Husker Du – 7th Level Music

Review: Hüsker Dü – 1985 – The Miracle Year

Numero Group has done it again.

Just when you think you’ve heard the last word on Hüsker Dü’s back catalogue, Numero Group comes along with 1985 – The Miracle Year. It’s a stunning two-disc set of concert performances from when the band were in their prime. They were touring to promote Zen Arcade and, after this tour, would go on to release two more classics: New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig. They would start recording Candy Apple Grey later that same year.

The first disc is a rare recording of a full show at Minneapolis’ First Avenue club recorded in January 1985. It was slated to be released as an album back then, but it never materialized and the tapes sat for forty years in storage. Thankfully, they emerged and have been remastered and released for all of us.

Hearing this show now instantly makes your jaw drop. Starting off with “New Day Rising,” they stomp the gas and almost never let off it for the whole show. They’re angry and fierce on “It’s Not Funny Anymore” and “Everything Falls Apart.” Even “The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill” has extra doses of punk rage in it.

Other great cuts include “Makes No Sense at All,” “Books About UFOs,” and the blazing “Broken Home Broken Heart.” “Pink Turns to Blue” is a great encore piece, as are “Out on a Limb” (with Grant Hart thudding out a primal beat almost as a challenge to the audience still left standing) and the wild cover songs from the set: “Eight Miles High” (The Byrds), “Helter Skelter” (a perfect song for them to perform as Greg Norton and Bob Mould trade punk rage vocals and screams), “Ticket to Ride” (The Beatles), and “Love Is All Around” (Sonny Curtis).

Disc two is a collection of other live cuts from 1985 and begins with a blistering version of “Don’t Want to Know If You Are Lonely.” “Hardly Getting Over It” is another good one with sharp guitar work by Mould. “Eiffel Tower High” is a great inclusion, and one you rarely hear. The same goes for “All Work and No Play,” which features great double vocals.

Their cover of Donovan‘s “Sunshine Superman” is always welcome, and the Hoboken crowd goes crazy for it. Several of the final tracks are audience requests, such as “In a Free Land,” the title track to Flip Your Wig, and even an instrumental (“The Wit and the Wisdom”) that nearly burns down the Frankfurt venue.

It all sounds great, and the first disc alone will put you right back into 1985. Bring your earplugs.

Keep your mind open.

[I’m looking for the miracle of your subscription.]

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Guard your eardrums. Numero Group is releasing a four album set of live Hüsker Dü music on November 07, 2025.

Numero Group announces the release of Hüsker Dü’s 1985: The Miracle Year, a live 4 LP box set, out November 7th. Witness the transcendent Minneapolis punk trio tearing into the most incendiary year of its existence, captured live on stage at First Avenue in perhaps the highest fidelity recordings of the band’s lauded SST era. 1985: The Miracle Year includes Beau Sorenson’s restoration of an entire January 30, 1985 set, plus 20 extra live tracks from the year’s touring schedule, and a deluxe booklet detailing twelve months of history-making Hüsker Dü. Along with today’s announcement, four songs from the box set are available to stream now. Titled Jan. 30, First Ave Pt. 2, the collection features “The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill,” “I Apologize,” “If I Told You” and “Folklore.” What is the sound of a legend being written?

Stream Jan. 30, First Ave Pt. 2

Looking at 1985 through the dynamic lens of independent DIY music, mid-decade, there was a year-long succession of leaps by Hüsker Dü, each building on the powerful and undeniable sprint from the scrappy punk institution SST to the artistic empathy of Warner Bros. As observers began to catch on, testimonials came from many quarters, including the New York Times, which recognized the band as “the best to have emerged from the hardcore scene.” Consistent with such praise, Hüsker Dü revealed a heightened creative pace rarely, if ever, seen in any musical era. Before or since. After blowing the doors off the burgeoning alt-rock movement with Zen Arcadethe previous July, the band dropped New Day Rising just six months later on January 14, 1985, and then never stopped chasing the Hidden Beach sunrise that adorned that album’s cover.

On January 30, 1985, Minneapolis reached -11° at show time, marking 19 points of mercilessly dropped mercury from the day’s 8° apex. The 1500 attendees inside First Avenue, however, wouldn’t be needing so much as a T-shirt, let alone the nearest fiberfill parka: from the first blinding moments of “New Day Rising,” it was clear that Bob Mould, Grant Hart, and Greg Nortonhad arrived intent on setting every molecule in the room alight. Their setlist displayed a night-long cascade of fireballs chosen from Everything Falls Apart, Metal Circus, Zen Arcade, and New Day Rising, and five new songs that would reappear later on Flip Your Wig. They also made several nods to the band’s rock forbears, with a ballistic take on The Byrds’ “Eight Miles High,” a turbulent spin on The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” featuring Soul Asylum’s Dave Pirner, a pop-punk remake of “Ticket To Ride, ” and closing with their signature cover of Sonny Curtis’s Mary Tyler Moore theme “Love Is All Around.”

