Hüsker Dü "...Means 'Do You Remember?'"

.....Happy Record Store Day! Vinyl has been making a bit of a comeback in recent years and no one has been more surprised than the retailers who sell it. In retrospect it makes a perverse kind of sense that a generation who grew up downloading music for free would be mystified that there is a format out there that isn't even capable of supporting anti-copying encryption. Not only that, but there's tons-- literally tons-- of back catalog being sold by the pound in thrift stores and yard sales all over the world. It hardly matters that it can't be transported if you can transfer it to an iPod or other device. In fact, if you're accustomed to listening to the AM radio-like flatness of an MP3 signal, then the old bugaboo of surface noise is probably a non-issue as well.

.....This blog started about a month after last year's Record Store Day, so I never really referenced it. I didn't want to just pass it by, even though the blog is about a series of cassettes that weren't compiled for retail purposes. The fact is, many of the songs I've blogged about (and will continue to, trust me) made their way onto the tapes because I could only find them on vinyl (or flexis) and wanted to make them more portable and accessible. Record stores, including those that sold used (well, especially those that sold used), were an irreplaceable source for those. Finding new music you might like is infinitely easier if you can spot a familiar name in the liner notes or jacket credits while browsing in a store. Electronic sources often don't include liner notes and those that do only reveal them after loading times which, no matter how powerful your computer is, can't compare to the ease of holding something and flipping it over.

.....So, how to celebrate records with just one day's blog? Well, I could always renew my call to reissue the Giorno Poetry Systems catalog on CD. There's fewer than 100 vinyl titles total, maybe no more than 60 or 70, yet less than a dozen have made it to CD. Because their excellent anthologies always contained otherwise unavailable recordings by both famous and obscure artists, I routinely consulted my sparse collection of GPS titles when planning a career retrospective tape or looking for some kind of change of pace track for a 'various artists' tape. If reconfigured, the entire label might fit on 40 CD's, and many of them could be devoted to single artists. There are some musicians who have larger catalogs than that just by themselves (Zappa and Bowie come to mind). Many more artists only appeared sparingly. Some had recording commitments elsewhere, some generally worked in other media. One of the many bigger names to make a rare visit was Hüsker Dü.

.....Warner Brothers is issuing a special "Side By Side" vinyl single for Record Store Day that will pair Green Day's last-decade cover of "DON'T WANT TO KNOW IF YOU ARE LONELY" with the Hüsker Dü original on it's silver anniversary. My hair turned a little more silver when I heard that one. Since Green Day probably has fans who weren't born when that song came out, maybe I should share a crash course on Hüsker Dü in the form of a compilation program. It could be timely; Bob Mould just appeared in a Foo Fighters documentary in which he's seen contributing vocals to the recording of their recently released album. They've been hitting the talk show circuit pretty aggressively, so it's not impossible that Bob's name and his old band might pop up. Weirdly, the FF's appeared on the Daily Show without dropping his name (Mould wrote and performed the familiar Daily Show theme music). I'm not certain when I put this compilation together, but I can confirm that it was after the last of the "So, What Kind..." cassettes. (For what it's worth, the previously posted Cramps compilation was probably put together at the time I was finishing the tape with Volumes 3 and 4.) I'll put it at ten years ago. So, gather all the spiky-haired grandkids around, here we go...

.....For the uninitiated, Hüsker Dü was three people:

• [M]= Bob Mould: Guitar and vocals
• [N]= Greg Norton: Bass and vocals
• [H]= Grant Hart: Drums and vocals

.....I'll use those initials for songwriting credits. Anyone unfamiliar with my format notation will find a helpful key at the bottom of the page. My apologies to anyone using automated translating software to read this, since my use of abbreviations might confuse the software. I can only suggest first reading this verbiage in your own language, then reverting the page to English so that the notation will remain unaltered. The compilation was made with two 90-minute cassettes. I'm going to precede each track with an alpha-numeric. If this compilation had ever been pressed on vinyl, the letter would represent the 'side' and the number would represent the track. Every two vinyl 'sides' complete one side of the cassettes. After listing the programs, I'll suggest configurations for CD formats.

