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

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Same principle as Minutemen The Punch Line/What Makes A Man Start Fires?/Double Nickels On The Dime vs Black Flag Damaged/Slip It In/My War
and
TS: Dinosaur/You’re Living All Over Me/Bug vs. Meat Puppets/Meat Puppets II/Up On The Sun

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Hüsker Dü - Land Speed Record/Everything Falls Apart/Zen Arcade 75
Descendents - Milo Goes To College/I Don't Want To Grow Up/Enjoy 7


Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 21 September 2024 22:10 (one year ago)

dü no contest

ivy., Saturday, 21 September 2024 22:13 (one year ago)

yah not remotely close

go polish your nose ring (sleeve), Saturday, 21 September 2024 22:17 (one year ago)

dü: psychedelic, dreamy, played so fast at the start you're surprised their instruments don't catch fire, gay
descendents: .... uh... inspired a lot of musicians i like more than them, pretty fast i guess, not just painfully straight but often misogynistic

ivy., Saturday, 21 September 2024 22:19 (one year ago)

bill stevenson is a great drummer but i can make that point in the black flag poll too

ivy., Saturday, 21 September 2024 22:21 (one year ago)

Descendents are pretty straight but I have to say that "Hope" inspired some very gay feelings in teenage me

moral ziosk (geoffreyess), Saturday, 21 September 2024 22:26 (one year ago)

i don't listen to 'everything falls apart' often enough tbh, but this is so great and weird and beautiful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8eE7GpAmjM

Bernard Quidbins (NickB), Saturday, 21 September 2024 22:26 (one year ago)

hüsker dü run my #1 out of all these polls

nxd, Saturday, 21 September 2024 22:29 (one year ago)

Never been an easier vote in the history of ILM polls

Plus Descendants directly responsible for years of shitty Warped tour pop punk

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 21 September 2024 22:47 (one year ago)

Only the pathologically contrarian will vote Descendents in this poll

sawdust lagoon, Saturday, 21 September 2024 22:55 (one year ago)

That's most of ILX

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 21 September 2024 23:01 (one year ago)

Fortunate to have seen both bands live during this general period.

Dü.

Josefa, Saturday, 21 September 2024 23:08 (one year ago)

Land Speed Record’s cover is a pretty iconic tshirt but I have always thought it was pretty unlistenable.

Milo Goes to College is pretty fun record and with the first Op Ivy album kind of the blueprint for that cali pop punk that got so popular. Not my favorite but it is a pretty big punk record.

Zen Arcade is awesome, I think both as inspiration for Double Nickels it is up with also Daydream Nation as the big 2lps of 80s rock.

The Artist formerly known as Earlnash, Saturday, 21 September 2024 23:09 (one year ago)

milo goes to college is a great record and "suburban home" was a song i adored in 1982 but its no "data control" and zen arcade rules so many different ways. i never really listened to everything falls apart. i never owned a copy. i bought zen arcade on october 1, 1984. had to get the german pressing because sst had run out of their pressing really fast. so if you wanted it you had to go german.

scott seward, Saturday, 21 September 2024 23:17 (one year ago)

(i bought it at thayer street records in providence rhode island.)

scott seward, Saturday, 21 September 2024 23:18 (one year ago)

The only husker du song I care about is “I will never forget you”
Never heard the descendants

calstars, Sunday, 22 September 2024 00:21 (one year ago)

Contrarian Zen Arcade opinion: lose the instrumentals / experiments and you have a no-filler 45-50 minute punk album that's better than the double LP version.

(I don't actually think this btw, it's just a thought experiment)

jam up the pump (Matt #2), Sunday, 22 September 2024 00:25 (one year ago)

this is HD, the descendants are dumb

I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Sunday, 22 September 2024 01:09 (one year ago)

Next poll needs to be Always August vs Paper Bag: Improvisational Music Co.

jam up the pump (Matt #2), Sunday, 22 September 2024 01:18 (one year ago)

Contrarian Zen Arcade opinion: lose the instrumentals / experiments and you have a no-filler 45-50 minute punk album that's better than the double LP version.

