ZEN ARCADE
ARTIST: Hüsker Dü
RELEASE: 1984
INTERVIEWEE: Bob Mould
One of the great all-time punk acts was Hüsker Dü, a Minneapolis group featuring drummer Grant Hart, Greg Norton on bass and guitarist Bob Mould. The trio came on the scene in 1979 with a ferocious, impassioned brand of punk. But Hüsker Dü always had more on their collective mind than simply churning out tunes to meet the contingent "loud fast rules" audience. By 1984 when they created their second full-length release, Zen Arcade, not only was it a double album, it was a concept record.
"I'd be hard pressed to think of many early '80s punk hardcore concept records," Mould says today. "Which was exactly one of the main points."