July 22, 1999
Yet another entry in the "Why didn't anyone tell me about this band sooner?" category. I'd heard all about how Husker Du was to the 80's underground as Picasso was to modern art, but nothing prepared me for just how catchy, vibrant and compelling this band is. Starting off as just another furious hardcore band in the fabled SST stable, Husker Du quickly expanded not just their own sound but the capabilities of the genre with their unabashed love of melody and starkly confessional, steel-plated songwriting.
Their sound is absolutely distinctive - a thin, metallic guitar wail compressed to the point of implosion that gives songs like "Divide and Conquer" its shocking impact, machine-gun bursts of drumming and Bob Mould's passionate shout-singing that makes Lou Reed sound like a suburban pansy. Still, it's not always angry as much as INTENSE. Songs of betrayal, jealously, doubt, politics and love are all treated with total dedication and integrity, with the same result every time: one listen, and you're humming the tightly-wound melody. Two and you're struck by the insightful lyrics. Three and you're bowing down in total fealty.
Flip Your Wig is an exhilarating, frenetic pop masterpiece: there isn't one song that doesn't sink its glinting hooks into your cortex within 3 seconds, played with such fierce intensity you'd think the band was committing their last will and testament to vinyl. No wonder every feral pop/punk band of the last 10 years has been trying to replicate it. The shoulda-been hits "Makes No Sense At All" and "Games", the bouncy bubblegum of "Hate Paper Doll", the tender "Green Eyes", the touching paean to childhood "Flexible Flyer" - all will be instant personal classics. Unapologetically loud and unashamedly human, never inaccessible but always challenging, this is a staggering document.
- Jared O'Connor
brilliant hardcore pop