Monday, May 23, 2011

Best of the 80's: Zen Arcade by Husker Du

Zen ArcadeI'm not sure you can overstate the importance of Husker Du on the music of early 90's bands like Nirvana.  Zen Arcade is the big breakthrough moment for Husker Du.  Their third release and second studio album, is a double album that is loud, noisy, and heavy with hooks.  The album could have been trimmed down, but the key factor here is the blueprint for combining loud angry noise, with loud angry lyrics, layered on top of pop hooks.  Does it sound like the late 80's early 90's alternative scene? 

In many ways you can look at this album and Husker Du as a solid link between the punk movement to bands like Nirvana breaking through in the 90's.  Currently this album sits at number 70 on the Best of the 80's list.

Early Husker Du is certainly not for everyone.  In some ways I would recommend trying out their first major label release Candy Apple Grey if you don't know this band and you're curious to hear what they sound like, but if you want to hear the album that struck everyone with such force in 1984 then pop on Zen Arcade.

Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 2 out of 5 stars for Not Bad.

3 comments:

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  2. "Zen Arcade" is an album title that could only have been used in the early 1980s.

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  3. Huge Government Cheese influence.

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