(I don't actually think this btw, it's just a thought experiment)

― jam up the pump (Matt #2), Saturday, September 21, 2024 7:25 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I do actually think this, pretty much. But I'd keep "The Tooth Fairy and the Princess" and lose "Turn On the News"

JRN, Sunday, 22 September 2024 01:39 (one year ago)

fuck off zen arcade is perfect

ivy., Sunday, 22 September 2024 05:43 (one year ago)

Milo Goes to College has undeniable songwriting, but the misogyny and homophobia are indefensible (much as we adore the Minutemen, and rightly so, let’s be honest that New Alliance pre-SST released some questionable stuff).

Hüskers by a landslide, of course. (I’ve got two copes of Everything Falls Apart, the Rhino CD and the Numero box. It’s really fully formed, reveals all their natural inclinations and proves that New Day Rising et al was the natural progression from Zen Arcade.)

wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Sunday, 22 September 2024 10:20 (one year ago)

and lose "Turn On the News"

Utter madness. That's one of my fave ever songs

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Sunday, 22 September 2024 12:31 (one year ago)

On the CD, I always thought that segue from the Tooth Fairy and the Princess to Turn on the News to Reoccuring Dreams was a great way to end the record.

The last section of Quadrophenia has a similar build.

The Artist formerly known as Earlnash, Sunday, 22 September 2024 13:16 (one year ago)

I have a terrible confession: I’ve never really cared about these bands. Not just Husker Du and the Descendants but also Minutemen and Black Flag. The American mid-80s hardcore scene just doesn’t do much for me. I guess they influenced bands that do mean something to me, like Sonic Youth and Pixies, but when I try listening to these earlier bands, I don’t get it.

o. nate, Sunday, 22 September 2024 15:19 (one year ago)

I can kinda get that, I think part of it is that these bands and others were a big deal to some listeners when we were teenagers in the 80s. Growing up on the southside of Muncie - these SST and other bands were a window into something else. I’m sure for some others that was hip hop, house or Detroit techno.

The Artist formerly known as Earlnash, Sunday, 22 September 2024 15:23 (one year ago)

"Turn On the News" has always come off to me like a parody of a rousing rock 'n' roll protest song. Its reputation as an album standout is totally baffling. It's like the clunkiest thing they ever wrote.

They have all these ripping, searing songs that tap into a murky primordial vein of frustration that maybe no other band has ever reached in the same way. And then there's "Turn On the News", which, with different production, could be an outtake from Walk Hard where they're spoofing "Rockin' in the Free World". I'll never get it.

JRN, Sunday, 22 September 2024 15:42 (one year ago)

Agreed! Also "Divide and Conquer" from Flip Your Wig, everyone loves it apart from me. I admit though that "Turn On the News" has a certain charm, it's just not very good.

jam up the pump (Matt #2), Sunday, 22 September 2024 15:46 (one year ago)

i love the guitars on "turn on the news". they sound awesome. and the riffs. but i love "reocurring dreams" even more.

scott seward, Sunday, 22 September 2024 15:46 (one year ago)

i don't really listen to any of this stuff anymore. but maybe i listened to it enough back then. i can't even remember the last time i put on an sst album that wasn't Up On The Sun. that is the one album i never stopped listening to. i can't remember the last time i listened to a sonic youth album! years and years ago.

scott seward, Sunday, 22 September 2024 15:49 (one year ago)

i mean i listen to TONS of 80s music. tons. but not this stuff.

scott seward, Sunday, 22 September 2024 15:50 (one year ago)

and like i said on that other poll, i have never listened to a minutemen album other than project: mersh. they weren't my bag. i loved milo goes to college when i was a kid but i remember buying Enjoy when it came out and listening to it once.

