Blast from the Past: Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade

by Pop Tarts Suck Toasted on Wed, 2009/08/12 - 1:00pm Post to Twitter

Late last week word came down that Bob Mould had recruited No Age to perform a set of Hüsker Dü tunes it warmed my heart to know that the second best possible version of the band would indeed be hitting a stage. Sure, it may not be Mould, Grant Heart, and Greg Norton, but it will be the first time Hüsker Dü songs are played in a live setting in a few years and I’m excited for the chance to see (so long as I can find the cash to cough up!). It also led me down nostalgia road, listening to the old tunes and discovering them once again like I did somewhere in my teen years.

Like everything else that is truly great, Hüsker Dü were gone before my time ever even existed. The band released their final album in 1987 when I was the ripe age of 7-years old and probably listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks records. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but if I could flash back to that time now I’d definitely be hanging out in the clubs of Minneapolis and St. Paul watching The Replacements and Hüsker Dü absolutely destroy the venues around the area! It would be a surreal experience for sure.

For me Hüsker Dü didn’t begin to exist until sometime around 1996, almost ten years after the band went their separate ways when Zen Arcade found its way into my CD player. For months I had been devouring the sounds of punk, driven by the love of a new wave of punk bands led by Green Day and Rancid, but what I found were bands that took the idea of punk to a new incredible height. Of course The Clash and The Ramones were in my record collection at the time but 1980’s punk bands were beyond anything I had heard before! Black Flag, Minor Threat, The Replacements, and Hüsker Dü all lived some sort of mystical code where everything was played loud, heavy, and as fast as humanly possible but there was so much more depth to their music. The funny thing is Zen Arcade goes and breaks away from everything we’ve ever been taught about hardcore and punk music, they move away from loud, heavy, and fast and try a whole shit ton of new ideas.

Without turning down the volume knob the band goes out and experiments with pop sounds, acoustic tunes, pianos, synths, tape sounds, you name and Hüsker Dü probably tried it out on Zen Arcade. It’s pretty much the perfect album when you get down to it, all the strength and anger found in punk and hardcore mixed with a pop aesthetic that shows off the songwriting abilities of Mould and Hart. Listening straight through the album holds some of the most important additions to the genre, additions that bred bands like The Replacements, Pixies, Pavement, emo bands, indie bands, you name it and Hüsker Dü had a hand in making it what it is today.

I may have gotten their late, but I got there and I appreciate everything these three guys laid out before me and how much they did to influence what we all listen to now. I’m sure there’s some kid out there that’s never listened to a minute of Zen Arcade and hopefully he’ll stumble upon this post and check it out for the first time and have his mind blown like the rest of us have. Zen Arcade is a true, desert island classic for all-time!
Hüsker Dü - "Broken Home, Broken Heart"
Hüsker Dü - "Indecision Time"
Hüsker Dü - "Pink Turns To Blue"
Hüsker Dü - "Whatever"
Hüsker Dü - "Turn on the News"