Grapthar's Daily Hive Music Feature: Hüsker Dü - 'Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely'

part of the history of US punk rock that I had missed out on entirely in my youth; while I knew of the origins in the '70s, the American hardcore punk of the early '80s, and the skate-punk/pop-punk of the '90s, the mid to late '80s were a complete blank. It wasn't until I was well into my '20s that I discovered this period of music, and realized that there were some incredible gems in it. A lot of the bands in this time period massively influenced bands that would come later, but didn't get a lot of attention at the time, or at least not as much as they deserved, even when signed to major labels. Hüsker Dü were formed in 1979 in Saint Paul, MN, and consisted of Bob Mould (guitar, vocals), Greg Norton (bass, vocals), and Grant Hart (drums, vocals). They started out as a hardcore band, but would evolve over time, eventually becoming known as an alternative band; this was the course of a lot of the punk bands of the early '80s, who wanted to try new things and expand their music to new places. Hüsker Dü had an immediately recognizable sound, with the crunchy guitar, and melodic, singalong vocals. Today's song is arguably their biggest single, from their 1986 album Candy Apple Grey, released on Warner Bros. Records. The band had reasonable success on a major label, though they never became a top 20 band (or even a top 100 band). Major labels wanted to find bands from the DIY scenes, that came with an already dedicated fanbase, to try and push to a wider audience at the time.