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MAY 1979 I was working at Cheapo Records in St Paul, Minnesota and Bob [Mould] was going to school down the street [at Macalester College] when he stopped in. He had the independent records that you couldn't find in Minnesota and I began hipping him to things that I had. Bob's retention was remarkable. He could listen to a record once or twice and play along with it the third time. He was a very analytical player in that respect. Greg [Norton, bass] was working in the same chain of record stores. At my first meeting with him I was pissed off. I was supposed to be the next person hired at this chain, and then he was hired. But from the point where we started working with each other, we hit it off well. Greg didn't drive, so I was giving him rides from work or we were ging out to shows and parties. Before the band formed, Greg and I were making up stupid lyrics to the song Psycho Killer. Instead of "Qu'est que c'est," Greg interjected "Hüsker dü!" [Swedish1 for "Do you remember?" and also the title of a TV show with old people singing folk songs]. It was a piss-in-your-pants laugh. A fellow booking another band that broke up had these engagements that he wanted to exploit by putting together a quick jam band. He wanted to play keyboards, so he borrowed my Farfisa. I could play the drums so we had two bases covered. Greg and I really didn't have to talk Bob into it. It was |
only two nights. We
weren't looking for anybody long-term. Personalities were too different, but
it was "Gig in two weeks!" We played covers — everything from Elvis
Costello to the Buzzcocks, some rockabilly, a few Doors songs that the
keyboardist2 wanted to play. He wasn't on the
same wavelength. We had a few practices when this guy couldn't come and
enjoyed it more than when he could.
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had really made a difference in my performance. My job description didn't say
anything about what was going on with my bloodstream [news reports at the time
suggested Grant was asked to leave Hüsker Dü on account of his
heroin use]. Everybody in the band had their own problems.
Greg and I talk to each other every couple of weeks. Bob writes scripts now, for professional wrestling3 — he's been casting real people as heroes or heels for years. A month ago, we received an offer from him and his attorneys to buy Hüsker Dü.4 If I can't put myself in the mindset that it's something that can be bought and sold, there's a lot of stuff regarding his motivation that I won't be able to understand. Bob has plans and he rarely shares them. |
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Interview by Joe Silva |
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| JANUARY 1988 There were two particular complications when we were putting together Warehouse. It was a 9/11 split songwriting-wise, and Bob called a band meeting and spelled it out that "as long as I'm in this band, you're never going to have 50 per cent." I dealt with that. then closer to the point of final dissolution, he told me: "The label isn't impressed with the time you're putting into the other people you're jamming with." So it was like I could have less than half of the songs and no outside projects. |
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On Bob's side, if I went from writing most of the songs to less and less, I
don't know how I'd react either.
When I left the band there was a rush to sabotage me. I'm not denying anything I was involved in, but it'd be different if it |
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