Hüsker Dü Database
Spin Radio Concert Bootleg Recording Comparison Charts

By far the most frequently bootlegged Hüsker Dü performance is the 28 Aug 1985 show at 1st Avenue in Minneapolis. It was recorded for the Spin Radio Concert series and distributed to radio stations for airplay on a double-12" vinyl LP that remains very collectible to this day. Bootleg recordings of the gig have been appearing more or less continuously since the program was first broadcast. These boots range from cheesy off-the-air cassette recordings to vinyl pressings and CDs made from either a soundboard recording or the master tapes (which may be the same thing). Oddly enough, only the Psyche Power Pop A Punk CD appears to have been made from tracks taken from the actual Spin Radio album. The other bootlegs can all be traced back to the soundboard/master. Because there are so few high-quality live Hüsker Dü recordings, and because this particular one has had such broad circulation, bootleggers sometimes try to disguise its origin by changing the date or the venue.

The chart below represents an attempt to sort all this out and present it in a reasonably compact and coherent format. The information can all be dug out of the Annotated Discography, but it's scattered all over the place there and although there are plenty of links and cross-references, the discography has grown to be a monster and admittedly can be difficult to navigate.

Those cheesy cassette recordings are not included in the survey below. There are too many of them (or were, when people still bought cassettes). Homemade recordings in general, moreover, are not typically documented on this site unless they seem to be widely and publicly distributed or are in some way worthy (in my opinion) of attention.

Image Title Label/# Format Release date Notes
[Hüsker Dü, 1st Ave, Minneapolis, 28 Aug 1985) None Master tape N/A Root source for the principal family of bootlegs.
Spin Radio Concert Entertainment Radio NC-005 2x12" vinyl 1985 Legitimate radio show recording. 3-sided vinyl. Non-commercial version. Interviews between songs.
Spin Radio Concert Entertainment Radio C-005 2x12" vinyl 1985 Legitimate radio show recording. 3-sided vinyl. Commercial version. Interviews between songs.
ERI Radio Concerts Entertainment Radio SPIN-PRO1 Cassette tape 1985 Legitimate promo VA compilation with excerpts from various Spin Radio concerts. Two 28 Aug 1985 Hüsker tracks.
[Spin Radio Concerts] Entertainment Radio 2x12" vinyl 1985? Existence unconfirmed. Legitimate promo VA compilation with excerpts from various Spin Radio concerts. Hüsker tracks unknown.
Lynndale's Burning Mark Corner 12" vinyl LP 1986? Bootleg made from soundboard recording or master tape. Slightly different track selection and track order from Spin albums. No interview segments.
Lyndales Burning Holy Records 005 CD Spring 1992 Dutch bootleg made from clean vinyl copy of Lynndale's Burning 12".
Minneapolis Is Burning Nu Noize NUN 001 CD Spring 1992 German bootleg clone of Lyndales Burning CD.
Live At The 1st Avenue Club, Minneapolis, 1985 Spin! Disque 1992 SPIN01 12" vinyl LP Early 1993? French bootleg pressing made from either the Lynndale's Burning LP or one of the CDs that followed. Same tracks as all of those.
Live In Boston 1986 HUDUCD93 CD Early 1993 Yet another clone of the Lynndale's CDs.
Psyche Power Pop A Punk Holy Records 008 CD Fall 1993 This one has a vinyl source, possibly the actual Spin Concert album. Tracks are shuffled relative to all the other versions.
Boston 1986 Live Storm LSCD 51566 CD 1997 or earlier "Reissue" of earlier Live In Boston 1986 with same tracks.
Spin Radio Show None (USA 28.8.25 on spine) 12" vinyl LP 2000 or earlier Austrian pressing. Not a clone of the Spin radio album at all (poor attempt at a counterfeit), but another Lynndale's version of the show.
Every Everything Odyssey Records CDR 2004 Lynndale's clone on CDR with nice artwork.
The Bootlegs Vol. 1: Celebrating 35 Years At First Avenue SRO Productions CD Nov 2005 VA compilation. The live Hüsker track was presumably taken from the master tape.
The Complete Spin Radio Concert: First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN, August 28, 1985 RADIO SILENCE RSL0013002/RSLCD0013002 12" vinyl LP
CD
04 May 2015 Similar to Lyndale's, but with Square/Wit combined as one track.
Do You Remember Radio? FMIC FMIC014 2xCD 26 May 2015 2xCD with Spin tracks (including some interview excerpts) on CD #1.
Minneapolis Moonstomp SON0320 CD 07 Aug 2015 Clone of disc 1 of Do You Remember Radio?
Minneapolis Moonstomp Let Them Eat Vinyl
LETV407LP
2x12" 29 Jan 2016 Same content as CD
Live... First Avenue 85 Interference
INTRCD0010
CD 11 Mar 2016 Same content as The Complete Spin Radio Concert boot 12"
Live In Minneapolis DOL
DOR2151H
12" vinyl LP Mid(?)-2017 Same content as The Complete Spin Radio Concert boot 12". 180-gram vinyl.
Live... First Avenue 85 Live On Vinyl
LOVLP2025
12" white vinyl LP 07 Jul 2017 Same content as The Complete Spin Radio Concert boot 12"


