Gotta Lotta POLLING To Do - ILM Artist Poll #29 - Your HÜSKER DÜ Nominations Thread

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DMCij0KgkUo/Tq1aslvR3jI/AAAAAAAACHk/MFnf2c7XcIM/s1600/HuskerDu-lr.jpg

Do you remember? It's time to rank the top Hüsker Dü songs!

Songs should be limited to Husker Du releases only – No Sugar, Nova Mob or solo stuff. Live stuff, bootlegs, unreleased material all okay as long as the songs were performed by the band Husker Du. Votes for live versions will be combined with votes for the studio version of that particular track. The discography found on this page is pretty damn exhausting.

Here's what you can send:

• 20 tracks, ranked in the usual ILM™ way: No. 1 gets 40 points, 2:36, 3:33, 4:30, 5:28, 6:26, 7:25, 8:24, 9:23, 10:22, 11:21, 12:20, 13:19, 14:18, 15:17, 16:16, 17:15, 18:14, 19:13, 20:12.

• Include your favorite album.

• And when it comes right down to it, are you a Bob or Grant fan?

Please send all ballots to makes.no.sense at gmx.com.

Voting concludes on Wednesday, 11/21, at 1800 CST. (Thurs., 11/22, 0000 GMT / 1100 NSW). You're all in luck, U.S. Thanksgiving is next week, so I'll have more time than usual to compile the votes. Results could be released as soon as Monday, 11/26.

Get your ballots in – this ain't Indecision Time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHJonU8HNyQ

gmx.com = gmail?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHTbvKJNZT8

Erase Today folks!

you know, i'm almost done this already, and i don't think there's going to be a single grant song on this ballot.

Maybe "Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill"...?

But yeah, I only ever think of Mould songs too.

Vote for "Gilligan's Island," everybody!

no gmail. gmx.com.

I don't know if I could take any more Google + invitations like the deluge I receive at my beatles comp box.

And besides, I was really intent on making that Makes No Sense At All joke.

______

We'll see how many ballots come in. I was thinking the Top 33 – an odd number so we don't get a tie between songwriters.

Unless everyone votes for this song, which I heartily encourage you to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_krzwd1tTp8

you know, i'm almost done this already, and i don't think there's going to be a single grant song on this ballot.

― idiot man-child (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Tuesday, November 13, 2012 11:11 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

WHAT?!

I guess I can do this pretty easily too but there will be lots and lots of Grant songs.

"Dead Set On Destruction" is likely in my top 5.

I've told you about the evil woman I once dated who made a cassette version of Warehouse that excluded all of the Grant songs.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lytfj35ZIp1r8dufio1_500.gif

I can get you her digits strongo. you guys can take turns playing the piano parts from Zen Arcade.

haha my ipod edit of warehouse excises all of the grant songs too.

most of the bob songs, too, mind you.

yeah me too -- that album is like a zillion songs too long

so far i have two songs from the warner years on this ballot and i still may cut them

I can't even get too worked up about this (Hart/Mould) because I've done it so many times already.

I usually skip all the Hart songs on Warehouse too.

Warehouse is lucky if it's one LP worth of keepers, but the sins are spread equally between Bob and Grant IMO. And my favorite song on the album is one of Grant's.

And I find Bob on autopilot utterly unbearable in a way that auto-Grant doesn't quite reach

but the sins are spread equally between Bob and Grant IMO.

This is OTM.

Totally! That's because he's better!!
Oops xp

This probably isn't the place, but I've never understood the dislike for "Warehouse" - I can only think of two or three songs I would pass over - but two of those three are Grant's songs. When "Warehouse" is great, it's fucking brilliant imo. Just a shame the production's a bit feeble.

Favourite song on Warehouse these days is probably You Can Live At Home Now. It's probably just as clunky as it is funky, but the way that the sound just keeps piling on is so great. In my mind it feels like the most monolithic vehicle for noise thing they did since Zen Arcade, give or take the odd How To Skin A Cat or Helter Skelter.

It's one of my favorite band finalés.

xpost that is my favorite track too. I didn't want to name it in case that constituted an attempt at nomination-influencing.

It's one of my favorite band finalés.

never really thought about it that way before, but yeah - final track on the final album. If you gotta sail a ship off into the sunset, you may as well make it a steel-plated battlecruiser.

full disclosure i once wept on a plane to the last 90 seconds or so of that song

aw

I read an interview in a short lived music mag with Bob and Grant in the spring of 87, just after "Warehouse", in which they said the album was recorded in the order the songs were issued, and that future developments would be based on the music of side 4 of the album, which whetted my appetite at the time as I loved the direction they were heading. And yes, in the right (or wrong) frame of mind, the last few minutes of "You can live at home" can be utterly devastating.

I think it was the only time Grant Hart got one of his own songs to either open or close a side, much less the whole record.

wait so this is a nominations thread? i thought all HD songs were automatically included, or not?

if not, i hereby nominate ALL OF THEM.

Same exact thought. They put out so few albums, do nominations apply?

Are EPs albums? (For voting purposes)

I bet my Grant songs outnumber Bob's 3 to 1

oh wait i forgot you can live at home is a grant

I may do a list of only Grant songs.

My #1 was easy. But figuring out the rest is impossible.

Took three minutes to come up with a list that is 17 Grant, 3 Bob. All I need to do is determine an order.

Stanning for "Crystal" here. Scariest drug song this side of "Luv n' Haight." And it's the fucking opening track on their major label debut. Gotta love 'em for that.

Here's a scan of my second-ever published review: Metal Circus, from a University of Toronto campus paper, 2/24/84. (Dug it up just for this thread.) Lots of special pleading, lots of adjectives, lots of clunky earnestness and lyric-quoting--I'm quite beside myself. I remember expressing befuddlement to the editor about the photo.

I don't think this is actually a nominations thread. Voting/campaigning here, results next thread.

