Zen Arcade

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Zen Arcade
Zen Arcade cover
Double album by Hüsker Dü
Released July 1984
Recorded October 1983 at the Total Access in Redondo Beach, California (except "Standing By The Sea," recorded during the Metal Circus sessions, Dec 1982)
Genre Alternative, Hardcore punk
Length 70:23
Label SST Records
Producer(s) Hüsker Dü, Spot
Professional reviews
Hüsker Dü chronology
Metal Circus
(1983)		 Zen Arcade
(1984)		 New Day Rising
(1985)


Zen Arcade is Hüsker Dü's third full-length album, released in 1984 by SST Records, originally released as a double album on two vinyl LPs. Zen Arcade is a concept album about an adolescent who runs away because his home life is unfulfilling, whereupon he discovers the world outside is even worse. At the very end of the album, it is revealed that it was all a dream with the epic 14 minute instrumental, "Reoccurring Dreams". The album incorporates elements of jazz, psychedelia, acoustic folk, pop, and piano interludes – rarely heard in the circumscribed world of early '80s hardcore punk – Zen Arcade is widely considered one of the most influential punk rock albums of all-time. Its influence has stretched beyond the punk sphere, however, and indeed is frequently included on professional lists of the all-time best rock and roll albums. Hüsker Dü's later albums would abandon the "hardcore" aesthetic entirely in favor of post-hardcore, melodic, guitar-driven alternative rock.

According to the liner notes, the entire album was recorded and mixed in 85 hours, and all but two songs ("Something I Learned Today" & "Newest Industry") are first takes. The track "What's Going On" contains guest vocals from ex-Black Flag vocalist Dez Cadena.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Something I Learned Today" (Bob Mould)
  2. "Broken Home, Broken Heart" (B. Mould)
  3. "Never Talking To You Again" (Grant Hart)
  4. "Chartered Trips" (B. Mould)
  5. "Dreams Reoccurring" (Hüsker Dü)
  6. "Indecision Time" (B. Mould)
  7. "Hare Krsna" (Hüsker Dü)
  8. "Beyond The Threshold" (B. Mould)
  9. "Pride" (B. Mould)
  10. "I'll Never Forget You" (B. Mould)
  11. "The Biggest Lie" (B. Mould)
  12. "What's Going On" (G. Hart)
  13. "Masochism World" (G. Hart, B. Mould)
  14. "Standing By The Sea" (G. Hart)
  15. "Somewhere" (G. Hart, B. Mould)
  16. "One Step At A Time" (G. Hart, B. Mould)
  17. "Pink Turns To Blue" (G. Hart)
  18. "Newest Industry" (B. Mould)
  19. "Monday Will Never Be The Same" (B. Mould)
  20. "Whatever" (B. Mould)
  21. "The Tooth Fairy And The Princess" (B. Mould)
  22. "Turn On The News" (G. Hart)
  23. "Reoccurring Dreams" (Hüsker Dü)

[edit] Samples

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
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