Album: Candy Apple Grey
Year: 1986
(Hart)
After the double-bummer of “Too Far Down” and “Hardly Getting Over It“, what Candy Apple Grey needed more than anything else was some uplift.
Of course the Hüskers knew this too, and in an absolutely dynamite bit of song sequencing, the dying embers of Mould’s dirge were transformed by a vicious Grant Hart drum roll into the opening sparks of “Dead Set on Destruction,” my favorite song from Candy Apple Grey.
It’s beautiful: Mould’s guitar sounds brutal and focused, and after some “oooooh-ooooh-ooooooohs,” Grant Hart launches into what I’ve always considered an answer song to “Eight Miles High.”
Well I’m standing in the queue
And I can’t stand anymore missing you
And I can’t stand the pain
Cause I can’t get home ’cause of a hurricaneDead set on destruction
Dead set on destruction
If “Eight Miles High” was about the dislocation felt by hopping in a plane and a few hours finding yourself in another part of the world, then “Dead Set on Destruction” is about the despair you feel when you’re stuck in that other part of the world because of circumstances out of your control.
There’s no flights home today
And no services out on the motorway
And I can’t leave the ground
And I can’t find a place now to put her down
Dead set on destruction
Dead set on destruction
Now, I don’t know if Grant Hart ever said that in an interview or anything — so you can take this as just one of my crackpot theories — but it would mean that they not only had the balls to recontextualize “Eight Miles High” but to write a sequel, to boot.
The Atlantic winds are high
There’s only one Virgin and if she don’t fly
And they can’t land the plane
And they can’t get home ’cause of a hurricane
After that, it’s all about repeating the chorus over and over again — maybe so we can hear the lovely harmonies and Greg Norton’s great bass hook over and over again. And while Mould’s guitar soars and sears, Grant Hart’s drums go from straight beat to back beat to double-time always reflecting the ever-increasing futility of the situation he finds himself in.
Dead set on destruction
Dead set on destruction
Dead set on destruction
Dead set on destruction
Dead set on destruction
Dead set on destruction
Dead set on destruction
Dead set on destruction
Dead set on destruction
Dead set on destruction
Dead set on destruction
Dead set on destruction
With Mould chiming in as they repeat that title over and over again over, the last half of “Dead Set on Destruction” is as powerful, as ferocious and as cathartically beautiful as any of the music Hüsker Dü made in their short career. It’s easily in my top five of their songs, and except for “Keep Hanging On” and (maybe) “2541,” my favorite Grant Hart song.
Finally: one of the Kickstarters I contributed to was for Gorman Bechard’s fine documentary on Grant Hart, which he called Every Everything, but I’ve always felt it should have been called Dead Set on Destruction.
“Dead Set on Destruction”
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