Re: OPENING ACT IN NYC

[James Marshall Boswell <jboswel@emory.edu>]

On Sat, 27 Apr 1996, Mark Leaman wrote:

> 
> >Good one! I used to be a Who-only fan, too. Only because of Kenney Jones did
> >I ever venture out into the Small/Faces/Rod Stewart world. I don't know Bob
> >Mould's solo stuff, but I disliked Husker Du. No musicianship, but lots of
> >fan adoration. Why?


Mark is right to cite as laudable points Husker Du's sense abandonment and
raw power.  I would add to that list of positive points the band's
splendid fucking SONGS.  Bob Mould in particular wrote real songs,
hook-laden pop tunes with sharply realized lyrics full of hard-to-face
truths.  These contradictions--bright pop hooks played at full powerdriver
volume with dead-serious lyrical content (for the most part, anyway)--made
Husker Du a true original--a hybrid of the Buzzcocks and the Stooges, if
you will.  Or, let's say, the Sixties-era Who and, say, The Circle Jerks
or something.  No doubt little Kurtis Cobain was sitting rapt over his
phonograph just like us other fans out there, back in the grand old days
of American independent rock (circa 83-88).   Rock moves on, the children 
produce their own children.