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Re: The Holy Trinity - Who is best?

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 9:15 pm
by philipgar
lucy wrote:You go Phil! I agree with everything except I'd point out that Husker Du had some nice acoustic songs on Candy Apple Grey - like Hardly Getting Over It
ah okay, I only have a couple husker du albums. .. . Everything Falls apart (and more) which is extremely inaccessible (as it was their earliest works), Zen Arcade (my favorite by them), and Warehouse songs and stories. I'm also familiar with Bob's later solo work (and his work with Sugar), and I think I tend to enjoy that more than his work with the huskers (although I'm not too big on his last few albums...)

Phil

Re: The Holy Trinity - Who is best?

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 1:42 am
by foureyedsometimes
Husker Du had some nice acoustic songs on Candy Apple Grey - like Hardly Getting Over It
Husker Du had some acoustic stuff in the way SA had Stranger and Never Really Been in the middle of an album: Never Talking To You Again off Zen Arcade, Too Far Down and the aforementioned Hardly Getting Over It off Candy, etc.
Interesting all these responses, I would guess from the fact that Grant Hart and Bob Mould played at Karl's thing that they are good friends.
Does anyone know if Paul Westerberg is in touch with Dave ever? A collaberative record from those two would be great????

Re: The Holy Trinity - Who is best?

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 2:25 am
by philipgar
foureyedsometimes wrote:
Husker Du had some nice acoustic songs on Candy Apple Grey - like Hardly Getting Over It
Husker Du had some acoustic stuff in the way SA had Stranger and Never Really Been in the middle of an album: Never Talking To You Again off Zen Arcade, Too Far Down and the aforementioned Hardly Getting Over It off Candy, etc.
Interesting all these responses, I would guess from the fact that Grant Hart and Bob Mould played at Karl's thing that they are good friends.
Does anyone know if Paul Westerberg is in touch with Dave ever? A collaberative record from those two would be great????
I know dave played on one of the songs on Paul's album Suicaine Gratification. I think Dave plays on Fugitive Kind, but I could be wrong. I think in general, all 3 bands were on friendly terms, although grant hart and bob mould are on anything but friendly terms from what I recall.

Phil

Re: The Holy Trinity - Who is best?

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 4:28 pm
by CrazyLittleWoman
Wow! That was a great essay, Phil. I've wondered about why SA doesn't seem to have the reputation they deserve. Thanks for the great analysis.

I'm with Lune Ellise and Mystic Spiral about the upside of fame. My relationship to music in general is so hapazard that I might never have discovered Soul Asylum without the fame. Indeed, it took Misery to get my attention. (I have absolutely no memory of ever having heard anything from GDU at the time it came out.) Then, because of crappy overhead music blaring all day in my workplace, I stopped listening to music for several years and lost track of SA (and anyone else I liked). It was Runaway Train that brought me back into the fold about this time last year. So, I never get all the ire that RT seems to provoke.

Last fall I read an old interview probably from around 1995 in which the interviewer asked Dave how he feels about their new fame. Dave is quoted as saying something along the lines of "at least this way maybe the people who need us can find us and we can find the people we need." The interviewer asked him what he meant by that. Dave explained that he writes for the person (I think he said kid in the interview) who is all messed up and "really needs to hear my songs and I really need him to hear them." It struck me as really cool that Dave sees the listener's need to hear the songs as equivalent to his own need to be heard. I may not be the person he was envisioning, but I have definitely needed to hear his songs, particularly in the last year, and they have meant a lot to me. So, I'm grateful Soul Asylum became famous enough for their hit songs to reach me so that I could find all the others, too.

Re: The Holy Trinity - Who is best?

Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:45 pm
by philipgar
CrazyLittleWoman wrote:Wow! That was a great essay, Phil. I've wondered about why SA doesn't seem to have the reputation they deserve. Thanks for the great analysis.

