Zen Arcade - Husker Du (1984)

This record is really a departure point from hardcore to post-hardcore. The band that was quite accomplished at the take-no-prisoners aggression of hardcore looked to branch out and try more songcraft, more melody, and more repeatable structure.

Bob Mould (O_o) and Grant Hart both contribute more or less equally here. Their fight for control of the band’s direction would eventually drive Husker to their end, but here they’re both still eager kids wanting to do everything all at once. It’s a fun experience and you don’t have to think about intra-band tensions while listening like you maybe do later.

They intersperse plenty of driving punk with sonic experiments in tape manipulation, piano and acoustic guitar soundscapes, pure pop fragments, heavy psych, and more standard rock n roll. It all has the sense of unfolding in real time. You won’t like all of it, but you’ll appreciate how quickly the band’s world was expanding and how they were trying to deal with it.

In a couple of years, they’d have this pop / punk hybrid perfected. This is really an early document of their progress, and you get to follow along as they try new things and see what works.

Tracks I Liked

Something I Learned Today - can stand with anything they’d do later among the best Husker Du tracks

Never Talking To You Again - Grant Hart was probably the bigger advocate for verse/chorus/verse pop song structures in the band. This is an early glimpse of what he could do when he got to lead

Chartered Trips - still frequently featured in Bob’s sets

Indecision Time - great breakneck madness

Pink Turns To Blue - another excellent Grant tune.

Whatever - anthemic punk pop