Ah, to be embraced by Greg Norton’s facial hair. The band recognizable to anyone due to their bassist’s moustache has come right when I needed them. Husker Du sits in the top few hardcore bands of all time, surpassed only by Dead Kennedy’s and maybe Bad Brains or Black Flag. Sure they went a bit softer in the end, but never turned into glam pop like my 90’s Bay area heroes AFI (damn you Davey Havock!).
How so much melody can fit amongst the grinding guitars and bellowed vocals is shocking. For all my love of Nirvana, this is what they were aiming for and almost reached. Not many bands can pull off this level of rage and dissatisfaction while keeping the layered background vocals, which makes it even more impressive when they break into heavier territory like the chorus to "I Don’t Know What You’re Talking About." The album first picks up with "Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill," which they play like they’ve been possessed by The Stooges. If you told me this was originally from Raw Power I’d have to believe you. Perfectly overdriven guitars crash into a bouncing bassline. Wonderful!
"I Apologize" is practically a road map to 90’s punk rock. Nothing to say you’re sorry for here, though. The next few songs make me long for bands like Burning Airlines and Jawbreaker. Clearly, many of the bands I grew up with listened to New Day Rising and heard their own futures in it. Things kind of stumble on "Perfect Example" with the mumbled words going well into the realm of incomprehension. This is one place where Nirvana passed their teachers. No one could mumble like Kurt.
"Terms of Psychic Warfare" punches right through with one of the poppiest and catchiest melodies you’ll hear on any hardcore records. Good luck getting it out of your head. It’s one of the great things about Husker Du that they were never the least bit afraid to play a song the way they wanted, regardless of the supposed conventions of their genre. "Watcha Drinkin" could play alongside a Descendants album while "Books About UFOs" could be from the Replacements. True versatility removes the fear of experimenting. It also says a lot that this record was recorded at the same time as Zen Arcade, arguably an even more influential collection.
If you grew up with the alternative rock of the early 90’s you owe it to yourself to hear where your favorite bands got their inspiration. If you are just a fan of good music, check this out and realize how far ahead of its time New Day Rising was. We’re talking early ’85, and no one lived up to the potential shown here til Nirvana blew up in five years later. Bands are still showing a distinct debt to Husker Du today. My favorite album on the list so far, barely topping Tres Hombres.
-The Fat Man
Rise Against's 2006 The Sufferer & the Witness begins with song titled "Chamber the Cartridge" where a man succinctly informs the listener, "This is noise." Upon hearing the opening track of Husker Du's New Day Rising, I think most would agree that the aforementioned statement would be better suited at the beginning of this album. I agree wholeheartedly with Mike's critique that Husker Du were far ahead of their time. Just listening to this album you can imagine what all the grunge bands out of Seattle had been listening to in the garages with their friends. Picture Krist Novoselic arriving at Cobain's house with a recorded cassette of Husker Du and exclaiming, "Dude, you have to hear this." The rest would become rock history, if this imagined scenario did, in fact, happen.
I would agree that some of these tracks are incredibly catchy, despite their glaringly obvious alienation from radio rock. My particular favorites are that of "Celebrated Summer," "Terms of Psychic Warfare," and "Books about UFOs." Close seconds come in the form of "Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill" and "I Apologize." Pick any one of these songs and try to argue they did not have any sort of impact on the grunge uprising of the early 90's or the subsequent rise of pop-punk. Try to argue it and I'll merely scoff at you. Seriously. Pshaw.
One thing I find incredibly pleasing about this album is the intelligence of they lyrics however sparse they may be. For example, Mould's line at the conclusion of "Terms of Psychic Warfare" where he sings, "And don't feel bad the next time my memory comes creepin', You've got your own bed now I suggest that's the one you sleep in." My idol Jesse Lacey couldn't have said it better. Pure post-breakup genius. Unfortunately, some of the genius of Mould's lyrics get lost within the mumble. Said mumble was perfected by Cobain and we thank him for that. Mould's mumble got to be a bit irritating especially on "59 Times the Pain;" a song I thought would have been much better had Eddie Vedder lent his trademark warble to it.
I enjoyed the album for the most part. It's always cool to hear albums that paved the way for other artists, especially when those artists are Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc. I disagree with Mike though when he says that Nirvana fell short to Mould's expertise. I think Cobain did it far better and far angrier, but I appreciate Husker Du's foundation. This album is legit....and so is Greg Norton.
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