The next chart lists the track number of every song that shows up on each of the various recordings, starting with the master (on which the songs of course appear in the original order). Note that because "If I Told You" and "Folklore" are combined into a single track on all the Lynndale's-based CDs, track numbers from that point forward between those CDs and their vinyl counterparts differ by one. Note also that there are no track lead-in bands on any of the vinyl boots, so their track numbers are not particularly meaningful anyway. Equally meaningless is the track position of "Books About UFOs" on the 1st Ave The Bootlegs Vol. 1 CD, as it's the only Hüsker selection embedded in a VA compilation. The track numbers on some of the more recent bootlegs appear displaced because track #1 is an intro.

  Track numbers
Song title MASTR SRCCM SRCNC ERICS ERI12 LYN12 LYNCD MIBCD L1A12 LIB86 PPPAP BOS86 SRCFT EECDR BLV1 CSRC12 DYRR MM MMLP LFA85 LIM LFA85LP
Flip Your Wig 1 1 1 1 ? 1 1 1 1 1 16 1 1 1   1 2 2 2 1 1 1
Every Everything 2 3 3   ? 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2   2 3 3 3 2 2 2
Makes No Sense At All 3 4 4   ? 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3   3 4 4 4 3 3 3
The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill 4 2 2   ? 4 4 4 4 4 1 4 4 4   4 5 5 5 4 4 4
I Apologize 5 17 17   ? 5 5 5 5 5 17 5 5 5   5 6 6 6 5 5 5
If I Told You 6       ? 6 6a 6a 6 6a 18a 6a 6 6a   6 7 7 7 6 6 6
Folklore 7       ? 7 6b 6b 7 6b 18b 6b 7 6b   7 8 8 8 7 7 7
Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely 8 5 5   ? 8 7 7 8 7 4 7 8 7   8 9 9 9 8 8 8
I Don't Know For Sure 9 6 6   ? 9 8 8 9 8 5 8 9 8   9 10 10 10 9 9 9
Terms Of Psychic Warfare 10 7 7   ? 10 9 9 10 9 6 9 10 9   10 11 11 11 10 10 10
Powerline 11 8 8   ? 11 10 10 11 10 14 10 11 10   11 12 12 12 11 11 11
Books About UFOs 12 9 9   ? 12 11 11 12 11 15 11 12 11 9 12 13 13 13 12 12 12
Hardly Getting Over It 13 10 10   ? 13 12 12 13 12 7 12 13 12   13 14 14 14 13 13 13
Sorry Somehow 14 11 11   ? 14 13 13 14 13 8 13 14 13   14 15 15 15 14 14 14
(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care 15 12 12   ? 15 14a 14a 15 14a 9a 14a 15 14a   15a 16a 16a 16a 15a 15a 15a
The Wit And The Wisdom 16 13 13   ? 16 14b 14b 16 14b 9b 14b 16 14b   15b 16b 16b 16b 15b 15b 15b
Celebrated Summer 17 14 14   ?           10           19 19 19      
All Work And No Play 18 18 18 2 ?           13           20 20 20      
Green Eyes 19 15 15   ? 17 15 15 17 15 11 15 17 15   16 17 17 17 16 16 16
Divide And Conquer 20 16 16   ? 18 16 16 18 16 12 16 18 16   17 18 18 18 17 17 17

