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There is a new rock 'n' roll. The seed is sown. In the
fertile topsoil of electro and hip-hop, with it's
combination punch of rash enthusiasm and unbridled
experimentation. There are trails back of course. But
the ink is tenuous.
And then there's the music of groups such as the Died
Pretty and the Screaming Tribesmen, with it's ineffable
pull on memory and emotion. Thoroughly modern, as an
aeroplane is; it takes off fine but somebody else
invented it.
And Husker Du. Someone had to do it, someone had to
shed the skin, throw off the shackles of retrograde,
self-congratulating delusion that the Eighties thrives
on. Husker Du rewrote history with 'Eight Miles High',
taking a sacred cow and making something with it
instead of just bleeding it dry. Then they freed the
slaves with 'New Day Rising', their first intimation
of pop genius; 'Zen Arcade' had the same ridiculous
level of instant accessability and jubilant melodic
invention, but it was a trifle coarse. Now 'Flip Your
Wig', and notably the single 'Makes No Sense At All',
has shifted the paradigm of pop ruthlessly, rearranging
the pieces. These are the ones I picked up in
The conversation with Bob Mould and Grant Hart.
B.O.B.: Let's start with the deal with WEA.
B.M.: What deal?? Everybody's talking about it but
nothin's been signed. 'Flip Your Wig' is on
S.S.T.; we're going to start recording in
early October but no one has signed us. We've
been approached by numberous labels and I think
I know which one I want to sign us, I think
it's WEA. They're the only ones that're
pursuing it with any fervour.
B.O.B.: On a major label, given the opportunities that
entails, what effect will there be on your
approach to working?
B.M.: None. It would give us a little more flex-
ibility as far as taking time to do it; as far
as what the end result is, with the labels
we're negotiating with part of the deal is
that we produce the records ourselves where
and when we want and for how long. It's funny,
the ones who're really interested do not want
the band to change; they like us for the
reasons everyone else does.
B.O.B.: There is something about your music that makes
everything else seem insubstantial. What is
your secret ingredient?
B.M.: It's ' the foom-bah' !
G.H.: We know what it is but we can't tell you......
maybe it's extracting our own happiness first
from the quality of the songs?
B.O.B.: The album 'Zen Arcade' made me think of, for a
variety of reasons- being a double, the
lyrical content which was revolutionary for
the time, the diversity and mastery of styles-
is 'Freak Out' by the Mothers Of Invention.
It's a situation where a development is
inevitable, but until someone actualizes
the thing it's intangible.
B.M.: And then everybody goes: "Oh, we were going to
do that!"
B.O.B.: No one can say that about your records; no one
else would have.
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Bob Mould, Greg Norton, Grant Hart. Photo: Greg Helgeson
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B.M.: I hope not or else this whole thing has been
for nought!
B.O.B.: It's been called 'hardcore psychedelia'. How
apt is that?
B.M.: Is it psychedelic (laughs).... ask Three
O'Clock what 'psychedelic' is!
G.H.: Yeah, purple microdot...!
B.O.B.: Don't go near the mirror, boys!
B.M.: Oh jeez.....you heard about them? (laughs) I'm
not particularly fond of... I have all the
Beatles and Monkees albums, y'know, I liked
it the first time around. I'd rather not give
those bands lip service, that's as bad as good
press is good as bad press I can give.*
G.H.: The Three O'Clock not the Beatles! But it's
interesting how you can find new applications
for already existing objects, it's like
Marcel's bicycle wheel.
B.M.: Who are your six favourite Beatles? Donovan,
Pete Shelley, Frank Sinatra, Doug Fiegler,
Eno, Julian Lennon....Marshall Crenshaw!
They've expanded their line-up.
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