Hüsker Dü
Encyclopedia
Hüsker Dü (ˈ) was an American rock
band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota
in 1979. The band's continual members were guitar
ist Bob Mould
, bassist
Greg Norton
, and drummer
Grant Hart
.
Hüsker Dü first gained notice as a hardcore punk
band with thrashing tempos and screamed vocals. The band developed a more melodic musical style as they drifted away from their early sound, helping to develop the early alternative rock
sound in the process. Mould and Hart split the songwriting and singing duties; Mould's lyrics were known for being more soul-searching and intense than the often whimsical and cryptic ones of Hart.
Following a series of albums on independent label SST Records
, including Zen Arcade
(1984) and New Day Rising
(1985), the band signed to Warner Bros. Records
in 1986. Hüsker Dü broke up in 1987 without having achieved a popular breakthrough, but they influenced later pop punk
and alternative rock bands.
Mould released two solo albums before forming a similar band, Sugar, in the early 1990s; Hart released a solo album on SST, and later formed a band, Nova Mob. Norton has been less active musically since Hüsker Dü's demise.
, and frequented Cheapo Discs, a St Paul record store where Hart was a sales clerk. Hart and Norton had originally met while applying for the same job, which Norton eventually got. Hart and Mould bonded over a shared love of the Ramones, and soon after enlisted Norton and Pine to form a band. They were soon gigging, playing mostly cover songs, some classic rock
, and frequent Ramones tunes. Unbeknownst to Pine, the remaining bandmembers disliked the sound of the band with Pine's keyboards and began practicing without him, writing a few originals.
They owed their new name to a rather sloppy rehearsal of the Talking Heads
' "Psycho Killer
". Unable to recall the French
portions sung in the original ("qu'est-ce que c'est"), they began shouting any foreign-language terms they could remember, when someone said "Hūsker Dū?", a board game
that had been popular in the 1970s. The term, without the umlauts, means "Do you remember?" in Danish
and Norwegian
. The group added Heavy metal umlaut
s to complete the name. Mould reports that they liked "Hüsker Dü"'s somewhat mysterious qualities, which set them apart from other hardcore punk groups with names like "Social Red Youth Dynasty Brigade Distortion". Mould also reported that while Hüsker Dü enjoyed much hardcore punk in general, they never thought of themselves as exclusively a hardcore group, and that their name was an attempt to avoid being pigeonholed. Hart, Mould, and Norton fired Pine during their first official performance, on March 30, 1979, and continued as a trio.
By 1980 the band was performing regularly in Minneapolis, and their music evolved into a fast, ferocious, primal sound, making them one of the original hardcore punk bands. Through heavy touring they soon caught the attention of punk trailblazers like Black Flag
and the Dead Kennedys
' Jello Biafra
, which helped introduce Hüsker Dü to new fans. Black Flag guitarist/songwriter Greg Ginn
later signed the band to his label, SST Records
.
in 1981. Their first two albums, Land Speed Record
(a live recording) and Everything Falls Apart
, brought much critical praise. Determined touring brought them to the attention of The Minutemen, who released their debut and the "In A Free Land" single on their label, New Alliance Records
. This, in turn, led to the band signing with SST.
The intense, but varied Metal Circus
EP/mini-album was released in 1983. Hüsker Dü's more melodic take on hardcore struck a chord with college students, and various tracks from Metal Circus, particularly Hart's "Diane," were put into rotation by dozens of campus radio
stations across the US. In addition, on Metal Circus the band showed more invention, skill, and melody than it did over the course of their previous full album Everything Falls Apart.
