a Hüsker Turtle Dü to you!
Lou cold-cocks a Grant Hart classic
After a trip to Wisconsin and an unusually long gap between episodes (12 days!?!?) we’re back! While we were driving to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport for our flight home, Adelle and I were listening to a Jesus and Mary Chain playlist on whatever streaming service. We heard Unsatisfied by the Replacements. What a song. We started jabbering about the first time we heard the song (senior year of high school 1983 for me) and then off about the Minneapolis scene etc. It was fun.
I was reminded of my bright idea to record a cold-wave version of What Do I Want by Husker Du and was wondering, to myself, if I could make a cold-wave version of Unsatisfied too. I could surprise Adelle with it!
On our first day home I fired up my Omnichord for the beat, my VT-1 voice mutator for the Cold, my Korg Bass Synthe for the Wave and spent the day covering one of my favorite Husker Du songs. I listened to Unsatisfied throughout the day too, learning how to play it on guitar and, again, soaking up the RAW brilliance of the original recording.
Well, it took me all day to do What Do I Want. Unsatisfied was a bridge too far. I had to eat and acknowledge my family before the day ended. Also it somehow felt -not right- to cover Unsatisfied in any way that might seem like a joke. Unusual, considering I’m happy to turn any of my favorite songs into something grotesque. But, Unsatisfied, I don’t know. My reverence for that song has deepened.
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