Re: Husker Du

[greg@mind.UUCP (Greg Nowak)]

> [From Sue Trowbridge:]

> Your posting was completely worthless and utterly rude. It was
> just mindless flaming from somebody who obviously have no conception
> of what Husker Du are about. Grant Hart and Bob Mould write very
> sophisticated, often very catchy pop songs and then make their music
> subversive by playing as noisily and grungily as possible. Ac

They USED to...  Not any more.

> "Warehouse: Songs and Stories" is much slicker than, say, the primal
> "Land Speed Record." You can't call them punk, but that's obviously
> where their roots are.

Slicker, yes. I agree, you can't call them punk. Frankly, I think they
should be embarassed. The new stuff has no bite. not engaging.

> "Aw, heck," you might say. "Who wants to listen to that NOISE anyway?"

I WANT NOISE! But as far as I'm concerned, I saw them on 3/27, and
now they sound about as primal as Joy Division.

> [These bands] are easy to ignore unless you listen to college radio
> (I'm surprised that Joanie had the Huskers on her show, but I
> suppose it's because somebody at Warner Bros. pulled a few strings).

No Shit! The WB influence was obvious at the show. There we were,
wanting to slam, and they purposely cranked down Flexible Flyer to
about 1/3 speed to chill us out. Even the band didn't look like they
were having fun playing the new stuff... WB had a "Full Color Husker Du
picture Book " on sale (need I say more?) and there was a *stage set*
with big white columns and risers ... no longer punk, indeed...

> So I'm sorry that you had one nasty little encounter with Husker Du,
> but you can go back to your safe little cocoon now and avoid the
> unsettling sounds of our "alternative" music. But you can't avoid
> discussion of it if you are a Rec.music.gaffa reader.

For the record, I'm in training as a DJ for WPRB here in Princeton, a
pretty respectable alternative station ... I'm not all-hardcore, I'll
listen to the whole playlist -- but the Huskers just don't do it anymore.
WB has decided they have mainstream potential, and they're being
mainstreamed.

Unsettling doesn't have to be hard -- Colin Newman's "feigned Hearing" and
Billy Bragg's stuff come instantly to mind -- But the Huskers are now more
settling than un-.

I didn't catch the original posting you were disagreeing with -- so don't
imply that I'm agreeing with anyone who was rude -- but I do think
that Husker Du took a BIG step down with Warehouse.

Greg