for his Matter column in 1983, singer and guitarist Bob Mould
told Albini: "We're going to try to do something bigger than anything like rock & roll and the whole puny touring band idea. I don't know what it's going to be, we have to work that out, but it's going to go beyond the whole idea of 'punk rock' or whatever." The following year, Hüsker Dü recorded the double album Zen Arcade
in 45 hours for the cost of $3,200. Zen Arcade is a concept album
following a boy who leaves home to face a harsh and unforgiving world. Its artistic and conceptual ambitions were a great stretch, given the purist sentiment then prevalent in U.S. punk rock. Zen Arcade received critical praise and significant mainstream music press attention, ending up on several year end best-of lists; it also helped expand the band's audience beyond the punk community. In his review for Rolling Stone, David Fricke
described Zen Arcade as "the closest hardcore will ever get to an opera ... a kind of thrash
Quadrophenia
." SST erred on the side of caution and initially pressed between 3,500 and 5,000 copies of the album, but the record sold out a few weeks into the band's tour to support the record. The album remained out of stock for months afterward, which affected sales and frustrated the band.
Hüsker Dü started recording its follow-up album New Day Rising
just as Zen Arcade was released. New Day Rising was released six months later in early 1985. Another album, Flip Your Wig
, followed later that year. Flip Your Wig became the first album released on an independent record label to top the CMJ album chart, and at year's end, both New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig ranked in the top ten of the Village Voice annual Pazz & Jop
critics' poll.
approached Hüsker Dü and offered the group a recording contract. The band felt it had hit a sales ceiling that it could break through only with the help of a major label. The promise of retaining complete creative control over its music convinced the band to sign with the label. Mould also cites the distribution problems with SST as a reason for the move, mentioning that there would sometimes be no records to sign when the band would show up for promotional events. Hüsker Dü was not expected to sell a large amount of records. Rather, Warner Bros. valued the group for its grassroots fanbase and its "hip" status, and by keeping the overhead low the label anticipated the band would turn a profit. Candy Apple Grey
was their first major label album, though Warner Bros. had initially lobbied to release Flip Your Wig until the band decided to let SST have it. Candy Apple Grey was the first Hüsker Dü album to chart on the Billboard Top 200, but despite receiving exposure on radio as well as MTV, it could get no higher than #140.
Creative and personal tensions between Mould and Hart had become unresolvable by the release of Warehouse, and they intensified when Mould began overseeing most of the band's managerial duties following the suicide of manager David Savoy on the eve of the tour in support of the album. In September 2006, Hart told Britain's Q
magazine, "I take full responsibility for [David's] suicide. It was a direct result of the pressure of working for Bob and me, because he was being forced into a two-faced situation." Mould also called the suicide "the beginning of the end". The band dissolved after a show in Columbia, Missouri
in support of the band's 1987 double album Warehouse: Songs and Stories
. Hart was trying to quit heroin using a supply of methadone
, but the bottle had leaked. Hart played the show, but Mould and Norton were concerned Hart would soon be suffering from withdrawal and thus would be unable to play the next few shows. While Hart insisted he could perform, Mould had already cancelled the dates. Hart quit the band four days later. Mould has said that the breakup was about "three people going their separate ways" at that time, referring to Hart's drug use and a new relationship, Norton's recent marriage and starting a new business, and Mould himself having just quit a lifelong drinking habit.
The Living End, a live collection taken from the band's final tour, was released after the band's demise.
Mould and Hart have continued making music separately. Both have produced solo albums and formed alternative rock bands, Sugar and Nova Mob, respectively. Mould has also joined Richard Morel
in the band Blowoff. Mould has returned to touring regularly with his solo albums Body of Song and District Line and is playing Hüsker Dü (as well as Sugar) songs live again. His backup band features several notable musicians, including Brendan Canty
. Norton formed the short-lived band Grey Area, played with Shotgun Rationale, and became a chef
; he and his wife Sarah own a restaurant in Red Wing, Minnesota
called The Nortons'. In addition to his restaurant duties, in 2006 Norton returned to music as bassist for the Minnesota based band The Gang Font, feat. Interloper. The group released an eponymous album in 2007.
Mould and Hart did a brief, unannounced reunion in 2004 at a benefit concert
for ailing Soul Asylum
bassist Karl Mueller
(who had been receiving treatment for cancer, and has since died). At the end of what had been scheduled as a Bob Mould solo set, he brought Hart out and the duo played two specially-selected Hüsker Dü songs, "Hardly Getting Over It" and "Never Talking to You Again". Mould wrote on his blog that the performance was an impromptu, last-minute suggestion by Hart and shouldn't kindle any "false hope" for a reunion.
