-joined-by-greg-norton-dave-pirner-lori-barbero-at-emotional-hook-and-ladder-show/

― purrington, Sunday, July 2, 2017 10:47 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i hope I'm not reading anything between the lines of that concert post.

― pplains, Monday, July 3, 2017 12:23 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

:-(

Yeah I've been thinking about that a lot today

I don't really care--the time-honored confusion over caring vs. taking-an-interest--but I'd be happy if this gave them a sentimental push into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They became eligible in 2006; no idea if they've ever been close, but I'm sure they're part of most voters' lives at this point.

how many of the bands written about in Azerrad's book are in the Hall of Fame?

I don't think any of them. The first poll I ever posted on here (with a rather baffling title) was basically that question:

The Bert Blyleven Poll

I realize now I was secretly endorsing Husker Du: their name is Dutch, just like Bert Blyleven. I would still think Sonic Youth the most likely first.

Sonic Youth for sure. Fugazi, too. Black Flag probably. I mean, this will take decades, they're still getting around to Cheap Trick, Yes, and the Moody fucking Blues. but then Nirvana & Green Day (rightfully so) get inducted in their first year of eligibility. But if Pearl Jam goes in, if the Foo Fighters go in before the 80s bands...

I'd hope none of them go in, they're all too good for it!

not Dutch, Swedish? xxp

it's Danish

I've actually had a copy of the Husker Du memory game since I was kid!

Always thought the name (Norwegian) was some reference to Scandi/Viking colonies in Minnesota. Never heard about the board game

Nah, it's from a Danish board game they used to sell in the US. There was also a Norwegian TV show with that name, which probably confuses things. It's the same in both languages, although neither language uses the umlauts, as far as I can tell.

re RRHoF: fortunately, Cleveland will be under water first

Re: their name and its meaning, mpls's trip shakespeare had a song on their 1990 album across the universe whose chorus was
Lonely when I hear the band
That used to play when we were looking for music
Lonely when I hear the band
Do you remember? Do you recall?
Remember when you held my hand
You used to say
'I love them so much'
Lonely when I hear the band
Do you remember. Do you recall.

And I always figured that was partly an elegy for huskers.
(Can't remember the damn song title rn)

hilarious ed sullivan-esque introduction to this absolutely brutal 1981 show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvMMn8gj0kQ