Hüsker Dü: Broken Home, Broken Heart
[purchase]
To me the musical year of 1984 means three great albums, and not a whole lot more. Double Nickels On The Dime, Let It Be (both already covered here) and of course that incredible aural trip called Zen Arcade. A revolutionary double concept album, filled with experimental hardcore popsongs? You´ve got it. Some astonishing figures: Zen Arcade was recorded with SST Records home producer Spot at the controls for $3,200. From the 25 tracks taped by the Minneapolis trio (23 of them made it to the eventual album), 21 were first takes. Total recording time: 45 hours in all, with an added 40 hours of mixing. I recall feeling totally bowled over and nearly out of breath when I heard Zen Arcade for the first time back then, and when I listen to it today the result is still more or less the same. Hats of for the Hüskers, three young punks bravely sailing into uncharted waters in that Orwellian year of 1984.
Good tune.
ReplyDeleteI just did a quick check of the calender, and it seems that the flyer you posted is actually from 1984, too! 2x cool points for that!
Oarfolk... known as Treehouse nowadays, is still a pretty good place for in-stores. But small? my gosh yes! I'd assume there were quite a few ringing ears after the Huskers!
Totally agree with your "three great albums" assessment. When I thought of 1984 those were the exact same albums that came to mind. Hell, Double Nickels and Zen Arcade could support an entire month of posts alone!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Double Nickel..., I have a confession to make. I totally missed out on The Minutemen the first time around. I'm really not sure how it happened, but it did. Anyway, I just got it based on your recommendation and it's amazing. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, and Husker Du is great too (but I already knew that).
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