In June 2005, Mould told Billboard magazine in an interview that SST had not given the band an accounting of their record and CD sales in several years, and that plans to regain the master tapes from SST and reissue them elsewhere were being held up by business disputes between the former band members.
Mould has also performed some of the band's material with No Age
at the All Tomorrow's Parties
festival in New York. Mould picked which songs he would like to play, and the three-piece alternated between material by each band, as part of a special performance for the Flaming Lips-curated event.
, Dead Kennedys
, and The Fartz
after having seen them play. NME journalist Andy Gill contended that Hüsker Dü's characteristic sound crystalized on the Metal Circus EP, incorporating "thunderbuck, hiccup" drums, a melodic yet solid bass, and "carillions [sic] of distorted guitar, with shouted vocals rasping hoarsely from deep in the mix". He argued that what set them apart from other punk bands was "the way they mix those same structural devices in ways that shouldn't work, combining elements of several genres in one song."
As the band's career progressed, Hüsker Dü emphasized melody in its songs. Unlike other hardcore bands, Hüsker Dü did not disavow classic rock
. "You know the whole deal with tearing down the old to make room for the new?", Hart posited. "Well, music isn't city planning." The band covered 1960s hits like Donovan
's "Sunshine Superman
" and The Byrds
' "Eight Miles High
" early in its career. As the band members progressed as musicians, they discovered they were able to play at slower tempos while still maintaining the rhythm, which allowed for extended melodies.
Hart and Mould were the band's songwriters. Both wrote their songs separately and at a prodigious pace; in later years Hart accused Mould of making sure his songs comprised no more than 45 percent of the material on an album. Despite the creative friction and their differing individual personalities, the members accommodated each other so that the band could continue to exist. They designed their logo to represent their common train of thought: a circle enclosing three parallel horizontal lines with a vertical line connecting them. The circle symbolized the band, the three lines the individual members, and the intersecting line the common thread of creativity which connected them.
asserted in his book Our Band Could Be Your Life
(2001) that Hüsker Dü was the key link between hardcore punk and the more melodic, diverse music of college rock
that emerged. Azerrad wrote, "Hüsker Dü played a huge role in convincing the underground that melody and punk rock weren't antithetical." The band also set an example by being one of the first bands from the American indie scene to sign to a major record label, which helped establish college rock as "a viable commercial enterprise."
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
in 1979. The band's continual members were guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist Bob Mould
Bob Mould
Robert Arthur "Bob" Mould is an American musician, principally known for his work as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü in the 1980s and Sugar in the 1990s.-Early life:...
, bassist
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
Greg Norton
Greg Norton
Greg Norton is an American musician, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü....
, and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Grant Hart
Grant Hart
Grant Hart is an American musician, best known as the drummer and co-songwriter for the influential alternative rock and hardcore punk band Hüsker Dü. After the band's breakup in 1987, Hart formed the alternative rock trio Nova Mob, where he moved to vocals and guitar...
.
Hüsker Dü first gained notice as a hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
band with thrashing tempos and screamed vocals. The band developed a more melodic musical style as they drifted away from their early sound, helping to develop the early alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
sound in the process. Mould and Hart split the songwriting and singing duties; Mould's lyrics were known for being more soul-searching and intense than the often whimsical and cryptic ones of Hart.
Following a series of albums on independent label SST Records
SST Records
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was initially called Solid State Transmitters through which Ginn sold electronics equipment...
, including Zen Arcade
Zen Arcade
Upon its release Zen Arcade received positive reviews in many mainstream publications, including NME, The New York Times and Rolling Stone. In his review for Rolling Stone, David Fricke described Zen Arcade as "the closest hardcore will ever get to an opera .....
