Grant Hart (Husker Du, Nova Mob, solo): RIP*

You're talking about this book by Andrew Earles, where he had input from Greg and Grant. I reviewed it a while back...good book --> The Rock and Roll Chemist: BOOK REVIEW: Husker Du: The Story of the Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock

Agreed, The Argument was so good that I thought he was on the up again.

 

Very sorry to hear this. And yes, from the picture that that was posted earlier in the thread, it's obvious that something is seriously wrong.
Husker Du was one of my favorite bands back in college and remains so .

God bless Grant Hart ...

 

I agree and I didn't mean to imply that with my post. My point was Hart felt Husker's songs that they were looking at as a follow up were probably not the best. Why else would they not use them on their first solo albums if they were good? I also read Hart I think saying they were looking at older songs they never recorded and using them. That marks the end of a creative cycle if you're looking to your past for songs rather than moving forward. They had a number of good songs from 1979-81 they didn't use. I think that would've been a better album but doing songs almost a decade later they will not have the same bit and also if a bale if making you use a producer in the late 80's...

 

So glad this book exists but there were so many errors (spelling and info) in it that could've been easily checked. I remember sending him a list of corrections as I read it. No idea if he read them.

 

Agreed, I think I mentioned that in my review. I doubt he read your corrections...I reached out to him on Twitter after I reviewed the book to ask about an interview and to discuss the book and he was kind of a jerk. I let it be. Still, it was great to get Greg and Grant's side of the story, especially after Bob's rather self-serving view. Their's seemed more believable and honest.

 

That's the one. It was really good to have a book dedicated solely to the Hüskers, but it was a pretty atrocious read. The guy should stick to writing blogs and not elevate himself to "rock biographer." (The book made me think the "33 1/3" series has a lot to answer for. Just because you like a band doesn't mean you're any good writing about them.)

Hüsker Dü really deserves the Trouble Boys treatment. The Replacements were in a similar spot, book-wise - the perfunctory chapter in Our Band Could Be Your Life and that irritating Jim Walsh oral history (I really don't care what Craig Finn thinks of the Replacements). Trouble Boys puts all of that out to pasture. Hüsker Dü deserves just as much. Someone call Bob Mehr and pitch it.

 

I've always got the impression that, setting aside the songwriting credits, Bob was the guy taking care of business and keeping their $h1t together so the band could function. I'm thinking something like Jagger's role in the Stones when they were plagued by drug problems (which is a polite way of saying they were completely irresponsible and acting like children). And by all accounts the Du spent a lot of time impoverished, crammed together in a van, and sleeping on floors - taking a lot of speed to get them through it. That's another factor which is hardly conducive to healthy and fraternal relationships between people. I can understand if Bob might have felt taken advantage of a bit, like he had to always be the grown up - he might have come to resent the others. But I'm speculating about all this so take my 2c for what it's worth - virtually nothing.

 

You're not wrong, Mould was the business head in the band. Of course, giving Flip Your Wig to SST and not Warner's could never be considered a good business decision.

 

THIS RIGHT HERE. This can be a real bonding experience between band mates or a complete disaster. I speak from experience.

 

It's a double-edged sword. Mould was the one who did all that stuff, but to some degree it was apparently because he was a control freak and refused to let anyone else do it or to allow the work be delegated. So it wasn't entirely Mould stepping in where there was a vacuum... to some degree, it was Mould preventing anyone else from having a say in those areas.

As to drugs, Hart has said on more than one occasion that he was not the only one doing hard drugs at various times in the band. The notion that Mould was always the responsible "grown-up" (which he promotes in his book) is probably not accurate.

 

I'm sure Bob enjoyed the lifestyle too, but he seemed to be able to function better while living it. Don't forget that Bob also set up a small label during the early 80s and put out a few records important to the MN scene, on top of looking after the band's affairs. And I hate to say this, because it seems in poor taste to do so and I wish him a quick recovery, but to me Grant looks like he's still been living that lifestyle for far too long and it's finally caught up with him. I mentioned Jagger and the Stones earlier. I could also mention Dee Dee and Johnny.

 

We don't know exactly what is wrong with him. There are any number of health related things that could be making him look the way he does, not all of them having to do with the rock'n'roll life.

 

They did that out of loyalty to SST, but they didn't have to. In retrospect, it looks like a huge mistake, doesn't it?

 

Agreed. I hope he is getting whatever help he needs and he can bounce back and pick up his career where he left off. Grant's songs were always my favorite as many others have said and I'm sure he has lots more great music to give the world when he's properly rested and refreshed.

 

If I recall, Warner's was ready to push Flip Your Wig hard, they knew it was a great album that stood a chance of getting airplay, and they weren't happy about it going to SST.

 

I hope so too, but the way he looks is emblematic of a very serious illness.

 

While I like Candy Apple Grey and Warehouse, I can only imagine how big Flip Your Wig could've been with WB marketing it (and hopefully some better production!)

 

Sadly so. TBH, he looks one step away from going into a hospice in those photos, and I would doubt Grant has any health insurance or any real income, if his previous financial woes are anything to go by. Pretty tragic for him to be in this predicament, and all I can do is hope it is not as bad as it seems and that he can recover some health. Him and Bob Mould are my absolute favourite songwriters of all time, so I am pretty upset hearing about and seeing Grant's current situation.

 

I doubt "Flip Your Wig" would have been a huge hit on WB, due to of course the sub-major label mix/production, but also it came a half decade too early to catch the "alternative wave". Nothing that abrasive was going to be a mainstream hit in 1986.

From what I read they wanted to give the poppier album to SST and 'Candy Apple Grey' to WB to avoid/reduce the inevitable cries of "sell-out" from their fan-base which always happened to indie bands who signed to a major.

 

Sounds like Mould was controlled by his vanity with that decision. Regarding Hart, I wonder who will be the inheritor of his songwriting royalties. He has a son but the were estranged. I wonder with his illness if he has made up with him. Who takes Hart's place in Husker business is my question.

 

True. Else they would've gotten at least three singles off Warehouse.

 

Of the last three "slick production" Hüsker Dü albums, FYW is by far the smoothest/least abrasive. CAG and W:SS are almost tied for the "tinniness-induced ear bleed" award.

That said, as much as I love FYW, saying it stood a chance in the mainstream if it had been on Warners is wishful thinking. I think if it had, it might be a slightly more revered album, and their status/legacy would be a little more pronounced as an alternative band. It seems Hüskers are more in the Replacements' shadow these days, and maybe FYW might instead be seen as their Tim, if that makes sense.

 

Makes No Sense At All would've been better known. Green Eyes was to be the follow up and while I never felt that a great song, it does sound like a single but that doesn't mean songs like that will do well.

 

I have always felt this way. Simply being on a major label wouldn't have made it any more popular. Records come out on major labels all the time that go nowhere.

 

It would have had a better chance of selling more on Warner's, one of the problems with SST was their distribution. Or lack thereof.