Land Speed Record (album)

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Land Speed Record
Studio album by Hüsker Dü
Released	January 1982
Recorded	August 15, 1981 at the 7th Street Entry
Genre	Hardcore punk
Length	26:35
Label	SST Records
Producer(s)	Hüsker Dü
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (B+) link
Hüsker Dü chronology
	Land Speed Record (1982)	Everything Falls Apart (1983)

Land Speed Record was the first full-length record by Hüsker Dü, released in January 1982. It was recorded live on August 15, 1981 at the 7th Street Entry, a smaller venue attached to the infamous First Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The album is a fast and furious hardcore workout that bears almost no resemblance to the melodic post-punk that the band became known for in the mid '80s. The title has a double meaning, referencing both the band's ability to play as fast as they can (there's 17 songs crammed into 26½ minutes) and their penchant for speed of the amphetamine pill variety, which they took mostly as an appetite suppressant due to lack of money to buy food.

The album sounds like straightforward hardcore at first glance; with volume and power being emphasized over melody, it's the Hüsker Dü record that least sounds like Hüsker Dü. Bob Mould once referred to it as "the bad part of the acid...It sounds like when you go to a gig and get your ears blown off". The album was recorded just as they went on a tour of various places in the country, those close to the band say upon their return the band was louder, faster and noisier than before. The magazine Discords said about it: "It's hard to believe but the only Minneapolis hardcore band have gotten even faster during their stay away." Yet there are some elements emerging under the wash of noise that foreshadow the band's future direction. "Don't Try To Call" is one of their most melodic early songs, while Hart's "Data Control" slows the tempo to conjure a creepy musical mood to match the paranoia of the lyrics. With lo-fi sound quality (it was recorded for a mere $350), Land Speed Record is most useful as a period piece, essential for diehard Hüsker Dü fans and anybody interested in early '80s hardcore punk.

Contents 1 Track listing 2 Personnel 3 Miscellanea 4 Cover Versions 5 Sources

[edit] Track listing

Note: The CD version only has two tracks, combining the two blocks of songs; the band took a small break in-between. Track 1 is songs 1 to 8 and track 2 is songs 9 to 17.

1. "All Tensed Up" – 2:02
2. "Don't Try To Call" – 1:30
3. "I'm Not Interested" – 1:31
4. "Guns At My School" – 0:55
5. "Push The Button" – 1:48
6. "Gilligan's Island" – 1:23
7. "M.T.C." – 1:09
8. "Don't Have A Life" – 2:09
9. "Bricklayer" – 0:53
10. "Tired Of Doing Things" – 0:58
11. "You're Naive" – 0:53
12. "Strange Week" – 0:57
13. "Do The Bee" – 1:49
14. "Big Sky" – 0:57
15. "Ultracore" – 0:47
16. "Let's Go Die" – 1:26
17. "Data Control" – 5:28

[edit] Personnel

• Bob Mould - guitar, vocals
• Greg Norton - bass, vocals
• Grant Hart - drums, vocals

[edit] Miscellanea

• At the end of the album, Bob Mould says, "we'll be back for another set." Mould told Rolling Stone in 1986 that he still has the tape "somewhere."

• The caskets on the cover are of the first 8 soldiers to die in Vietnam.

• Once it was recorded, the band realized they could not afford to put out the album by themselves. Friend of the band, and member of Minutemen, Mike Watt offered to put out the album on his label, New Alliance. 1,000 copies were produced which sold out in a few days.

• "Bricklayer" and "Let's Go Die" appear as studio recordings on the band's first studio album, Everything Falls Apart, and can now be found on the Rhino reissue, Everything Falls Apart and More.

• T-shirts with the cover of the album were put out by the label SST in the early to mid 90's, SST being the label which Hüsker Dü were on for a part of their career and the label which has reissued the album on CD. These shirts are extremely rare now.

[edit] Cover Versions

The album was covered in its entirety by Apple-O in 1993, each song in a different style (including reggae, folk, synth pop).

[edit] Sources

"Our Band Could Be Your Life" by Michael Azerrad, Back Bay Books, NY, 2001

Hüsker Dü
Grant Hart | Bob Mould | Greg Norton
Discography
Albums: Land Speed Record | Everything Falls Apart | Zen Arcade | New Day Rising | Flip Your Wig | Candy Apple Grey | Warehouse: Songs and Stories | The Living End
Extended plays: Metal Circus | Sorry Somehow | Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely
Related articles
Nova Mob | Sugar | Grey Area