(1984) and New Day Rising
New Day Rising
New Day Rising is the third studio album by the American punk rock band Hüsker Dü, released in 1985 on SST Records. Though less ambitious than prior album Zen Arcade, New Day Rising, in some ways, helped set the template for alternative rock for the next decade...
(1985), the band signed to Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
in 1986. Hüsker Dü broke up in 1987 without having achieved a popular breakthrough, but they influenced later pop punk
Pop punk
Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars...
and alternative rock bands.
Mould released two solo albums before forming a similar band, Sugar, in the early 1990s; Hart released a solo album on SST, and later formed a band, Nova Mob. Norton has been less active musically since Hüsker Dü's demise.
Formation and early years
The group that became Hüsker Dü formed when Bob Mould, Grant Hart, Greg Norton and keyboardist Charlie Pine began playing together in 1979 under the name Buddy and the Returnables. At the time, Mould was a freshman at Macalester CollegeMacalester College
Macalester College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1874 as a Presbyterian-affiliated but nonsectarian college. Its first class entered September 15, 1885. The college is located on a campus in a historic residential neighborhood...
, and frequented Cheapo Discs, a St Paul record store where Hart was a sales clerk. Hart and Norton had originally met while applying for the same job, which Norton eventually got. Hart and Mould bonded over a shared love of the Ramones, and soon after enlisted Norton and Pine to form a band. They were soon gigging, playing mostly cover songs, some classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
, and frequent Ramones tunes. Unbeknownst to Pine, the remaining bandmembers disliked the sound of the band with Pine's keyboards and began practicing without him, writing a few originals.
They owed their new name to a rather sloppy rehearsal of the Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
' "Psycho Killer
Psycho Killer
"Psycho Killer" is a song by American New Wave band Talking Heads from their 1977 album Talking Heads: 77, written by David Byrne, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth. The band's "signature debut hit" features lyrics which seem to represent the thoughts of a serial killer. Allmusic calls it a...
". Unable to recall the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
portions sung in the original ("qu'est-ce que c'est"), they began shouting any foreign-language terms they could remember, when someone said "Hūsker Dū?", a board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
that had been popular in the 1970s. The term, without the umlauts, means "Do you remember?" in Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
and Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
. The group added Heavy metal umlaut
Heavy metal umlaut
A metal umlaut is a diaeresis that is sometimes used gratuitously or decoratively over letters in the names of hard rock or heavy metal bands—for example those of Mötley Crüe and Motörhead...
s to complete the name. Mould reports that they liked "Hüsker Dü"'s somewhat mysterious qualities, which set them apart from other hardcore punk groups with names like "Social Red Youth Dynasty Brigade Distortion". Mould also reported that while Hüsker Dü enjoyed much hardcore punk in general, they never thought of themselves as exclusively a hardcore group, and that their name was an attempt to avoid being pigeonholed. Hart, Mould, and Norton fired Pine during their first official performance, on March 30, 1979, and continued as a trio.
By 1980 the band was performing regularly in Minneapolis, and their music evolved into a fast, ferocious, primal sound, making them one of the original hardcore punk bands. Through heavy touring they soon caught the attention of punk trailblazers like Black Flag
Black Flag (band)
Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...
and the Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
' Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
, which helped introduce Hüsker Dü to new fans. Black Flag guitarist/songwriter Greg Ginn
Greg Ginn
Gregory Regis Ginn is a guitarist, songwriter, and singer. He is best known for being the leader of and primary songwriter for the hardcore punk band Black Flag, which he founded and led from 1976 to 1986....
later signed the band to his label, SST Records
SST Records
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was initially called Solid State Transmitters through which Ginn sold electronics equipment...
.
Early releases
The band started releasing singles on Terry Katzman's Reflex RecordsReflex Records
Reflex Records was an American independent record label formed by the members of hardcore punk band Hüsker Dü and Terry Katzman. It was formed to help promote independent bands, after Twin Tone Records rejected Hüsker Dü's first single in 1979....
in 1981. Their first two albums, Land Speed Record
Land Speed Record (album)
Land Speed Record is the first full-length record by Hüsker Dü, released in January 1982. It was recorded live on August 15, 1981 at the 7th Street Entry, a venue in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The album is a fast and furious hardcore workout that bears almost no resemblance to the melodic post-punk...
