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Hüsker Dü
American punk rock band (1979–1988)
Hüsker Dü was an American punk rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1979. The band's continuous members were guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart.
They first gained notability as a hardcore punk band, and later crossed over into alternative rock. Mould and Hart were the band's principal songwriters, with Hart's higher-pitched vocals and Mould's baritone taking the lead in alternating songs.
labels: New Alliance Records, SST Records, Warner Bros. Records, Alternative Tentacles
genres: alternative rock, hardcore punk, post-hardcore
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
alternative rockhardcore punkgratuitous heavy metal umlautpost-hardcorepunkrock
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Formation and early years (1979–1980)
The members of Hüsker Dü first met in the fall of 1978. At the time, Mould was a freshman at Macalester College in Saint Paul and frequented nearby Cheapo Records, a Saint Paul record store where Hart was a sales clerk. Hart and Norton had originally met while applying for the same job, which Norton eventually got. Hart and Mould bonded over a shared love of the Ramones. According to an interview with Mould by Terry Katzman in City Pages in 1980, Mould, Hart and Norton first met in person at a concert featuring the Ramones and Foreigner, and quickly became friends. Soon after, they enlisted Mould and keyboardist Charlie Pine to form a band. They began gigging, playing mostly cover songs, some classic rock, and punk rock such as the Ramones...
The band released the "Statues" single on their own Reflex Records in January 1981. Playing a show in Chicago brought them to the attention of Black Flag. When Hüsker Dü were ready to release their first album Land Speed Record, Black Flag's label, SST, was not able to release it at that time and pointed them to the Minutemen who did release it and the 7-inch EP "In a Free Land" on their label New Alliance Records. The band was hoping to release their next record, the mini album Everything Falls Apart, on SST, but the label still wasn't in the position to do so and they ended up putting it out on Reflex. SST was finally able to release their next record, the Metal Circus EP, in 1983.
Hüsker Dü started as a hardcore punk band. Huw Baines of Guitar.com said: "If there's one word that describes Hüsker Dü it's speed." While the band included some slower material earlier in its career, Hüsker Dü developed a fast repertoire as a result of having less time to play while billed as an opening act, and to antagonize their audience when it headlined shows. "[T]here was a point where we were, like, 'Let's see how fast we can play,'" Norton recalled. "I guess we were just trying to blow people away." Hüsker Dü was particularly influenced by punk bands like D.O.A., Dead Kennedys, and The Fartz after seeing them play. NME journalist Andy Gill contended that Hüsker Dü's characteristic sound crystalized on the Metal Circus EP,...
Hüsker Dü is widely regarded as one of the key bands to emerge from the 1980s American indie scene. Music writer Michael Azerrad asserted in his 2001 book Our Band Could Be Your Life that Hüsker Dü was the key link between hardcore punk and the more melodic, diverse music of college rock that emerged. Azerrad wrote, "Hüsker Dü played a huge role in convincing the underground that melody and punk rock weren't antithetical." According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said the band laid the groundwork for the "roaring punk-pop" that achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s, explaining, "Not only did they shape the sound of the music, they shaped the way independent bands made the transition to the major labels; they showed other...
Punk/hardcore trio who were formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, in January 1979. Hüsker Dü (which means "Do you remember" in Danish and Norwegian, but is actually spelt without diaereses) mixed pop and punk music and consisted of guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart. They started out as a punk band before gravitating toward hardcore, then expanding into more melodic songs.
After releasing seven albums, Hüsker Dü split in January 1988 due to the growing tensions between Mould and Hart (the two main songwriters in the band), Hart's alcohol and drug problems, and the suicide of the band's manager, David Savoy Jr.
Mould went on to form Sugar (5), whilst Hart formed Nova Mob with both of them disbanding their respective groups in the mid-'90s and going on to only produce for their solo projects. Norton stepped away the music business for a number of years to become a restaurant owner but returned to performing again in the 2000s.
Grant Hart died of cancer on September 14th 2017.
Also known as: Husker Do, Husker Du, ハスカー・デュー
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry
Liner notes
Hüsker Dü, the records, oldest first
Everything Falls Apart
1983 album
Metal Circus
1983 ep
Zen Arcade
1984 album
New Day Rising
1985 album
Flip Your Wig
1985 album
Sorry Somehow
1986 ep
Candy Apple Grey
1986 album
wanted
Warehouse: Songs and Stories
1987 album
Extra Circus
2017 ep
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.
"Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely" is a song by Hüsker Dü from their album Candy Apple Grey. The song was written by Grant Hart.
It was released both as a single and EP in the United States and United Kingdom in March 1986. Hüsker Dü filmed a promotional video for the song, which garnered the band some play on MTV.
Cover versions
"Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely" has been covered by several different artists, including Green Day, who recorded it for an MTV show titled Influences. The UK band Catherine Wheel recorded a version of the song on their 1992 30th Century Man EP. Also in 1992, Mega City Four covered it on their LP Inspiringly Titled: The Live Album, and its advance EP, Shivering Sand – Live. The Swedish rock band Fireside has also recorded a version of the song on their Hello Kids album. In 2013, Il Cattivo, a Denver-based heavy rock band, released a guitar-dueling rendition on their second record, How to Assess Your Damages. The song was also covered by Australian musician Paul Dempsey.
