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Hüsker Dü

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Hüsker Dü concert poster, 1986

Poster for Hüsker Dü concert, featuring Soul Asylum, in Athens, Georgia, 1986. Gift of Karl H. Mueller.

Hüsker Dü was a hardcore punk/alternative rock band that formed in St. Paul and performed and recorded between 1979 and 1987. The Hüskers (as they were called by fans) were a key creative force in the Twin Cities hardcore scene in the early 1980s and became one of the most influential and highly praised American alternative rock bands.

Hüsker Dü formed in St. Paul in 1979 after its three members (Grant Hart, drums and vocals; Greg Norton, bass guitar; and Bob Mould, guitar and vocals) met at Cheapo Records (then located on Grand Avenue and Macalester Street) where Hart worked. Hart and Norton both grew up in the Twin Cities and were previously acquainted. Mould had recently moved to St. Paul to attend Macalester College, and frequented the nearby store.

During its active years, the band was a cornerstone of the vibrant 1980s Minneapolis‒St. Paul hardcore scene. It played live shows at the punk rock venue Jay’s Longhorn Bar (14 South Fifth Street, Minneapolis) and at First Avenue & 7th Street Entry in addition to other local venues, including college and university campuses. Like other groups in the DIY punk and hardcore scene, the band often played makeshift venues in basements, galleries, and rental halls. That same scene supported many other local bands, including the Replacements, Loud Fast Rules/Soul Asylum, and Babes in Toyland.

The group released six records on independent record labels: Land Speed Record, Everything Falls Apart, Metal Circus, Zen Arcade, New Day Rising, and Flip Your Wig. The first three of these established the band’s reputation for short songs and fast playing. The next three records, on the SST label, began to earn the band critical acclaim. The conceptual double album Zen Arcade is noted for both its storyline and its creativity, drawing from multiple musical styles. Flip your Wig marked a move towards power pop and increased the band’s popularity in the mainstream as a college radio mainstay.

The first of the 1980s independent/alternative bands to sign with a major label, Hüsker Dü produced three records with Warner Brothers: Candy Apple Grey, Warehouse: Songs and Stories, and The Living End. The move was precipitated by SST’s inability to effectively distribute the band’s records as they became increasingly popular. The demands of supporting major-label releases and touring schedules are sometimes blamed for breaking up the band. While some fans felt the band had sold out when it moved to Warner, major-label interest in an independent band with punk/hardcore roots represented an early investment in a style of rock—eventually labelled grunge—that became mainstream in the early 1990s.

The band broke up in 1987 while on tour due to discord in the group caused by Hart’s drug use and the suicide of band manager David Savoy immediately before the tour began. Afterward, all three band members went on to new musical projects. Norton’s band Grey Area performed until 1991, when he largely retired from music to pursue a career in the restaurant business in Red Wing (he later played in the group Porcupine). Mould led the band Sugar and performed as a solo artist, recording both rock and electronic dance music.

In the 1990s, Hüsker Dü’s fast playing and musicality continued to influence the most popular rock bands of the era, including the Pixies, Nirvana, the Foo Fighters, Metallica and Green Day.

Two of Hüsker Dü’s members, Hart and Mould, had same-sex relationships while representing their band in venues and subcultures that were often hostile to queer people. Though Mould did not come out officially until 1994, his example paved the way for the more explicitly queer punk of bands like Pansy Division.

Throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, Hart performed with the band Nova Mob and as a solo artist. He died in 2017 of liver cancer and Hepatitis C. His death prompted a new wave of critical praise for Hüsker Dü. Vanyaland critic Zeth Lundy called them “The Beatles of the ‘80s” in an August 2017 review and Paste critic Geoffrey Himes named “Hüsker Dü—Not Nirvana—the Real Kings of Punk’s Second Wave.” Numero Group released Savage Young Dü, a box-set compilation of the band’s early work, in 2017.