(a live recording) and Everything Falls Apart
Everything Falls Apart
Everything Falls Apart is the second album by Hüsker Dü, though their first studio album, as their debut, Land Speed Record, was recorded live...
, brought much critical praise. Determined touring brought them to the attention of The Minutemen, who released their debut and the "In A Free Land" single on their label, New Alliance Records
New Alliance Records
New Alliance Records was the record label founded by The Minutemen's D. Boon and Mike Watt and longtime friend and associate Martin Tamburovich after the example of Black Flag's SST Records...
. This, in turn, led to the band signing with SST.
The intense, but varied Metal Circus
Metal Circus
Metal Circus is an EP by Hüsker Dü, released in 1983. As one of their early records, it was largely rooted in the band's initial hardcore punk style. However, signs of a new, poppier influence emerge on Metal Circus, particularly in the songs sung by Grant Hart...
EP/mini-album was released in 1983. Hüsker Dü's more melodic take on hardcore struck a chord with college students, and various tracks from Metal Circus, particularly Hart's "Diane," were put into rotation by dozens of campus radio
Campus radio
Campus radio is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively by students, or may include programmers from the wider community in which the radio station is based...
stations across the US. In addition, on Metal Circus the band showed more invention, skill, and melody than it did over the course of their previous full album Everything Falls Apart.
Zen Arcade, New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig
The members of Hüsker Dü desired to escape the restrictions of the hardcore genre. In an interview with Steve AlbiniSteve Albini
Steven Frank Albini is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman, and Flour, and is currently a member of Shellac...
for his Matter column in 1983, singer and guitarist Bob Mould
Bob Mould
Robert Arthur "Bob" Mould is an American musician, principally known for his work as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü in the 1980s and Sugar in the 1990s.-Early life:...
told Albini: "We're going to try to do something bigger than anything like rock & roll and the whole puny touring band idea. I don't know what it's going to be, we have to work that out, but it's going to go beyond the whole idea of 'punk rock' or whatever." The following year, Hüsker Dü recorded the double album Zen Arcade
Zen Arcade
Upon its release Zen Arcade received positive reviews in many mainstream publications, including NME, The New York Times and Rolling Stone. In his review for Rolling Stone, David Fricke described Zen Arcade as "the closest hardcore will ever get to an opera .....
in 45 hours for the cost of $3,200. Zen Arcade is a concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
following a boy who leaves home to face a harsh and unforgiving world. Its artistic and conceptual ambitions were a great stretch, given the purist sentiment then prevalent in U.S. punk rock. Zen Arcade received critical praise and significant mainstream music press attention, ending up on several year end best-of lists; it also helped expand the band's audience beyond the punk community. In his review for Rolling Stone, David Fricke
David Fricke
David Fricke is a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine, where he writes predominantly on rock music. In the 1990s, he was managing editor before stepping down.-Background:David Fricke is a graduate of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania...
described Zen Arcade as "the closest hardcore will ever get to an opera ... a kind of thrash
Thrashcore
Thrashcore is a fast tempo subgenre of hardcore punk that emerged in the early 1980s. Thrashcore is essentially sped-up hardcore punk, with bands often using blast beats. Songs can be very brief, and thrashcore is in many ways a less dissonant, less metallic forerunner of grindcore...
Quadrophenia
Quadrophenia
Quadrophenia is the sixth studio album by English rock band The Who. Released on 19 October 1973 by Track and Polydor in the UK, and Track and MCA in the US, it is a double album, and the group's second rock opera...
." SST erred on the side of caution and initially pressed between 3,500 and 5,000 copies of the album, but the record sold out a few weeks into the band's tour to support the record. The album remained out of stock for months afterward, which affected sales and frustrated the band.
