977 Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising (1985)

 977 Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising (1985)

Studio Album - Hardcore Punk


About the Act:

Hüsker Dü were an American Hardcore Punk band from 1979 to 1988 and from Saint Paul, Minnesota. They released six studio albums, and according to Wikipedia "Hüsker Dü is widely regarded as one of the key bands to emerge from the 1980s American indie scene."


About the Album:

This is the third studio album by the band, and marked a move away from Hardcore Punk into more melodic areas, with improved musician ship and production. That's what is says here on Wikipedia anyway.


My History with this Album:

None. I listened to it last night. I have no intention of listening to it again.


Review:

Fast, energetic, loud. There, that's the good things about the album out of the way. 

I knew this would come. I knew there would be albums on this list that I don't like. I try to find redeeming features where I can. If you like music that is fast, energetic and loud then this might be for you. Only if you don't care about anything else. In fact I can think of three reasons to be into this music: 1. you like your music to be fast, energetic and loud and don't care about anything else; 2. you like to be the person who listens to music that is inaccessible to the mainstream, maybe because it makes you feel superior; 3. The Emperor's new clothes.

Mostly, it is drums, bass, guitar and vocals. The mix is terrible, there are only rare occasions where you can hear the vocals, even though they are shouted. The general impression is of shouting. Lots of shouting. When you can hear the vocals, they are as banal as the worst dancy synth-pop. One track seems to consist of shouting "plans" and "make" alternately. It's not even good shouting. The instruments are loud, fast and generally out of time. I will admit that they can make a connected series of notes and chords, and that they tend to agree on them. If they could play without fumbling, stay in time, and be in time with each other it would be better, but they can't. One track had a piano part, which was refreshing. The production is poor, to say the least, echoey, unbalanced, terrible.

Here is a quote from the Wikipedia page for the album:  "New Day Rising appeared in January 1985 and featured slower, more melodic material, continuing the trend away from the fast hardcore punk of the band's earliest releases. This coupled with the higher-quality musicianship and production led fans to perceive the band as more commercial, and the band defended themselves against accusations of selling out." In other words, fans of fast hardcore punk thought this was too slow, too skilled, and too well-produced. Earlier albums must have been even worse!

There are a couple of tracks in which the guitarist loses the plot, presumably deliberately, and starts playing random chaos with no relation to what the rest of the band are doing. This, at least, is interesting, if highly discordant and unpleasant to the ears. 

And here's the thing, it somehow made it onto the list, because some people think it's a great album. They sold albums, people actually paid money for this crap. People paid money to go and see them live. Why? Just.... why?

1/10


I almost don't want to give you the links.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2eOu9QDLP2MoO04ZtII2Vm

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1bI_uDWvHQ

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Day_Rising




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