Considering the late-January 2011 house fire that consumed a precious portion of the Hüsker Dü archive, it has to be reckoned as a kind of subordinate miracle that the 1985 First Avenue tapes survived at all. They deliver peak Dü at full gallop through already beloved material, still years shy of fully cementing their status as a blueprint for the alternative rock skyscraper to come. This box set celebrates these tapes, strikingly perhaps the highest fidelity Hüsker Dü recordings ever produced during the band’s lauded SST years. “When I think of that time,” Greg comments, “it was three guys doing what they loved, having fun, and basically showing other people that you can be true to yourself, true to your music, and not have to bow down to fashion or expectations to make something really great.”

Pre-order/Pre-save 1985: The Miracle Year

1985: The Miracle Year Tracklist:
Minnesota Miracle
SIDE A
1. New Day Rising
2. It’s Not Funny Anymore
3. Everything Falls Apart
4. The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill
5. I Apologize
6. If I Told You
7. Folklore

SIDE B
1. Every Everything
2. Makes No Sense At All
3. Terms Of Psychic Warfare
4. Powerline
5. Books About UFOs
6. Broken Home, Broken Heart
7. Diane

SIDE C
1. Hate Paper Doll
2. Green Eyes
3. Divide And Conquer
4. Pink Turns To Blue
5. Eight Miles High

SIDE D
1. Out On A Limb
2. Helter Skelter
3. Ticket To Ride
4. Love Is All Around

More Miracles
SIDE E
1. Don’t Want To Know If You’re Lonely
2. I Don’t Know For Sure
3. Hardly Getting Over It
4. Sorry Somehow
5. Eiffel Tower High

SIDE F
1. What’s Going On
2. Private Plane
3. Celebrated Summer
4. All Work And No Play

SIDE G
1. Keep Hanging On
2. Find Me
3. Flexible Flyer
4. Sunshine Superman
5. In A Free Land
6. Somewhere

SIDE H
1. Flip Your Wig
2. Never Talking To You Again
3. Chartered Trips
4. The Wit And The Wisdom
5. Misty Modern Days

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe!]

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR!]

Rewind Review: Hüsker Dü – Savage Young Dü (2017)

“Savage” is a mild way of putting it.

Savage Young Dü from Hüsker Dü is a four-LP / three-CD compilation by Numero Group of early tracks from the band, spanning 1979-1983. It’s jam-packed (69 tracks, 47 of which have never before been released, and there are scores more they could still put on another compilation – let’s hope so) with demos, live cuts, B-sides, and remastered cuts of their first singles and EPs. It’s essential for any fan of the band, or early 1980s punk rock, and completely bonkers. The booklet inside the set is a wealth of information, too, with interviews and stories from the band members (Grant Hart – drums and vocals, Greg Norton – bass, Bob Mould – guitar and vocals) and many of their friends and early engineers / producers.

The first track is a demo version of “Do You Remember?” and it’s an instant classic with Norton’s chugging bass and snotty, bratty vocals from Mould while Hart tries to knock down the walls of the record store basement where they recorded it. “Sore Eyes” could’ve been a Buzzcocks track, and it’s neat to hear the band trying different musical styles and exploring multiple influences in these early tracks before settling into their “go like hell and blow out the speakers” sound. “Can’t See You Anymore” has Hart telling a girl he can’t date her anymore because she’s wants too much sex.

By the time we get to “Do the Bee” a couple tracks later, the band is already going nuts and screaming from the basement floor (while writhing around on it, according to the story listed in the booklet). Their cover of The Heartbreakers‘ “Chinese Rocks” is delightfully sludgy. A “rehearsal” version of “Data Control” has Norton’s bass tuned so heavy it could sideline for a doom metal band.

The live version of the fun “Insects Rule the World” ends with Mould proclaiming, “We’re not the most professional band in the Twin Cities,” but Hüsker Dü would go on to become one of the big three powerhouses of that area (along with Prince and The Replacements). The live cut of “Sexual Economics” has a cool post-punk edge to the rusty knife sound of it, and Mould’s solo is great.

“Statues” and “Amusement” are two early classics. The venue where the live version of “Walk within the Wounded” was recorded can barely contain the song. “I’m Tired of Doing Things Your Way” sounds like a fist fight is going to break out at any second. It probably did during “All Tensed Up” – a blistering cut. “Don’t Try to Call” goes by so fast that you barely have time to breathe before “I’m Not Interested” starts. Mould screams, “Fuck you!” to the small crowd at the end of a live version of the furious “Let’s Go Die.”

Grant’s drumming on a live recording of “Private Hell” is somewhat Devo-like, and his work on the following track, “Diane,” sounds like it inspired Dave Grohl. “In a Free Land” is one of many politically charged Hüsker Dü tracks. “What Do I Want” has so much angst that it makes you want to smash a wall with a hammer. “M.I.C.”, on the other hand, makes you want to smash the whole damn house. “Afraid of Being Wrong” is like being at the wrong end of a dodge ball game and the message is still resonant today.

