(Candy Apple Grey Repress on 180 Gram Vinyl)
As legend tells it, Hüsker Dü got their name from a board game whose motto was “a game in which the child can outwit the adult”. Early in their career they adlibbed the words “Hüsker Dü” into the Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer because they didn’t know what in the hell David Bryne was actually saying when he switches from English to French. The mind-blowing part is that this inside joke actually became a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts when these Minnesota kids basically rewrote the rules when it came to signing deals with major label adults. On the sheer strength of their music and devout following of Hardcore kids and College kids alike, they managed to get Warner Bros. to give them complete creative control from their musical direction, to track sequencing, to album art, to singles selection, to booking tours, and to the band’s image (i.e. they didn’t have or want one). This in turn opened the door for other bands to garner similar deals with the majors and changed the way the recording industry had been run for decades.
While “Candy Apple Grey” (the band’s 1986 major label debut) was released it didn’t garner the critical praise of the albums preceding it but it marked a defining moment in the history of Hardcore Punk and Indie Rock for all time. Hüsker Dü were used to firsts. They were the first non-West Coast band to sign to the legendary SST label and they would now be the first Hardcore band to jump an independent label for a major. And unlike bands that would follow in their path, they didn’t do it for fame or money. They just wanted to be able to reach everyone that wanted to be reached out to. SST didn’t have the finances to do huge pressings of their albums and give them more than a couple days in the studio to record an album. And yet out of loyalty the band still gave them their two weeks notice as it were by allowing them to release the band’s last indie, “Flip Your Wig”, when Warner Bros. was chomping at the bit to release it for them.
Once more in 2009 the music industry finds itself at another defining moment. CD sales are down and labels are being forced to again re-think they way they’ve been doing business for decades. Oddly enough some labels are making the right decisions once more. And this is how I came to pick up my copy of “Candy Apple Grey” on vinyl at my local record shop. Warner Bros. recently re-pressed it on 180-gram wax in conjunction with their subsidiary Rhino Records. And why not? Labels need to make money and this is what real music fans actually want today. So instead of following a model of “we know what’s best for you”, they’re actually now practicing one that caters to the wants and needs of real tried-and-true music lovers. And once again as the kids outwit the adults we find the Hüskers caught up in this shift.
Albums like “Candy Apple Grey” are what keep me excited about music. Prior to my dropping the needle on this record a few weeks back I had never heard this album. And after my first listen and the subsequent 100 more that would follow I once again am delighted to know that even as bands continue to churn out new classics there are still so many more classics of days past that I have yet to discover. And it’s for this reason that I always try to make a point of buying something older when I go record shopping to compliment whatever new releases I pick up.
Now I do own a couple other Hüsker Dü albums including, “New Day Rising”, “Land Speed Record”, “Zen Arcade”, and “The Living End”. And up until I heard “Candy Apple Grey”, “New Day Rising” had been my favorite. But for as much as I liked that album, Candy Apple blows it all away. And more than just being my favorite Hüsker album it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite albums period. And that’s no easy task when it comes to someone who’s listened to a few thousand.
Grant Hart and Bob Mould’s songs not only compliment each other perfectly but you really get the sense that these two gave their everything to outdo the other. The album seesaws between the two from start to finish. The only two back-to-back Moulds come at the end of Side A into the beginning of Side B. The Mould songs may have the numbers (slightly, 6-4), but Godamnit if it’s not the Hart ones that I keep coming back to. Christ that man could write a song! Don’t Want to Know If You Are Lonely, Sorry Somehow, and No Promise Have I Made are strong enough to stand alone as an album unto themselves. The passion just oozes right the fuck out of the speakers with lines like, “Don’t want to know if you are lonely. Don’t want to know if you are less than lonely.”
The band had 3 months or so to put this album together, which is probably more than SST gave them in the studio for all of their prior albums combined. Still it doesn’t feel over-produced. Sure there are organs and the odd effect thrown in here and there but the album never gets bogged down in any of that. In fact, songs like Too Far Down and No Promise Have I Made are as stripped down as they come.
If you’ve never heard this album or if your copy is worn out from 20+ years of spins, pick this release up and chalk up another win for the kids.
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