But I could be wrong! I'm not the answer guy.

This is the 1 band I really want to get back together and do a nostalgia tour. They broke up a year or 2 before I got old enough to go see bands play live. Their records have aged so well, too.

I've wished that too (although I was lucky enough to have seen them in '87), but part of what made them so great was that they'd been playing constantly for a few years solid. It would be difficult-to-impossible for them to get near that level in a one-off situation.

Also, while Bob and Grant hate each other, they hate Greg even more.

Here are some photos (by Mike Dyer) from a club show in '85 that I saw, a place called Larry's Hideaway:

http://www.thirdav.com/hd_discog/stills/s19850502.html

They played "Ticket to Ride" that night, and it was just the best thing ever. (Scanning faces, not seeing myself.)

Scanning faces, I don't even see the drummer!

Nominations, lobbying, suggestions, throwing-it-out-there's, I don't know what you want to call it. I stole most of the intro from other poll threads.

What song does Gotta Lotta POLLING to do reference? They have so many Poll-worthy song titles. You're A Polldier, I Apollagize, If I Polled You, etc.

Also, while Bob and Grant hate each other, they hate Greg even more.

First I've heard this! Why do they hate Greg?

Books about P.O.L.L.'s

It's Not Pollculiar
Pollerline

I generally refrain from this craze, but: Bob Polled.

Gran-poll-t Hart

Girl Who Polls On Heaven Hill

First I've heard this! Why do they hate Greg?

Supposedly, he wanted 1/3rd of the money despite not writing or singing any of the songs (except for "Everytime"). Grant has mentioned this in interviews, and I think Bob did too in his book.

Friend You've Got To Poll
Hate Paper Poll
I APollogize
The possibilities are endless...

First Of The Last Polls

Gotta Lotta

There is no way Bob and Grant hate Greg more than they hate each other. Grant considers Bob a self-serving compulsive liar who limited the number of songs he could contribute, kicked him out of the band, then spent several of the past years trying to scam the rights to the band's music out of the other members.

However, I have it on some authority that the band has if not buried the hatchet, then has managed to find itself on the same (legal) page, as far as the catalog goes.

My favorite line came from Grant (a long time ago) who said "Bob won't get off his high horse and Grant won't get off his horse high."

Quoting Robert Carradine in Go Ask Alice. (Not kidding.)

I could listen to Mould singing "It's a game some say that anyone can play" over that riff for 3000 minutes.

I generally refrain from this craze, but: Bob Polled.

― clemenza, Wednesday, 14 November 2012 02:23 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Would've also worked for GBV poll.

Wish I could vote for "2541" in this. Not complaining, though, I understand why that's a separate thing.

Would never forgive myself if something like "Helpless" topped a Husker Du poll.

I haven't started thinking about my actual 20 yet, but I'm predicting it will break about evenly between Grant and Bob. I think of myself as a Grant fan, but I have a feeling when I really go through the catalog there's going to be more Bob I love than I tend to remember.

thought i'd post this here

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/575118_10151239675558774_1156480133_n.jpg

^grew up with that game

I've got two versions of it at home - the one featured in the YouTube above and this one:

http://neighborhoodvalues.com/nv/Toys-Games/TG4/pixs/HuskerDu1.jpg

Both were gifts – hey, pplains likes Husker Du, I'd bet he'd love these board games!

I finally opened the new one up with my then-2-year-old daughter. Haha, she didn't outwit me for shit.

I grew up with the old one, too, which I have downstairs.

Noticed the Grant beefs with Greg in recent interviews, he must be full of shit considering he's been supposedly friends and thanked in album covers in the 20+ years since the split

Something like "I wouldn't have any problem playing again with Bob, but I'd have no interest in playing with Greg, neither would Bob".

Maybe if Grant wasn't prone to such strange outbursts people would take his account of the Husker split and his problems with BM more seriously.

They both probably got food poisoning at Greg's restaurant.

I heard that Eiffel Tower High was written about GM's mustache

GN, that is

Probably ought to put this up at this point. Not perfect, but has its moments. Ode to Bob Mould. Better than TMBG's Replacements song...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWuRZMu7wHc&feature=youtu.be

http://youtu.be/UWuRZMu7wHc

Could You Be the One is my #1

Ted Leo's been covering that one: http://youaintnopicasso.com/mp3/tedleocovers/05%20Could%20You%20Be%20the%20One.mp3

I think it has my favorite Husker guitar solo.

Is 'Flip Your Wig' the only song where Bob and Grant both sing on it? (Apart from stuff stuff like 'New Day Rising' title track etc.)

fwiw here's a blog post I wrote last year in the middle of a Zen Arcade reimmersion

http://blogs.metropulse.com/10-minute_obsession/2011/04/listening-to-zen-arcade-at-mid.html

(tho I see I attributed "What's Going On" to Mould instead of Hart. What you get for writing late-night exegeses.)

Is 'Flip Your Wig' the only song where Bob and Grant both sing on it? (Apart from stuff stuff like 'New Day Rising' title track etc.)

Ice Cold Ice? Not the trading verses like you're talking about though.

I've got it whittled down to 35 songs. Sorry, Baby Song, maybe next time.

Isn't "Somewhere" the only time Bob sang a Grant song? I totally agree with the above blog post about "Zen arcade", it's a record I admire more than love. Playing it again for this poll reminded me that I think it's impact and construction (a hardcore double concept album) was more important than the song content. There are some great songs on it, but better elsewhere in their catalogue.

Xp on "Could you be the one?" - I've always had a soft spot for this song, as it was the only cover I did at my debut solo gig twenty one years ago.