scott seward, Sunday, 22 September 2024 15:51 (one year ago)

i could live with just land speed record/sister/evol/up on the sun/i against i/born too late/zen arcade as far as sst goes. and i don't even really need born too late i just like that song. that's 7 albums out of 5000 albums.

i used to think it might be fun to start a listening thread for the 4,986 sst albums that nobody listens to. there are so many that you have never heard! so many! but it might just end up being a slog.

i kinda just think of happy nightmare baby as a rough trade album. it doesn't feel like an sst album.

scott seward, Sunday, 22 September 2024 16:06 (one year ago)

last sst i listened to was an always august record that wasnt very good at all. would still probably enjoy angst, slovenly, tar babies, universal congress of, that roger miller record, maybe even das damen? will always love huskers, minutemen, meat puppets, first couple of firehose records too, but ive listened to those ones a million times and there a million other records out there that ive never heard at all so, yeah keep moving on imo

Bernard Quidbins (NickB), Sunday, 22 September 2024 16:08 (one year ago)

i was always more of a homestead/touch & go person anyway.

scott seward, Sunday, 22 September 2024 16:22 (one year ago)

My entrance to this stuff was Minor Threat, which I still really love.

calstars, Sunday, 22 September 2024 16:39 (one year ago)

cannot remember the last time i listened to any touch & go, but i did listen to nice strong arm's 'stress city' last week (and it was great) xp

Bernard Quidbins (NickB), Sunday, 22 September 2024 16:39 (one year ago)

Yeah all the albums that never get listened to / will get to tomorrow. There’s just landfills of the stuff. And some of it will be great and surprising. That’s why the threads like the Tom Petty track by track listening party are so baffling to me. Like sure he’s fine. But that’s what you’re gonna spend your time listening to?

calstars, Sunday, 22 September 2024 16:41 (one year ago)

i've never stopped listening to minor threat. i don't think i ever will.

scott seward, Sunday, 22 September 2024 16:43 (one year ago)

its only one tom petty song a day! takes like 3 to 5 minutes.

scott seward, Sunday, 22 September 2024 16:43 (one year ago)

"Turn On the News" has always come off to me like a parody of a rousing rock 'n' roll protest song.

Yes, your punk rock call-to-awareness anthem should probably not sound like a second-rate attempt at "Calling Dr. Love".
I'm much more of a Warehouse person myself, though I especially like the opening song (which basically encapsulates the theme of the whole album) and "Pink Turns to Blue".

I've only heard the Descendants compilation Somery: "Silly Girl" and "Good Good Things" from I Don't Want To Grow Up are pretty good pop-punk that could have actually made it to radio in the 90s.

Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 22 September 2024 16:46 (one year ago)

I've never stopped listening to all these bands/albums that I like. I still made time for new stuff too though

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Sunday, 22 September 2024 16:47 (one year ago)

"like a second-rate attempt at "Calling Dr. Love"."

its way better than calling dr. love! but i hate kiss. i don't care about the lyrics of turn on the news. who cares about lyrics? those guitars rule!

scott seward, Sunday, 22 September 2024 16:50 (one year ago)

the solo at the end is awesome as is the chugga chugga part

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Sunday, 22 September 2024 16:58 (one year ago)

I went through the SST catalogue on Discogs after the last poll and figured out I owned, at one time or another, around 125 SST albums. Also about 15-20 singles INCLUDING the Treacherous Jaywalkers cover of "La Isla Bonita", featuring Sylvia Juncosa on lead guitar. You could pick all this shit up for about a quid in the London bargain bins.

I had the complete SST catalogues of:
Always August
Alter Natives
October Faction
Paper Bag: Improvisational Music Co.
Das Damen
Lawndale
Divine Horsemen
Saccharine Trust
Bazooka
Gone
Henry Kaiser
Cruel Frederick
Brian Ritchie
Trotsky Icepick
Elliott Sharp
SWA

Plus some good stuff too.

jam up the pump (Matt #2), Sunday, 22 September 2024 17:38 (one year ago)

I forgot Universal Congress Of and Pell Mell

jam up the pump (Matt #2), Sunday, 22 September 2024 17:47 (one year ago)

Elliott Sharp did so much stuff on SST when Ginn got into him in the mid-late ’80s. He wrote in the back of The Wire a couple of years ago that Greg even offered to buy his label zOar (thankfully that never progressed).

