Cancer Claims Husker Du's Grant Hart

Grant Hart

GRANT HART, drummer/vocalist/songwriter for the influential '80s TWIN CITIES hardcore band HÜSKER DÜ, succumbed to cancer at his home in ST. PAUL at the age of 56. HART, along with guitarist/singer/songwriter BOB MOULD and bassist GREG NORTON, started the band in the late '70s, releasing six albums in less than six years, highlighted by the 1984 double-disc “Zen Arcade.”

Creative differences and substance abuse were believed to have led to the band's dissolution in 1987. MOULD and HART subsequently went on their own solo careers.

In his FACEBOOK post, MOULD offered an eloquent recollection:

It was the Fall of 1978. I was attending Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. One block from my dormitory was a tiny store called Cheapo Records. There was a PA system set up near the front door blaring punk rock. I went inside and ended up hanging out with the only person in the shop. His name was Grant Hart.

The next nine years of my life was spent side-by-side with Grant. We made amazing music together. We (almost) always agreed on how to present our collective work to the world. When we fought about the details, it was because we both cared. The band was our life. It was an amazing decade.

We stopped working together in January 1988. We went on to solo careers, fronting our own bands, finding different ways to tell our individual stories. We stayed in contact over the next 29 years — sometimes peaceful, sometimes difficult, sometimes through go-betweens. For better or worse, that’s how it was, and occasionally that’s what it is when two people care deeply about everything they built together.

The tragic news of Grant’s passing was not unexpected to me. My deepest condolences and thoughts to Grant’s family, friends, and fans around the world.

Grant Hart was a gifted visual artist, a wonderful story teller, and a frighteningly talented musician. Everyone touched by his spirit will always remember.

Godspeed, Grant. I miss you. Be with the angels.

More can be found here.

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