Published on Aug 3, 1998
What is punk? Is it the free-form anger that the Sex Pistols
embodied? Is it the “do-it-yourself” attitude that other groups
promoted?
Or, in the case of Minneapolis’s Husker Du, is it a group of
three musicians looking at the state of rock and declaring over the
course of 23 songs that musical boundaries were meant to be broken?
On what could be their best-known album
Zen Arcade, the latter seems to be the case — and even
though the sound is sometimes painfully raw, the result is one of
the more enjoyable punk albums ever released.
I first bought this album when I was in college. I don’t
remember exactly why I bought it, or what I was looking to
discover. I think it was that I had recently discovered the joys of
Black Flag (who will eventually make it onto the pages of “The
Daily Vault”), and I was interested in discovering some of the
other artists on the SST roster. I seem to remember reading a lot
of positive things about Husker Du and
Zen Arcade, and decided to drop the $12 for the tape and
give it a spin. What I heard was an awakening in my head.
Behind the drum kit sat Grant Hart, a solid skin player who was
a romantic at heart, as well as a decent vocalist and songwriter in
his own right. Fronting the group was guitarist’vocalist Bob Mould,
who often sounds like he’s about to blow out his vocal chords and
treats some songs as the last opportunity he’s going to have to hit
the take. Add to that orgasmic guitar solos filled with feedback,
and you have one of the most unsung guitar heroes of the ’80s.
Taking all of this in while almost remaining hidden in the shadows
was bassist Greg Norton, who decides to express himself by
supplying Husker Du with a solid rhythm backbone.
The songs on
Zen Arcade were recorded in one marathon studio session –
and sometimes, when you’re being hit with guitar distortion from
hell and undecipherable vocals being screamed into your ears, you
might find yourself wishing that a little more time and TLC had
been put into this album. It’s not that the rough edges are bad,
it’s just that an album filled with them gets to be overkill.
From the opening build of drums to bass to guitar on “Something
I Learned Today,” Husker Du is out to capture the rawest emotion in
music – spontaneity. The power of the performance was all that
mattered; everything else would fall into line. Songs like “I Will
Never Forget You” and “Beyond The Threshold” might be vocally
blurry except for the choruses, and to Husker Du, this is okay.
(Songs featuring Hart’s vocals, on the contrary, are much more
clear in the vocal department.)
In a sense, I do wish that Mould had made the vocals a little
clearer on
Zen Arcade; while adrenalin carries me to a certain point in
the album, I eventually become a little lost in the sonic barrage.
Tracks like “Masochism World” and “Somewhere” demonstrate the more
positive side of Mould’s vocals (something he would make the
definitive statement with on
Candy Apple Grey‘s “Too Far Down”).
Instrumentally, Husker Du makes some bold statements, especially
with the album’s closer “Recurring Dreams,” the last-effort charge
on your central nervous system which demonstrates the amazing
talent each member of the band has. However, the drug-trip
nightmare “The Tooth Fairy And The Princess” is one cut I love
avoiding.
In one sense, I really shouldn’t be too critical of Husker Du;
they had already come a long way from their
Land Speed Record release, which seemed to combine punk and
speed metal in a way I never thought possible (the tape is barely
listenable, though it’s been a few years since I dusted it off).
Zen Arcade was their clearest release to this point in their
career, although their days as an independent act were quickly
coming to a close.
Zen Arcade is still the album I would suggest people who
want to get into Husker Du pick up first (followed closely by
Candy Apple Grey – I’d rather they not hear the polished
version first). It sometimes is a lot to take in during one
sitting, but if you have the strength to do so, it’s a journey
worth taking, potholes and all.