I can't explain why I was such a big Replacements fan in the mid-1980s, yet it took me another decade to pick up my first Husker Du album (and it was their final studio album, Warehouse: Songs & Stories, at that). The Huskers were on my Wish List for years, but for one reason or another I always managed to overlook them.

Though there are some similarities between the two groups, like the fact they both came out of the indie music scene of my second home, Minnesota, Husker Du, a guitar, bass, and drums trio, tend to sound heavier on record than The Replacements. Where the garage band Replacements looked and played like blue-collar kids on a three-day drunk, Husker Du's roots were in punk's hardcore and they attacked the music as if they were on a mission. Also, lead Husker Bob Mould generally did not write songs that were as introspective as The Replacements' Paul Westerberg. Which is all another way of saying that the two groups were not carbon copies of each other.

OK, now that I got that comparison/contrast out of the way, let's talk about Flip Your Wig, Husker Du's final indie release on the SST label. Produced by the band, the songs are pop-friendly in an alternative sort of way. It almost feels as though it was ahead of its time as the sound and style emanating from this 1985 album would dominate the airwaves several years later. Indeed, with just a little tweaking, Mould would have success updating the Husker Du sound with his '90s group, Sugar. "Makes No Sense at All" especially sounds like a blueprint for the power-pop nuggets Mould would later compose with them.

Drummer and second songwriter Grant Hart delivers two of the better melodic pieces of the album. "Flexible Flyer" (along with Mould's "Private Plane") uses a method of transport as metaphor for dreaming about goals. And "Green Eyes" is a genuine love song, which must have come as a shock to die-hard fans, as tunes on that particular topic was not something Hart had previously composed.

Other songs are more muscular and feature Mould's fuzz-heavy guitar playing, like "Find Me" or the Pirandellian atmosphere of "Games." “Hate Paper Doll” is an intense rocker, but the ultimate rant is found on “Divide and Conquer.” That song seems visionary, as Mould predicts globalization via computer and the accompanying identity theft.

We'll invent some new computers
Link up the global village
And get AP, UPI, and Reuters
To tell everybody the news

We'll be one happy neighborhood
Spread out across the world
But who's going to stop that burglar
From breaking in my house
If he lives that far away

Not everything is taken so seriously on Flip Your Wig. For example, the opening title track has the group poking fun at their almost-famous success when Hart sings:

Sunday section gave us a mention
Grandma's freaking out over the attention

The attention paid to this album was enough for the group to secure a major-label deal the next year.

Flip Your Wig closes with a pair of instrumentals. Such a move gives me the feeling that the band didn't know how they wanted to end the album. Between the two, “Don’t Know Yet” proves the worthiest because it's crunchy yet melodic sound is the better fit. “The Wit and the Wisdom” may be a throwback to their earlier hardcore sound, but it sits uneasily with the punk-pop performances on the rest of the album. A third instrumental on the album, Hart's "The Baby Song", featuring a slide-whistle solo, is an absolute throwaway.

This was just the second Husker Du album I purchased, and it made me appreciate what a great group they were. Overall it left me wishing I had discovered them before they broke up in 1988. If you are beginning your discovery of the group, too, this is a good place to start.

Recommended: Yes