Today my puppy, Husker Doo, is six months old. For a puppy this is a pretty big milestone. That got me thinking of an old segment we were doing called Milestone Monday. From today on, we will be reviving that, doing a monthly review for an album that is a major milestone of the genre or a milestone for a major band (or admittedly a few personal favorites). What a fine coincidence then that thirty years ago, give or take a few months, Husker Du put out their monumental follow up to Zen Arcade, New Day Rising. What a fitting title for an album that marked a new day in a remarkable band's constant creative evolution. Released six months after the classic Zen Arcade, Husker Du make a shift farther away from hardcore punk, to a sound that is still distinctly punk, but decidedly much more rock and roll. Save for the albums closer, "Plans I Make," there are no hardcore songs to be found anymore. Bob Mould still contributes the more abrasive songs, such as the aforementioned "Plans I Make," and "How To Skin A Cat;" as well as more straightforward rockers that would be emulated though the rest of the 80s and 90s. Grant Hart continues to write increasingly more creative, pop oriented songs, and on new day rising his brand of pop really shines though on the bouncy "Books About UFOs," and the saccharine melodies on "Terms Of Psychic Warfare." Lets not forget the way "The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill" jumps out, and totally steals the album, try to get the refrain out of your head after listening to that one a few times. This shift in sound is a marker of what was to come from Husker Du, as seven months later, another classic, Flip Your Wig, came out and marked another shift in sound that put Husker Du on the map as on of the originators of what is known as college rock, or alternative rock in the 90s. This album came out the same month that their twin cities contemporaries, The Replacements, put out their monumental album, Tim, another celebrated record decidedly less punk than the bands hardcore roots. The night I took my puppy home, I thought it fitting to have a Husker Du album in my car, it was a new day for my new friend and I, but more appropriately, I picked the one with dogs on the cover.
