Hüsker Dü

When Hüsker Dü released their debut, Land Speed Record, in 1982, they were the fastest band to come out of punk; by the time they broke up just five years later, they were among the most ambitious. Formed in 1979 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Hüsker Dü were powered by the flying-V screech of guitarist Bob Mould, the battering-ram bass of Greg Norton, and the smash ‘n’ grab drumming of Grant Hart. But Mould and Hart’s rapidly maturing songcraft soon led them far beyond the circle pit: With 1984’s epochal double album Zen Arcade, Hüsker Dü produced the hardcore answer to Quadrophenia, embellishing its greyscaled portrait of lost youth with splashes of ‘60s pop and psychedelia. From there, Mould and Hart embraced their calling as the Lennon-McCartney of the underground, perfecting their visionary fusion of melody and noise on college-radio perennials like 1985’s New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig. With 1986’s Candy Apple Grey, Hüsker Dü graduated from indie mecca SST Records to Warner Bros. and further expanded their palette to accommodate acoustic balladry. However, amid growing tensions between Mould and Hart, Hüsker Dü disbanded following 1987’s power-pop opus Warehouse: Songs and Stories—just as groups like Nirvana and Green Day were rising up to inherit their mission of taking tuneful punk to the mainstream.