Trivia / Hüsker Dü

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• Auteur License: The reason Warner (Bros.) Records signed the band. By the late 1980s, major labels - and Warner in particular - were very interested in the burgeoning alternative rock scene and the label did not expect or pressure Hüsker Dü to sell a lot of albums. Instead, the label valued the band's word-of-mouth popularity and importance on the indie scene and their critical acclaim, and felt their albums would turn a profit because they usually kept their overhead low anyway. As a result, the label was able to guarantee the band creative control over the music - which motivated them to sign with Warner Bros.
• Breakup Breakout: Bob Mould and Grant Hart both pursued solo careers following Hüsker Dü's break-up. While neither artist is quite mainstream, Mould would appear to be a lot more popular, as his listeners on last.fm outnumber Grant Hart's ten to one and he played on two Foo Fighters songs. However, it should be noted that Hart's approach to making music post-Hüsker Dü was decidedly more low-key and sporadic than Mould's. As a result, Bob has come to be viewed as an elder statesman of modern alternative/indie rock, while Grant became more of an underground cult icon.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Bob Mould refuses to listen to The Living End.
    • In fact, when his approval was needed in order to release the record, he just passed the tape to a roadie (who was a massive Hüsker fan) and told him to write the approval himself.
  • Grant Hart rarely played "Diane" live later in his career, as he'd come to feel that the real-life murder that inspired the lyrics shouldn't be trivialized in the form of a song.
• Executive Meddling: They'd wanted to self-produce New Day Rising, but SST Records insisted on house producer Spot, who'd produced all their previous albums as well. By the time of their next album, Flip Your Wig, they were the most successful act on SST and had the clout to self-produce; that album's more polished sound is probably what they'd intended for New Day Rising as well, which may also be a case of What Could Have Been depending upon whether one feels New Day Rising's more melodic material is suited for its production style (though, since it's still one of their most acclaimed albums, it clearly doesn't bother many people much). Incidentally, by the time Flip Your Wig came around, they'd already signed to Warner Bros., which actually made a bid to release that album too, but Hüsker Dü ultimately decided to give one final album to SST, partially out of loyalty to the label and partially because it had signed a new promotions manager. It wound up being SST's best-selling release to that point.
• He Also Did: Bob Mould spent some time as a writer for WCW.
• Magnum Opus Dissonance: A minor case; Bob Mould considers Flip Your Wig the best Hüsker Dü album. Most listeners like it quite a lot, but you're more likely to hear them cite Zen Arcade or New Day Rising as the best.
• No-Hit Wonder: Of the "more influential than commercially successful" variety. They had middling chart success outside the U.K., and nothing that qualifies as a hit outside that country, but they wound up being one of the most influential hardcore/alternative bands of their era - some sources, such as Allmusic, consider them co-Trope Makers of the entire genre of Alternative Rock (alongside R.E.M.).
• Screwed by the Network: The band cited SST's poor distribution, particularly outside the U.S., as one of the reasons for moving to Warner Bros. This was a problem for many other alternative bands signed to independent labels, then and now. In some cases, in what seems like a This is Spın̈al Tap gag, the band would turn up to in-store appearances only to find that there weren't any copies of their album to sign.
• What Could Have Been:
  • With all three members of the band working together to reissue their back catalogue, there were inevitably whispers of a Hüsker Dü reunion further on down the road, even though all three members quickly put them to bed. Grant Hart's death in 2017 ended the possibility of a reunion permanently.
  • When interviewed for Michael Azerad's Our Band Could Be Your Life, Bob Mould confirmed a rumor that he and Paul Westerberg had met up to write a few songs together at some point in the eighties. Unfortunately for fans of eighties college rock, nothing they worked on together saw release. For what it's worth, Mould didn't think the material was all that good.

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