I Will Never Forget You / What Do I Want? / Data Control / Drug Party / Out On A Limb
A scorching set played to a local audience performed by Husker Du, a band that inspired 100’s of guitar bands later on in the 1980’s, setting the ante with the LP’s ‘Zen Arcade’ and ‘New Day Rising’. Not many bands ever reached the artistic peak of Husker Du, alas many copycat bands way surpassed Husker Du’s commercial heights.
Bob Mould met up with friends Grant Hart and Greg Norton in a Minneapolis Record Store. Realising a common interest in The Ramones, the friends started practising together in 1979, just when U.S. Hardcore was on the cusp of breaking out of the underground into a larger network of venues, fanzines and an increase of released recorded material around all the states of the U.S. Bands like Black Flag, The Dead Kennedy’s, Bad Brains, The Minutemen were the new breed, compared to X, The Avengers, Weirdo’s and the rest of the original 1976/1977 outfits. Husker Du fitted into this era with ease playing just fast enough to be accepted at hardcore gigs, headlining or supporting. What Husker Du also had in the armoury apart from speed was a strong sense of melody, learned from British bands like The Beatles, which was shown on released recordings very early on for the Reflex label from 1980. The band were snapped up by the larger and worldwide distributed S.S.T. Records in 1983. This label released the strongest Husker Du material including ‘Zen Arcade’, one of the top five in the best LP’s ever released catagory (in the Penguin collection at least).
Even during the major label years with Warner Brothers from 1986 to 1987, the material never lost integrity. The last LP released ‘Warehouse Stories’ just before the break up of the band, was an immense rollorcoaster ride of emotions twinned with sugar-sweet melodies cut deep into every groove.
The band disbanded amongst a huge rift between the two main songsmiths (and past lovers) Mould and Hart. Petty jealousies mixed up with far too much brown, copius amounts of sulphate and the suicide of the manager David Savoy, all turned the already sensitive souls that made up Husker Du to breaking point, then to bursting point, then end of the line for all parties.
Bit of a bummer really, could have been bigger than The Clash! Still the Husker Du legacy remains in bands including the mighty R.E.M, The Replacements, Soul Asylum, Pixies and of course Nirvana.
John Serpico
March 20, 2008 at 10:17 pmI saw Husker Du when they toured Britain in 1986. The thing I remember about Bob Mould was watching his eyes rolling backwards into his head as he played, until eventually you couldn’t see his pupils, only the whites of his eyes. Strange, isn’t it, the tiny details you remember about certain gigs? They were supported by a London band called Mighty Ballistics Hi-Power, who are one of those long-lost bands that no-one knows anything about nowadays. There’s a video of one of their songs – ‘Springhill Jack’ – on YouTube but their only album, ‘Here Come The Blues’, is one that I’ve always wanted to hear. I remember John Peel playing a track from it once and him sounding a bit disturbed and at a loss for words at the end of it. I don’t suppose for a moment anyone has a copy of that album to upload? Or indeed if anyone here even knows of the band?
It was Husker Du who made me realise that hardcore punk didn’t have to only deal with ‘social’ or ‘political’ subects. They showed that hardcore could also be a brilliant vehicle for a rainbow of different subject matters. That, to me, was the significance of Husker Du.
Nuzz
March 23, 2008 at 2:38 pmThey were due to support Black Flag when they played in Stevenage in 1984, but didn’t have work permits.
Penguin • Post Author •
March 23, 2008 at 3:02 pmBlack Flag only played for about 10 minutes at that gig until the boneheads kicked them off…
Nuzz
March 24, 2008 at 12:41 pmYep that’s the one, chairs being thrown from what I remember.
ALEXANDER MORGAN RAMIREZ
February 24, 2013 at 1:33 amSuch a very … mature punk band … HUSKER DU! Their in a league of their own!!! P.s. FUCK boneheads …