Husker Du was a board game in the 70's. I know this because I was a child of that era & raised by the TV. It's Danish for "Do You Remember?" Ironic, because I remember the game; the band, I don't.
New Day Rising was released when I was 16. So how could I have missed it? In the movie Armageddon, NASA's Dan Truman (Billy Bob Thornton) explains to the president their predicament: "Our object collision budget's a million dollars. That allows us to track about 3% of the sky, and beg'n your pardon sir, but it's a big-ass sky" In 1985 there was no Pandora, iTunes, Bittorrent, Napster, Internet, or even burning of CD's. Kids bought albums in record and cassette form (or recorded random songs from the radio). My music budget only allowed me to track a small percentage of the big-ass sky, and Husker Du never appeared in my radio air.
New Day Rising was released when I was 16. So how could I have missed it? In the movie Armageddon, NASA's Dan Truman (Billy Bob Thornton) explains to the president their predicament: "Our object collision budget's a million dollars. That allows us to track about 3% of the sky, and beg'n your pardon sir, but it's a big-ass sky" In 1985 there was no Pandora, iTunes, Bittorrent, Napster, Internet, or even burning of CD's. Kids bought albums in record and cassette form (or recorded random songs from the radio). My music budget only allowed me to track a small percentage of the big-ass sky, and Husker Du never appeared in my radio air.
New Day Rising, the title track from the album opens up sonically challenging. It's sharp, razor sharp to my ears. At this point I'm not sure if this grilled cheese tone is an artistic device, a social statement, an expression of angst, or if the band fronted by Bob Mould just has really shitty EQ.
Girl who lives on Heaven Hill: Well, the EQ is as bad, but I think I can hear past that now. The playing isn't complex, but it is fast and furious, full of angst, as is the throat scorching singing/screaming. It's simple, but it's not easy--overall it's good.
I Apologize: I hear the influence the Ramones had on Husker Du, as well as the influence Husker Du had on pop/punk's Green Day.
Folk Lore: I'm digging the alternating driving beat with half time beat. Don't blink, or you'll miss this song complete with verses, bridge and a guitar solo, that wraps in only 1m30s.
If I Told You: These songs aren't simple "1-4-5" or basic three chord songs. They have interesting sometimes unpredictable chord changes, and I imagine trying to learn them in '85. Cassette tape & jambox--rewind, play, rewind, play, rewind, play. The vocal mix is weak, it's hard to hear it above the noise (and I use that as a term of endearment.)
Celebrated Summer: Again, the chain saw guitar tone completely buries the singing. Wait, hold on, a slow break? Someone must have bought the band a tray of shots(or worse). Ah... ok, they are back in full sprint again. I read that this was one of the big hits of the album, but it doesn't stand out for me.
Perfect Example: A perfect example of how almost every album has a shitty track or two. Vocals are still way too buried, and to boot they are just half-sung/half-spoken instead of screamed. Frankly, it sucks. As does the repetitive music that sounds like a record skipping.
Terms of Psychic Warfare: Early punk to me, didn't have much thought put into it. It was energy and three chords. Songs like TOPW seem like the bridge between garage punk, hard core punk, and mainstream. It's melodic and planned without losing any edge along the way.
59 Times the Pain: I'm not sure if liner notes were included in the album back then. Without them, I have no clue what he's mumbling about. I don't doubt the 59X pain, I just can't empathize.
Powerline: NDR's 15 songs average under 3 minutes in length, A godsend when laboring through these throwaway songs. As an opening act, short songs allowed Husker Du to get their full catalog out there quickly.
Books about UFO's: A poppy shuffle that includes an oddly placed tinkly piano.
I Don't Know What You Are Talking About: filler song
How to Skin a Cat: followed by an obligatory avant-garde track
Whatchya Drinkin': How do you possibly have a song with two halves, when it's only 1m33s?
Plans I Make: Ends the album just as fast and furious as they came in--Hard Core, and making no concessions. Bob Mould says faintly at the end "that's the last song on the album, it doesn't matter what it sounds like anyways." If this was a concert, this is the end-of-night kinda song where you trash your guitar, kick over your amplifier, drop the mic, fall over your drums and slice open a finger. Maybe that's why the tonal quality of this album sounds so bad; you don't do that with expensive gear when you're three punks from St. Paul, Minnesota.
Husker Du's angst would have been more useful to the 16yr old me. Then again, $7.99 would have been too. Side note: I listen to Bob Mould almost every night--he wrote the theme song to John Stewart's Daily Show.
Next Up #494 Cyndi Lauper- She's So Unusual (1983)
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