Husker Du

Certain Songs #664: Hüsker Dü – “Up in The Air”

September 29, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Year: 1987

(Mould)

With the happy exception of Drive-by Truckers (who have a new album coming out tomorrow!) (that I’m not going to get to buy for a week cos I’m on vacation in Maui) (yeah, I know, poor me), bands with multiple front men tend to dissolve into acrimonious competition.

And so, as it went with The Beatles and The Eagles before them, and Uncle Tupelo and Pixies after them, the competition between Bob Mould and Grant Hart proved too much, and Warehouse: Songs and Stories — the only album of theirs that I think had a clear winner — proved to be the final Hüsker Dü record.

Certain Songs #663: Hüsker Dü – “She’s A Woman (And Now He is a Man)”

September 28, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Year: 1987

(Hart)

In the spring and summer of 1987, I was probably as removed knowing what was on the TV as I’ve ever been in my entire life.

Outside of the ritual of taping Late Night With David Letterman — always Dave — I doubt that I watched anything else during that time, which was spent primarily in an apartment in the Tower District with my girlfriend, our roommate, and whichever of our circle of friends happened to come over and hang out.

So I had no idea that Hüsker Dü had been interviewed on The Late Show With Joan Rivers in April of that year. As a matter of fact, I had no idea for at least a couple of decades, when I came across it on YouTube.

Certain Songs #662: Hüsker Dü – “No Reservations”

September 27, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Year: 1987

(Mould)

Perhaps the prettiest song in Hüsker Dü’s catalog, the glorious “No Reservations” closes out side three of Warehouse: Songs and Stories with neither a whimper or a bang, but rather a long, extended sigh.

And nearly all of that sigh belongs to (let’s assume) Greg Norton’s bass, which intros the the song with a short, backwards fade in, followed immediately by a contemplative drum beat and shimmering guitar accompanying Bob Mould’s first verse:
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #662: Hüsker Dü – “No Reservations”

Certain Songs #661: Hüsker Dü – “Actual Condition”

September 26, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Year: 1987

(Hart)

In a dynamite bit of sequencing, Hüsker Dü sandwiched this uptempo coulda been rockabilly if they’d taken more time romp between two of Bob Mould’s more contemplative songs, as a seeming burst of light in the overall darkness.

And to be sure, the overall musical tone of “Actual Condition” is playful and fun, with background “ahhhs” floating throughout the verses and shout of “my soul” leading into the first guitar solo.

Certain Songs #660: Hüsker Dü – “It’s Not Peculiar”

September 25, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Year: 1987

(Mould)

While I totally get that Zen Arcade is the landmark that will forever show up on “best of” lists from various publications, that New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig are probably the favorites of anybody who was there at the time and the experimentation of Candy Apple Grey has its adherents, my favorite Hüsker Dü album has always been Warehouse: Songs And Stories.

I realize that’s probably the least popular album among anybody who purports to like them as much as I purport to like them — and I’m hoping that spending a month writing about them fully establishes my bona fides as a big fan — I love the utter generosity and ridiculous consistency Warehouse shows from start to finish.

Certain Songs #659: Hüsker Dü – “Ice Cold Ice”

September 24, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Year: 1987

(Mould)

In the early spring of 1987, I lived in a loft in Clovis that was five minutes away from Video Zone. That meant that I could wake up at 7:30 and be at the store by 8:00 to open it up and start checking in and shelving the overnight returns in time for the store to open at 9:00.

And since I was the supervisor for that early shift, it meant that I could put the tape I made of Warehouse: Songs and Stories in the boombox in my office and blast it while we got the store ready to go.

Certain Songs #658: Hüsker Dü – “These Important Years”

September 23, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Year: 1987

(Mould)

After Candy Apple Grey, there was almost an interminable wait for the next Hüsker Dü record. The 10 months we had to wait for Warehouse: Songs and Stories was actually the longest time between new Hüsker Dü albums since the year between Land Speed Record and Everything Falls Apart back in 1982-1983.

And with the appearance of the double-album Warehouse: Songs and Stories in January, 1987, Hüsker Dü capped off one of the greatest bursts of creativity in rock ‘n’ roll history: seven albums worth of material — A to A+ material, to boot! — in 30 months. July 1984 – January 1987.

Certain Songs #657: Hüsker Dü – “All Work And No Play”

September 22, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Don’t Want To Know if You Are Lonely EP
Year: 1986

(Mould)

In the long, hot summer of 1986 there were two 60-minute tapes (Maxell XL-II, naturally) that dominated the car stereo of my gold Toyota Corolla hatchback. One was my dub of Blood on The Tracks to which I appended the Biograph outtake “Up To Me”.

And the other was Candy Apple Grey, to which I appended the massive, monster b-side “All Work and No Play.”

Certain Songs #655: Hüsker Dü – “Hardly Getting Over It”

September 20, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Candy Apple Grey
Year: 1986

(Mould)

At some point in late 1985, I got a new car. Well, not a “new” car, exactly: it was a slightly used gold Toyota Corolla hatchback, and it was the only car I ever put a bumpersticker of a band on.

The band, of course, was Hüsker Dü, and I don’t remember where I got the bumpersticker from, but I was damn happy to have it on my car.

Certain Songs #654: Hüsker Dü – “Sorry Somehow”

September 19, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Candy Apple Grey
Year: 1986

(Hart)

Sell out!!

Following The Replacements but beating R.E.M. in the “selling out to a major label” sweepstakes, Hüsker Dü released Candy Apple Grey on Warner Bros just six months after Flip Your Wig, their fourth album in less than two years.

Of course, the whole major vs. indie thing is a load of horseshit: loads and loads of uncompromising music had been made for the majors long before the indies became a viable career alternative. It all depended on the artist. Still does, as far as I can tell.

As so as far as I could tell then — or now, for that matter — Candy Apple Grey was the record Hüsker Dü would have made for SST had they stayed with SST, reflecting their continued growth as both songwriters and record-makers.