Zen Arcade (studio album) by Hüsker Dü

Two albums came out in 1984 that really helped to make progress in the hardcore punk genre; Double Nickels on the Dime and Zen Arcade. Hüsker Dü's effort is the more aggressive and straightforward of the two and is the one I prefer.

Really good album.

Favorites: Indecision Time; Beyond The Threshold; I'll Never Forget You; Turn On The News.

Its flawed, slightly too long and the audio fidelity is scratchy and staticky, but its those flaws that give it the greater impact. Its a dark brooding masterpiece of existential angst the best ever put to music, its grunge before grunge became a book of clichés. The styles are diverse and varied, which individually don't work in isolation, but when you add it all up create a sonic kaleidoscope that varies in texture and colour. Its cerebral with jagged hooks, its Rage to last a lifetime.


Top 5 tracks

Never Talking to you again
Standing By The Sea
Pink Turns To Blue
Whatever
Turn On The News

From Brad1770 09/22/2018 04:10

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From Kalos 09/14/2017 16:09

R.I.P. Grant Hart. Thank you for this masterpiece that made my youth better.

From poppmusic 07/26/2016 00:35

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From buzzdainer 05/30/2016 00:56

Zen Arcade brings together two voices--a screaming voice in Bob Mould and a a warmer, more yearning one in Grant Hart--to tell vignettes of twentysomething white Minnesotan masculinity, doing so mostly in a loud three-piece rock format. There's a fourteen-minute instrumental, a short piano instrumental, a song with percussion swirls and general noise underscoring a reference to Hare Krishna's chanting practices, a frenetic acoustic number, and other points of variation. But mostly it's that three-piece arrangement, with Mould's guitar often a sheet of blazing noise that feels like a corrugated aluminum wall shattering in your face, other times a queasy backward masked swirl; Norton's bass skipping along and digging deep, standing out just enough to matter; and Hart galloping and crashing behind his drum kit. This is a band still chasing the land speed record that was the title of their first release, but with the added maturity shown in a greater sense of melody and purpose. A great rock band finding its authentic voice.

From RoundTheBend 04/16/2016 23:30

Some really great stuff and some really OK to bad stuff. Kinda wish it was condensed down to 10 best songs, but that's totally against the punk mentality. Probably the most experimental punk record I've heard (cause I've heard like 10... hehe).

Very good albums!

Favorite tracks: Something I Learned Today, Broken Home, Broken Heart, Never Talking To You Again, The Biggest Lie, Standing By The Sea, Turn On The News

A-
7.5

A sprawling record the size and depth of life itself in the mode of brainy punk. Spawned a generation of alt-people. Leans too far in no direction, with tracts of rage giving way to gorgeous pop songs, finalizing with a fury of guitar noise.