I'm with Lune Ellise and Mystic Spiral about the upside of fame. My relationship to music in general is so hapazard that I might never have discovered Soul Asylum without the fame. Indeed, it took Misery to get my attention. (I have absolutely no memory of ever having heard anything from GDU at the time it came out.) Then, because of crappy overhead music blaring all day in my workplace, I stopped listening to music for several years and lost track of SA (and anyone else I liked). It was Runaway Train that brought me back into the fold about this time last year. So, I never get all the ire that RT seems to provoke.

Last fall I read an old interview probably from around 1995 in which the interviewer asked Dave how he feels about their new fame. Dave is quoted as saying something along the lines of "at least this way maybe the people who need us can find us and we can find the people we need." The interviewer asked him what he meant by that. Dave explained that he writes for the person (I think he said kid in the interview) who is all messed up and "really needs to hear my songs and I really need him to hear them." It struck me as really cool that Dave sees the listener's need to hear the songs as equivalent to his own need to be heard. I may not be the person he was envisioning, but I have definitely needed to hear his songs, particularly in the last year, and they have meant a lot to me. So, I'm grateful Soul Asylum became famous enough for their hit songs to reach me so that I could find all the others, too.
Fame definitely has that impact. I didn't get into Soul Asylum until ~1995. I guess because I wasn't really listening to music back in '93 (i was 11 in 93). I remember knowing of runaway train, and associated it with all the music my brother listened to and had discounted it at the time, although I hadn't really listened to it . However in 95 I was 14 and really starting to get into music. I think at that time I was listening to lots of classic rock, and the alternative music scene. I still care about what was popular and what wasn't. I remember misery getting a lot of airplay, and later hearing and liking Just Like Anyone. Back then I didn't tend to buy CDs until I had heard multiple songs on one that I liked (as opposed to know where I tend to buy many i've never heard if they've been recommended and sound interesting).

Quickly after getting dim light, I started picking up SAs backcatalog, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say it changed my life. In the grand scheme of things, I don't know if I'd know who husker du or The replacements were if Soul Asylum never got popular. I like to believe I'd have gotten into Soul Asylum regardless, but it's really hard to say. my life might be completely different today...

Phil

Re: The Holy Trinity - Who is best?

Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:07 am
by lune ellise
CrazyLittleWoman wrote:Dave is quoted as saying something along the lines of "at least this way maybe the people who need us can find us and we can find the people we need."
My sentiments exactly! Plus points for Soul Asylum for knowing exactly the problem in the art industry. Thank you for sharing this, CrazyLittleWoman (and BTW, I just finished my midterm exams, thank you for your concern). :D
philipgar wrote:Quickly after getting dim light, I started picking up SAs backcatalog, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say it changed my life. In the grand scheme of things, I don't know if I'd know who husker du or The replacements were if Soul Asylum never got popular. I like to believe I'd have gotten into Soul Asylum regardless, but it's really hard to say. my life might be completely different today...
Oh I know the feeling, Phil, since the feeling of discovering SA is still fresh in me. I can say exactly that I would never have gotten into Soul Asylum, and music in general, if not for their fleeting moment in the limelight.

It definitely changed my life - or my perspective in life. It's really different to be an active follower on a certain artist, or a certain kind of music, as opposed to be just a passive listener of music. It is really a dull life to catch a favorite tune in the radio for a split second then forgetting everything about, not even knowing who wrote the song and who performed them. For me, discovering Soul Asylum also opened a gateway in me that appreciates the alternative rock scene, which I would never know existed otherwise.
Homesick wrote:
SILENCE FROM HOMESICK :shock: Where are you, Jakob? I'm beginning to miss you... :lol:

Re: The Holy Trinity - Who is best?

Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 6:41 am
by LyndaleExile
I find it odd that this discussion can even happen without mentioning the Suicide Commandos. The band that pretty much started the whole ball rolling is way too often forgotten in the 'Mats/SA/Husker hysteria. Then again, they didn't have widespread commercial success and I'd venture a guess that their hayday was in an era before most of us on this board were even born.

As for who is best: That's such a subjective topic. Besides, you left out this band http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm_QilrHkh8