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One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Fight them, without becoming them!

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We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

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People are weird.

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Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

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The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

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Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

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You are here: Home / Music / Song of the week

Song of the week

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There is no way “Timothy” will ever be topped as the greatest song of the week evah, but JPK will try (also too, I am more of a Candy Apple Grey person)….

Hüsker Dü, “Pink Turns to Blue” (1984)
I suspect I’m in the minority on this now, but I still count the best Hüsker Dü (and hey, I went to a lot of trouble to get those umlauts right) as the big double-LP concept album this comes from (Zen Arcade) and the two EPs that preceded it (“Everything Falls Apart” and “Metal Circus”). Something alchemical was going on during that period of approximately 1982-1984. I was living in Minneapolis at the time and fortunate enough to watch it happen. The shows transformed virtually overnight from exhausting abrasive assaults to exhausting abrasive assaults with grace. I haven’t seen much else like it ever. And as if it weren’t enough to sweeten the hardcore attack with pop melody (Grant Hart managed it slightly better than Bob Mould, hence this pick), they went ahead and included a 14-minute workout. Dare I say, hippie style? Good grief, is nothing sacred?

Stretching out: “Reoccurring Dreams”
More stuff at Can’t Explain.

Reader Interactions

70Comments

  6. 6.

    Turgidson

    New Day Rising and Warehouse – Songs and Stories are my favs, but Zen Arcade is no slouch. Just a bit much to get through most of the time.

  10. 10.

    gbear

    My favorite Husker Du song will always be Diane, from Metal Circus.

    I lived in the same St. Paul neighborhood that they lived in, and I can remember running into Grant now and then at Cheapo Records – one of those times he was telling me about the great version of Eight Miles High they’d just recorded. He wasn’t modest about the band at all.

    DougJ, you lived in Minneapolis then? Did you ever see a band called Fine Art? Husker Du opened for them a couple of times when they first started out.

  11. 11.

    arguingwithsignposts

    BTW, was Bob Mould the first “hardcore” lead singer to come out? I thought Greg Norton’s Village People mustache was a giveaway.

  12. 12.

    JPK

    @gbear: I remember Fine Art, and I know I saw them at least once, but honest to God, I don’t remember much about them.

    P.S. I am not DougJ!

  13. 13.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @gbear:

    There is no way “Timothy” will ever be topped as the greatest song of the week evah, but JPK will try (also too, I am more of a Candy Apple Grey person)….

    DougJ is just posting this for someone else.

  17. 17.

    gbear

    @JPK: Thanks for the clarification. I wasn’t sure if it was you or DougJ.

    Fine Art was two female singers, one crunchy guitar and one spacy guitar, bass and drums. Really emo lyrics. Everybody used to say the drummer looked ‘just like the drummer in Cheap Trick!!’

  19. 19.

    Jager

    My favorite TC bar during that time period, Doug, was the Cabooze. Saw some good locals, a few major blues acts and more than a few worn out old rockers.

  21. 21.

    Jay B.

    JPK,

    What floors me about Husker Du is how insanely ahead of their time they sound. Spot fucked up the sound of New Day Rising (Terms of Psychic Warfare is the greatest hate fuck song of all time, except, maybe, Positively 4th St.), but that’s a titanic record with songs that burn (but infectiously), I like Zen Arcade less, but it’s no less an achievement. And even though Flip Your Wig sounds like it was recorded underwater, Green Eyes is a stunner (along with plenty of others). And they are still surviving somehow, despite near total iKindleFUCK blackout — hell, Mould’s getting a tribute night at the Disney Concert Hall in LA somehow.

    The only record in the last 20 years (30?! Holy shit) that comes close to it is Fucked Up’s David Comes to Life released this year. It’s unreal, if difficult. I think Husker fans will respect it or possibly even love it.

  22. 22.

    Jager

    And another thing, what was the name of the kick ass rock-a-billy trio working in the Twin Cities at the time?

  23. 23.

    JPK

    @Jager: The best Replacements show I ever saw was at the Cabooze — they played until nearly 2, with the house lights full on and the bartenders pissed off. I also saw James Brown there in ’79 — one of the best shows I ever saw.

  26. 26.

    gbear

    @Jager:

    Safety Last? They were a cool rockabilly band. Gary Louris (later of The Jayhawks) was their guitarist, but everyone in the band was just as good a player.

  27. 27.

    Seonachan

    My vote is for Warehouse – if the vote is for their worst album (no offense, it’s all subjective, etc. etc.). My friend and I bought tickets, before Warehouse was released, to see them at the Orpheum in Boston. We got the album when it came out and both hated it, and then the show turned out to be every song from Warehouse, in order. We gave up and just started shouting for The Baby Song after each song. A guy behind us started yelling “Zen Arcade!” My friend turns around and says “That’s not a song!” “Yeah, but it’s better than this shit!”

    Only good part of the show was the opening acts – Christmas and The Feelies.

  30. 30.

