Flip Your Wig

Certain Songs #653: Hüsker Dü – “Keep Hanging On”

September 18, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Flip Your Wig
Year: 1985

(Hart)

My favorite Hüsker Dü song.

It was pretty close to 15 years ago today, and I’m driving up to Fresno from Los Angeles, where I’d been sleeping on Tim’s couch and housesitting at Andrea & Luke’s while working a temporary job at Paramount doing some stuff for the Star Trek website and trying to secure a more permanent job at IndyMac Bank.

I hadn’t actually had a permanent job in six months — the (hopefully) longest period of unemployment I’ll ever go through — and I hadn’t seen Rox in a couple of weeks, to boot, as she was holding down the fort in Oakland, from where we would have to move (and didn’t want to move) if I actually got the IndyMac job.

Oh, and 9/11 had happened the week before.

Certain Songs #652: Hüsker Dü – “Divide and Conquer”

September 17, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Flip Your Wig
Year: 1985

(Mould)

Of course Flip Your Wig wasn’t all pure pop songs. Instead, they were the exception on an album that used their cleaner sound to support several anthems, like Bob Mould’s barn-burning “Divide And Conquer.”

In fact, it was the combo of heartfelt love songs and heartfelt anthems that has always caused me to rank Flip Your Wig slightly higher than New Day Rising, but only slightly, because both records were insanely strong.

Certain Songs #651: Hüsker Dü – “Green Eyes”

September 16, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Flip Your Wig
Year: 1985

(Hart)

Have a 1985, Hüsker Dü.

Their third record in just over a year, Flip Your Wig pretty much sealed the deal for the greatness of Hüsker Dü, especially since the shitty production that had (somewhat) marred the previous two albums was gone.

Flip Your Wig was produced by Bob Mould and Grant Hart, and it was instantly apparent: the guitars were powerful and prominent, the vocals even more so, and the cleaner sound made the hooks stand out even more.

Certain Songs #650: Hüsker Dü – “Makes No Sense At All”

September 15, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Flip Your Wig
Year: 1985

(Mould)

The first single from Flip Your Wig flipped the script.

Until “Makes No Sense At All,” Grant Hart was tagged as the “pop” guy who wrote the big, hooky songs like “Pink Turns to Blue” or “Books About UFOs” while Bob Mould wrote the statement songs like “Whatever” or “Celebrated Summer.”

But “Makes No Sense At All,” which came out a ridiculous six months after New Day Rising, stands as their pure pop pinnacle. Without sacrificing even an iota of their stratospheric roar.