Husker Du

[substitute]

When I heard them it was love, immediately.

On the printed page without music, their lyrics aren't that great most of the time.

The records sounded awful. Volume all over the place, buried vocals, and a thick dumb thudding drum sound that one engineer described as "golf clubs hitting a frozen mattress."

Live, you couldn't hear anything but Bob's guitar and it sounded like a power tool.

But they had HEART. I still can't hear most of their songs without singing along. The middle of the 1980s didn't have much heart. Slick pop, fun dance music, loud punk and industrial, and self-conscious jangle pop were all good in their own ways.

Husker Du just sang about how they felt, their horror and joy, their beliefs and fears, without any pretense or immature cynicism. And we sang along because we felt it too.

Thanks, guys.

Comments

[hepkitten.livejournal.com]

that is how i feel about crimpshrine. the production values are SO BAD. it sounds like it was recorded in a dumpster in the ocean. but they are still SO FKN GOOD even thru the bad recording.

[auntiesiannan.livejournal.com]

Is that Harvey Pekar in your icon?

[substitute.livejournal.com]

Nope, it's me. One of my dreams was used in Jesse Reklaw's "Slow Wave" strip:

[auntiesiannan.livejournal.com]

Wow, dream-you looks like Harvey Pekar and that is rad. :D

Sorry, just finished The Quitter and I have HP on my mind.

[iamthesky.livejournal.com]

my guitar player is a huge fan and turned me on to them

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

I was surprised when I saw Grant Hart solo a few years back how great those old songs sounded with just a guitar. It made me incredibly happy.

[substitute.livejournal.com]

That's good to know. Grant got the short end of the stick when the band broke up and hasn't got much respect since, but he wrote better songs.

[godforesaken.livejournal.com]

"pink turns to blue" won me over to them at too early an age. grant hart's 'stache has steadily held my interest, too.

[substitute.livejournal.com]

I love the Grant Hart pop songs. "Books about UFOs" and "Flexible Flyer" are in my head constantly.

[hotelsamurai.livejournal.com]

I need to give them another listen. I always found them technically interesting... Have you heard Bob Mould's "Workbook"? I just found out about it and it's on my short list of records to check out.

[tuliphead.livejournal.com]

"Workbook" is one of my alltime favorite records. It's an amazing piece of work and always takes me back to my college years. It's not a lot like Husker Du but it is an incredible solo album. Bob Mould kicks ass.

[substitute.livejournal.com]

I haven't liked anything he's done in years, but I did like Workbook and the Sugar stuff.

Poor old Grant Hart is underrated. For some reason Bob got all the buzz.

[handstil.livejournal.com]

Many many happy memories of Husker Du and Sugar, too.

[stimps.livejournal.com]

Emotion, whee! Yeah, I always feel great when I listen to them. Bands that are able to really exert themselves make me so happy. =)