The Semantics record, Bone of Contention, is really good; I missed my chance to ask Ned Rothenberg about it when I saw him perform at the NCH in late 2019.

I’ve been picking up what I can of the catalogue, or at least the stuff I know will appeal to me. Still some mint-condition stuff available for not-silly prices.

wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Sunday, 22 September 2024 18:41 (one year ago)

Turn on the News is awesome I’ll fight anyone who says so. Also seconding the last three songs of the album are great sequence, ending the album on a positive but enigmatic note.

O 'Tis Redding (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 22 September 2024 20:02 (one year ago)

Who says that TOTN is NOT awesome

O 'Tis Redding (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 22 September 2024 20:02 (one year ago)

losers

go polish your nose ring (sleeve), Sunday, 22 September 2024 20:05 (one year ago)

Dü no contest and I have skimmed thread but why no love for Metal Circus? Between ZA and EFA and absolutely stellar imo even if it’s short.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Sunday, 22 September 2024 21:55 (one year ago)

Was just about to post that too! I listen to Metal Circus more than any of these other albums.

Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 22 September 2024 22:01 (one year ago)

i used to think it might be fun to start a listening thread for the 4,986 sst albums that nobody listens to. there are so many that you have never heard! so many! but it might just end up being a slog.


Already covered for you: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-dont-know-mojack/id1268343240
The episodes with the guests are best (esp recommend the episodes with Byron Coley and Chris D)

Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 22 September 2024 22:03 (one year ago)

wow! crazy.

scott seward, Sunday, 22 September 2024 22:12 (one year ago)

listening to the Dü now and all hail Greg Norton. SST had the best bass

llurk, Monday, 23 September 2024 00:12 (one year ago)

"Turn On The News" was the very first song I played on my once-revered college radio show.

Willing to FP over this fwiw.

Mrs. Ippei (Steve Shasta), Monday, 23 September 2024 02:22 (one year ago)

That song completely rules and I feel the same way.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 23 September 2024 02:58 (one year ago)

I've always loved it.

Sure, it's got Freebird chords and someone doing monkey sounds, but what else was going to start off Side 4? Take that, Corndogs!

pplains, Monday, 23 September 2024 03:02 (one year ago)

"Turn On The News" was the very first song I played on my once-revered college radio show.

Willing to FP over this fwiw.

― Mrs. Ippei (Steve Shasta),

That's the spirit.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Monday, 23 September 2024 10:48 (one year ago)

I think Good Good Things about The Descendents, but every time I've tried to get into Husker Du, it Makes No Sense At All.

peace, man, Monday, 23 September 2024 14:47 (one year ago)

OK I just played Turn On The News for the first time in ages and it's still a harmless stompalong with stupid lyrics, nothing wrong with that though I guess as this is a description of the Ramones entire career. Love the way the rhythm guitar goes totally out of tune by about the halfway point of the song and they didn't bother with a retake.

it's beginning-to-end stuff (Matt #2), Monday, 23 September 2024 15:54 (one year ago)

Let me replace 'Ramones' with 'Sammy Hagar' in the previous post

it's beginning-to-end stuff (Matt #2), Monday, 23 September 2024 16:10 (one year ago)

The lyrics to "Turn On the News" vs. the lyrics of Van Halen's "Right Now"

Halfway there but for you, Monday, 23 September 2024 16:11 (one year ago)

Y’all I don’t honestly think the lyrics are bad. I’m deeply familiar with the song and genuinely find it exhilarating. How can you not feel the chug??

