|
To date, no book-length Hüsker Dü biography has been published,
nor has any of the band members committed his memoirs to print. There are,
however, several books out there that examine various aspects of the
Hüskers' history, legacy and music, a few of them at considerable
length. I've attempted here to give a rundown (and my own biased opinions)
of those with which I'm familiar. I'm always
happy to learn of others.
Arnold, Gina. Route 666: On the Road To Nirvana. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. Gina Arnold's detractors are many, and often vocal in their criticism of the style, tone, and accuracy of her writing. If you already don't like her, this book probably isn't going to change your mind. Inspired by the mainstream breakthrough of Nirvana, she decided to recount the history of punk rock... starring Gina Arnold. She approaches the subject on a scene-by-scene basis, typically choosing to focus on a single "representative" band for each region. The Twin Cities chapter centers on the Replacements, with a paragraph or two in the middle expressing her (glowing) opinion of Hüsker Dü. Azerrad, Michael. Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2001. Thirteen hyper-influential 80s bands are explored in depth. Until a more thorough treatment emerges (don't hold your breath), Azerrad's detail-rich Hüsker Dü chapter will likely remain the definitive account of the band's story. The chapters on the other bands (Mission of Burma, Minor Threat, Butthole Surfers, etc, etc) are equally strong, and any one of them would suffice to make this book essential. Blush, Steven. American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Los Angeles: Feral House, 2001. A punk vet's overview of the scene, drawing heavily on personal interviews. There are a couple of pages about Hüsker Dü in the Minneapolis section (with quotes from Grant), and scattershot references elsewhere. Carducci, Joe. Rock and the Pop Narcotic. Los Angeles: 2.13.61, 1994. Carducci, SST insider and longtime punk-scene participant, offers enough fascinating gossip and first-person anecdotes, including plenty of Hüsker dirt sprinkled throughout, to fill nearly 400 pages. Hard to ascertain the degree of embellishment in these tales, but the book's a great read. Cavanagh, David. The Creation Records Story: My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry for the Prize. London: Virgin Publishing Ltd, 2000. Cavanagh tells the Creation Records story, all right, in excruciating detail. This thing is the size of the Old Testament. No Hüsker, per se, but several Sugar and Mould anecdotes. Cavanagh argues that it was a combination of Alan McGee's foresight, Bob's shrewdness, and the British music press that broke Sugar. There are also passages that deal critically with the 1994 Undrugged show (Creation 10th anniversary) at the Royal Albert Hall, and the disappointment of the Creation staff upon first hearing the FU:EL tracks. Cooper, Dennis. All Ears. Brooklyn: Soft Skull Press, 1999. This compilation of non-fiction pieces by novelist Dennis Cooper includes the infamous Spin article he wrote about Bob Mould in 1994. (Bob seems to have felt that Cooper betrayed him, including off-the-record remarks and slanting the article in such a way as to exploit Bob's homosexuality at a time when Bob was still partially closeted.) DeRogatis, Jim. Kaleidoscope Eyes. London: Fourth Estate, 1996. Subtitled Psychedelic Music from the 1960s to the 1990s, this book approaches Hüsker Dü from a different angle. DeRogatis, Chicago Sun-Times Music Editor and longtime Hüsker fan, devotes some ink in the chapter on 80s & 90s guitar bands to a discussion the Hüskers' debt to (and unashamed love affair with) psychedelia. Gimarc, George. Post Punk Diary 1980-1982. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. A day-by-day account of key events in the punk world during the three years specified in the title. The four Hüsker releases that occurred in this time frame are noted on the appropriate days, along with interesting supplementary info about the band. The style is unpretentious and the concept works better than it sounds. Glinert, Ed & Perry, Tim. Fodor's Rock & Roll Traveler USA. New York: Fodor's Travel Publications, 1996. An encyclopedia of USA rock & roll landmarks for the traveler. The Hüsker references are naturally concentrated in the Minneapolis-St Paul entries, but the band is also cited in a bunch of other "played here" lists. Humphrey, Clark. Loser. Portland: Feral House, 1995. Exhaustive examination of Seattle punk through the years, beginning in 1851 (not a typo). Hüsker Dü, of course, were only occasional visitors to that scene and so are only mentioned in passing, with a brief anecdote about the 1985 shows at the Omni Room. Hurchalla, George. Going Underground: American Punk 1979-1992. Stuart FL: Zuo Press, 2005. Sprawling, ambitious survey of the punk scene, full of anecdotes, photos and reminiscences. Two chapters are principally devoted to Hüsker Dü and there are numerous other incidental mentions. This one is essential. Keller, Martin. Music Legends: A Rewind on the Minnesota Music Scene. Minneapolis: D Media, 2007. Veteran music journalist Keller's book is heavily weighted toward the early years of the Twin Cities pop scene, but the last chapter bears the promising title "The Replacements and Husker Du: The Post-New Wave Era in Minnesota Music." Sadly, it's a very short chapter, and most of it is about the Replacements. Keller doesn't seem particularly interested or knowledgeable about this era; he quotes Wikipedia for some of the Replacements material. The two perfunctory pages on Hüsker Dü offer no real insights and seem to have been included for completeness' sake. Nice 1981-ish Greg Helgeson photo of the band though. Jancik, Wayne & Lathrop, Tad. Cult Rockers. New York: Fireside, 1995. The inclusion of Robert Johnson, Bo Diddley and Shonen Knife among the 150 artists covered here gives a pretty good indication of the author's intentions. The three-page Hüsker Dü section concisely addresses both the music and the background, but won't be particularly illuminating to anyone already familiar with the band. (The accompanying Workbook-era photo of Bob and his Strat catches him gazing heavenward in a strikingly Woody-Guthriesque pose.) Larkin, Colin (ed.). