Hüsker Dü “Everything Falls Apart” 1983. Reflex Records. The debut record from noisy Minnesota hardcore punks. We’re heading to Minneapolis for the holiday weekend and caught Bob Mould’s show this past Saturday in the park right by our house for WMSE’s annual Backyard BBQ so spinning this 40 year release from Hüsker Dü feels….perfect. His performance was, as always, amazing, energetic and LOUD.

Everything Falls Apart is really excellent early 80’s punk: fast, punchy and loud but not screamy and it’s melodic without being emo. My top tracks are the lead track “From the Gut” with its excellent rat-a-tat-tat drum attack, the lightning-quick “Punch Drunk” and “Bricklayer,” both of which would have fit nicely onto the Suicidal Tendencies s/t album released the same year,  the hilarious punk’d up cover of Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman” and the dark, angsty poli-anthemic “Target.” Bob Mould did not perform any song from Everything Falls Apart at the Backyard BBQ but he did play a couple of later Hüsker Dü numbers including “Flip Your Wig,” “Hate Paper Doll” and “Hardly Getting Over It.” It was a family-friendly event and Mould is in his 60’s so the whiplash pace and angry-young-man vibe of Everything Falls Apart probably wasn’t the best choice for the show.