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 23 September 2024 16:29 (one year ago)

I feel the same way about It’s Not Funny Anymore.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 23 September 2024 16:31 (one year ago)

It’s not funny and all of Metal Circus is godlike. The soundtrack to my late teens.

O 'Tis Redding (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 23 September 2024 16:37 (one year ago)

Fun fact everyone swapped instruments on Turn On the News

O 'Tis Redding (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 23 September 2024 16:38 (one year ago)

Husker Du's "Turn On the News" vs. The Beach Boys' "Student Demonstration Time"

Western® with Bacon Flavor, Monday, 23 September 2024 18:15 (one year ago)

All this uptight pushing and posting is keeping us away from what we're loving.

And what we're loving, of course, is "Turn On the News" by Hüsker Dü.

pplains, Monday, 23 September 2024 20:09 (one year ago)

Next ilx covers project should be Zen Arcade and everyone gets to send in a chorus shout for Turn On The News

it's beginning-to-end stuff (Matt #2), Monday, 23 September 2024 20:37 (one year ago)

It’s 40 this year no?

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 23 September 2024 20:50 (one year ago)

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

WmC, Monday, 23 September 2024 20:56 (one year ago)

Grillin' dogs the next day, going "whaddya mean this ain't no picnic?"

pplains, Monday, 23 September 2024 23:13 (one year ago)

I feel like we could make a pretty good short story out of the Zen/Double Nickels song titles if we tried

go polish your nose ring (sleeve), Monday, 23 September 2024 23:25 (one year ago)

Something I learned today, Jesus and tequila. It's expected, I'm gone. It's not funny anymore. Do you want new wave or do you want the truth? I'm never talking to you again.

go polish your nose ring (sleeve), Monday, 23 September 2024 23:27 (one year ago)

What do I want?
Political song for Michael Jackson to sing.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 23 September 2024 23:36 (one year ago)

Guess that’s the wrong album sorry whoops

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 00:36 (one year ago)

Guess that’s the wrong album sorry whoops

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 00:36 (one year ago)

Guess that’s the wrong album sorry whoops

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 00:36 (one year ago)

Wrong album woops

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 00:37 (one year ago)

WHOOPS

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 00:46 (one year ago)

Don't use shower
Don't give up
Don't use shower
Don't let go
Don't use shower
Don't give up

pplains, Tuesday, 24 September 2024 01:33 (one year ago)

The only husker du song I care about is “I will never forget you”
Never heard the descendants

― calstars, Saturday, September 21, 2024 7:21 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

shut the fuck up

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 03:14 (one year ago)

haha

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 15:26 (one year ago)

Hardcore punk makes people so friendly

Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 24 September 2024 15:32 (one year ago)

Never heard the Descendants but with titles like 'Milo Goes To College' and 'I Don't Want To Grow Up' are so ugly I don't want to waste my time on it

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 24 September 2024 15:34 (one year ago)

If you think those title are ugly, you should see the record covers. (And I like the Descendents.)

wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 15:39 (one year ago)

Milo Goes To College is a great album.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 15:41 (one year ago)

Sorry all* but I just skipped through the first couple of Descendents albums on YT and this is the kind of party punk Hüsker Dü had to wipe out. Yes even Turn On The News. PS I have no sense of humour.

* see what I did there?

it's beginning-to-end stuff (Matt #2), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 15:45 (one year ago)

xp Milo Goes to College is 22 mins long. Bailed out after three tracks, why are we doing this poll lol

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 24 September 2024 15:53 (one year ago)

There is no comparison between these two bands but I’m just here to multi post about the Dü.
Never listened to Descendents and likely never ever will. Too male/juvenile.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 16:29 (one year ago)

Awful tiny sound, terrible singing, very male, juvenile and worse. Definitely a good decision to stay away.

