DIVIDE AND CONQUER
At the end of Microdot rehearsal tonight, we ran through Divide and Conquer by Husker Du.
Divide and Conquer is my favorite song of all time and has been for the last 16 years of my life.
After ruminating on classic rock through early high school, I got angry and started listening to Metallica. I listened to 'One' over and over, and cried myself to sleep because my faded black t-shirts weren't blacker. Times were tough in my Midwestern suburb. I may have even had a mullet at some point.
The outcast at my school that I wanted to be more like (everyone's got one) was Bruce Templeton. When he heard I'd been subsisting on Metallica, he lent me the ultra-rare Garage Days $5.98 ep, where Metallica covers two Misfits songs; Last Caress and Green Hell. They were the greatest things I ever heard. Imagine living the first 17 years of your life seeing only green and blue, and then one day being introduced to red. Holy shit.
I went back to Bruce and asked for more; he made me a fantastic mix tape of loud bands. Minor Threat, Fugazi, Mudhoney, 7 Seconds were all on there. He also lent me vinyl copies of the Husker Du God Jesus and Holy Shazbat--New Day Rising, Flip Your Wig and Zen Arcade. I'll never forget--he gave me all this stuff but he told me with total confidence that I would love Flip Your Wig.
It turns out that the other two records Bruce lent me are considered by Husker Du fans--let's shorten that--Husker Dans to be the best records ever. (I understand there's a faction that think that Warehouse:Songs and Stories is the best, but they're all toothless, balding, schizophrenic and ugly.) Bruce knew I'd eat up Flip Your Wig, though, so he pushed that one. And I'm glad he did.
The first side is unquestionably uneven: the title track, 'Makes No Sense At All' and 'Green Eyes', possibly Grant Hart's most beautiful song, are absolutely amazing, awe-inspiring songs. They're interspersed with two scrap heap songs, 'Every Everything' and 'Hate Paper Doll'.
And then after Green Eyes, Divide and Conquer comes on. Sweet Jesus on a rickety rickshaw. Husker Du pounds out three chords, and the Ramones and the Sex Pistols and the Clash and every punk who ever existed should be envious. And the lyrics! Everything that Bob Mould nightmared about the future has come true. My favorite lines:
"It's all here before our eyes
Safety is a big disguise
That hides among the other lies"
Wow. At age 17, I'm bowled over by the conviction of these lyrics. At age 33, I'm knocked over by how prescient this angry fat guy was.
So I am psyched and humbled to be in a band that recognizes the power of this song. We played it tonight, and let me tell you, in case you haven't done it in awhile: singing your favorite song makes you invincibile, even if it's only for a short time. but it works. Thanks Dave and Joe.
Divide and Conquer is my favorite song of all time and has been for the last 16 years of my life.
After ruminating on classic rock through early high school, I got angry and started listening to Metallica. I listened to 'One' over and over, and cried myself to sleep because my faded black t-shirts weren't blacker. Times were tough in my Midwestern suburb. I may have even had a mullet at some point.
The outcast at my school that I wanted to be more like (everyone's got one) was Bruce Templeton. When he heard I'd been subsisting on Metallica, he lent me the ultra-rare Garage Days $5.98 ep, where Metallica covers two Misfits songs; Last Caress and Green Hell. They were the greatest things I ever heard. Imagine living the first 17 years of your life seeing only green and blue, and then one day being introduced to red. Holy shit.
I went back to Bruce and asked for more; he made me a fantastic mix tape of loud bands. Minor Threat, Fugazi, Mudhoney, 7 Seconds were all on there. He also lent me vinyl copies of the Husker Du God Jesus and Holy Shazbat--New Day Rising, Flip Your Wig and Zen Arcade. I'll never forget--he gave me all this stuff but he told me with total confidence that I would love Flip Your Wig.
It turns out that the other two records Bruce lent me are considered by Husker Du fans--let's shorten that--Husker Dans to be the best records ever. (I understand there's a faction that think that Warehouse:Songs and Stories is the best, but they're all toothless, balding, schizophrenic and ugly.) Bruce knew I'd eat up Flip Your Wig, though, so he pushed that one. And I'm glad he did.
The first side is unquestionably uneven: the title track, 'Makes No Sense At All' and 'Green Eyes', possibly Grant Hart's most beautiful song, are absolutely amazing, awe-inspiring songs. They're interspersed with two scrap heap songs, 'Every Everything' and 'Hate Paper Doll'.
And then after Green Eyes, Divide and Conquer comes on. Sweet Jesus on a rickety rickshaw. Husker Du pounds out three chords, and the Ramones and the Sex Pistols and the Clash and every punk who ever existed should be envious. And the lyrics! Everything that Bob Mould nightmared about the future has come true. My favorite lines:
"It's all here before our eyes
Safety is a big disguise
That hides among the other lies"
Wow. At age 17, I'm bowled over by the conviction of these lyrics. At age 33, I'm knocked over by how prescient this angry fat guy was.
