IN MEMORIAM: GRANT HART

I hate singers who spend most of their songs whisper-singing. They either have a crap voice, haven’t figured out who they are or have nothing at all to say. These days? Cigarettes and Sex is a culprit. I don’t know where this trend came from and I’m sure it’s defended as a means of making the vocals just another instrument. Yuck.

Grant Hart hurled his heart into the untrammeled blaze of Husker Du’s music. Whereas band mate Bob Mould sang like a pissed off, hung over prisoner smashing his coffee cup against the bars, Grant Hart was a dude in a straight jacket in a white room desperate to be heard. He was raw, melodic and heart breaking. Vulnerability slammed around the walls of just about every song Hart sang. Check out “The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill”, “Keep Hanging on”, “Don’t Want To Know If You’re Lonely” or “The Last Days of Pompeii” from his work with Nova Mob.

Hart met Bob Mould while working at Cheapo Records in St. Paul, about 15 years before I moved to the Twin Cities. (Yeah, a great band was formed by guys hanging out and working at a record store. That won’t happen again, will it?) I usually arrive late on the scene. I was in my early teens and too young and scared to drive when Big Black and Naked Raygun were regular playing in Milwaukee. I have a friend who saw Husker Du twice though and she said that sonically it felt like she was in a crappy, open-top car with her hair blowing back and her heart splitting thanks to the band's sheer volume and thanks to their unapologetic vulnerability driving every song.

I treasure vulnerability. Part of adulthood is learning how to hide your weaknesses or worse, how to pick up and store away others’ dirty mistakes when they make the mistake of opening up to you. The urgency of Grant Hart and Husker Du is still there when I listen. He opens up his jacket, points at his heart and lets you take a shot.

The reason for their demise was often attributed to Hart’s abuse of drugs and Mould and Hart's infighting. According to a Rolling Stone article written by Daniel Kreps in September of 2017, Husker Du broke up because Mould told Hart that he would never let a Husker Du record have equal songs Mould and Hart and thus the album Warehouse: Songs and Stories had 11 Mould songs and 9 Hart songs. Yuck number 2.

Husker Du never reunited. Hart died due to liver cancer.

Record Labels: Twin/Tone

"Massive success would have been a dream come true, but a person's dreams are so different at 30 than they are at 20. Maybe my dreams did come true and I didn't notice ... or maybe they weren't such great dreams to begin with." --Paul Westerberg

Minneapolis-St. Paul was an amazing place for underground rock 'n' roll in the 1980s and Twin/Tone Records was there to capture nearly all of it. Co-founded in 1977 by Paul Stark and longtime Replacements fix-it-man, Peter Jesperson, Twin/Tone all but documented the Minneapolis scene. The label peaked in the mid-'80s when The Mats went semi-large nationally and Soul Asylum followed closely behind. Sure, there were important bands not on Twin/Tone, Hüsker Dü most famously. But, no other label had so many essential Twin Cities acts: The Suburbs, Babes In Toyland, Poster Children, and today's three representatives, The Replacements, Soul Asylum, and The Jayhawks.

Twin/Tone went into hibernation in the mid-'90s, about the time the initial wave of indie-to-major signings ran its course. The label failed, not because of a lack of quality product, but due to simple economics. Said Stark, "Unless you were on one of the two coasts and had connections to major label distribution, there was nothing you could do. You need to go out to lunch and spend face time with people that are going to influence, whether it be press or radio or distribution, stuff like that. I just never really cared to play that game. I was more interested in developing groups."

Replacements - Take Me Down To The Hospital [purchase]

The kings of the drunk tank. From their 2nd album (and 3rd release), Hootenanny (1983), this is probably my favorite Mats song and a sleeper in their Twin/Tone catalog. Great dynamic, the song constantly threatens to fly apart, but never quite does. Chris Mars (drums) and Tommy Stinson (bass) lock into a tight, almost '50s kinda groove, Paul Westerberg (guitar/vocals) howls to perfection, and Bob Stinson (alien guitar spillage) plays lead like a madman falling down stairs. God bless Bob, perennial member of the All-Underrated Team.

Soul Asylum - Closer To The Stars [purchase]

Given Dave Pirner's later dalliance with Winona Ryder, this song has taken on an ironic cast. Nevertheless, this track from While You Were Out (1986) is one of Soul Asylum's best performances and remains in the setlist for a reason. Great vocal by Pirner (in his absolute prime), the band rocks, but it's original drummer Grant Young who steals the show. The production isn't all that good, but you can hear Young carry the band through a few different sections. Live, this would've been face-melting.

Jayhawks - Martin's Song [purchase]

The Jayhawks actually hit their stride after leaving Twin/Tone. I think Hollywood Town Hall (1992) and Tomorrow The Green Grass (1995), released on Def American, are equally brilliant statements and on the short list of best alt.country albums of all-time. But, Blue Earth (1989), from which "Martin's Song" comes, certainly has its moments. It's a great country-rocker, Mark Olson's vocals eerily echoing Gram Parsons. Meanwhile, Gary Louris' harmony vocals ride on top as his deft string bending pays homage to Clarence White. The drums kind of fall apart at the end, but hey, these were basically gussied-up demos. No one ever accused Twin/Tone of overdressing for the party.

City Songs: Minneapolis

Tom Waits: Post Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis

[purchase]

I'm sure all you informed-musically folk are familiar with that lead-off song. I'd feel comfortable betting that you know the follow up, too... (so, many less downloads for these tunes, right? ha! I bet not... I'm plaqued with massive bandwidth usage over songs posted on this site. Are you? And how can it be stymied?) But, I digress...

I moved to Minneapolis four years after Tom Waits was talking about things... and the doughnuts still had names that sounded like prostitues. For about four more months.

Things started getting shut down, in seedy downtown Minneapolis, about when I got here.

But, it was still true what the Replacements sung... "Better TV and a whole lot to see," when you are hanging downtown. (I'm time-traveling to the past, mind you. Downtown Minneapolis sucks donkeys, nowadays. At least when it's not busy sucking off professional sports team owners).

But at least they (The Replacements) would tell you how to get out of it...

...and into Prince-Uptown. (Which, as far as I've been ever able to acertain, was never as cool as Prince made it to be. Still ain't, fer my money. But it's where I live, so... pride!!!) There may be whites, blacks, and Puerto Ricans, but... no body is freaking. Promise.

And after you've had enough of Uptown, and want to grab a bus out? Catch a #4 which will deposit you at 66th and 35W... Southtown! There is a bowling alley, fabric store, and whatever-else I forgot to mention that The Hold Steady remembered.

Oh, and if it's Wintertime? Make sure you get to Buck Hill!