    Jager

    An old friend’s son Chad Hanks is in a TC band called American Head Charge. They kick serious ass.

  32. 32.

    gbear

    I used to see a lot of shows at Duffy’s. The owner was a prick, but the music was always good. I saw UB40 play there long before they had any hits. The Pistons were one of the bands I liked going to see. Very basic but with tons of drive.

    I saw Nico play there too. Just her and a harmonium. She had a total meltdown and had to quit playing.

  33. 33.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Jay B.: The drummer for Nirvana whose name I should remember said they were heavily influenced by the Minneapolis sound, specifically calling out Husker and the ‘Mats.

    So you can blame them for that.

  34. 34.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @burnspbesq:
    Dave Grohl, special guest
    Ben Gibbard, special guest
    Ryan Adams, special guest
    No Age, special guest
    Best Coast, special guest
    Craig Finn and Tad Kubler, special guest
    Margaret Cho, special guest
    Grant-Lee Phillips, special guest

    impressive.

    Not enough for me to fly to LA impressive, but still.

  36. 36.

    burnspbesq

    Husker Du and Bob Mould are a big change from what I was listening to in the car on the way home: “All We Are Saying,” Bill Frisell’s new album of John Lennon songs, with Greg Leisz and Jenny Scheinman. Really, really good.

    Still haven’t had a chance to sit down and listen to “The Goat Rodeo Sessions.” Maybe later tonight.

  37. 37.

    MCA

    Dude, I’m jealous. That was a great time to be in Minne. I was there but born in ’73, so I pretty much missed that golden time of Husker Du, the Replacements, and the Suburbs all peaking at the same time Prince ruled the world. I was old enough to care when the Jayhawks and Honeydogs and others picked up the thread, but I never really appreciated Mould and HD until Copper Blue came out and I went backwards from there, since Husker Du broke up before I even hit high school.

  38. 38.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    @gbear: Why? I haven’t read it.

    Huge Hüsker Dü and Mould fan and even owned, at one time, Grant Hart’s next band’s album, Nova Mob. 2541 (Grant solo), later covered by Marshall Crenshaw is a great song. But then so is Black Sheets of Rain.

  39. 39.

    xian

    Pink Turns to Blue has real staying power. Totally agree about that era of HD, without whom not the Pixies (imho, not to overlook Pere Ubu as an ur-source).

    Earlier bands layered sweetness on top of noise but HD made the beauty out of the noise. They made the noise dance.

  40. 40.

    Judas Escargot

    Agreed that 82-85 was a golden era for local music scenes. There was this cultural sweet spot, where different cities could still maintain different music cultures, but indy/college radio was established enough that you didn’t have to actually live in a city to hear those other bands, if you looked hard enough.

    I was a junior in HS in 84, and a girl (it always seems to be a girl) gave me a third-generation tape of Zen Arcade. I of course proceeded to try and learn the guitar parts to impress her. (The girl, also of course, ended up dating someone else, but I got to keep the guitar licks so I suppose it all evened out in the long run).

    Around here we had the various Ace of Hearts bands (Birdsongs of the Mesozoic/Mission of Burma, The Neats, the Neighborhoods). Later on got O-positive, the Pixies, Throwing Muses… Sweet youth.

    IMO, one of the downsides of early-90s grunge is that while all those sounds went ‘national’ (courtesy of MTV), giving us a decade of great music, all those local scenes seem to have disappeared. The decline of independent radio during the same time period didn’t help matters.

    Nirvana was like a forest fire: It raged across the country, but it also burned away anything else in its path.

  41. 41.

    gbear

    @Comrade Javamanphil: Mostly because, in the final analysis, everything that goes bad in his life always seems to be instigated by someone else (especially ex-boyfriends and bandmates). He also does a pretty good job of making his own life sound unexciting. Once he finally decides to ‘come out’ professionally, he falls in with all of the most tired chiches of ‘the gay lifestyle’ (I’m gay too and found myself cringing at some of the stuff he wrote). The first half of the book is kind of interesting but even there he’s an absolute total dick to Greg Norton.

  43. 43.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    @gbear: Ah. Thanks. I think I’ll still put it on my list to read once I get done re-reading Game of Thrones. As a Todd Rundgren fan I learned long ago it is best to separate your love of an artists work from the artist themselves.

  44. 44.

    MagicPanda

    Good to know that someone appreciates grant hart over bob mould’s maudlin whining.

    Btw, why no love for candy apple gray on this thread?

  45. 45.

    Lab Rat

    I was in the Twin Cities then too–high school grad in 1983. The music was amazing. Triple bills with Husker Du, Replacements, and The Suburbs for $4.00!

    As for their best album, New Day holds a slight lead over Zen…sometimes. And whether you like Candy or not (I do) no other band has ever had a stretch of releases like New Day, Flip, and Candy in 15 months. The sheer quantity of talent in those guys at that time was amazing to behold. I’d walk (barely) out of one of their shows feeling run over, but really happy about it.

