Flip Your Wig

by

Hüsker Dü

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It constantly blows me away how damn good Husker Du was. I mean, they played their music as if it could be everything at once -- the power of punk, the sheer melody of pop, and the emotions of alternative. And darned if they didn't succeed. This album is probably the best "introduction" to the Huskers from a normal rock fan's point of view -- not as sprawling as "Warehouse," but not as hard as ZA and NDR.

Perfect songs: Every Everything. Makes No Sense at all. Green Eyes. Divide and Conquer. Games. Find Me. Flexible Flyer. I could listen to these beautiful powerful songs over and over. Husker Du were my Beatles -- brilliant fusionists, singers, songwriters, and performers. Here's why.

I've heard some poorly-recorded albums in my lifetime, but "Flip Your Wig" may well take the cake. I mean, there's raw production, and then there's lazy production, and this album is an example of the latter. The overall sound is sterile and distant, Bob Mould's searing guitar work is typically short-circuited, and the bass is rarely even audible. Strangely enough, the only aspect of this album that holds up is the drumming. Grant Hart was clearly a great drummer, and there's no hiding that fact.

It's too bad that "Flip Your Wig" suffers from such lousy recording quality, because it's got a bunch of good songs on it, and even some great ones. Much has been made about how well Husker Du's later albums reconciled punkish energy and old-school pop instincts, and this album certainly confirms such an assessment. The high-octane power-pop classic "Makes No Sense At All" boasts one of the catchiest choruses in history and some absolutely maniacal drumming from Hart. The opening title track and "Games" are effective meetings of memorable hooks and pulverizing walls of instrumental noise, while Hart's "Keep Hanging On" is an anthem that even a Springsteen fan could love. There's some great harder stuff here too: Hart's punkish "Every Everything" is a slab of aggression that will have you banging your head in a matter of second, and "Divide And Conquer" is a socio-political anthem of stunning power.

Throughout this album you can hear the origins of what would later gain the label "alternative rock," even if Husker Du weren't quite as influential as, say, the Pixies. Of course the bands now commonly labelled alternative tend to xerox the formula found on this and similar albums, but that's hardly Husker Du's fault. So check these guys out; not only were the bringing together aggression and catchiness before the likes of Nickelback, they were doing it better.