Check out the first song, "Every Everything," where it looks like Greg broke his bass strap and someone is physically holding the bottom of the bass for him. The song charges ahead and with a deep breath, they kick out "Makes No Sense At All."
As powerful as the band was on record, they delivered similar results on stage.
Two interesting observations:
1.) Mould doesn't look like he's wearing any hearing protection (having seen Husker Du live, I can attest that this is a very bad decision).
2.) This is professionally shot footage and it would be great if cleaner copies were made commercially available. Husker Du is a band who's legacy is going underserved with a lack of posthumous material.
7 comments:
Man, the Huskers were great, huh?
I would not have a problem with a reunion tour. Seriously.
No chance of a reunion tour. Apparently, Bob and Grant have more or less mended fences with each other, but neither like Greg. And there was one posthumous Du release, the Living End, but after so much squabbling between the three members, Bob said more or less that he'd had enough of it, and blanket took his name off of approving any further posthumous Husker releases. Shame about that.
They can't even get it together enough to wrestle their back catalog away from SST. Apparently, even though their releases still earn $$$ for SST, the guys in Husker Du haven't seen a red cent from Greg Ginn, which Husker Du could use as breach of contract to regain control over their material (see Green Day vs. Lookout Records, and Sonic Youth vs. SST). But the guys in Du have a high enough mistrust of each other's motives that they can't even get on the same page legally in regards to this situation. Sigh.
Interesting stuff about Bob & Grant DJMurphy. I always thought that it was their relationship that was the stumbling block. I guess their reunion at the Soul Asylum bassist benefit helped mend fences huh? Thanks to Totale back in the early 80's, this bands music is imbedded in the fiber of my musical soul. I'd love more high quality music & vid from them as well.
I'd never heard about the animosity towards Greg either. I'd always heard it was between Grant and Bob. Wheredya hear that, Murph?
I found it again, here: http://www.blurt-online.com/features/view/520
BLURT: After bands like the Pixies, Dinosaur Jr. and My Bloody Valentine got back together, people look at Husker Du as the last big 80s alternative band that they want to see reunite. Is there still a lot of bitterness there between you and Bob?
GRANT HART: When people compare us to the Pixies, I say we never needed to be influenced by the Pixies. We influenced the Pixies. If they chose to celebrate their midlife crisis by milking the cash cow, that's fine. Should Husker Du make that decision, and I recognize that's a slim chance, I'd like to think we'd do it for a cause greater than financial remuneration.
And remember, if we were to take the reunion route, it would have to be three of us for it to be valid. Pairing me and Bob would be easiest. I don't think either of us would be interested in playing with Greg [Norton].
BLURT: Why not?
GRANT HART: Greg was never our peer. One of worst things that ever happened to the band was when someone told him he should write songs too. He wasn't a songwriter, but how do you tell a guy that? How do you tell someone "Your songs suck." That was one of the frustrations that led to the band being devalued in our hearts. And once it ceases to be fun, it's merely lucrative.
The breakup of the band is one of worst things that happened to Bob or me. But we couldn't read the future. There was nothing sadder than being around in 1992 or 1993 and watching people like Smashing Pumpkins or Stone Temple Pilots make millions and millions of dollars. That was when the vacuum we created was really obvious.
And you also had an evolution of attitudes then, so someone like Frank Black who would be eventually bigger in terms of record sales than Husker Du had been, would look back and fool themselves into thinking they were more important or more influential. Maybe more people heard you, but you're not more influential than that which influenced you.
Hi, great post / blog. The comments on Norton are interesting. I can see Hart's point about his songwriting contributions - but I think he's overlooking the fact he was an excellent, original bass player that enabled them to deliver the tunage on such a high level. Maybe because he didn't "suffer" along with Grant & Bob while while they watched the Pumpkins et al. get huge, they saw him as a cop out and not a real musician... who knows?
What I do know is that the above London show has been available on dvd in Australia for 2 years, legitimately, entitled "Live at the Camden Palace". The sound and picture quality are awesome, as it was filmed for UK TV. It came out as a semi-boot in the early 90's on vhs as "Makes No Sense at All". It's the best Husker document we have until Twin Tone decide to release the 1981 footage they have in the vaults. Cheers, Scott.
About that Grant interview I think he was just fucking with the interviewer. Grant and Greg played a show with the mighty Meat Puppets two years ago.
I think he was just using Greg as a reason that huskers will never reunite
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