Game Of Pricks

An interview with one of the most important bands ever, Husker Du(Hoosker Du).

This was of course conducted before one of the most bitter break ups in punk history but what Id like to highlight here is Bobs answer to the questions about the bands sound.

They came out out of a very successful(In The Underground sense) hardcore scene on SST Records and had the guts to stick through all the criticism about their sound as it developed(the beatles esque melodies/more personal lyrics rather than just I HATE STUFF). Which NO ONE was doing in the scene at the time( on SST/around Husker Du mean) with the exception of the replacements to an extent though a very different band to Hisker Du sonically.

The scene is somewhat reversed these days with most ‘Punk’ bands favouring personal lyrics.

Another sense of individuality that I think is mostly missing from Punk/Hardcore/Indie bands at the minute is image. Husker Du(Clearly!!) never paid too much attention to what they were portraying with what they were wearing. How many times have you have been turned off a band because you take one look at them and thing, I know what they sound like??

Its an easy presumption to make with the somewhat military precision a lot of Punk/Emo(oops I said it)/Hardcore/Indie bands have in a mirrored image with each other.

Its an inspiring spirit that Husker Du embodied, go with your own ideas, write whats in youre head and put it out there. Take all your influences and mesh them together and don’t be afraid to go with it no matter the battering you will no doubt receive at first.

Wear what you want, don’t try to fit in with what every one else is wearing or be deliberately controversial for attention(dressing like your grandparents).

PLEASE GET BACK TOGETHER(I know they wont)

P.S. Top 5 Husker Records…

1/Metal Circus

2/Candy Apple Grey

3/New Day Rising(Great songs/Awful production)

4/Zen Arcade

5/Flip Your Wig

hardcorefornerds:

boatzone3:

This is the denouement of the convo about the actual F’ed Up/Perry beef. Pink Eye, as usual, seems nice enuff. And the angry tweets from the Perry army are guffaw-adorable.

You know what’s unique about that generation? For them. the Internet is more than a second life. It IS their life. For us (well, you’re a lot older than me) the Internet is a place where we goof off and maybe read something but as soon as we close our computers, it’s gone. For them, the computer never really shuts off.

I never thought of that. Maybe that’s why that gay kid killed himself after the blow job video came out. We’d go, “Yikes, that’s embarrassing” and avoid going online but for him, it was like having to wear a sandwich board that said, “I blow dudes.”

It’s also why nobody got the FEAR reference. Old hardcore quotes are not going to click with Katy Perry fans.

You know Ian Mackaye says DOA invented the word hardcore?  

I know, but they weren’t the first hardcore band.

Who was?

The Rude Kids from Sweden. They were doing fast punk back in the late 70s and it is the dictionary definition of hardcore.

Given that the FEAR line he’s referencing was “let’s have a war so you can die!” with ‘you’ as implicitly plural, fuck-society-kind-of-thing, and what he said was “Seeing Katy Perry as a soldier in ‘Part of Me’ really makes me think that we need to start a war so she can go die”, makes it seem more personal and offensive. Like, a lot closer to “die in a fire” rather than an actual-ironic social critique. And duh, Katy Perry fans who are young and haven’t heard “old hardcore quotes” are obviously going to be offended - if only personally because of the cult of celebrity and the Kulturkampf that is waged between popular and alternative music. Which I don’t think Fucked Up are all that good at rising above, although he does admit to and defend listening to pop music (against joke-homophobic questions, which, um, ok?). But that last part is pretty close to indie snobbishness - is it about giving genuine historical credit to some obscure Swedes, or establishing that the “dictionary definition” of hardcore begins in obscurity and progresses to Fucked Up?

In other “the kids are/aren’t alright” news, it was somewhat entertaining to read this account of the appearance of Odd Future on BBC Newsnight (in an interview segment that is, British TV doesn’t really go in for the chat show + musical performance combination as much as the US) which accentuates the Sex Pistols comparisons:

“In an age when all generations are supposedly cool enough for rock’n’roll and every media outlet has young reporters, there’s something wonderfully anachronistic about the whole affair […] 

Smith starts off relentlessly negative – “Is this the future of rock’n’roll? Teenagers queueing politely for a shop?” – and keeps up the digs throughout with references to the band’s “puerile” lyrics and an implication they’re ripping off fans with overpriced “merch”. But in the great tradition of Bill Grundy, Smith’s mocking tone suggests he’s genuinely terrified by the band and out of his depth.

When he asks what the band are trying to say, Tyler, the Creator just sneers: “Nothing. Shit to piss old white people off like you.”

“Is that right?” comes the response, before Tyler cracks up laughing. It’s undoubtedly an awkward and intimidating situation for Smith, but by heading out to belittle the band, he ensures your sympathies are never going to be with him.”

Interesting read.