The Current Releases Podcast Exploring Hüsker Dü’s Legacy

Do You Do Hüsker Dü?

MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO Triple A KCMP (THE CURRENT)/MINNEAP0LIS-ST. PAUL has released “Do You Remember?,” a five-part narrative history of Twin Cities punk pioneers HÜSKER DÜ, as told by all three members of the band, those who witnessed the beginnings, music industry insiders and iconic punk rockers.

This is the first time all three members of the band -- guitarist BOB MOULD, drummer GRANT HART and bassist GREG NORTON -- have gone on record to share their story.

Highlights from the interviews:
“There was no working-class punks at all, and when we first came on the scene people thought that we were like Hell’s Angels or something because we defied their definition.  I don’t want to overuse the word ‘posers’, but there was no working class punk until Husker Du came along.”—Grant Hart

“We were huge music  fans. We were students.  We took everything in.  We made it our own unique voice, and I think it changed the world for a select group of people.  It certainly did not change the entire world of pop music, but I think for people who were affected by it, there was nothing before and after.  It was that band.”—Bob Mould

“We’d been playing for a couple of years, and that was still a part of Hüsker Dü, that melodic side, that pop side -- we never really forgot that.  I always like to say that Husker was the hardcore punk band that you could whistle their tunes.”—Greg Norton

“You have GREG the bass player kind of holding it down, and then you have BOB MOULD, who is brilliant, but he just kind of kept everything in check.  And then there’s GRANT on drums and vocals, who was also brilliant, but was kind of this tornado, yelling and screaming and bashing away, and so you had this thing that was trying to keep itself together while it tore itself apart, like both sides of the brain – the intellectual and the emotional – were all happening at once…One guy’s trying to keep it together, one guy’s trying to rip it apart, and it’s almost like a celebratory, shamanistic kind of way, and it was just an interesting kind of tension.”—Henry Rollins

The podcast also dives into Savage Young Dü, the new remastered box set of the band’s early releases, demos and live recordings, scheduled for release by Numero Group in early November.

Listen to “Do You Remember?” on Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, NPR One, Spotify, RadioPublic or at thecurrent.org.

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