Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesFriday MP3 Shuffle: Happy Birthday Grant Hart Edition

(photo from Blurt)

Today we wish a Happy Birthday to Grant Hart, drummer, singer and co-songwriter for seminal Rock band Hüsker Dü. Slamming into the hardcore scene with SST records, the band’s mid-‘80s trio of albums (Zen Arcade, New Day Rising, and Flip Your Wig) are about as close as you can get to required listening for anyone interested in the style. Those records left a permanent impression even as the band later moved into more melodic directions that would influence Alternative and “College” Rock groups from the Pixies to Nirvana to those guys making all that noise in the garage down the street.

Hart later struck out on his own, switching to guitar and forming the band Nova Mob as well as working as a solo artist. But there’s no question that the group he started with is on the short list of “Bands That Really Need to Get Together for a Reunion While Everyone Is Still Alive.” While tensions have been high among the group members post-breakup, it seems that there may be a recent thawing of relations. In the next few years, look for rumors to build about a possible get-together which, if it ever became a reality, would be something special.

Let’s wish the good Mr. Hart a happy birthday by pressing the “shuffle” button on your MP3 player and sharing the first 10 songs you hear:

1. Kate Bush – The Sensual World (The Sensual World): A kind of exotic and erotic Pop that hasn’t really been attempted since she was dominating the charts.

2. M.I.A. - Xxxo (Maya): A solid album from an artist perhaps more known for her political stances and public antics than her music

3. Thom Yorke – A Brain in a Bottle (Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes): The solo album from Radiohead’s frontman, released late last year. Cinematic electro landscape with a UK Soul vocal is quite intriguing.

4. Ghastly Menace – 80s (Songs of Ghastly Menace): Locally grown Psych-Pop, hazy but not lazy...keep an eye on these guys.

5. Thomas Dolby - Pulp Culture (The Best of Thomas Dolby): It’s interesting how little Dolby uses his signature synths on this one, relying instead on a heavy Funk vibe with horns.

6. Morrissey - First of the Gang to Die (You Are the Quarry): For some reason my MP3 player is stuck on “notable UK singers from the ‘80s,” although this one is from well into his solo career. The sound hasn’t changed at all, though.

7. Outkast - Love in War (Speakerboxxx): What happened to Outkast? Come back to us, Outkast. You can tour with Kendrick Lamar and Kamasi Washington and blow people’s minds from coast to coast.

8. The Housemartins - The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death (Now That’s What I Call Quite Good): This is a good mid-’80s Jangle-Pop band that’s been overshadowed over the years by their contemporaries The Smiths, who produced more material. The lilting, sing-songy melodies deliver some biting political and social criticism.

9. Enya - Deireadh An Tuath (The Celts): A short passage from the hardest working Irish New Age chanteuse in show business

10. The Louvin Brothers - When I Stop Dreaming (Classic Country Music: The Smithsonian Collection): A waltz-time classic country love song that’s quite lovely in its sentiments - “When I stop dreaming, that’s when I’ll stop loving you.”

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