Husker Du  was an American rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart. Husker Du first gained notability as a hardcore punk band, later crossing over into alternative rock. Mould and Hart were the principal songwriters for Husker Du, with Hart's higher-pitched vocals and Mould's baritone taking the lead in alternating songs.
Zen Arcade, New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig (1983-1985)
By 1983, the members of Husker Du wanted to create music outside of the confines and restrictions of hardcore. In an interview with Matter in 1983, Mould told interviewer Steve Albini, "We're going to try to do something bigger than anything like rock & roll and the whole puny touring band idea. I don't know what it's going to be, we have to work that out, but it's going to go beyond the whole idea of 'punk rock' or whatever."  The following year, Husker Du recorded the double album Zen Arcade in 45 hours for the cost of $3,200. Zen Arcade is a concept album following a boy who leaves home to face a harsh and unforgiving world. Its artistic and conceptual ambitions were a great stretch given the purist sentiment then prevalent in U.S. punk rock. Zen Arcade received critical praise and significant mainstream music press attention, ending up on several year-end best-of lists. It also helped expand the band's audience beyond the punk community. In his review for Rolling Stone, David Fricke described Zen Arcade as "the closest hardcore will ever get to an opera ... a kind of thrash Quadrophenia."  In 1989, Zen Arcade was ranked No. 33 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s. SST erred on the side of caution and initially pressed between 3,500 and 5,000 copies of the album, but the record sold out a few weeks into the band's tour in support of the record. The album remained out of stock for months afterward, which affected sales and frustrated the band.  Husker Du started recording Zen Arcade's follow-up album, New Day Rising, just as Zen Arcade was released. The band's next album, Flip Your Wig, was released nine months after New Day Rising. Flip Your Wig became the first album released on an independent record label to top the CMJ album chart.  At year's end, both New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig ranked in the top ten of the Village Voice annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll. The swift succession of dynamic albums highlighted the creative evolution of the band.
what was the zen arcade?
Zen Arcade was ranked No. 33 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s.
Zen Arcade was ranked No. 33 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s.