Their cover of Donovan‘s “Sunshine Superman” is a fun inclusion, with Hart’s vocals and drum work both a hoot. By the time we get to “Everything Falls Apart,” we can hear hints of the future sound of the band. The collection ends with six loud, raucous live tracks, including a somehow even faster version of “Do You Remember?”, a Norton-heavy version of “It’s Not Funny Anymore,” and a version of “It’s Not Fair” that sounds like a 747 taking off in a hailstorm and closes with a minute of bass and guitar feedback before someone at the club shuts off their amps and calls them “one of the greatest hardcore bands in the country.”

This thing is a treasure trove, and not for the timid. It might flatten the unwary. In other words, it’s amazing.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Husker Du – New Day Rising (1985)

Husker Du‘s third album, New Day Rising, is as scorching today as it was in 1985. The band (Grant Hart – drums and vocals, Bob Mould – guitar and vocals, and Greg Norton – bass and vocals) were moving away from hardcore punk to more melodic tunes…but just barely.

The opening title track comes in hard to shove you into a real or imaginary mosh pit wherever you happen to be at the time. “The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill” has Norton’s vocal chords shredding as hard as Mould’s guitars. Norton’s bass drives “I Apologize” as Mould sings about trying to make amends in a relationship going bad due to his short temper. Norton and Hart’s backing vocals (and Hart’s sharp cymbal crashes) give boost to Mould’s plea.

Gen X punk rockers like Hart, Mould, Norton, and myself still remember the anger we felt during the Reagan Era. Husker Du wrote about this on “Folk Lore” – a song that still rings true today with lyrics like “Now the women scream for equal rights, their man wants to have an affair, children learn to hate the world, and no one seems to care.” The abrupt end with the lyric “One thing I know for sure, your heroes always die.” is like right hook to the jaw.

Norton is pissed about someone turning their back on him in “If I Told You.” “I couldn’t convince you if I tried. You weren’t around the time that I cried,” he sings while Hart’s snare drum rolls sound like machine gun fire and Mould somehow turns up the fuzz on his guitar even more.

“Celebrated Summer” has Mould reminiscing about how fast time passes when you spend it “getting drunk out on the beach, or playing in a band” with your friends. “Perfect Example” switches things up with quieter guitars and slightly slower drums as Mould almost whispers lyrics about moving on from a bad relationship but still hoping he’ll be remembered for the good times.

Norton’s bass line on “Terms of Psychic Warfare” is instantly recognizable if you’re a fan of the band, and Hart’s vocals are a scathing rebuke of someone he left at the curb (“You’ve got your own bed now. I suggest that’s the one you sleep in.”). “59 Times the Pain” takes on a bit of shoegaze and sludge that’s almost disorienting. “Powerline” keeps the melodic drone going a bit longer, and “Books about UFOs” is a sweet love song to a girl who spends her time looking at the stars instead of what’s right in front of her.

“I Don’t Know What You’re Talking About” is a solid rocker about that guy everyone knows who rambles on like he’s an expert on everything yet gets angry when he’s confronted with facts that counter his argument. Huh. That sums up 2019 well, doesn’t it? “How to Skin a Cat” is weird chaos that you have to hear in order to appreciate. I can’t do it justice here. “Whatcha Drinkin’?” is a fun punk blast about getting drunk, regretting it, and getting drunk again later. The album ends with “Plans I Make” – an absolute barn burner of a tune with Mould going bonkers, Norton playing like he’s also driving a Grand Prix race car at the same time, and Hart trying to access the basement by pounding his kit through the floor. I realized how much Husker Du inspired A Place to Bury Strangers upon hearing it for the first time.

New Day Rising is a punk classic. It’s essential. All Husker Du is, really.

Keep your mind open.

[I’d be on heaven hill if you subscribed.]

Thank you, Pat DiNizio and Grant Hart.

I first heard the Smithereens on a local radio station in the mid-1980’s. I called the station to request the song on a later date and the DJ told me, “You have good taste, my friend.” The Smithereens were the first band that let me come backstage and meet them when Mandy and I saw them play at the University of Notre Dame. It was a great show that will forever remain in my memory. We became lifelong fans. I even proposed to Mandy at a Smithereens concert.

The death of Pat DiNizio, the Smithereens’ lead singer and songwriter, is a tough blow for Mandy and I. The Smithereens’ music has been a soundtrack to most of our life together. DiNizio was a talented songwriter who could write power pop and tender ballads like few others. He was also an accomplished guitarist and fellow lover of baseball and comic books, so that made him extra cool to me. He’ll be missed.

I also know I’m late to the party on this, but I wanted to pay tribute to the late Grant Hart, drummer of Husker Du, who died back in September of cancer. I was remiss to not write about his passing due to a lot of stuff that’s been going on here since then. Grant Hart and his bandmates were part of the soundtrack to my teenage years. Few bands could grab your attention like Husker Du, and Hart’s fierce drumming was almost holy to me. It also provided some of the best music for skateboarding I’d ever heard. He, too, will be missed.

I leave you with the first Smithereens song I ever heard. It’s a great example of DiNizio’s craftsmanship. It also rocks.

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