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 24 September 2024 16:31 (one year ago)

juvenile

Definitely avoid the title track of Enjoy

Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 24 September 2024 16:53 (one year ago)

There's something sonically off about 80s Midwest that is deeply white and alienating to me (Husker Du, Replacements, Prince[!!]) in a way that the Descendents don't even though their entire catalog is songs about being white and alienated!
It could just be a snare sound or guitar flange/chorus pedal or something but I could never put my finger on it. "From the Gut" doesn't skeeve me out nearly as much as anything from Zen Arcade, so it has to be something on the production end.

Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 24 September 2024 17:15 (one year ago)

Prince?

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 17:20 (one year ago)

Yeah even Prince doesn't escape Minnesota!

Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 24 September 2024 17:24 (one year ago)

CONTROP:

Framing the Descendents as "pop-punk" is a fairly cursory and shallow take, esp compared to Husker DU!!!!

Some of their music is pretty avant and sophisto, even their earliest material had massive jazz and prog chops, eg:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s79JBBNYbB0

a wild journey through insane meter shifts and 32s-40s is some hard bop modalism.

I remember reading an interview with Milo & Bill about how nervous they were how MGTC (ie, a progressive unique sound) would be received by the punk crowd but Watt & Boon who originally released it on their vanity label convinced them that it would do well. After the New Alliance copies sold out quickly, SST picked them up and took over from there.

Mrs. Ippei (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 17:49 (one year ago)

“From the Gut” doesn’t skeeve me out nearly as much as anything from Zen Arcade, so it has to be something on the production end.

Zen Arcade was recorded in Redondo Beach, so I’m not sure this hypothesis holds up.

wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 17:58 (one year ago)

After the New Alliance copies sold out quickly, SST picked them up and took over from there.

SST didn’t pick them up till a few years later; the only album they recorded for Ginn directly* was ALL. (*Yes I know New Alliance was marketed by SST before they took it over.)

wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 18:01 (one year ago)

re: redondo beach, you can take the band out of the midwest...
though yeah i do interpret the pet peeves i have with some descendents songs as being hair metal influenced rather than some sonic equivalent of tuna casserole.

Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 24 September 2024 18:32 (one year ago)

Also, Spot (the producer) is black

O 'Tis Redding (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 18:50 (one year ago)

SST didn’t pick them up till a few years later; the only album they recorded for Ginn directly* was ALL. (*Yes I know New Alliance was marketed by SST before they took it over.)

― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Tuesday, September 24, 2024 11:01 AM (forty-six minutes ago)

Hello my old friend! The 2nd pressing (1983) of MGTC was funded by SST, and then by the 3rd pressing (1984) the album had both NA and SST logos on the back cover.

Mrs. Ippei (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 18:51 (one year ago)

Well you learn something new every day! I stand corrected! Weird that they didn’t just jump over directly, maybe there’s a story there.

wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 18:57 (one year ago)

I forget the exact order of events, but IIRC Bill Stevenson talks about it on that SST podcast if you want a deep dive

Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 24 September 2024 20:03 (one year ago)

I didn't know that either xp

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Wednesday, 25 September 2024 13:46 (one year ago)

better poll would have been "land speed record" v "milo goes to college" instead of this hüsker hümiliation

Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 26 September 2024 03:35 (one year ago)

Playing Descendants reminded I never listened to the very different US 80s group The Replacements, who I am also struggling with.

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 26 September 2024 10:49 (one year ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Monday, 30 September 2024 00:01 (one year ago)

Even though I honestly listened to Milo way more than any other album on this list, this is still Huskers by a mile for me.

Glam conspiracist (Dan Peterson), Monday, 30 September 2024 00:25 (one year ago)

Wait, did I see that some people don't like "Turn On the News"!? What's up with that?

Related:

Playing Descendants reminded I never listened to the very different US 80s group The Replacements, who I am also struggling with.

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

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 30 September 2024 01:53 (one year ago)

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

massaman gai (front tea for two), Monday, 30 September 2024 03:47 (one year ago)

struggling with The Replacements is crazy talk.

Western® with Bacon Flavor, Monday, 30 September 2024 03:52 (one year ago)

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.

