Husker Du : Classic or Dud, Search and Destroy.

if you people really hate the band's production, pick up the live lp "the living end" - makes the "warehouse" stuff much less tame and actually sounds *good* (gosh...)

Then all through the nineties I never listened to any of their records. A couple of months ago, I decided to put on New Day Rising. And I was left feeling ... well, nothing. If anything, it sounded like the Mother of All Emo Records, which would of course be a bad thing.

Funny how a decade can change one's perceptions so greatly.

Anyway, I heard "Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely" on the radio today for the first time in a long time and it sounded like the Foo Fighters! (Except for the fact that it was much more well written, of course!)

I also really like reading Julio's early posts.

Woah. That is almost exactly the list I'd post, 'cept I'd add in "Books About UFOs" 'cuz it's sweet.

I don't like Zen Arcade that much as an album. I love some of the tracks on it, but I'd be way more likely to listen to New Day Rising all the way through.

Fucking classic, even now. The only album that's not up to scratch is Candy Apple Grey.

"Brick on your head, 'cause you're a fuckhead" to the naysayers.

It occurs to me now Warehouse is the one, that was the name of only album of Husker Du I had. It was about 60% enjoyable as I recall.

The singles were always good, don't get me wrong...Eight Miles High was great too. I heard their version of that before anyone else's, actually. I don't feel cheated by that at all.

That was the Hated's theory, anyway...

Incidentally, listening to DNA and sirone late last year made me realize how the bass could work and what a blind spot that was for me even though those aren't exactly rock. I haven't heard 'zen arcade' in ages so i should revisit this.

(thanks sundar, that must've been one of my v first posts on ilm though for better or worse I could never use a word like 'quality' or 'integrity' again nor 'influence' or 'emotion' without explaining it)

(Did I just say that?)

Also, Greg Norton, being the most underrated member of the band, is such a great bassist. I walk around most days with a loop of "Statues" running on repeat in my brain.

Any coincidence that this thread has been revived just after that special sometime in April when we add another hour?

Sugar's Copper Blue is better than the last Husker records, though, whoever said that was OTM.

Search: side one of New Day Rising, played in the sequence it was released

Destroy: "Reoccurring dreams", "The Baby Song", about half of Warehouse: Songs & Stories.

So here's a question that I've had for twenty years:

Why is it that on the inside of Zen Arcade it says "All songs written by whoever sings it except for "Someday" that Grant wrote"?

Didn't Grant also sing it, so it would still fall under "song written by singer" rule?

Ah, I see it's the only song with lyrics on the album that has two songwriters. Still, Grant Hart sang a song that he wrote.

ahem, Bob Mould was a writer for WCW, not WWF.

and, classic - new day rising (the song). fucking great.

Classic. Nothing beats the first side/half of New Day Rising.

Classic. Those SST records are timeless

Nah, he totally listens to Weezer.

The writers apparently compiled this:

"Hey music lovers! By popular demand, straight from 1995, here is Benji's Cool Times Summer Jamz Mix. Prepare your ears to be blown away!"

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6cpMClLDfUmeydTOtXiAZx?si=NFurduXBSoWvUz03KbWEig&pi=u-DDXk2MIORpqZ

Can't believe I'm wading into this thought exercise, but in the world of Parks and Rec, his character would have been a teen in 1995. I highly doubt a nerdy guy like him would have calcified his tastes at that point to never change and it's absolutely believable that a nerdy white dude form Minnesota into designing his own board games would make the jump from Weezer to Husker Du.

i didn’t think ben had consistent enough characterization to make a judgment about this one way or the other

I was just googling around, and yeah, he's from Minnesota, so that's a clue. He I guess DJs a prom at some point and plays Blur's "Song 2" and "Pop Song 89" (and/or maybe Weezer!). But according to wikipedia, "Ben attended Carleton College, where he was the host and DJ for a swing-music college radio show called Zoot Suit Wyatt, a reference to the swing revival album Zoot Suit Riot (1997)." Same prom episode, when he helps Tom DJ, he says "I hope that high school auditorium's big enough because I'm bringing 10,000 Maniacs!"

if he college DJ-ed than yeah game over he knows how to do the Du

Heh he’s a Carl

lol @ Zoot Suit Wyatt

everything i've ever heard or seen about that show has been utterly repellent, but yeah that's funny

aw man I love P&R

I loved those Zoot Suit Wyatt and 10,000 Maniacs jokes in the episode...I was a Husker Du obsessive in the mid-'80s who went on to become a fan of some of (definitely not all--definitely not "Zoot Suit Riot," ugh) Ben's '90s favourites; going in the opposite direction seems plausible to me. Adam Scott the person is 12 years younger than I am.