....."Everyone Is An Authority"

• [A01] 01:57 DO YOU REMEMBER? (M)
• .....demo recorded live by Bill Bruce in a St. Paul Basement, 1980
• [A02] 04:54 AMUSEMENT (M)
• .....B-side 7" Reflex [no#] Recorded live by Terry Katzman at Duffy's, Minneapolis, October 1980
• [A03] 04:33 STATUES (H)
• .....A-side 7" Reflex [no#] Recorded at Blackberry Way, Minneapolis, 1980
• [A04] 01:53 LET'S GO DIE (N)
• .....outtake from "Statues" sessions
• [A05] 02:02 ALL TENSED UP (M/N/H)
• [A06] 00:54 GUNS AT MY SCHOOL (M/N/H)
• [A07] 01:50 DO THE BEE (M/N/H)
• .....from mini-LP "Land Speed Record" New Alliance Records NAR007 (US?) 1981
• [A08] 02:52 IN A FREE LAND (M)
• [A09] 01:15 WHAT DO I WANT? (H)
• [A10] 01:11 M.I.C. (M)
• .....7" New Alliance Records NAR010 (US) 05/82
• [B01] 01:40 FROM THE GUT (M/N)
• [B02] 02:14 EVERYTHING FALLS APART (M)
• [B03] 01:42 TARGET (M)
• [B04] 00:30 PUNCH DRUNK (M)
• [B05] 01:24 AFRAID OF BEING WRONG (M)
• .....from mini-LP "Everything Falls Apart" Reflex [no#] (US) 01/83
• [B06] 02:25 REAL WORLD (M)
• [B07] 04:40 DIANE (H)
• .....from EP "Metal Circus" SST Records SST020 (US) 12/83
• [B08] 01:59 WON'T CHANGE (?)
• .....an outtake from the "Metal Circus" sessions, recorded 01/83
• .....from VALP "A Diamond Hidden In The Mouth Of A Corpse" Giorno Poetry Systems GPS035 (US/C) 1985
• [B09] 03:56 EIGHT MILES HIGH (Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby)
• [B10] 02:54 MASOCHISM WORLD (H/M)
• .....7" SST Records SST025 (US) 04/84

....."All The Ways Of Communicating"

• [C01] 00:47 ONE STEP AT A TIME (M/H)
• [C02] 03:58 WHATEVER (M)
• [C03] 04:27 WHAT'S GOING ON? (H)
• .....demos recorded Summer 1983
• [C04] 01:24 GRANTED (?)
• [C05] 02:08 SOME KIND OF FUN (?)
• [C06] 03:12 DOZEN BEATS ELEVEN (?)
• .....outtakes prior to "Zen Arcade" Sessions, recorded Fall 1983
• [C07] 01:41 NEVER TALKING TO YOU AGAIN (H)
• [C08] 02:03 THE BIGGEST LIE (M)
• [C09] 02:32 SOMEWHERE (M/H)
• [D01] 00:54 MONDAY WILL NEVER BE THE SAME (M)
• [D02] 02:43 PINK TURNS TO BLUE (H)
• [D03] 04:28 TURN ON THE NEWS (H)
• .....from 2LP "Zen Arcade" SST Records SST027 (US) 07/84
• [D04] 04:03 CELEBRATED SUMMER (M)
• [D05] 03:05 THE GIRL WHO LIVES ON HEAVEN HILL (H)
• [D06] 02:48 BOOKS ABOUT UFO'S (H)
• [D07] 02:08 IF I TOLD YOU (H/M)
• [D08] 02:34 NEW DAY RISING (M/Hüsker Dü)
• .....from LP "New Day Rising" SST Records SST031 (US) 01/85
• [D09] 01:40 ERASE TODAY (?)
• .....outtake from the "New Day Rising" sessions, recorded 07/84
• .....from VALP "The Blasting Concept Vol. II" SST Records SST043 (US) 1986

....."All This We've Done For You"