    Flexible Flyer and Celebrated Summer are their two best songs btw.

  46. 46.

    bottyguy

    I’m sticking with the Replacements as the best Twin Cities band of the late eighties. Also too this Paul Westerberg San Diego show looked crazy. Now I’m going to get my 12 year old daughter to play the drums on “Can’t Hardly Wait” while I sing an play guitar.

  47. 47.

    burnspbesq

    @Lab Rat:

    “no other band has ever had a stretch of releases like New Day, Flip, and Candy in 15 months.”

    Umm … Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night. Also, Workin/Steaming/Relaxin with the Miles Davis Quintet. Giant Steps, Coltrane Jazz, My Favorite Things. The entire Berlin Philharmonic/Von Karajan Beethoven symphony cycle.

  48. 48.

    Rock

    “Can’t Hardly Wait” is my favorite Replacements song…definitely evokes a certain place and time. If we want to delve into obscure TC bands, I also liked Tommy Stinson’s post-Mats band Bash n’ Pop….only released one CD as far as I know but they were great when I saw them live.

  51. 51.

    gbear

    @Rock: Chris Mars’ first solo album ‘Horseshoes and Handgrenades’ was really great too. I like it better than any of Westerberg’s solo albums.

  52. 52.

    p.a.

    one must keep Hootenanny (and The Sun Sessions) segregated from other cd’s- the energy they contain melts neaby inferior product.

  53. 53.

    JPK

    @gbear: I saw that Nico show too! One of the saddest things I’ve ever seen. Duffy’s brought in a lot of great acts but there was always kind of a bad vibe about the place.

  54. 54.

    Dollared

    @Lab Rat: I may have seen that triple bill, although I was older and a very loyal ‘Burbs fan, and while I saw the Replacements and Husker Du, I was just disconnected enough that it didn’t click for me.

  55. 55.

    Dollared

    @Jager: David Lindley and El Rayo X at the Cabooze, 1986. One of my Ten Best All Time. And John Lee Hooker, about a dozen times.

  56. 56.

    Dollared

    @gbear: Yes, Safety Last. They were good, and I can’t tell you how many times I walked by Jayhawks gigs on my way to someplace else, without ever looking in.

  59. 59.

    burnspbesq

    @Dollared:

    There are a couple of others I could have thrown in, but it would have been overkill. The three volumes of Beethoven violin sonatas by Alina Ibragimova and Cedric Thibergien that came out between early 2010 and the spring of 2011 are the best versions of that work I’ve ever heard. All recorded live at Wigmore Hall in London.

    And I didn’t have time to check the release dates of England’s Newest Hit Makers, The Rolling Stones Now, and 12×5.

  60. 60.

    burnspbesq

    One last thing before I check out for the evening.

    Any discussion of great Replacements songs that doesn’t include “Alex Chilton” and “We’ll Inherit the Earth” is kinda not worth having.

  61. 61.

    dollared

    @burnspbesq: Completely agreed. Moment in life: I was somewhere in 7 Corners, Minneapolis, with a friend from Virginia who just happened to be a first cousin of Alex Chilton, when we first heard/saw the Replacements do “Alex Chilton.” The look of confusion/discovery/delight/who do I tell/what does it matter? on his face was priceless. We listened to two more songs and left. What does it matter? Oh, and there were perhaps two women in the entire bar, so why stay? Oh to be 27 again.

  63. 63.

    Djur

    @arguingwithsignposts: Greg Norton isn’t gay. Hart and Mould were, but the guy with the big handlebar moustache: straight.

    Zen Arcade is amazing, my favorite by the Huskers. “Pink Turns To Blue” and “Chartered Trips” are probably my two favorite tracks on the album, so good on you. And Zen Arcade is directly responsible for Double Nickels On The Dime, one of a handful of albums eligible for being called the best album ever recorded.

  64. 64.

    arguingwithsignposts

    Thanks for those who cleared up the “out” question. I lived in Texas during the Big Boys’ heyday. Had no idea Biscuit was gay. Come to think of it, nobody in my fellow travelers ever really discussed the general topic at all.

  65. 65.

    Skip Intro

    The Husker love in this thread has totally made my weekend. New Day Rising, Flip Your Wig, & Warehouse forever!

  66. 66.

    gbear

    @arguingwithsignposts: The mid 80’s was still a bit early to be out and assume it would be OK. The keyboard player from Mpls band The Flamin’ Ohs, Joseph Behrand, was beat to death with his own guitar and it was always rumoured that it was because of his homosexuality. The murder is still unsolved.

  67. 67.

    dollared

    @gbear: I never knew that. Poor Flamin Ohs and Suburbs – in my time they both seemed bigger in the Twin Cities than Husker Du and the Replacements, perhaps because their members were generally more sane. But no legacy, no undying love from college radio listeners 30 years later….such is rock n roll.

    GBear, perhaps you could do the Flamin Ohs Wikipedia article. At this point it’s an empty stub off the TwinTone Records article.

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