Word: husker
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Husker Du, and its fellow hardcore bands, however, have attempted to break away from the inflammatory, anarchic message inherent in much of today's punk and new wave music. In a sense, Husker Du's statement. "You want to change the world by breaking rules and laws/People don't do things like that/in the real world at all" can be interpreted as a condemnation of the message of other recent bands...
Nevertheless, while Husker Du might oppose the punk ethos, they use a very similar musical style. With Bob Mould's blazing, distorted guitar, and his hoarse, throaty voice angrily trying to shout its way through the dense wall of sound, this sounds like a souped-up har her hybrid of punk and heavy metal. Thus, just as the punk movement revamped the rock of the 60s and early 70s while taking their inspiration from the spare, fast style form 50s rock'n roll. Husker Du in turn revamp the punk format deriving their inspiration from some of the heavy metal...
ALTHOUGH THIS VIOLENT, angry music doesn't seem to "fit in" with Husker Du's message, the band not only recognizes this, but also deliberately highlights this contradiction on Metal Circus. Thus, it is no mistake that the lines "I don't rape and I don't pillage other people's lives" appear on the same album alongside the line "I think I'll just rape you and kill you instead." Instead of attempting to hide this dichotomy. Du deliberately exposes it as something which both the band and its listeners must face...
This contradiction also serves to highlight Husker Du's major message: don't trust or look for answers in any music (even in Metal Circus), but rather look within yourself. For instance, in the first song on the EP, Mould states, "You can sing any song you want but you're still the same," thus denying the idea that music can or should after people's lives. In fact, this song reveals Husker Du's message and ideals more clearly than any other on the album. Behind the fast, clean guitar line which draws the listener into the album...
...unsettling song as a sick joke is too easy, and moreover, it would belie the fundamental message of the rest of the album. Rather, this song is both a frightening and frightened recognition of the violence lurking not just within the music and message of punk, but also within Husker Du's reaction to punk...