• [E01] 05:06 HELTER SKELTER (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
• .....recorded live at 1st Ave., Minneapolis on 01/30/85
• .....B-side 12" Warner Bros. 9 20446-0 A (US) 02/86
• [E02] 02:42 MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL (M)
• [E03] 01:46 LOVE IS ALL AROUND (Sonny Curtis)
• .....7" SST Records SST051 (US) 08/86
• [E04] 03:03 FLEXIBLE FLYER (H)
• [E05] 02:46 HATE PAPER DOLL (M)
• [E06] 02:36 FLIP YOUR WIG (M)
• .....from LP "Flip Your Wig" SST Records SST055 (US) 09/85
• [E07] 02:43 TICKET TO RIDE (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
• .....recorded live at 1st Ave., Minneapolis on 01/30/85
• .....from VA7"EP "NME's Big Four" NME GIV3 (UK) 02/86
• [E08] 03:29 DON'T WANT TO KNOW IF YOU ARE LONELY (H)
• .....A-side 12" Warner Bros. 9 20446-0 A (US) 02/86
• [F01] 08:24 ALL WORK AND NO PLAY (M)
• .....B-side 12" Warner Bros. 9 20446-0 A (US) 02/86
• [F02] 06:07 HARDLY GETTING OVER IT (M)
• .....from LP "Candy Apple Grey" Warner Bros. 9 25385-1 (US) 03/86
• [F03] 04:27 SORRY SOMEHOW (H)
• [F04] 03:09 ALL THIS I'VE DONE FOR YOU (M)
• .....7" Warner Bros. W8612 (UK) 09/86

....."Coming Back For The Sake Of Retrieving"

• [G01] 02:39 COULD YOU BE THE ONE? (M)
• .....A-side 12" Warner Bros. W8456T (UK) 01/87
• [G02] 01:28 [track A2, introduces members and double LP]
• .....from 2LP "The Warehouse Interview" Warner Bros. Music Show WBMS145 (US) 1987
• [G03] 02:47 EVERYTIME (N)
• [G04] 03:13 CHARITY, CHASTITY, PRUDENCE & HOPE (H)
• .....B-side 12" Warner Bros. W8456T (UK) 01/87
• [G05] 03:20 FRIEND, YOU'VE GOT TO FALL (M)
• [G06] 03:33 SHE FLOATED AWAY (H)
• .....from 2LP "Warehouse: Songs And Stories" Warner Bros. 9 25544-1 (US) 01/87
• [G07] 01:25 [track D5, losing your mind on tour]
• .....from 2LP "The Warehouse Interview" Warner Bros. Music Show WBMS145 (US) 1987
• [G08] 04:22 ICE COLD ICE (M)
• .....A-side 7" Warner Bros. W8276 (UK) 06/87
• [H01] 02:34 [track B1, regarding printed lyrics]
• .....from 2LP "The Warehouse Interview" Warner Bros. Music Show WBMS145 (US) 1987
• [H02] 08:51 HARE KRSNA (H/M/N)
• .....from promo-only compilation CD "Do You Remember?" Warner Bros. PRO-CD 6853 (US) 1994
• [H03] 02:47 AIN'T NO WATER IN THE WELL (M)
• [H04] 02:11 IT'S NOT FUNNY ANYMORE (H)
• [H05] 03:22 NOW THAT YOU KNOW ME (H)
• [H06] 02:25 BACK FROM SOMEWHERE (H)
• .....from CD "The Living End" Warner Bros. 9 45582-2 (US) 04/94
• [H07] 01:30 [track C2, assessing your own work]
• .....from 2LP "The Warehouse Interview" Warner Bros. Music Show WBMS145 (US) 1987

.....There are no songwriting credits for the interview segments, obviously. For more information on the band, I recommend the link on the right side of the screen. Now, that's a proper discography.

.....Earlier I promised recommended CD configurations for those of you playing at home. Here they are:

1. CD1: Use tracks A(all), B(all) and C01-C06
2. CD2: Use tracks C07-C09, D(all), E(all) and F01
3. CD3: Use tracks F02-F04, G(all) and H(all)

.....Most of the singles can be found on the albums. There should have been a comprehensive boxed set for the group years ago, but due to their catalog being almost evenly split between SST and Warner Bros., that's not likely to happen in my lifetime. What should be made available is a CD collecting all the Warner Bros. non-album tracks. I think some of those songs have never been released in their native U.S., let alone on disc. 90% of what's here should be readily available with a little hunting, though.