Yeah, actually, if he was a college DJ in Minnesota, even one that played swing revival, I've got to concede that he probably was required to play Husker Du et al once in a while.

I messaged a tennis friend earlier today--the guy who got me onto Parks & Rec--to say how much I loved the obscure jokes involving Yo La Tengo/Bobby Knight Ranger, Werner Herzog, and David Eckstein. "Does it bother you that no one ever knows what the fuck you’re talking about?" (Me: "Except for the people who created and wrote this show that you yourself got me onto, you mean?") I didn't mention the Husker Du joke, but I'm pretty sure my friend doesn't know who they are either.

So here we are, a bunch of Husker Du fans on a message board, debating whether a fictional character would or would not have been a Husker Du fan himself. We may have answered our own question: in the context of the rest of the world, not ILM, we are Ben Wyatt, giving further credence to the idea that he would indeed have been a Husker Du fan.

i grew up in a remote part of outstate mn and i knew about them years and years before i heard them (would have had to drive 2+ hours to minneapolis to even find a place that would sell them) but they did get pretty coverage in the star tribune's arts & entertainment section which was pretty robust at that time especially on sundays. everyone got the strib daily. they were a known thing in MN.

Thread finally prompted me to start listening to this. Just got to "Diane."

Name-dropped in Parks and Recreation: "I specifically requested elliptical cartridges for the turntables. How am I supposed to keep my Husker Du albums in near-mint condish?" says Adam Scott's character as he sets up to DJ a high-school prom.

― clemenza, Tuesday, November 11, 2025 1:05 PM

Is there such a thing as an elliptical cartridge? I've heard of an elliptical stylus, but not that there's a special type of cartridge for them

What freaking HD song would you play at a high school prom?

I know, "These Important Years," but really, can you dance to it?

Turn On The News

^my fave song

You Can Love At Home

slow dance to Green Eyes

slam dance to The Biggest Lie

Guns at My School, of course e

I'll Never Forget You, it's a total Prom theme song

This discussion just reminded me of that movie Saved where the band at a christian highschool prom was playing can't hardly wait by the replacements in the early 2000's.

Ha, you just reminded me of this (starts at 01:16)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL1-4mhjOVQ

I've written about that scene--love it.

The very first time James and Em are in the car together, Em pops in a tape and, with James looking over at her like he thinks he must be in a movie because a moment this perfect doesn’t happen in real life, out comes Husker Du’s “Don’t Want to Know if You Are Lonely.” (She smiles back at him as if to say, “Yeah, I know--this is so perfect you’re thinking you’re in a movie.”)

Will admit that I haven't listened to them alot in the past maybe 30 years but I'm now thinking that the anger and the sadness of these albums makes Hüsker Dü feel like the best band for 2025

I thought Numero had vehemently sworn not to release any further cds like it was a pledge or something. So are there going to be any further Husker Du cds in future?

I think they said it wasn't financially feasible to release CDs? But I guess that market is apparently reviving?

CDs (limited run I suppose?) were the first that were sold out, now only digital is left - https://numerogroup.com/products/1985-the-miracle-year

oh - not sold out here yet https://huskerdu.bandcamp.com/album/1985-the-miracle-year

I read in their newsletter they're repressing/they've repressed, I thought just the vinyl but if there's demand for CDs too

Any time I look at Numero or LITA during one of their sales, the CD versions are almost always sold out

I have been seeing that happening more and more in general

I got the double CD for this one because a) I recently got a new CD player, and b) my personal rule is that fancy vinyl for a live album is a bit much (I have broken this rule, I got the Sonic Youth ‘Walls Have Ears’ reissue).