So I am psyched and humbled to be in a band that recognizes the power of this song. We played it tonight, and let me tell you, in case you haven't done it in awhile: singing your favorite song makes you invincibile, even if it's only for a short time. but it works. Thanks Dave and Joe.
posted by stinkrock at 12:11 AM
15 Comments:
What's so funny about this is that I thought for years, through two different bands, that Mike didn't like "Divide and Conquer" very much. It was only about two months ago, when JoeDot joined, that I learned that Mike loved the song as much (well, more) as I do.
It was a very exciting version last night because we all seemed primed for it. Mike skipped one verse though:
"Expect I won't be heard
'Cause my silence is assured
Never a discouraging word
They divide, conquer"
It's also one of my all-time favorites. My actual all-time favorite rock song is "Substitute." In fact, one of my favorite Moneyshot memories is a show we played just after Entwistle died. We played
"Substitute" and, let me tell you, it was about the finest 4 minutes of rock Moneyshot ever put on. I remember looking behind the drum kit at some guys watching us and they were really getting into it.
Oh, yes.
yeah, that's the last verse. I missed two in the middle as well; I checked this morning.
there's 10 verses total--i need a mnemonic device to help me get all the way through.
funny thing about singing that song - I sound a little like Jack Palance today.
The finest 3 minutes of rock Moneyshot ever presented were Asa singing Happy Birthday to a friend of his, followed by us playing the entire second half of A Quick one without telling him beforehand.
Cruel, the way rock and roll should be.
I had an experience much the same as you. Prior to College, my life was metal - Priest, maiden, Scorps, Schenker, UFO, Motorhead, Ozzy - and Floyd.
When I got To U of M (Marlyland) everything changed instantly. I've often Joked that the U of M issued 'Tim' to freshmen, but actually before that record came out a guy I met named Steve hipped me to Husker Du, Bauhaus, The Stranglers, Dead Kennedy's, The Damned, and a bunch of other stuff - he made me a tape which had Husker Du doing a live version of Helter Skelter, it was an awakening.
Funnily enough, Steve and I started a band, we played a couple of originals and a cover of BOC's 'Godzilla'. You can take the kid out of rural New York, but you can't take the rural New York out of the kid.
Helpless people on subway trains
Scream "My God!" as he looks in on them
I listened to a bunch of Husker Du last night, I wanted to revisit, I couldn't get to my vinyl, so I limewired a bunch of tunes, I couldn't get Divide and Conquer though, I guess I'll have to buy a cd copy of Flip Your Wig. I did listen to Black Sheets of Rain last night, I know you will be disapointed when I say that I like it better than any of the HD records I have. For some reason I don't like the mixology often employed on HD records, the drums are too up front, and the guitar tones leave me wanting.
There's no question the Husker Du records 'sound' pretty bad at times. Brittle piercing guitars, drums-in-a-cardboard-box with lots of reverb. I guess I'm used to it at this point.
But the songwriting on BSOR doesn't hold a candle to Flip Your Wig. For starters, there are no Grant Hart songs on Black Sheets of Rain.
Can't argue with that, except to say there's no Mick Jagger on either of Keith's solo efforts, and I don't miss him any.
One of Husker Du's strengths is how nicely Grant's songs complement Bob's. I find Bob solo, BSOR in particular, to be a little stagnant and same-y at times.
Do you prefer Keith Richards solo (who I like just fine) to the Stones? If not, then I see it as a slightly different situation than what I'm saying with HD. And if you do, then my brain just turned into horsies and galloped away.
....only to join my horsie brain on planet Whatever Gets You Hot. I consider it all Apples and Oranges. Mostly I figure if I stir the pot, I'll have something to read.
I'm not sure what you guys are talking about, but I Du like Husker.
I like Sugar too.
Mould Trivia Time: What TV show did Bob write the theme song for?
Bonus Question: What shitty assed "Ironirock" band rerecorded said song a few years later, forever proving that Hell is real and the Devil as powerful as ever?
Welcome back, Chris. Bob wrote the Daily Show theme song. I think it's called 'Dog On Fire'.
And I think the 'Ironirock' band in question is Brain Shivers, but I could be wrong about that.
Ahhh, good to be back. Lots of blogs to catch up with. Ted's written about Uriah Heep! Probably won't even get a chance to GLANCE at my work email until tomorrow. Then he'll hit me with Grand Funk and I'll fall even further behind.
Yep, it was "Dog On Fire." And on the second question... close. It was actually They Might Be Giants, aka Satan's Little Helpers.
some observations:
1. you were in *high school* when "One" came out? yikes.
2. 'flip your wig' is undeniably HD's best. 'zen arcade' is way overrated.
3. "hate paper doll" is a fine song. at least in my memory it is.
best regards, nice info Weight loss pill online ships fast roulette dealer signature
Post a Comment
<< Home