Mike Dixn, Monday, 30 September 2024 06:23 (one year ago)

That makes no sense at all

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Monday, 30 September 2024 12:09 (one year ago)

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)

Paul Ponzi, Monday, 30 September 2024 13:21 (one year ago)

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."

scott seward, Monday, 30 September 2024 13:42 (one year ago)

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

scott seward, Monday, 30 September 2024 13:43 (one year ago)

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

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 30 September 2024 14:20 (one year ago)

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.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Monday, 30 September 2024 14:20 (one year ago)

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

RIO Speedwagon (Matt #2), Monday, 30 September 2024 14:28 (one year ago)

no way!!

there is no way this will be close

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 30 September 2024 14:38 (one year ago)

God the Huskers were such prolific songwriters.

Bedrich Smetana's Ma Wife (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 30 September 2024 14:41 (one year ago)

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)

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 30 September 2024 14:44 (one year ago)

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

xpost

RIO Speedwagon (Matt #2), Monday, 30 September 2024 14:56 (one year ago)

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

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 30 September 2024 14:58 (one year ago)

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)

Josefa, Monday, 30 September 2024 15:44 (one year ago)

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

pplains, Monday, 30 September 2024 16:55 (one year ago)

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.

Philip Nunez, Monday, 30 September 2024 18:40 (one year ago)

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, 30 September 2024 20:21 (one year ago)

honestly sir
fp-ing you for that last sentence

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 30 September 2024 20:26 (one year ago)

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

peace, man, Monday, 30 September 2024 20:30 (one year ago)

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

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 30 September 2024 20:36 (one year ago)

:)

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 30 September 2024 20:36 (one year ago)

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

System, Tuesday, 1 October 2024 00:01 (one year ago)

loooool

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Tuesday, 1 October 2024 00:03 (one year ago)

when you're right you're right

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Tuesday, 1 October 2024 00:03 (one year ago)

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

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 1 October 2024 00:08 (one year ago)

wow

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Tuesday, 1 October 2024 00:28 (one year ago)

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

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Tuesday, 1 October 2024 00:29 (one year ago)

i have never heard a firehose or screaming trees album.

scott seward, Tuesday, 1 October 2024 01:54 (one year ago)

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

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Tuesday, 1 October 2024 02:17 (one year ago)

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


Homophobe

Bedrich Smetana's Ma Wife (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 1 October 2024 03:12 (one year ago)

husker du… boring? what drugs are you taking

ivy., Tuesday, 1 October 2024 03:21 (one year ago)

I’ll show you boring

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

Bedrich Smetana's Ma Wife (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 1 October 2024 13:42 (one year ago)

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!

Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Tuesday, 1 October 2024 14:46 (one year ago)

missed this poll but gotta be hüsker by 1 trillion miles

z_tbd, Tuesday, 1 October 2024 14:49 (one year ago)

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.

Judge Judy, executioner (stevie), Tuesday, 1 October 2024 16:01 (one year ago)

Still love Suburban Home tho.

Judge Judy, executioner (stevie), Tuesday, 1 October 2024 16:05 (one year ago)

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

Mike Dixn, Wednesday, 2 October 2024 03:19 (one year ago)

what would NOW be several million dollars

Mike Dixn, Wednesday, 2 October 2024 03:35 (one year ago)

Thanks for sharing that, Mike!

Judge Judy, executioner (stevie), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 07:37 (one year ago)

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.

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 2 October 2024 10:41 (one year ago)

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.

Judge Judy, executioner (stevie), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 11:54 (one year ago)

^^^^^^^^^^^

a (waterface), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 12:26 (one year ago)

I will give it another go.