Hüsker Dü started recording its follow-up album New Day Rising
New Day Rising
New Day Rising is the third studio album by the American punk rock band Hüsker Dü, released in 1985 on SST Records. Though less ambitious than prior album Zen Arcade, New Day Rising, in some ways, helped set the template for alternative rock for the next decade...
just as Zen Arcade was released. New Day Rising was released six months later in early 1985. Another album, Flip Your Wig
Flip Your Wig
Flip Your Wig is the fourth album by the American punk rock band, Hüsker Dü, and its last release on SST Records. By the time of this release in 1985, they had signed a major-label record deal. However, the band felt they owed one more album to SST and delivered Flip Your Wig...
, followed later that year. Flip Your Wig became the first album released on an independent record label to top the CMJ album chart, and at year's end, both New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig ranked in the top ten of the Village Voice annual Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop
The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...
critics' poll.
Signing with Warner Bros. and breakup
During the recordings sessions for Flip Your Wig major label Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
approached Hüsker Dü and offered the group a recording contract. The band felt it had hit a sales ceiling that it could break through only with the help of a major label. The promise of retaining complete creative control over its music convinced the band to sign with the label. Mould also cites the distribution problems with SST as a reason for the move, mentioning that there would sometimes be no records to sign when the band would show up for promotional events. Hüsker Dü was not expected to sell a large amount of records. Rather, Warner Bros. valued the group for its grassroots fanbase and its "hip" status, and by keeping the overhead low the label anticipated the band would turn a profit. Candy Apple Grey
Candy Apple Grey
Candy Apple Grey is the fifth album by the alternative rock band Hüsker Dü, released in 1986. It was their first major label album, though Warner Bros. had initially lobbied to release Flip Your Wig until the band decided to let SST have it...
was their first major label album, though Warner Bros. had initially lobbied to release Flip Your Wig until the band decided to let SST have it. Candy Apple Grey was the first Hüsker Dü album to chart on the Billboard Top 200, but despite receiving exposure on radio as well as MTV, it could get no higher than #140.
Creative and personal tensions between Mould and Hart had become unresolvable by the release of Warehouse, and they intensified when Mould began overseeing most of the band's managerial duties following the suicide of manager David Savoy on the eve of the tour in support of the album. In September 2006, Hart told Britain's Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
magazine, "I take full responsibility for [David's] suicide. It was a direct result of the pressure of working for Bob and me, because he was being forced into a two-faced situation." Mould also called the suicide "the beginning of the end". The band dissolved after a show in Columbia, Missouri
Columbia, Missouri
Columbia is the fifth-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With a population of 108,500 as of the 2010 Census, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the...
in support of the band's 1987 double album Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Warehouse: Songs and Stories
-Personnel:*Bob Mould – guitar, vocals*Grant Hart – drums, vocals*Greg Norton – bass guitar, vocals-Production:*Producers: Bob Mould, Grant Hart*Engineer: Steven Fjelstad*Mastering: Howie Weinberg*Photography: Daniel Corrigan, Hüsker Dü...
. Hart was trying to quit heroin using a supply of methadone
Methadone
Methadone is a synthetic opioid, used medically as an analgesic and a maintenance anti-addictive for use in patients with opioid dependency. It was developed in Germany in 1937...
, but the bottle had leaked. Hart played the show, but Mould and Norton were concerned Hart would soon be suffering from withdrawal and thus would be unable to play the next few shows. While Hart insisted he could perform, Mould had already cancelled the dates. Hart quit the band four days later. Mould has said that the breakup was about "three people going their separate ways" at that time, referring to Hart's drug use and a new relationship, Norton's recent marriage and starting a new business, and Mould himself having just quit a lifelong drinking habit.
The Living End, a live collection taken from the band's final tour, was released after the band's demise.
Post-breakup
Richard Morel
Richard Morel is an American singer-songwriter, DJ, remixer and record producer from the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. He has worked extensively with Washington D.C.-based duo Deep Dish, co-writing, co-producing, performing and singing on many of their tracks, most notably on their albums Junk...
in the band Blowoff. Mould has returned to touring regularly with his solo albums Body of Song and District Line and is playing Hüsker Dü (as well as Sugar) songs live again. His backup band features several notable musicians, including Brendan Canty
Brendan Canty
Brendan Canty is an American musician, composer, producer and film maker, best known as the drummer for the band Fugazi....