Think I'm down to thirty songs on my list so far, evenly split between Bob and Grant (with one entry for McGuinn / Clark etc)

oh man i've been waiting for this poll, first in a while where i felt more "ok i have a ton of their work i know well and want to make a ballot" than "i want to see results so i know what to investigate"

"Somewhere":

I've been confused about that song ever since I first read the liner notes on the gatefold. "Whoever wrote the song sang it, except for 'Somewhere'…" It's credited to Mould/Hart, but that's clearly Grant singing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qCSAWnl8EI

"Masochism World" and "One Step At a Time" are the only other M/H songs on the record. Grant's singing on Masochism, so how come it didn't get the same attention in the liner notes as "Somewhere"? And One Step is a 45-second piano piece. It took both guys to write that?

"Somewhere" is an awesome song, whatever the story is on it.

Wait, is the Byrds cover valid in this poll?

It was officially released by the band Husker Du.

You can even throw some love to Donovan and Sonny Curtis, if you so wish.

(heck, it doesn't have to be official. Put Ticket to Ride in there if you really think that's one of the 20 best Husker Du songs.)

8 Miles High has a strong shot at being #1 on my ballot

xp: Ha, I'd always heard the lyric as "It's a game, some game, that anyone can play."

Predictably my ballot skewed 11.5 Bob, 8.5 Grant (counting "New Day Rising" as half), but with Grant taking the top 2 slots. Hint: One of them is "What's Going On," the punk classic largely unrecognized as such because it's on an album since reclaimed as something other than or transcending a punk classic. Phooey to that. I still remember playing "Pink Turns to Blue" for Al and Mim Sparhawk during an interview and their young daughter exclaiming, "This is CRAZY!"

I just keep telling myself that if Husker Du weren't such stubborn, contentious assholes, they wouldn't have been the band they were.

"It's a game, some game, that anyone can play."
wait, it's not this?

Okay, lyric sheet confirms Alfred misheard, not I. What, I'm working at home.

That's how I always heard it, too.

xp

Games is an immense song

Predictably my ballot skewed 11.5 Bob, 8.5 Grant (counting "New Day Rising" as half), but with Grant taking the top 2 slots

Pretty sure this is a common view held by a lot of fans, esp. in terms of GH songs being absolute highlights

Can only wonder what would have happened if GH had pushed for half and half on the earlier albums

i've had most of their full-lengths since high school but only heard "Diane" and "Eight Miles High" pretty recently, since I've never been much for buying album-price EPs and stand-alone singles. i almost wonder if i overrate them because they're the probably the Last Great Husker Du songs I'll hear for the first time

i don't think there's going to be a single grant song

srsly, what the hell?

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KA8on-1V33w/TXLsUmxrAQI/AAAAAAAAA3g/e-IDIGAVIRg/s1600/R-1610376-1232011163.jpeg

^ I bought this cassette so I could hear Eight Miles High, some of the rest of it was alright too though

I think the Eight Miles High 7" was the first record of theirs I bought, soon followed by Zen Arcade (at the end of '84, after SST had been sold out of it for some months I think).

i heard it on this and i already loved the byrds version from oldies radio and hearing the HD version was like
whoa
i knew zen arcade (got it from the library) and had solo bob m (workbook, black sheets of rain) because i won it off the radio (and liked him) but i had never heard them do 8 miles high
i remember totally flipping out and making everyone i knew listen to it (they did not care)

http://www.sweatsoaked.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/sst-duck.jpg

There are worse things to overrate than "Eight Miles High."

I don't think GH was as good a songwriter on the earlier albums, so I'm glad he had to compete.

some of the rest of it was alright too though

Ha, I'd count Paranoid Time and the Black Flags among the greatest rock and roll ever, but that's me.

I once played Zen Arcade for coworkers (we were allowed to listen to music at work, and took turns with cassettes). They were all familiar with Bob's solo stuff, but had never heard of, much less heard, Husker Du. They refused to believe that the singer of "Something I Learned Today" and "Broken Home, Broken Heart" was Bob Mould. It wasn't until "Chartered Trips" that they grudgingly accepted that it might be him.

wow, whenever mould does his "actually fans don't ask about husker they only want to know about sugar" thing i usually figure he's doing his PR stonewalling thing, but i guess it's not that much harder to believe than Cracker fans who have no idea about camper van beethoven

this is why we value the friends who got/get it
or i do at least. i definitely made a couple of friends by foisting bob mould on them. ah youth.

i haven't even started to make my list yet. i have to be in just the right mood and right now is not it. this is due next wednesday? i think i can handle that but man this is the kind of time warp i'm not sure i'm prepared for! i don't feel unemotional about any HD songs. like, none.

i never made a friend by making them listen to bob mould (one guy i made tape of sugar/husker stuff for said they loved the music but hated his voice - double-tracked on Copper Blue it is sort of like alt-Phil Collins) but I can think of two where the first thing that came up was Husker Du. I walked into my first day of a high school filmmaking class wearing a husker du warehouse shirt and a kid who i'd seen around the local comic and cd stores was there and called it out. Later, when I got my first apartment after college, my downstairs neighbor had a Husker Du bumper sticker and I finally introduced myself when I heard him and his wife playing "new day rising" one night. Turned out he had more albums than I did. Still friends with both guys today - one was a groomsman at my wedding. FRIENDSHIP.

has there ever been a Zen Arcade poll? Would be interesting

Ha, I'd count Paranoid Time and the Black Flags among the greatest rock and roll ever, but that's me.

Oh, I was just being silly really. Buying that tape for Eight Miles High and then hearing Paranoid Time and In A Car for the first time too, fuck yes.

Squinting to try and read the tracklist on La Lechera's tape... Trotsky Icepick covering Magazine eh, is that as terrible as it sounds? Minutemen version of Ain't Talking 'Bout Love is absolutely A++ though.

Ballot sent. Damn, that wasn't easy.

it's pretty good! i still have it.

this is awesome and pretty much just like the original
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qed8vLVT7Q

I have no idea who Revolution 409 are, but they sound a bit like SWA with a different singer.

