SST Records turned out some of the most enduring and meaningful, not mention influential albums of the 1980s and early 90s. One of those bands, who started life as a hardcore band, but would go on to probably be a much bigger influence on 90s college/alternative rock, was Husker Du from Minneapolis. Husker Du was a power trio featuring a guitarist/singer and a drummer/singer who both had very distinct song writing styles that gave later albums a perfect balance between pop melodicism and musical hardcore. Bob Mould, the guitarist, would go on to form the college rock band Sugar, not to mention a distinguished solo career and drummer Grant Hart would work as a solo artist first, before forming the group Nova Mob, and later return to recording under his own name. Bassist/vocalist Greg Norton had far fewer writing credits with the band, but his contributions as a bass player are irreplaceable. The man was a great player whether we're talking the frantic early hardcore albums or the later melodic albums. He's often overshadowed by Mould and Hart, but Husker Du worked because of what the three men individually brought to the table.
In 1983, the band released an EP that would be an important turning point in their style. In a way, Metal Circus is abit like the Husker's Damaged, in that the A side is rooted in that propulsive hardcore of Everything Falls Apart, but points the melodic future of albums like New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig on the B side. It was certainly a strong warm up for the next album, the double LP Zen Arcade, which is certainly an all time top ten album, at least for me.
I was already obsessed with Black Flag and on the look out for any album with the SST logo. Metal Circus wound up being my first Huskers album. I found a copy on vinyl and, having already been familiar with Sugar, was very surprised that this sounded nothing like that. Mould is raging on the opening tracks, "Real World" and "Deadly Skies," before Hart injects a bit of pop in there with "It's Not Funny Anymore." I don't know how this played with fans in '83, but when I heard it around '94 it sounded like what everyone was ripping off at the time. Nirvana was a revelation for my generation, then we all went out and discovered the Huskers, Pixies, Meat Puppets, and the Minutemen and said "ah ha!" At any rate, Robert Christgau, at the Village Voice, gave the album a well deserved A, but he loses credibility with me for calling side B of My War a waste of time.
Side B of Metal Circus opens with Mould's "Lifeline," which gives no quarter in pace or aggression, then comes the biggest song on the album, "Diane," which has been covered by a few other bands, including Coffin Break, Therapy?, and Superdrag. It's a pulsing, mid-tempo Hart song about the tragic and horrific, real life rape and murder of St Paul waitress, Diane Edwards. The song has a bit of a SST era Sonic Youth feel to it, at least that's what I think of when I hear, but those albums were a couple years away at this point. That year, Sonic Youth released their debut album, Confusion is Sex and then would go on to release much better albums from then on. The album closer, "Out on a Limb," is probably the most SST sounding track on the album, less straight forward, slower, but with a frenetic jazz/metal guitar that sounds like Mould trying to dual with Greg Ginn. The song doesn't really go anywhere, but it's a good enough closer for an album that clocks in at less than 19 minutes.
Husker Du broke up after their second major label album, Warehouse; Songs and Stories, which I've never really been into. I thought their previous album, Candy Apple Gray was much stronger as was the post-humous live album, The Living End, even if it did include a regrettable cover of "Sheen is a Punk Rocker." I never really cared enough to find out what went wrong with Huskers, but I remember back when many other SST bands were suing to get their albums off the label, the Huskers never did, because Mould and Hart couldn't be in the same room long enough to get it done, although they did appear on stage together once before Hart died in 2017.
In 1983, the band released an EP that would be an important turning point in their style. In a way, Metal Circus is abit like the Husker's Damaged, in that the A side is rooted in that propulsive hardcore of Everything Falls Apart, but points the melodic future of albums like New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig on the B side. It was certainly a strong warm up for the next album, the double LP Zen Arcade, which is certainly an all time top ten album, at least for me.
I was already obsessed with Black Flag and on the look out for any album with the SST logo. Metal Circus wound up being my first Huskers album. I found a copy on vinyl and, having already been familiar with Sugar, was very surprised that this sounded nothing like that. Mould is raging on the opening tracks, "Real World" and "Deadly Skies," before Hart injects a bit of pop in there with "It's Not Funny Anymore." I don't know how this played with fans in '83, but when I heard it around '94 it sounded like what everyone was ripping off at the time. Nirvana was a revelation for my generation, then we all went out and discovered the Huskers, Pixies, Meat Puppets, and the Minutemen and said "ah ha!" At any rate, Robert Christgau, at the Village Voice, gave the album a well deserved A, but he loses credibility with me for calling side B of My War a waste of time.
Side B of Metal Circus opens with Mould's "Lifeline," which gives no quarter in pace or aggression, then comes the biggest song on the album, "Diane," which has been covered by a few other bands, including Coffin Break, Therapy?, and Superdrag. It's a pulsing, mid-tempo Hart song about the tragic and horrific, real life rape and murder of St Paul waitress, Diane Edwards. The song has a bit of a SST era Sonic Youth feel to it, at least that's what I think of when I hear, but those albums were a couple years away at this point. That year, Sonic Youth released their debut album, Confusion is Sex and then would go on to release much better albums from then on. The album closer, "Out on a Limb," is probably the most SST sounding track on the album, less straight forward, slower, but with a frenetic jazz/metal guitar that sounds like Mould trying to dual with Greg Ginn. The song doesn't really go anywhere, but it's a good enough closer for an album that clocks in at less than 19 minutes.
Husker Du broke up after their second major label album, Warehouse; Songs and Stories, which I've never really been into. I thought their previous album, Candy Apple Gray was much stronger as was the post-humous live album, The Living End, even if it did include a regrettable cover of "Sheen is a Punk Rocker." I never really cared enough to find out what went wrong with Huskers, but I remember back when many other SST bands were suing to get their albums off the label, the Huskers never did, because Mould and Hart couldn't be in the same room long enough to get it done, although they did appear on stage together once before Hart died in 2017.
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