. Norton formed the short-lived band Grey Area, played with Shotgun Rationale, and became a chef
Chef
A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...
; he and his wife Sarah own a restaurant in Red Wing, Minnesota
Red Wing, Minnesota
Red Wing is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States, on the Mississippi River. The population was 16,459 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Goodhue County....
called The Nortons'. In addition to his restaurant duties, in 2006 Norton returned to music as bassist for the Minnesota based band The Gang Font, feat. Interloper. The group released an eponymous album in 2007.
Mould and Hart did a brief, unannounced reunion in 2004 at a benefit concert
Benefit concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause at...
for ailing Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band that formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983.The band originally formed in 1981 under the name Loud Fast Rules, with the original line-up consisting of Dan Murphy, Dave Pirner, Karl Mueller and Pat Morley. The latter was replaced by Grant Young in...
bassist Karl Mueller
Karl Mueller
Karl Mueller was an American rock musician. He was the bass player and a founding member of the Minneapolis Alternative Rock band, Soul Asylum....
(who had been receiving treatment for cancer, and has since died). At the end of what had been scheduled as a Bob Mould solo set, he brought Hart out and the duo played two specially-selected Hüsker Dü songs, "Hardly Getting Over It" and "Never Talking to You Again". Mould wrote on his blog that the performance was an impromptu, last-minute suggestion by Hart and shouldn't kindle any "false hope" for a reunion.
In June 2005, Mould told Billboard magazine in an interview that SST had not given the band an accounting of their record and CD sales in several years, and that plans to regain the master tapes from SST and reissue them elsewhere were being held up by business disputes between the former band members.
Mould has also performed some of the band's material with No Age
No Age
No Age is a two-person American indie rock group consisting of guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Allen Spunt. The band is based in Los Angeles and is currently signed to Sub Pop records...
at the All Tomorrow's Parties
All Tomorrow's Parties
"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by The Velvet UndergroundAll Tomorrow's Parties may also refer to:* All Tomorrow's Parties , an annual festival in England...
festival in New York. Mould picked which songs he would like to play, and the three-piece alternated between material by each band, as part of a special performance for the Flaming Lips-curated event.
Musical style
Hüsker Dü started as a hardcore punk band known for its speed and intensity. While the band included some slower material earlier in its career, Hüsker Dü developed a fast repertoire as a result of having little time to play as an opening act, and to antagonize its audience when it headlined shows. "[T]here was a point where we were like, 'Let's see how fast we can play,'" Norton recalled. "I guess we were just trying to blow people away." Hüsker Dü was particularly influenced by punk bands like D.O.A.D.O.A. (band)
D.O.A. is a hardcore punk band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk, along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Teen Idles, and Minor Threat. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to...
, Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
, and The Fartz
The Fartz
The Fartz were originally formed in 1981 and were one of the first well-known hardcore bands from Seattle, Washington. They were signed to Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Record label...
after having seen them play. NME journalist Andy Gill contended that Hüsker Dü's characteristic sound crystalized on the Metal Circus EP, incorporating "thunderbuck, hiccup" drums, a melodic yet solid bass, and "carillions [sic] of distorted guitar, with shouted vocals rasping hoarsely from deep in the mix". He argued that what set them apart from other punk bands was "the way they mix those same structural devices in ways that shouldn't work, combining elements of several genres in one song."
As the band's career progressed, Hüsker Dü emphasized melody in its songs. Unlike other hardcore bands, Hüsker Dü did not disavow classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
. "You know the whole deal with tearing down the old to make room for the new?", Hart posited. "Well, music isn't city planning." The band covered 1960s hits like Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
's "Sunshine Superman
Sunshine Superman
"Sunshine Superman" is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. The "Sunshine Superman" single was released in the United States through Epic Records in July 1966, but due to a contractual dispute the United Kingdom release was delayed until December 1966, where it...