MASTR = Master/soundboard tape
SRCCM = Spin Radio noncommercial 2x12"
SRCNC = Spin Radio commercial 2x12"
ERICS = ERI Spin Radio VA cassette
ERI12 = Spin Radio concerts VA 12"
LYN12 = Lynndale's Burning boot 12"
LYNCD = Lyndales Burning boot CD
MIBCD = Minneapolis Is Burning boot CD
L1A12 = Live At 1st Ave boot 12"
LIB86 = Live In Boston 1986 boot CD
PPPAP = PsychePower Pop A Punk boot CD
BOS86 = Boston 1986 boot CD
SRCFT = Spin Radio Show counterfeit 12"
EECDR = Every Everything boot CDR
BLV1 = The Bootlegs Vol. 1 CD
CSRC12 = The Complete Spin Radio Concert boot 12"
DYRR = Do You Remember Radio? boot CD #1
MM = Minneapolis Moonstomp boot CD
MMLP = Minneapolis Moonstomp boot 2x12"
LFA85 = Live... First Avenue 85 boot CD
LIM = Live In Minneapolis boot 12"
LFA85LP = Live... First Avenue 85 boot 12" LP


If you've scrolled down this far, congratulations: you too are a wonk. In the spirit of excessive analysis, then, let's take a closer look those eight boots with identical content. In particular, it might prove illuminating, or at least amusing, to compare the track titles as listed in their respective liner notes.

Songs as
recorded
Songs as listed
LYN12 LYNCD MIBCD L1A12 LIB86 BOS86 SRCFT* EECDR
Flip Your Wig = = = = = = = =
Every Everything = = Everything = = = = =
Makes No Sense At All Makes No Sence At All = Makes No Sence At All Makes No Sence At All Make No Scene At All = Make No Sence At All Make No Scene At All
The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill Girl Who Lives On Heaven's Door Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill Girl How Lives On Heaven Girl How Lives On Heaven Girl How Lives On Heaven Girl How Lives On Heaven
I Apologize = = = I Apologise = = = =
If I Told You = = = = = = = =
Folklore
Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely = = Don't Want To Know = Don't Want To Know Don't Want To Know Don't Want To Know Don't Want To Know
I Don't Know For Sure = = = = = = = =
Terms Of Psychic Warfare = = = = = = = =
Powerline = = = = = = = =
Books About UFOs Books About U.F.O.s Books About U.F.O.s Books About U.F.O.s Books About U.F.O.s Books About UFO's Books About UFO's Books About UFO's Books About UFO's
Hardly Getting Over It = = = = = = = =
Sorry Somehow = = = = = = = =
(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care You're So Square You're So Square You're So Square You're So Square You Are So Square You Are So Square You Are So Square
The Wit And The Wisdom
Celebrated Summer Celebrated Summer Celebrated Summer Celebrated Summer
Green Eyes = = = = = = = =
Divide And Conquer = = = = = = = =

* Overlooking the fact that track listings for side 1 and side 2 are reversed on this one.

"="   means the listed title matches the one in the leftmost column.
"—" means that the title is not listed (and in the case of "Celebrated Summer," not present on the recording).

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