Hüsker Dü Database
Magazine articles & interviews

Blitz, May 1986

Music, fashion, celebrities, more fashion — that sums up the focus of London-published Blitz (hey... I think I get it!) magazine, if this issue is representative. The short Hüsker article below appeared in a section devoted to music briefs (and was listed on the wrong page in the table of contents). The interview in the London office of "their record company" presumably occurred in Mar 1986, at the start of Hüsker's third visit to England (and second real tour), which implies that the record company in question was Warner Bros.

There is, it has already been noted, absolutely nothing stylish about Minneapolis's HÜSKER DÜ. The only single thing about them that might be remotely considered so lies between the nose and the upper lip of drummer [sic] Greg Norton, a fine Edwardian moustache which curld elegantly upwards. On one of their many long tours round the States it grew that way, so he left it like that.     For the rest, in appearance and music, Hüsker Dü are unselfconsciously inelegant in both appearance and musical output. Watchful of their ümlauts, they pronounce their name Hoo-sker Doo and make a perfect opposite to Minneapolis's other famous son, Prince. Neither simply hardcore nor Byrds, but taking influences from both, they produce grown up, hard and ironic pop.	It started equally unstylishly: three inexperienced teenagers bashing away. "In 1979 we opened a lot of gigs," remembers Greg, "and usually there were not a whole lot of people in the audience and we were real awful and people hated us but that didn't discourage us because we were detremined to do it, and that's basically the same now."     Given Britain's almost totalitarian style-consciousness, Hüsker Dü have been taken to heart because they are a great relief: uncomplicated without being stupid. But it's been a long haul for them: seven years of endless tours, self-management, releasing their own singles and promoting themselves on college radio — the mainstay of the US indie scene. After such rigorous beginnings, their new international status leaves them relatively unmoved. "This is our third time	over here," says guitarist-singer Bob Mould, but now we're talking Europe, Japan... all this is getting pretty abstract.     They're sitting in the offices of their London record company — three ungainly bodies sprawled over sofas. Greg gets up, politely makes his excuses and goes to throw up somewhere. "English chips are a bit greasy," he explains on the way out.     With the moustache missing, Hüsker Dü cannot be said to look anything remotely like pop stars. "No," agrees singing drummer Grant Hart, "and I don;t want to. I just want to look the way I wake up in the morning all day..."     Bob breaks out into a fit of giggles: "You'll never get rich," he says. William Shaw

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