Hüsker Dü: Land Speed Record [SST]

Why you'll love it

This SST LP puts Hüsker Dü's first full-length back in the racks, recorded live straight to tape with no overdubs. It catches Bob Mould, Grant Hart and Greg Norton at full hardcore speed, years before they reshaped melodic punk.

About the album

Most bands save the live album for later, once the hits are in. Hüsker Dü went the other way round. On August 15, 1981, the Minneapolis trio plugged in at the 7th Street Entry, rolled a 4-track soundboard tape on a budget of about three hundred dollars and played as fast as they possibly could. Their friend Mike Watt of the Minutemen liked the results enough to put them out on his New Alliance label early the next year.

All three members write and sing, and the songs fly past in a blur, from Mould's "All Tensed Up" and "Guns at My School" to Hart's "Push the Button" and a sprinting "Gilligan's Island," with Norton's "M.T.C." and "Let's Go Die" in the mix. Steve Fjelstad handled the remote mix, and the band produced it themselves. The set winds up with Hart's "Data Control," which stretches out past five minutes, practically a prog epic by these standards.

From here the band went on to Zen Arcade and New Day Rising, turning all this velocity into something huge and melodic. Side one runs about twelve minutes, which is roughly how long it takes us to find the SST section on a busy Saturday.

Also at Kops: more Hüsker Dü on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On SST (cat# SST 195), a reissue of the 1982 live album.