I'd be interested to know what people think of "Don't know yet". Do you think it's a waste of space like "The wit and the wisdom"? Or is it a beautiful piece of psychedelia? The second view is my opinion. I'm sure I've said this years ago on here, but when I heard "Don't know yet" it was like finding something I'd be looking for - I'd always thought the idea of psychedelia was better than 90% of the actual music, and was looking for backwards guitars, weird dissonances, that sort of thing, and I found it in the last track of "Flip your wig", of all places.

Not perfect, but has its moments. Ode to Bob Mould. Better than TMBG's Replacements song...

Love this:

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

I love love Don't Know Yet. Random huskermentals all almost all great to me. I sort of include the weird toytown interlude on Candy Apple Gray in that.

Yeah, I love the two endsongs on FYW, and "Reoccurring Dreams" placed high in my ballot. It's a shame they never did anything like that again.

http://www.thirdav.com/hd_images/im1980xxxx_longhorn.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lq7k8ge1rz1qffv5do1_500.png

^ have never seen this photo before!

guy in the middle is john giorno iinm, who i guess introduced the two parties

Playing it again for this poll reminded me that I think it's impact and construction (a hardcore double concept album) was more important than the song content.

Not sure how this works - they pull the concept off bcz most of the songs are written and executed to work within it.

Feel the blog post feigns a mystery...but sure there is a kind of junkyard aura to it. The craft may have been sharper but they sounded much more over the place over other records that lessen the impact of the songs. These days I would only play a side or two off Zen Arcade and Games.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dNhk7UbV7RA/T2n3qGshoPI/AAAAAAAAAXE/d8Jg7s9bcjI/s1600/HuskerDu-lr.jpg

^ how's this for junkyard aura?

Perfect.

looks like they're just about to hop on a railway car into the zone

Looks like home.

Pulled this up from eight years ago fully expecting to be mortified, but it's not bad (though I now suspect what I long thought was 1983 was just early 1984):

http://blogs.citypages.com/pscholtes/2004/05/i_hate_1984_bob_you.php

Any of you Septics seen Hüsker Düdes? Any good?

Two videos, both of "New Day Rising," on their Facebook page. Surprisingly close vocals!

Great piece, Pete, and otm re: the Pixies.

I've meant to see them a zillion times but don't want to see HD cover band by myself. WOULD GO though!

Two videos, both of "New Day Rising," on their Facebook page. Surprisingly close vocals!

Speaking of which: http://youtu.be/FvnEcz6PJKQ?t=3m48s

!!!

OK, that is by far the least-expected live cover I have ever heard (or heard of).

New Day Rising is one of my top 3 for purely personal reasons but what a great bunch of noise it is!!

OMG PP!

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

^ everyone heard the Anthrax cover of Celebrated Summer already?

Never forget: classified ad from the nascent Pixies looking for a bassist "into Hüsker Dü and Peter, Paul and Mary."

Will anyone say a good word for anything from Land Speed Record? I can't remember exactly at what point I bought it, but probably before New Day Rising came out. I played it through once, and I'm pretty sure that was it.

Really liked Christgau likening it to ambient music.

Hüsker Dü: Land Speed Record [New Alliance, 1981]
Like a good Eno ambient, this raving nonstop live one provides just enough surface detail--recombinant noise guitar, voices tailing off like skyrockets, slogans such as "data control," "do the bee," and "ultracore"--to function as mood rather than trance music, though admittedly not for the same kind of mood. Guaranteed to assuage the nervous tension of co-op conversion, labor strife, bad orgasm, World War III, and other modern urban annoyances. In other words: aarrghhh! B+

LSR is good for what it is, but I still kinda think of it as the Chuck Cunningham of Husker Du's discography.

The Chuck Mosley of the Husker Du discography.

Christgau's review was part of why I bought it. Even now, I had to look up "remcombinant."

I'd be interested to know what people think of "Don't know yet". Do you think it's a waste of space like "The wit and the wisdom"? Or is it a beautiful piece of psychedelia? The second view is my opinion. I'm sure I've said this years ago on here, but when I heard "Don't know yet" it was like finding something I'd be looking for - I'd always thought the idea of psychedelia was better than 90% of the actual music, and was looking for backwards guitars, weird dissonances, that sort of thing, and I found it in the last track of "Flip your wig", of all places.

To me it's the sound of familiar Mould chord patterns and sonics chopped and psyched up, which is why it's so good

one guy i made tape of sugar/husker stuff for said they loved the music but hated his voice - double-tracked on Copper Blue it is sort of like alt-Phil Collins

LOL wouldn't be the first or last time I've heard his voice compared to Phil

But I still think BM sounds incredibly similar to Gabriel.

Can't wait to get really started on this, but used to love " Don't Know Yet". It was my introduction to ambient/ cafe del mar/ coffee table schmooze .I'm almost serious.
Used to drop that one as a mix tape closer all over the shop.

"alt Phil Collins" Heh heh. There's one solo song of Mould's first (Dreaming I am) which I adore, BUT, on them opening lines to the first verse, it is Collins ffs.

No Promise Have I Made is the closest the du ever came to Phil Collins, but I love the song.

First time I ever listened to Husker Du in high school, I thought Bob sounded like Axl's verses in "It's So Easy" and Grant kinda sounded like the high parts.

I… I don't know if I would support this little theory today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRwUJ5dmsv8

^ Just to rep for some early stuff, probably not going to vote for it but here's Call On Me, which is a Land Speed Record era tune but sounds a lot more like Mission of Burma than anything else

Husker Du is probably one of my 7 or 8 all-time favorite bands...and yet, I've never heard Land Speed Record.

The dude in high school that introduced me to Husker Du was wearing a LSR t-shirt when I met him.

Thought it was bad-ass in that Desert Storm era.

some of that 7th entry footage is so insane

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

and3w 2 years ago
Arcade Fire say a prayer to their pussy god every fucking night, wishing that they could sound as good as this.

