Undeniably, they wrote catchy enough material. However, with a league of weak power pop bands as evidence, hooks- even the occasionally great ones- don’t equal great songs and, in Husker Du’s case, they didn’t gel more often than they did.
The better part of the problem was in the execution, and that can be broken down in a couple of talking points:
 A.)  Bob Mould sounded like a coffeehouse open mic troubadour who’d been handed a distortion pedal, a chorus pedal and a reverb pedal that he’d cranked to their breaking point with no thought to tone or sonic clarity. His guitar sound was as muddy and incoherent as his mumbled, nasal vocal style.
 B.)  Grant Hart was one of the weakest, clumsiest drummers playing a circuit that, at the time, with a couple of notable exceptions, wasn’t known for virtuoso percussionists. To give him some credit, he was a stronger singer than Mould. This perhaps makes him punk rock’s own Karen Carpenter, but it doesn’t make his band great.
Eventually, Husker Du set the trend for doing what every indie band on the wane does, which was sign to a major, in this case Warner.
The results? Well, you kinda can judge an album by its cover, and Candy Apple Grey was about as boring as its cover (shit, as its title) suggests. Warehouse fares a bit better, but it was what it was; a career closer for a band that, by that point, had become college rock also-rans.
Husker Du received a lot of credit for supposedly bringing pop sensibility and tunesmithery to a basement all ages scene that was supposedly lacking. However, between the Adolescents and the Zero Boys, the first wave of American hardcore was never exactly hurting for melody to begin with.
What Husker Did (smirk), with their sloppy jangle, was open that subterranean underbubble up to college radio, and to a handful of the more mainstream rock journalists who looked to college radio for opportunities to appear relevant.
At the end of the day, they were maybe a passable enough pop band filtered through amphetamines and an ungainly lead gain. Their enduring contributions to rock include paving the way for a strain of pop punk that would become increasingly glossy and processed, and the rise of Soul Asylum.
None of this is anything to be proud of. Â Â Â
12 Comments »
Ya know, everyone says Oral Sex’s first two albums were some sort of essential hardcore masterpiece, but really, all they ever did was cop Minor Threat’s schtick and add some blowjob jokes.
Bob Mould sounded like a coffeehouse open mic troubadour who’d been handed a distortion pedal, a chorus pedal and a reverb pedal that he’d cranked to their breaking point with no thought to tone or sonic clarity. His guitar sound was as muddy and incoherent as his mumbled, nasal vocal style.
I fail to see how any of this is bad.
Grant Hart was one of the weakest, clumsiest drummers
No.
No no no wrong. Dude SOUNDED weak on the records because they were badly, quickly recorded. Take a listen to Everything Falls Apart and tell me that guy is weak and clumsy.
You probably will tell me that, actually. But you’ll still be wrong.
thanks Josh I was going to mention that, Spots “production” is alot of what is bad with those records… I have seen bootlegs of HD in there prime and let me tell you Moulds guitar sound would make 1000 whale sized Angus Youngs cry… and he could sing… that Spot sound worked for some bands (Black Flag & the Minutemen) but it didn’t work for the DU…
Yeah, thanks guys…i knew there was something off about that critique of Grant’s drumming, but i couldn’t place it for some reason.
I’ve seen some boots of prime ‘Du as well, and Grant was a fucking monster drummer. Dude, they were known for playing albums front to back in there entirety without stopping. My friend Keith from the Devo 2.0 story saw one of those shows. THAT IS INSANE.
Thanks to this post i am now currently rocking to “I Apologize” from New Day Rising. Can you imagine how those albums would sound had Electrical Audio existed back in the early ’80s? EPIC.
Oliver, didn’t they, ya know, have umlauts in their name? I, like, totally thought it was spelled “Hüsker Dü†or something crazy like that. Anyway, off to pour some Sugar into my stereo and then engage in some overrated oral…
(Uhhhh… just kidding about the latter.)
Hmmm….I Apologize, like Celebrated Summer, off of New Day Rising sound like distorted versions of Let’s Active or Connells or some equally annoying mid-80s jangle pop band. Granted, there’s the title track, Books About UFOs and Terms of Psychic Warfare. Other than that there are the songs that pretty much fit the classic definition of album filler. The good song/jangly song that everybody else likes/ album filler ratio is pretty much the same on most of their output after Land Speed Record. Metal Circus has Diane, Flip Your Wig has Hate Paper Doll and Makes No Sense at All, and that pretty much sums up the classics.
I did notice that, in the rattling off of Metal Circus, New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig, Zen Arcade was conspicuously absent. Why is this? Maybe because you had a hard time making it through that one as well?
I wouldn’t even go so far as to say Warehouse sucked (though I would say that about Candy Apple Grey). However, I think the clarity of sound did maybe highlight their weaknesses as songwriters. Outside of a few easy hooks, there just wasn’t a whole lot there.
For the record, I don’t think oral sex is overrated anymore than I think eating with a knife and fork and holding down some form of gainful employment is overrated. You just don’t get very far in the adult world without it. Given that, I don’t think it requires a great deal of hyperbole. For example, I had one girl announce to me that she was going to give me a blowjob “like there’s no tomorrow.” I guess this meant she was going to take an eternity making a big, complicated production out of something that’s essentially a really simple operation. Eventually I just got bored and cut her off. I wanted to make last call.
Zen Arcade is possibly my favorite Husker release (it’s close between that and New Day Rising). The more hardcore stuff is maybe sorta meh, but “Whatever?” “Turn on the News?” “Something I Learned Today?” So much classic stuff.
It’s Not Funny Anymore = not classic?
F minus minus.
For example, I had one girl announce to me that she was going to give me a blowjob “like there’s no tomorrow.\” I guess this meant she was going to take an eternity making a big, complicated production out of something that’s essentially a really simple operation. Eventually I just got bored and cut her off. I wanted to make last call.
Wow… I bet all the ladies want to Dü you!
Christine gets +2!
hahahahaha christine!
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Comment by tyler — March 6, 2007 @ 10:55 am
This is just taking the piss for the sake of taking the piss. Thank God taste isn’t judged by ability or we’d never had the punk movement - or hell, a psychedelia movement or Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” or the total genius of Mark E. Smith. Husker Du provided something that was much needed during the Reagan administration which was raw emotion. The clumsiness only added to that sentiment because, really, who wants their anger funneled through something polished and shiny? This is why Warehouse and Candy Apple Grey sucked so much… don’t give these guys a good producer who wants a clean sound… don’t fuck with the formula.
I see you didn’t reference Flip Your Wig, New Day Rising or Metal Circus? I suspect it’s because those were brilliant and defining albums and why let that ruin your fun of taking down a band that heavily influenced generations to come and whose music can hold it’s own against most anything you throw at it?
Their early hardcore isn’t my cup of tea and that’s not why I love the Du.
I fully expect your next article to be about how oral sex is overrated.