Husker Du

Along with R.E.M. and the Replacements, Husker Du were one of the most influential American indie rock bands of the 1980s. But they broke up in '87, way too early to capitalize on the mainstreaming of their corrosive yet poppy punk rock sound. So, in 1994, this concert document was put out to show the newly flannelled college kids that Husker Du had done it all before (only with band members far less pinup-worthy than Kurt Cobain). They completely cooked in concert -- erasing any doubts that their early SST albums were cut live in the studio.

What you hear on The Living End, a collection of live material recorded on Hüsker Dü's last
tour, in 1987, isn't so much a band breaking up as a band threatening to fly apart, like an
amusement-park ride with a loose bolt. Hüsker Dü take the shaggy brilliance of their
recordings and tear the sound apart, open it up and weld it together again to make it bigger
and better – what's left to do but hurl it into space? Drummer Grant Hart sketche... More >