Maxwell’s, Hoboken, New Jersey, USA
June 23, 1984
01. Something I Learned Today
02. It’s Not Funny Anymore
03. From The Gut
04. Wheels
05. Everything Falls Apart
06. Girl On Heaven Hill
07. I Apologize
08. Book About UFO’s
09. If I Told You
10. What’s Going On
11. Broken Home, Broken Heart
12. Diane
13. In A Free Land
14. Statues
15. Eight Miles High
OU: This is an audience recording of a firestorm. Such a sound cannot be captured on a mere cassette tape, but I think a bit of the mania is preserved here for all you Husker Duskers. This was another packed-to-the-gills night in the backroom of Maxwell’s and the show starts with Bob telling the crowd that there would be no encore… they wouldn’t be able to leave the room and maneuver their way back in through the wall of bodies. This show took place just a few weeks before the release of Zen Arcade… I’m sure the tour was planned to promote the album, but SST’s pressing and distribution had been delayed.
Memoryville:
If you’ve read Michael Azerrad’s wonderful book, “Our Band Could Be Your Life” you have some idea of how hand-to-mouth the touring circuit was for a band like Husker Du. I’m sure they were happy to get a decent payday; six bucks each from 220 sardines, maybe 20% going to the opening act… that would be about $1000 for the headliner. The bands also got food and drink at cost - it was Maxwell’s policy to charge them 1/3 of the menu/bar prices for whatever they consumed (and then only if the bartenders actually bothered to jot it down on their tab – a nod and a smile goes a long way).
I introduced myself to Bob Mould early in the evening (I was supposed to interview the band… I’ll get to that later) and he told me how “honored” he was that Steve Fallon had booked them into a “Pop Shrine” like Maxwell’s (his words). He was just so appreciative and pumped-up about the gig and it turned out to be the start of a long friendship and business relationship between Bob and Steve. ‘Eight Miles High’ had come out a couple months earlier and was in heavy rotation at the club. Bob told me that their new DOUBLE album would be out in a couple of weeks. Wow, a double album. And they had studio time booked in a few weeks to record the follow-up. Wow, a follow-up to an as-yet-unreleased double-album. How cool is that? Needless to say, they were on a roll.
During these years I had a short stint as a critic at The New York Rocker and was asked by a guy to interview Husker Du for a short-lived audio cassette magazine - I think it was called Bang! The guy was supposed to bring his portable cassette recorder over to the club in the early evening for me to conduct this interview (for which I was completely unprepared). He didn’t show up as scheduled and once I started deejaying at 10:00 I figured I was off the hook so… party time! (The bands paid 1/3 of the bar prices, but employees drank for free and I took full advantage). The show was incredible. I was completely wasted by the end of the night and as we were shooing-out the last of the hardcore stragglers this guy from Bang! shows up with his battery-operated portable and… me du husker innervu.
OK. It’s 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning, the club is closed, a handful of “insiders” are hanging out after-hours and I sit down with Bob and Grant at the bar in the empty back room to conduct a fucking interview. “So, wha’ does Husker Du mean?” I skillfully queried. Grant blessed me with a patient answer. I asked about their new album… both guys offered enthusiastic replies. And as I struggled to conjure Baba Wawa moment #3 my friend Darren came to my rescue. Somehow he knew they were big fans of professional wrestling and the three of them started talking about “the only sport that’s NOT fixed!” And for the next hour they talked about nothing else. I gave the tape to Mr. Bang! a couple of days later (I spot-checked the thing and could be heard giggling in the background like a complete idiot throughout). He later opined that it was “a weird interview, but kind of interesting.” He never asked me to interview another band.
I love Husker Du.
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