"QUIT YER BITCHIN, IT'S ALL IN FUN! SHUT UP!" i assume is re the new wave fashion

I assume folks are familiar with this?
http://youtu.be/1qwrl_dru5A
Because holy shit.

You know, Data Control from The Living End is pretty good...

some of that 7th entry footage is so insane

Just for folks that don't know about it, that whole show is on Youtube and was at the exact same venue that Land Speed Record was recorded at - live to two track - a month or two earlier. They play two sets, the first one being the whole of LSR in the exact same order with the addition of a looser song called Drug Party about halfway through. I don't listen to LSR very much (though it's good for short, thrashy blasts - Bricklayer does it for me), but to be honest you may as well just watch this show instead, it makes a lot more sense with the visuals giving it a bit of context. The second set is seven or eight more melodic songs in more of a post-punk vein like the early singles and Everything Falls Apart. Think about half the songs from this second set never made it to any of their records - maybe they were saving them up for a later release and then they got superceded? And to think they were sitting on Diane for two years before that got released...

Oh yeah, watch that Live in London recording that Tarfumes linked to btw, I still have that on VHS tape somewhere. There are times on that where Bob Mould just seems to be burying himself so deep in the music in some kind of pissed or blissed communion with the noise. Not one of my favourite songs but the version of Diane on that is awesome too. Think that ilx poster Stevo was at that show iirc.

A record I really should sell, but I never sell anything:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IWqfvyO_nw8/RdnUWFBy2iI/AAAAAAAAATA/86S8o3lKpoU/s400/HDstatues.jpg

Never saw that London footage!

!!!!!!!

Sometimes I don't think it's until "Warehouse" that Mould finally catches up to Hart in the pop department. "Flip Your Wig" certainly comes close, but Mould takes a step back on "Candy." But "Warehouse" is the first one where I have real trouble deciding who has the better set of songs, though none of Mould's are as good as "She Floated Away" or "You Can Live at Home."

Here's something weird:

Song credits were usually (Hart) or (Mould). Sometimes (Hart/Mould).

And then there were times like on New Day Rising when songs were credited to (Mould/Husker Du), which makes it seem like Mould somehow wrote a song with himself.

Usually, those (Person/Band) credits imply that one guy thought of the words and the band made the music. So for "New Day Rising", Mould came up with the lyrics "New day rising!" and the music came from all band members.

Except, you go to the BMI Database and credits for "New Day Rising" or "How To Skin a Cat" are given to Mould and Norton only.

In other words, if Hart and Mould collaborated on a song like "If I Told You", it's credited (Hart/Mould), but if Mould and Norton wrote a song together, it was attributed to (Mould/Husker Du).

The hell?

I was trying to search through the archives for a past youtube of a Husker show that Frank Kogan posted (or said he liked). Can't find it now..

XP Sorry, I'm going to be sidetracked looking at that BMI database for a while. Is there a PRS equivalent?

Maybe that was a deal that Grant and Bob struck with Greg, to give him credit for those two songs. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten songwriting royalties on anything other than "Everytime" (which likely doesn't amount to much).

There's a bunch of Talking Heads songs credited to "David Byrne/Talking Heads," which just seems like Byrne being a dick.

Kogan? I'm surprised. I associate Frank with the time he congratulated Nirvana for their "synthesis of Husker Du type music with Bob Mould type vocals." (xxpost)

Mould. Buck. Young. Trick.
http://youtu.be/3RMJwwl0h0U

That's great--into the Neil Young Covers file it goes.

I VOTED! :D

Shit, I better do my ballot tonight, I'll be too busy later in the week.

Sent.

^^ 10 ballots have now been received.

voted!

super easy to compile list of songs, but not so easy to put them in an order
my first three all begin the same way

DRUMS DRUMS DRUMS

Serious question: (since this is apparently the day I have dedicated to thinking about Hüsker Dü all day, even on my way to the dentist)

Can someone change my mind about Candy Apple Grey being mostly weak? That album just kinda makes me bored aside from a few notable exceptions -- Sorry Somehow (<3 this song so much), Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely (I used to like it compared to the rest of them), and Hardly Getting Over It (which is like the classic mopey Bob song for me -- his singing is so weird on it and it kinda reminds me of a Chris Bell song for some reason.)

But other than that, kinda sterile, and not my thing. (Note: I initially had it on cassette and used to know exactly how long it took to ffw through Eiffel Tower High.)

Even the song titles have the same boring rhythm

All This I've Done for YOU
No Promise Have I Made

Also Dead Set on Destruction is good. Grant's singing sounds energetic.

oops that you was not supposed to be caps

ha

"Candy Apple Grey" is my least favorite Husker's album.

It has a handful of great songs on it, but the rest is just color by numbers, it seems. It's when Bob started singing every song exactly the same way or something and Grant kept singing more melodically. The Grant songs are way better than the Bob songs on that album, to me at least.

I was enamored of pretty much everything Husker Du did at the time, so I liked Candy Apple Grey a lot. I don't really want to listen to it to check, but thinking about the two ballads, my guess is they wouldn't hold up at all. I did vote for "Dead Set on Destruction," which I gave a quick listen to and it still sounded great.

Kind of agree about "Candy apple grey". It was my first Husker Du album and liked it enough until I dug deeper and got more albums. But some of it is weak - "I don't know for sure" is such an obvious rewrite of "Makes no sense at all". There's good on there, but better elsewhere. I think there's 3 songs on my ballot from it, but I've not edited it down from 30 to 20 songs yet.

I still have a soft spot for Candy Apple Grey, but no, I can't defend it either.

Along the lines of every song title is somewhat the same, seems like 8/10 songs start with the same drum roll.

And I do like Eiffel Tower High. went. into. the movies. SHE'S BEEN THERE EVER SINCE. BOX OF JUNIOR MINTS.

BTW Hardly Getting Over It reminds me of Speed of Sound but I can't really say why aside from the similar parts at the end.

