Green Day's cover of an old Husker Du classic to be released this Saturday on Record Store Day. What really sells it is having the original there too so some young punk kid who maybe hasn't heard of Husker Du can listen to it and find that he really digs their music.
The Original:
The Cover:
Just about the perfect song, musically/lyrically etc. Green Day's homage is genuine (Billie Joe is a huge Husker Du fan) but it's hard to outshine the masters. I know it shouldn't be a contest, but as much as I love Green Day, Husker Du wins this round hands-down.
My introduction to Husker Du actually started with Metal Circus, a copy of which was miraculously available at the Central Library in Jamaica, Queens. They had other Husker Du CDs on the shelf but I opted for Metal Circus because it only had 7 tracks and my ADD mind figured I could at least tolerate that. I was at one of those stages where I felt I needed to go back to the roots. The name Husker Du was always brought up amongst the punk rock/music intelligentsia, my inner mind pronouncing it Huh-sker Do, like a husky dog. It was a good year before I saw a Bob Mould interview where he said the name of his band and I was shocked that I had been wrong the whole time.
As a decent segue, I saw an epic Bob Mould show at the Highline Ballroom several years back. I figured this was the closest I'd ever get to seeing Husker Du live. I'll be damned if my eyes didn't water just a little when he played 'Celebrated Summer'. I could feel the older fans around me get enveloped in this nostalgia, maybe actually having heard Husker Du play it live in the 80s. Once again, another instance of 'I should've been born in the 70s'. Well, now Foo Fighters have collaborated with Bob Mould for one song on their new album "Wasting Light" and I'm considering buying it just because of Mould. My relationship with FF is virtually nonexistent though I have to admit that I do like a couple of their songs. The music is much stronger than the lyrics/vocals however. And I always felt they weren't as hard-hitting as they could be though that might be my Nirvana bias showing.
But Dave Grohl just went up 100 spots in my ranking of cool musicians because he really gives Husker Du props and in an interview I heard on WRXP he admits that his band have basically been ripping off Husker Du. It was said in a good way. Plus there's this and the equally amazing caption.
I met Bob Mould after the Highline show. I was actually really nervous and after a bit of encouragement from my sister I went up to him and he signed my DVD. I didn't say much. How do you tell someone that their music changed your life without sounding like a giant cliche? How do you tell someone that the songs they've written are your therapy? How many ways can you say 'you rock' without sounding like a drunk fanboy? I told him I loved Husker Du and that the show he just finished playing was amazing. He thanked me. As I walked away all I could think was 'I Just Met Bob Mould and I Didn't Make A Total Fool of Myself!' That mantra stuck in my head for days.
I'm glad Bob's getting respect from famous successors such as Dave and Billie Joe. Maybe he'll gain some more fans with this newfound attention to him and his old band. Now to get people to join the Grant Hart bandwagon!
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