Along about the time of the 1983 EPs "Everything Falls Apart" and especially "Metal Circus" (with the amazing song "Diane") I started getting out to see Hüsker Dü a lot more than I ever had. You maybe know the legends. They were roaring loud, physically tumultuous affairs, staged in tiny steamy clubs, and they set me up well for the coming of their unprecedented (or anyway unexpected) double-LP concept album package Zen Arcade. The way I understood it there was always a good deal of friction inside the band, more ultimately than was healthy for any of the three principals; it all subsequently blew apart a few short years (and a solid handful of albums) later. That tension somehow filtered out so there was always a lot of talk, as I recall, about who was the "better" songwriter, Bob Mould or Grant Hart. The fact is they were both really good, but exposed to the question and sitting down to study the matter I noticed a marked preference on my part for the Hart songs. I think this is way-far one of his best and it's as good an example of Hüsker Dü in their prime as you're bound to get, in case you were ever curious about them. Mould's flying-V electric guitar rakes and claws against the dense surface, Hart flails like a wild man after the Keith Moon fashion, and there's spooky piano in there for effect. The lyrics, about an unfortunate death, seemed pretty cool too, but what always makes it for me are the whispery vocals in falsetto harmonies climbing up and down and in and around the chorus, tuneful enough to sing with, shivery enough to feel along your spine. The band used to just go tearing through the whole album in shows, preserving the sequencing and everything, and this was always a high point.
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