" and The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
' "Eight Miles High
Eight Miles High
"Eight Miles High" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn, and David Crosby and first released as a single on March 14, 1966 . The single managed to reach the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 30 of the UK Singles Chart...
" early in its career. As the band members progressed as musicians, they discovered they were able to play at slower tempos while still maintaining the rhythm, which allowed for extended melodies.
Hart and Mould were the band's songwriters. Both wrote their songs separately and at a prodigious pace; in later years Hart accused Mould of making sure his songs comprised no more than 45 percent of the material on an album. Despite the creative friction and their differing individual personalities, the members accommodated each other so that the band could continue to exist. They designed their logo to represent their common train of thought: a circle enclosing three parallel horizontal lines with a vertical line connecting them. The circle symbolized the band, the three lines the individual members, and the intersecting line the common thread of creativity which connected them.
Legacy
Hüsker Dü is widely regarded as one of the key bands to emerge from the 1980s American indie scene. Music writer Michael AzerradMichael Azerrad
Michael Azerrad is an American author, journalist and musician. He grew up in the New York City area and received his BA degree from Columbia College in 1983...
asserted in his book Our Band Could Be Your Life
Our Band Could Be Your Life
Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 is a book by Michael Azerrad. It chronicles the careers of several underground rock bands who, while finding little or no mainstream success, were hugely influential in establishing American alternative and indie...
(2001) that Hüsker Dü was the key link between hardcore punk and the more melodic, diverse music of college rock
College rock
College rock is a term that was used in the United States to describe 1980s alternative rock before the term "alternative" came into common usage. The term's use of the word "college" refers to campus radio stations located at institutions of higher education in Canada and the United States, where...
that emerged. Azerrad wrote, "Hüsker Dü played a huge role in convincing the underground that melody and punk rock weren't antithetical." The band also set an example by being one of the first bands from the American indie scene to sign to a major record label, which helped establish college rock as "a viable commercial enterprise."
Studio albums
- Everything Falls ApartEverything Falls ApartEverything Falls Apart is the second album by Hüsker Dü, though their first studio album, as their debut, Land Speed Record, was recorded live...
(1982) - Metal CircusMetal CircusMetal Circus is an EP by Hüsker Dü, released in 1983. As one of their early records, it was largely rooted in the band's initial hardcore punk style. However, signs of a new, poppier influence emerge on Metal Circus, particularly in the songs sung by Grant Hart...
(1983) - Zen ArcadeZen ArcadeUpon its release Zen Arcade received positive reviews in many mainstream publications, including NME, The New York Times and Rolling Stone. In his review for Rolling Stone, David Fricke described Zen Arcade as "the closest hardcore will ever get to an opera .....
(1984) - New Day RisingNew Day RisingNew Day Rising is the third studio album by the American punk rock band Hüsker Dü, released in 1985 on SST Records. Though less ambitious than prior album Zen Arcade, New Day Rising, in some ways, helped set the template for alternative rock for the next decade...
(1985) - Flip Your WigFlip Your WigFlip Your Wig is the fourth album by the American punk rock band, Hüsker Dü, and its last release on SST Records. By the time of this release in 1985, they had signed a major-label record deal. However, the band felt they owed one more album to SST and delivered Flip Your Wig...
(1985) - Candy Apple GreyCandy Apple GreyCandy Apple Grey is the fifth album by the alternative rock band Hüsker Dü, released in 1986. It was their first major label album, though Warner Bros. had initially lobbied to release Flip Your Wig until the band decided to let SST have it...
(1986) - Warehouse: Songs and StoriesWarehouse: Songs and Stories-Personnel:*Bob Mould – guitar, vocals*Grant Hart – drums, vocals*Greg Norton – bass guitar, vocals-Production:*Producers: Bob Mould, Grant Hart*Engineer: Steven Fjelstad*Mastering: Howie Weinberg*Photography: Daniel Corrigan, Hüsker Dü...
(1987)