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Collins, Cyn. Complicated Fun: The Birth of Minneapolis Punk and Indie Rock, 1974‒1894. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2017.
Dolan, Jon, et al. “40 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time.” Rolling Stone online, April 6, 2016
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/40-greatest-punk-albums-of-all-time-20160406

Earls, Andrew. Hüsker Dü: The Story of the Noise-Pop Pioneers who Launched Modern Rock. Minneapolis: Voyageur Press, 2010.

Fricke, David. “Zen Arcade.” Rolling Stone online, October 1, 2007. Originally printed in Rolling Stone 441 (February 14, 1985).
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/zen-arcade-205974

Himes, Geoffrey. “The Curmudgeon: Why Hüsker Dü—Not Nirvana—Were the Real Kings of Punk's Second Wave.” Paste online, February 20, 2018.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/02/the-curmudgeon-why-husker-du-not-nirvana-were-the.html

“Hüsker Dü: Do You Remember?” Audio blog post. The Current, Minnesota Public Radio, October 30, 2017.
https://www.thecurrent.org/collection/husker-du

Kreps, Daniel. “Grant Hart, Hüsker Dü Drummer and Singer, Dead at 56.” Rolling Stone online, September 14, 2017.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/grant-hart-husker-du-drummer-and-singer-dead-at-56-w501508

Lundy, Zeth. “1987 Week: Why Hüsker Dü Were The Beatles of the ’80s American Alternative Landscape.” Vanyaland.com, August 16, 2017.
http://www.vanyaland.com/2017/08/16/1987-week-why-husker-du-were-the-beatles-of-the-80s-american-alternative-landscape

Matos, Michelangelo. “Review: Hüsker Dü, ‘Savage Young Dü.’” NPR online, September 5, 2017.
https://www.npr.org/2017/09/05/547854997/first-listen-husker-du-savage-young-du

Moran, Ian P. (2010) "Punk: The Do-It-Yourself Subculture." Social Sciences Journal 10, no. 1 (2010): 58‒65.
http://repository.wcsu.edu/ssj/vol10/iss1/13

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Turning Point

After touring extensively throughout the United States within a punk DIY (Do it Yourself) network of other punk rock bands that hosted fellow touring bands and helped get bookings, Hüsker Dü signs with the Southern California independent record label SST in 1983. The label goes on to release the band’s most critically acclaimed albums: Metal Circus, Zen Arcade, New Day Rising, and Flip Your Wig.

Chronology

1979

Grant Hart, Bob Mould, and Greg Norton form Hüsker Dü after meeting at Cheapo Records in St. Paul.

1979

Hüsker Dü performs at Jay’s Longhorn Bar for the first time.

1981

Hüsker Dü releases singles on Reflex Records, the band’s own label.

1982

Hüsker Dü’s first album, Land Speed Record, recorded live at First Avenue, is released on New Alliance/Enigma Records, the label of Minutemen bassist Mike Watt. The record was later re-released by SST.

1983

Hüsker Dü’s first studio album, Everything Falls Apart, is released on Reflex Records.

1983

The EP Metal Circus is released on SST. Hüsker Dü becomes the first band outside California to sign with SST.

1984

The double album Zen Arcade is released on SST. Zen Arcade would become Hüsker Dü’s most critically acclaimed album, included on several critics’ top-ten lists for the year and later on several best-albums lists for the 1980s.

1985

New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig are released on SST. 1985 Hüsker Dü signs with Warner Brothers.

1986

Candy Apple Grey is released on Warner Brothers.

1987

The double album Warehouse: Songs and Stories is released on Warner Brothers.

1987

Band manager David Savoy commits suicide; Mould takes over band management.

1987

Hüsker Dü breaks up on tour in Columbia, Missouri, and cancels future dates.

2004

Hart and Mould reunite in a live show, a benefit for Soul Asylum bassist Karl Mueller.

2017

Grant Hart dies.