I wrote a song with lots of words
but I don't know for sure
It could be good and it could be bad
but I don't know for sure
It could be something blablablablabla
Something something
So What
I DON'T KNOOOOOOW

i'm paraphrasing obvs but this album has some all time lazy songwriting from Bob
Grant's songs, however are great!!

Sorry Somehow is SO GOOD.

I always thought "Could You Be the One" was the rewrite of "Makes No Sense", but now you got me thinking.

they're all the same!

XP - "Eiffel tower high" has made me want to find a box of Junior Mints since 1990, and I finally found one this year in a speciality sweet shop in Cardiff.

any old gas station in the USA has junior mints
just don't leave them in a hot place or you will get the monomint

Love Candy Apple Grey, and for a while it was my favorite record of theirs. I still like the mopey Bob songs, and at the time I took them as a sign of growth/expansion (ditto the organ on "Sorry Somehow"). The only dud on it (relatively speaking) for me is "I Don't Know For Sure," which sounds like a half-assed "Makes No Sense At All." But "Dead Set" is all time.

"Sorry Somehow" features maybe the most empathetic Grant vox other than on "Green Eyes." Or maybe "Flexible Flyer." Though of course shred-vox on "Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill" >>>>>>>>.

xp - Yeah, I can see that. I guess you're seeing the high points and I'm still annoyed that I had to ffw my tape. My edit of Candy Apple Grey would be an EP with 6 songs on it. It's 2012, maybe that's how it should be.

I like Grant's vocals throughout this album, honestly.

Here's another question: what's the general opinion on "Green Eyes"? I used to be so embarrassed to like this song because it's so earnest and cheesy, but oh did I like it.

I can't think of any Grant vocal that I even mildly dislike, now that I think about it. Bob, on the other hand, became progressively less interesting to me as a vocalist when he became less screamy. I'm not saying he shoulda been all-screamy, but the earnestness of his non-screamy voice is about 90% of why I could never get into any of his post-HD stuff.

And "Green Eyes" rules.

"Green Eyes" is beautiful. Another Pixies story is that Black Francis apparently used to start the day listening to "Green Eyes" over and over again. Certainly you can hear it echoed in "Wave of Mutilation."

BTW, in the off chance anyone out there has not heard Grant's solo debut, it is nigh-perfect.

yknow what else? i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that grant sings great songs about girls

girl who lives on heaven hill
pink turns to blue
she floated away
books about UFOs
diane (omg do i have a weird story about this one)

and so on!

"She's a Woman and Now He is a Man"!

yeah i mean lots of em! those were the ones i thought of before i got tired of typing!

This is fun harvesting votes for this poll. I've been listening and re-listening to a whole bunch of stuff, and the best part is that I get to do it again next week with the rollout.

Finally put my ballot in. It wasn't easy. Had to keep saying to myself, "Okay, so you really would prefer to never hear this one again compared to the one in front of it?"

Can someone change my mind about Candy Apple Grey being mostly weak?

Ha, the first three songs I was going to cite as evidence of its greatness are the three you mentioned anyway... I love it, it's not quite my favourite but it was the first of their albums I heard and I fell in love with it immediately. I like all three of the mopey ballads, 'I Don't Know For Sure' sounds nicely pissed off and has some cool chord changes, 'All This I've Done for You' is a great anthemic closer ('Dead Set on Destruction' would have been too)... There's nothing on it I dislike really.

At some basic level I pretty much rejected Candy Apple Grey and I still don't quite know why. I'm sure the jump to Warners played a part. But I remember listening to it and wanting it to be good. All the songs mentioned had been in my head since hearing them live the previous year, and some are among their best--"Don't Want to Know" has got to be. But even now the production kept it low on my ballot, if it stayed on.

Bob, on the other hand, became progressively less interesting to me as a vocalist when he became less screamy.

Yeah, he was just doing something very amazing and very jazz as a punk singer that he kind of returned to here and there as a pop singer, but not as much. You hear it in his solo live acoustic performances a lot, abstracting things out in a soulful way.

Breakdown of my ballot, by album. (Anything not listed is a zero, obv.)

Metal Circus: 2
Zen Arcade: 2
New Day Rising: 5
Flip Your Wig: 4
Candy Apple Grey: 2
Warehouse: 4

Doesn't exactly reflect my order of album preference -- Zen Arcade is underrepresented because to me it's so much more an album than a set of tunes, and Warehouse is overrepresented for the inverse reason I guess. But it's hard to argue that New Day/Wig isn't their absolute peak.

Oh, and the reason that doesn't add up is there was one single-only vote.

Doesn't exactly reflect my order of album preference

Same with me except with New Day Rising.

Weird how that works. The same goes for another SST band: Meat Puppets II has the better songs, but Up On the Sun is the better album.

Yeah, he was just doing something very amazing and very jazz as a punk singer

That's a good way of putting it. The problems I have with later Mould mirror those I have with post-Fables Stipe: enunciation doesn't suit their voices well, and what used to be intriguingly mysterious became earnest and hectoring.

At some basic level I pretty much rejected Candy Apple Grey and I still don't quite know why. I'm sure the jump to Warners played a part.

I remember very clearly when CAG came out. There was a record store ad on the back of a local music paper listing new releases, and I thought, "Weird, someone screwed up and put a Warners logo on the new Husker Du record. Or they did that as a joke." Even though the Replacements were on Sire, the idea of HD on Warners was just nuts.

Hey guys you should listen to Land Speed Record it is rad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jWmX5wRea4&feature=related

Ironically, the live clip played was never recorded as Husker Du. It's from Grant's first album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss_D5gwChxg&feature=related

I love all these interviews, because these guys are such total grouches.