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 2 October 2024 12:49 (one year ago)

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

a (waterface), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 12:51 (one year ago)

Otm plus the y were

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 12:58 (one year ago)

Otm plus they were petulant assholes like the protagonist

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 12:59 (one year ago)

Sorry for hiccup

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 12:59 (one year ago)

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

Judge Judy, executioner (stevie), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 13:00 (one year ago)

Only one of them features people setting piles of money on fire

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 13:13 (one year ago)

xyzzzz, maybe just listen to a playlist of the ballads? "Answering Machine," "Within Your Reach," "Androgynous," "Here Comes a Regular," "Unsatisfied," "Skyway," "Sixteen Blue," and then maybe a second playlist of defiant anthems, like "Bastards of Young," "Left of the Dial," "I Will Dare," "Alex Chilton" ...

Dunno your nationality, tbh. The Replacements are among the most American bands of all time (along with the Minutemen, CCR ...), and iirc over the years a lot of the "I don't get it" comments I've encountered have come from elsewhere.

Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 2 October 2024 13:33 (one year ago)

or watch the 1981 7th Street Entry show that's up on Youtube, for the early raw genius.

bulb after bulb, Wednesday, 2 October 2024 13:40 (one year ago)

Well I love Minuteman, Du, some Black Flag and like CCR too (though only heard some of their songs), despite not listening to them till my late teens/early 20s. I like The Smiths despite growing up in South America lol so don't think its a nationality issue. But it might be an age thing.

Replacements sounded a bit like REM at times(?) and I like REM a lot. Anyway it was only one listen so I'll try a few more xp

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 2 October 2024 13:45 (one year ago)

I am from the US and have never ever gotten the Replacements, aside from "Stink" which I do like

go polish your nose ring (sleeve), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 14:32 (one year ago)

my ultimate conclusion is that it helps to encounter them when you are 14-16 years old
after that ymmv

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 14:33 (one year ago)

I agree w/that for sure

go polish your nose ring (sleeve), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 14:44 (one year ago)

agree with that generally, but seeing them live on that last reunion tour made me aware that fundamentally they have a catalog of great songs that connect with an audience of diverse ages, so not just a "you had to be there" thing.

bulb after bulb, Wednesday, 2 October 2024 14:51 (one year ago)

i don't think you "had to be there" at all -- i wasn't there. it helps to be young when you discover them. it doesn't matter when you're young, so long as you can access those fleeting young person feelings.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 14:53 (one year ago)

I heard them for the first time c. "Don't Tell a Soul" (when I was in 8th grade, maybe?) and the only impact that had is that I like that album as much as most of their albums.

Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 2 October 2024 14:57 (one year ago)

i feel so dumb for missing them on their reuinion tour

a (waterface), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 15:02 (one year ago)

JIC me too, I was 14 and a 9th grader

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 15:06 (one year ago)

dressin sharp and feelin dull

a (waterface), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 15:07 (one year ago)

I literally took that entire album to heart.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 15:11 (one year ago)

I think around the same time I bought the "Say Anything ..." soundtrack. Why? I have no idea, it's not like (from memory) there is anything that prominent in the movie besides "In Your Eyes," and I'm pretty sure I had "So" already. But you get the Fishbone rarity "Skankin' to the Beat" (maybe that was why I bought it?), a mediocre Cheap Trick song ("You Want It"), a great Chili Peppers song ("Taste the Pain," maybe one of their few good actual *songs* imo, certainly at that point), Depeche Mode's "Stripped" (live, iirc?), but also "Within Your Reach." I think, as with "Don't Tell a Soul," it may have been a cassette cut-out.

Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 2 October 2024 15:35 (one year ago)

I forgot that Within Your Reach is in Say Anything - really good use of it iirc

Judge Judy, executioner (stevie), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 15:59 (one year ago)

I also had that soundtrack bitd. Can’t even fathom listening to it now as I do not wish for meltdown rn or ever tbh.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Wednesday, 2 October 2024 16:09 (one year ago)

MISSSTER WHIRRRrrLLLYYYY....
https://i.imgur.com/MvN3UOv.png

pplains, Wednesday, 2 October 2024 18:56 (one year ago)


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