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Rating: On November 10, Numero Group will release a box set of four LPs or three CDs and a book of about a hundred pages that gathers much of the material recorded by Hüsker Dü from 1979 to 1982, before they officially began a short but intensely significant history that has few equals: just five years, from 1982's «Land Speed Record» to 1987's «Warehouse: Songs and Stories».
69 tracks in total, 47 of which have never been released before.
What it means to evolve from «Land Speed Record» to «Warehouse: Songs and Stories» in the span of half a decade is probably understandable only to those who lived it day by day, that band and those years.
That is not my case: I discovered them in 1986, when my parents financed the purchase of «Candy Apple Grey».
From there, it didn't take long to make up for lost time; Hüsker Dü didn't record that many albums.
However, that time was enough to solidify a certainty: they would be one of the "bands of life," after Clash, Dream Syndicate, and Violent Femmes; the last one, no other has been as crucial for my musical, and even personal, development, I dare say.
A few days ago, upon learning about the upcoming release of «Savage Young Dü», I fantasized for a moment that, being the first authorized new collection by Hart, Mould, and Norton in over twenty years, those three might have finally overcome misunderstandings and resentments – because Hüsker Dü ended badly, amid misunderstandings and resentments – gotten the band back together and offered an illusion to anyone who didn't experience them back then, that these years, too, were important.
Then, illusions quickly fade; sometimes, in the worst possible way.
A few months ago, Grant Hart was diagnosed with cancer; today, that cancer has taken him away.
«I'm sorry, in some way.»
Few certainties.
That these hours will remain impressed like those in which I learned of Joe Strummer's death.
That «Savage Young Dü» will still be a way to return to illusions once more.
Tracklist and Lyrics
12 Data Control (00:00)
A nine digit number
For every living soul
That is all they talk about
At Data Control
They know everything about you
Keeping secrets is too hard
Your life is all recorded for you
In holes punched in computer cards
Data Control (digital readout)
Data Control (perforated feedout)
Data Control (microfilm files)
Data Control (1984 style)
A multinational corporation
A stockholder's dream
A nightmare of diversity
A defense system so supreme
Too technical to talk about
Too complex for layman's brains
It's enough to make you paranoid
Or drive you crazy losers sane
29 Wheels (00:00)
On a date with Sharon Tate
I'm gonna pick her up in my new crate
Well we go to the movies, we go to the drag
The highway patrol puts us both in a bag
Wheels, wheels
Statue of Mary sitting on my dash
Mother, please protect me
Help me avoid the crash
I've got a really big engine
And it goes vroom, vroom
Could be a cradle, could be a tomb
30 All Tensed Up (00:00)
Got these little pills
To curb your appetite
Take a couple of these
You'll be up all night
I can scream, I can jump, I can shout
I can tear the whole place down
When I take a couple of these
I don't want you around
All tensed up, did too many pills
Wanna get near you but I can't stand still
Baby, I love you, but I'm too loaded
To love you properly
47 Diane (00:00)
Hey little girl, do you need a ride?
Well, I've got room in my wagon why don't you hop inside
We could cruise down Robert Street all night long
But I think I'll just rape you and kill you instead
Diane, Diane, Diane
I heard there's a party down at Lake Cove
It would be so much easier if I drove
We could check it out, we could go and see
Oh won't you come and take a ride with me
We could lay in the weeds for a little while
I'll put your clothes in a nice, neat little pile
You're the cutest girl I've ever seen in my life
It's all over now, and with my knife
49 In A Free Land (00:00)
Government authorize education
[Don't mean a thing]
They'll teach you what they want you to think
[Don't mean a thing]
Saturation of stars and stripes
[Don't mean a thing]
The only freedom worth fighting for is for what you think
Why bother spending time
Reading up on things
Everybody's an authority
In a free land
53 From The Gut (00:00)
The gut From the gut
It hurts Hurts so much
The same Quite the same
You know Know too much
It's yours Yours no more
It's mine For the time
That I'm Without you
54 Target (00:00)
You've seen it all before
You think it's passe
But you listen to the same fucking records
Every single day
You don't like the people who caught on late
If they're having fun,
Don't participate, be lethargic
You're a hypocrite, you're the target
55 Obnoxious (00:00)
Tell us we're obnoxious
You can't sell our product
Who asked you to?
Say we play too fast
The music's not gonna last
Well, I think you're wrong
You don't like the way we look
Obnoxious
You don't like the way we talk
Obnoxious
You can all go get fucked
Obnoxious
57 Blah, Blah, Blah (00:00)
Got something to say
Like something to me
Well just go ahead and spit it out
It's all the same, you see
What's that, it doesn't make sense
Are you talking in tongues
Or is your brain out of gear
I can hear it rattle in your head
I can see your lips move
BLAH BLAH BLAH
But all I hear is
Got something to say
Like something to me
Well just go ahead and spit it out
It's all the same, you see
It's coming out better
But it doesn't make sense
Is that a head on your shoulders
Or something you use for ornamentation
59 Bricklayer (00:00)
Brick on the head from the top of the ceiling
Urban sniper, urban killer
Won't be finished until you're dead
Urban sniper, urban killer
Brick out the window, top of the head
Brick on the head 'cause you're a fuckhead
Brick at the window, top of my head
You're a fuckhead
60 Afraid Of Being Wrong (00:00)
Don't speak unless spoken to
And then you don't say much
You think you're so self-righteous
But your mind is out of touch
You're afraid, you're afraid of being wrong
Always be the passive one and go along
You're afraid, you're afraid to speak your mind
That's not for me, not for me, not for me
Living in a crystal maze
Fucked, you can't get out
Never be the agitator
Unless you know what it's all about
63 Everything Falls Apart (00:00)
If I listened to the things that you said
Everything would fall apart
If I did all the things that you do
Everything could fall apart
Let's not listen to the things that they say
Everything can fall apart
Let's think about our actions before we do them
Everything will fall apart
I got nothing to do
You got nothing to say
Everything is so fucked up
I guess it's natural that way
Everything falls apart
If I did all the things that you do
Everything could fall apart
If I listened to the things that you told me
Everything would fall apart
Let's think about our actions before we do them
Everything will fall apart
If we do all the things as we say
Everything can fall apart
I got nothing to do
You got nothing to say
Everything is so fucked up
I guess it's natural that way
I got nothing to do
You got nothing to say
Everything is so fucked up
I guess we like it that way
If I listened to the things that
You said everything
64 Wheels (00:00)
On a date with Sharon Tate
I'm gonna pick her up in my new crate
Well we go to the movies, we go to the drag
The highway patrol puts us both in a bag
Wheels, wheels
Statue of Mary sitting on my dash
Mother, please protect me
Help me avoid the crash
I've got a really big engine
And it goes vroom, vroom
Could be a cradle, could be a tomb
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