Not sure I've ever seen this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFyy3XB_3Y4

This is really great. Bob Mould playing Husker Du songs with No Age, from an All Tomorrow's Parties show. It's all over youtube, with varying sound quality. This is the best one, In A Free Land.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQAHENwBh08

I'm relistening to this bootleg comp I downloaded from somewhere (it may have been from ILM) that's got these early songs on it like "Drug Party" - Grant singing "Let's bring some sluts over!" It's either in the vein of Black Flag's sardonic numbers or the precursor to "Diane", but phew.

Also "Writer's Cramp" is awesome.

This is really great. Bob Mould playing Husker Du songs with No Age

When I saw Grant 10-11 years ago, he did the whole show solo except at the end, where he had recruited the local punk band that opened the show to get up for a few songs. I think it was "Diane" and one other one. The whole show was great, but hearing him with a band doing Huskers stuff was awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f6YWkcdaNE

Land Speed Record: 0
In a Free Land: 1
Everything Falls Apart: 1
Metal Circus: 1
Eight Miles High: 1
Zen Arcade: 7
New Day Rising: 5
Flip Your Wig: 2
Candy Apple Grey: 1
Warehouse: 1

Pretty much what I'd expect, though I do love "Data Control."

Land Speed Record: 0
Everything Falls Apart: 1
Metal Circus: 2
Zen Arcade: 2
New Day Rising: 4
Flip Your Wig: 4
Candy Apple Grey: 1
Warehouse: 3
7"/12": 3 (two b-sides)

Land Speed Record: 0
Everything Falls Apart: 0
Metal Circus: 1
Zen Arcade: 3
New Day Rising: 6
Flip Your Wig: 4
Candy Apple Grey: 3
Warehouse: 1
The Living End: 1
7": 1

Seeing a lot of bell curves here.

I hope someone else voted for From the Gut.

Land Speed Record: 0
Everything Falls Apart: 1
Metal Circus: 1
Zen Arcade: 3
New Day Rising: 5
Flip Your Wig: 3
Candy Apple Grey: 3
Warehouse: 2
7": 2

surprises for me-
1. no desire to vote for anything off Flip Your Wig.
2. "Sorry Somehow". After years of humming the chorus in my head, but not playing the record, it suddenly sounds a lot like a Reigning Sound blue eyed soul joint to me now. Never ever thought of the Du as earthy like that.

I like them more as players than as songwriters at this point, which may be why my interest takes a nosedive after New Day Rising. There's a bootleg of Zen Arcade raw mixes, without the vocals, and hearing that a few years ago pushed ZA back past NDR as my favorite. Everything Falls Apart remains really underrated. Pop tracks I was sure I'd vote for, like "I Apologize" and "Makes No Sense" seem pretty thin to me now, indie rock templates that were improved upon by their followers. The restrictions of hardcore, especially the span when they both loved and hated the restrictions, brought out the best in their chemistry.

So I've got a ballot of 20 specifically unranked songs. (in other words, it's not a mistake.)

Should I assign each song 22 points, what the No. 10 spot receives? If you add up all the possible points and divide by 20, you get 22.6.

(Or should I throw this ballot right BACK IN THEIR FACE.)

I'd e-mail the person back, ask for their however-many least favourite from the list, and deduct a point from each.

Or if that feels like work, do the same, but pick your own least favourite...

That second option is definitely out. The first maybe sounds like ... more work?

I'd give each song 17 points -- docking everything five for not doing all their homework.

That's my ballot. I hate ranking songs. Picking 20 is "ranking" enough. But tell me what I can do.

It's no big deal, Josh. I just have to assign some value to the songs to make them count for anything.

Three things:

1. Realizing that after all this time, I really like a lot of the less-melodic stuff off of Zen Arcade more than I thought. Kind of wish that HD had taken a little more time before jumping into pop on NDR.
2. Production on Zen Arcade not bothering me at all.
3. More than for many other bands, finding it really hard to rank things after the first three songs. I like a lot of this stuff, but rarely find myself thinking that any one is *way* better than a lot of the others. Relatively consistent band, I think...

Never understood the production hate for NDR and ZA. Always thought the production on those was ideal. Still think production from FYW on is baffling.

HD are a band that i can love and get a handle on on a bunch of different levels. for instance, a song like "diane" floors me because it's so deliberately and explicitly spelled out, unfolding as a vignette of grim reflections, whereas the likes of "i'll never forget you" pummels me through its sheer physical weight and charged emotion that spills out, without buffer or restraint, as a deluge of swelling rage that can barely contain itself.

Metal Circus: 2
Zen Arcade: 2
New Day Rising: 4
Flip Your Wig: 4
Candy Apple Grey: 2
Warehouse: 4
7": 2

Though, honestly, The Living End: 7

didn't vote for the song, but when i listen to "too far down", there's a point about half way through where i suddenly start thinking i'm listening to American Music Club.

Vote regret: omitted "I Don't Know What You're Talking About."

Poll posted. My results seem unlike others.

EFA - 1
MC - 1
ZA - 3
NDR - 1
FYW - 4
CAG - 2
W:SandS - 7
Singles - 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNyzk7LXlEk

Really feeling Amusement lately. Great barking Bob vocals - DON'T DO IT!

I voted almost all Hart, and almost all pop, but I love the AAARRRRGH! factor of Husker Du, too. Even by the standards of hardcore they were pretty fast and in your face. Land speed record, indeed.

Hmm, is "Land Speed Record" the closest thing to the elusive triple pun album title other than "12 Inches of Snow?"

I love Amusement!! I'm not easily amused by YOU.

I'm not easily amAAAAzed

WHAT DO I WAAAANT?
WHAT'LL MAKE ME HAPPY?
(scream the two syllable word of your choice repeatedly)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKzuIjnDJyY

also lol @ that image
what do i want?
giant plate of food

^^ voted for this song btw

I love the version of ''You're So Square'' on here that turns into "The Wit & Wisdom".

