release date: Jan. 1983
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Hüsker Dü and Spot (aka Glen Locket)
label: Reflex Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "From the Gut" - 2. "Blah, Blah, Blah" - 5. "Afraid of Being Wrong" - 6. "Sunshine Superman" - 8. "Everything Falls Apart" - 12. "Gravity"
Studio debut album by the American trio Hüsker Dü released after the first full-length release, the live album Land Speed Record released exactly one year earlier. The band was formed in Minneapolis in Mar. '79 and consists of Bob Mould on guitar and vocals, Greg Norton on bass and backing vocals, and with Grant Hart on drums and vocals. This is American hard-core punk, which only had a little in common with the early stages of what became known as punk rock, meaning 1976-77. Hüsker Dü is one of a few dominant bands of the genre when speaking of the American version of hardcore punk, which included Black Flag, Bad Brains, D.O.A., Circle Jerks, and Dead Kennedys. The UK scene included bands like The Exploited, Charged G.B.H., Subhumans, Crass, Anti-Nowhere League, One-Way System, and UK Subs, but the two scenes were not identical. The American scene was a primary source and link to noise rock, which more or less evolved at the same time, and that may be heard on this album. I recall being interested in the British scene, which had more evident roots in traditional punk rock with some focus on harmonies, chorus-lines, political subjects, and with the addition of intensified energy. A few bands with Crass as the extreme forerunners were on the edge of punk making highly political music with bonds to experimental art rock and rock satire, which was labelled anarcho-punk - and this only really happened in the UK, whereas the American artists more or less concentrated their energy in playing with speed, high-voltage energy and anger as driving forces - rebelling with either nihilism or what resembled 1960s anti-war protest-songs engagement, and not seldom as a huge (strange) mix of founding inspiration.
Everything Falls Apart is however, also one of a few albums that closes the gap between American and British hardcore punk. Listening to Subhumans, The Exploited and One-Way System this has an equal expression of harmony structures and short-lived tunes build on guitar-chords and wry statements.
I rejected this as too much noise for my liking. My first experience with the band was Zen Arcade from 1984, and that didn't do much for me like the band's last releases, which failed to my appeal. At the time, I thought, this was just a matter of playing fast, running wild with energy, and with too little diversion. Today, I actually enjoy some of the tracks from this. It has it's moments and moreover: it's quite evident how the band became a source to other styles and genres, including grunge, but also how close this was to noise rock and American alternative rock, which helped giving birth to bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Red Hot Chili Pepper - all of these seem unthinkable without Hüsker Dü in this incarnation.
"From the Gut" is a great, simple, but original starter, which points to music by Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers. "Blah, Blah, Blah" and perhaps even more "Bricklayer" are fine examples of music bonding with chanting chorus lines from the UK scene, experimental 'art rock' by Frank Zappa, Dead Kennedys, and Nirvana at the same time. The production sound is... of course on the low side of things but that's how it is with the genre. "Punch Drunk" (30 secs of distilled raw energy) could easily have thought made by Crass, The Exploited, Charged G.B.H. of the British scene, or by Dead Kennedys. Most songs are written by Bob Mould and one track "Sunshine Superman" is a cover of a track by Donovan, however, here highly transformed. The original album issue has a total playing time of just above 19 minutes making it a rather short long-player. In '93 the album was reissued as Everything Falls Apart and More on cd with seven bonus tracks including the band's first two singles.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]