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music. London: Virgin Publishing, 1997. Hüsker Dü rates a well-researched and mostly accurate half-page entry. Bob Mould gets almost as much space in his own section, much of which is devoted, not surprisingly, to his Virgin albums. (No separate entry for Sugar, Grant Hart, or Nova Mob.) Munday, John S. Justice for Marlys. Popoff, Martin. Riff Kills Man! 25 Years of Recorded Hard Rock & Heavy Metal. Toronto: Power Chord Press, 1993. In this alphabetical (by band) collection of capsule reviews, Popoff decided that certain flavors of punk rock deserved to be among the nearly 2000 "hard rock" albums covered in this book. Land Speed Record, Metal Circus, Zen Arcade, New Day Rising, Flip Your Wig, Candy Apple Grey, and Warehouse all appear here, but Everything Falls Apart has been overlooked. Popoff appears to regard the Hüsker material in a favorable light, but it's not always easy to tell because of his peculiarly turgid writing style. Reynolds, Simon. Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. London: Faber and Faber Ltd, 2005. The term "postpunk" is a bit misleading. This book is really about new wave bands, chiefly British, and is quite detailed if you're interested in that particular subgenre. A late chapter encompasses selected SST bands — Minutemen, Hüsker (one page), Meat Puppets — with Mission of Burma thrown in for good measure. The UK edition of the book described here includes material (a couple of additional chapters) that was omitted from the US edition. Robbins, Ira A. (ed.). The New Trouser Press Record Guide, Third Edition. New York: Collier Books/Macmillan, 1989. Though not perfect, the Trouser Press guide is probably the closest thing there is to an official encyclopedia of indie rock, and remains a most useful reference work. Hüsker gets a big chunk of space (written by Robbins and John Leland) in this edition. Robbins, Ira A. (ed.). The New Trouser Press Record Guide, Fourth Edition. New York: Collier Books/Macmillan, 1991. This edition features minor updates to the Hüsker entry, and newly added entries for Bob Mould and Grant Hart. Sarig, Roni. The Secret History of Rock. New York: Billboard Books, 1998. Sarig's approach is to select a few dozen of the most influential bands and artists of various genres (mostly from the 80s, but a few from earlier eras) and examine them one by one. Each writeup is accompanied by a generous selection of "Why so-and-so was important to me" style quotes from other artists. Three very readable pages on Hüsker Dü. Schinder, Scott (et al). Rolling Stone's Alt-Rock-A-Rama. New York: Delta, 1996. Selections from Rolling Stone magazine's never-ending series of list-o-centric articles ("Ten Shortest Red-Headed Guitarists") — these things practically write themselves, and anyone can play. To be fair, there are a couple of decent, reasonably thoughtful longer pieces. Hüsker Dü turns up in about a dozen spots, mostly as just another item in a list. (Grant is honored as a member of the "substance abuse hall of fame." Ugh.) Thompson, Stephen (ed.). The Tenacity of the Cockroach: Conversations with Entertainment's Most Enduring Outsiders. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2002. This compilation of reprints of Onion A.V. Club interviews includes the long (four pages of two-column text), breezy conversation with Grant Hart originally published in The Onion in July 2000. Some of Grant's comments on Hüsker Dü history apparently contributed to a rekindling of his feud with Bob Mould. Walsh, Jim. The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting. St Paul MN: Voyageur Press, 2007. Longtime Minneapolis musician and City Pages music editor Walsh has constructed a Replacements biography by interviewing (most of) the story's principal characters, along with some not-so-principal ones, and assembling the results into a coherent chronology. Unfortunately, the band members themselves elected not to participate, and the quotes from them have been lifted from previously published interviews. Nonetheless, the book is a lot of fun to read, and there is considerable Hüsker content. Bob and Grant (but not Greg) are quoted extensively, and numerous Hüsker anecdotes are contributed by others. Wells, Steven. Punk — Loud, Young and Snotty: The Stories behind the Songs. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press (Avalon Publishing Group), 2004. Wells' formula, as the book title suggests, is to look at each of the 75 or so bands (a few obscure choices, but mostly of the "usual suspects" variety) through the lens of one or more characteristic songs. The device works well enough; the book is entertaining, with breezily opinionated text and smart-alecky photo captions. The Clash, Ramones and Sex Pistols get the most exposure. Hüsker Dü merits a full page. The song: "Divide And Conquer." — Crossroads: The Experience Music Project Collection. Seattle: Experience Music Project, 2000. Selected glossy photos of EMP's rock museum artifacts dominate this large-format book. Eric Weisbard's punk-rock chapter, "New Day Rising," includes a Hüsker photo from the Zen Arcade album cover shoot, an uncropped image of the album artwork, and a couple of old Hüsker Dü ticket stubs. |