Also, this blog corrects it, but on my boot at home, "Celebrated Summer" is listed as "Sons of Bitches".

http://captainsdead.com/husker-du-live-at-first-ave-8-28-85.html

I click on this thread every morning feeling like a lonely freak who listens to hardcore Husker Du with regularity and has no interest in Zen Arcade onward

Not the same, but my favorite Wilco record might be A.M.

you are not a lonely freak
i like both sides but my heart belongs to noisy bob and spazzy grant

I appreciate hardcore Du for velocity and sheer rush, but I was never a hardcore kid -- they only clicked with me when they started with the catchy tunes. My ballot is slightly Grant-heavy, but even the Bob stuff is the catchy stuff. Pop Du 4 life.

Which is to say, if they had been a band capable of LSR but not of "Books About UFOs," I doubt I would have cared much.

There was a thing on a blog a couple weeks ago where they rated every Mould record and they put Everything Falls Apart dead last and didn't even mention Land Speed Record

I can understand loving Metal Circus more than Zen Arcade (I believe Steve Albini did), but I don't understand having "no interest" in ZA. What lost you?

What?! That's awful. I'm not even all about LSR, but Everything Falls Apart is pure gold.

I will repeat: I hope someone else voted for From the Gut. To me, that is the shortest sweetest representation of what I love about this band. It's not the world's best song or anything, but it has the parts I want.

oops xp

(sorry)

what do i want?
giant plate of food

Descendants lyrics, iirc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-uLTTT3BPc

Which is to say, if they had been a band capable of LSR but not of "Books About UFOs," I doubt I would have cared much.

― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, November 21, 2012 10:10 AM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is OTM.

I think people were more distraught (re that blog) abt Flip Your Wig being the best rated HD record and Copper Blue winning overall.

Seriously? Copper Blue?

HOWEVER
I just remembered that I wrote Bob Mould an embarrassing email fan letter when he first started blogging because I was just totally amazed that I finally had the chance to tell him in actual composed sentences how much his music meant to me. He very graciously wrote back! So I guess I only say "seriously?" because I think Copper Blue fails to represent the masterful variety of his songs even if it's a great pop record.

It was short, not all that embarrassing. Just super earnest :-/

Yeah it was on a blog called "Stereogum".

I can understand loving Metal Circus more than Zen Arcade (I believe Steve Albini did), but I don't understand having "no interest" in ZA. What lost you?

This is not the right thread for me to really say so!

The crunchy hardcore songs on side two of Zen Arcade are the best. Had trouble narrowing it down to just two of those tracks. BEYOND! THE! THRESHOLD!

Zen Arcade re-sequenced as a hardcore EP entirely weeded of tuneful singing = still classic!

Husker Du, What's to Forget? EP

Side A:

Beyond The Threshold
Indecision Time
Pride

Side B:

I'll Never Forget You
What's Going On?

"Reoccurring Dreams" is its own hardcore EP.

Pride
a) stupid
b) selfish
c) all of the above
d) priiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide

xpost on the crunchy hardcore. Totally otm. I used to skip that part back in the 80's, but now find it by far the best part of Zen Arcade. I'd add Masochism World to the "hardcore EP." I'm loving the weird rhythmic thing , and the way it's like half bash-it-out hardcore, but then it's got Who backing vocals in the middle. FWIW, What's Going On was my #1.

I think people were more distraught (re that blog) abt Flip Your Wig being the best rated HD record and Copper Blue winning overall.

Haaa. FYW is my favorite HD album. And Bob Mould's too, I think!

(not that we should put too much stock in Cranky Bob's view of anything Du-related.)

xp: "What's Going On?" was my #2.

@ Pete see you figured it out

Thing I love about Pride is the way it sounds like someone is winding up a spring and then letting it spin during each line of the verses.

Calming Lechera's nerves, I will mention that I voted "From the Gut". High up, even. One of those songs where I can still remember the needle hitting the groove for the first time; my mom's cheapie all-in-one turntable, autumn light streaming through her apartment's picture window, no one else at home.

I'm too young to have ever seen Husker Du, but did anyone see Dwight Yoakam opening up in 1986?

A reminder that the deadline for voting in this poll ends in a few hours.

I haven't checked today, but I know as of last night, we had 12-15 ballots submitted.

That said, I'm meeting some family members for pre-Thanksgiving and likely won't be home until 7 or 8 pm CST (0100-0200 GMT). If any ballots trickle in during that time, who would I be to turn them away.

thank you bendy
it's in my top 5!!

I'm too young to have ever seen Husker Du, but did anyone see Dwight Yoakam opening up in 1986?

No, but I saw them in 1987 with The Shamen supporting, bit of a mismatch really.

that sounds like a nightmare!

Deadline for submissions officially in 15 mins.

Vote! If nothing else, dilute the impact my ballot has on this, heh.

Just out of curiosity, how is this anyway? A couple of intriguing band/song combinations (Walt Mink, Janitor Joe). I remember seeing this in shops, but never bit. It's not on Spotify...

http://www.discogs.com/Various-Du-Huskers-The-Twin-Cities-Replays-Zen-Arcade/release/752123

The only one I remember vividly is the Pink Turns To Blue cover which was damn near Bangles' Hazy Shade of Winter Pt. II. I liked it.

Exactly 90 songs were submitted and voted upon. I know I said let's do 33, but how about we amend that to 30. It'll still be 33-percent. Ties be damned.

25 ballots were received. If you did not get a response from me, please let me know as soon as possible.

Now.. let's see... hmmm. Anyone here ever used a spreadsheet before?

Were you able to figure out something? If you're stuck, let me know--I could probably tabulate 25 ballots/500 songs in an hour or so.

Ranked them all at No. 11.

Seeing that it was a direct and very representative portent of Things To Come (much more so than the one-off Statues, which was very PiL), it seems insane there's no studio recording of Amusement.

Getting geeked for this.

Probably will start the new thread in the morning, Tulsa Time, with the albums and band members. Then begin with the top 1/3 sometime around 1300 CST/1900 GMT.

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