I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: HÜSKER DÜ-Flip Your Wig (1985).

Here’s where Hüsker Dü dropped most of the pretense that they didn’t write the catchiest songs ever.  And, if this had been released in the mid 90s it would have been an enormous hit.  Or for that matter, if this had been released on Warner Brothers as it was meant to be instead of SST, Hüsker Dü would probably be a more familiar name (and of course no one would love them as much).

Bob Mould wrote his first real shoulda-been breakthrough hit with “Makes No Sense at All,” simply the catchiest song they’ve released to this point (Grant Hart’s pop masterpieces notwithstanding).  And even though previous songs had been catchy, the recording of this track, and the disc as a whole, is less noisy/chaotic/wall of fuzz and is more subtle.  Not that anyone would mistake it for a Top 40 song or anything like that, because the noise is still there, it just feels like they are controlling it rather than the other way around.  The next song, “Hate Paper Doll” is probably even more poppy, although with a title and lyrics like that it’s not going anywhere near the radio.

“Green Eyes” is a sweet, yes, sweet, song from Grant Hart (showing that he hasn’t lost any songwriting chops).  “Divide and Conquer” is another poppy ditty, with a series of la-la-las in the post-chorus.  The rest of the disc couldn’t possibly continue this streak of amazingness, and yet it doesn’t drop very far.  There’s the by now obligatory silly song (“The Baby Song” with slide whistle as the main instrument), and then two instrumentals that close the disc.

Even though it’s still a punk record (mostly in the lyrics), the band’s love of psychedelic sounds is definitively shining through,  (which explains, no doubt why the Dead Milkmen sing in “The Thing That Only Eats Hippies,” “so Bob and Greg and Grant you best beware.”

You can’t go wrong with Flip Your Wig.

[READ: July 7, 2009] “Idols”

This story almost seemed to be a fable it was so patently moralistic.  And although the details were unexpected, the conclusion seemed rather inevitable.

In this story Julian fixes typewriters in Memphis.  He receives a letter that his family’s estate in rural Tennessee has finally cleared up and he has inherited the old family house (which he has only seen once when driving past it with his mother).  The house is run down and very very old and Julian decides that it is his destiny to renovate this house and return to his roots.  His inheritance!

The problem is that Julian is kind of a jerk.  When he asks in the local market is there is anyone who will live in his outbuilding and help him fix up the main house.  The market-owner asks, “like an indentured servant?”  Julian bristles at this and posts a note on the bulletin board, although the answer is actually Yes.

Soon, a gentleman named Obie shows up.  He explains that his life has gone to heck.  He’s been kicked out of his current living situation and is no longer talking to his wife.  He’s very handy, and he needs the money.  Specifically, he needs the money to have his tattoos removed (he’s covered pretty well all over in tattoos and he’s looking to start anew).

And the story proceeds with Obie fixing the house and Julian giving him a hard time about it.   In fact, although Julian has limited means, he is being overly scrooge-like with Obie.  He makes him pay for gas when they drive in to the tattoo removal place and he doesn’t buy him a fan because he doesn’t think it’s nice to get the man used to something he won’t have when he’s no longer living there.

One night, during an extreme cold spell, a disaster strikes.  [And I’m leaving out many details because they’re interesting adn I don’t want to give away too much.  In many ways it is quite obvious that this was going to happen, including the I told you so-ing that Obie does.

And yet despite all that, the story was quite intriguing.  Julian starts off being curmudgeonly and ends up being thoroughly unlikable.

The weird thing about the story was that it was really difficult to know when it was set.  The house is so old, that it seems almost like a time warp.  And Julian’s job, fixing typewriters seems to date the st0ry at a number of years ago.  However, Obie’s tattoo removal seems to make it a more modern story.  A lot of contradictions, but also a very good read.

It’s available here.

For ease of searching I include: Husker Du