Grant Hart
Encyclopedia
Grant Hart is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

, best known as the drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

 and co-songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 for the influential alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 and hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 band Hüsker Dü
Hüsker Dü
Hüsker Dü was an American rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer Grant Hart....

. After the band's breakup in 1987, Hart formed the alternative rock trio Nova Mob, where he moved to vocals and guitar. Hart's solo career became his main focus after the dissolution of Nova Mob in 1997.

As the co-songwriter of Hüsker Dü, Hart's songs (such as "The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill" and "Turn On The News") received praise from critics and contemporaries. Hart's vocal style, in contrast to that of Hüsker Dü-bandmate Bob Mould
Bob Mould
Robert Arthur "Bob" Mould is an American musician, principally known for his work as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü in the 1980s and Sugar in the 1990s.-Early life:...

, was a more measured and melodical delivery. His choice of lyrical themes, which included teenage alienation in "Standing By The Sea" and the depiction of a murder in "Diane," helped to expand the subject matter of hardcore punk.

Youth

Grant Hart was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the youngest child of a credit union employee and a shop teacher. Hart described his family as a "typical American dysfunction
Dysfunction
Dysfunction can refer to:* Abnormality * Dysfunctional family* Sexual dysfunction* Dysfunction , an album by the rock band Staind...

al family [...] Not very abusive
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...

, though. Nothing really to complain about." When Hart was 10, his older brother was killed by a drunk driver. Hart inherited his brother's drum set and records; he soon began playing in a number of makeshift bands as a teenager. At the time, Hart had little interest in contemporary rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

. Instead, he preferred to listen to film soundtracks and bought cheap compilations of hit songs from the 1950s and 1960s.

Hart met Bob Mould
Bob Mould
Robert Arthur "Bob" Mould is an American musician, principally known for his work as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü in the 1980s and Sugar in the 1990s.-Early life:...

 while working at a record store. Mould, then a college freshman, would buy marijuana from Hart. At first Hart dismissed Mould as "an upstater pretending to be a Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

ite," but the two soon became friends.

Hüsker Dü

Hart formed Hüsker Dü in 1979 with Bob Mould and his friend Greg Norton
Greg Norton
Greg Norton is an American musician, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü....

. The band's early material had them lumped in with the hardcore movement of the early 1980s. The bandmembers received help from their parents in their early days. In Hart's case, his mother let him use the copier machine at the credit union where she worked to make show flyers, and the band added $2,000 to an existing loan at the credit union to release the band's first single, "Statues," on their own label Reflex Records in 1981. Success existed on a small scale for the band; by 1982 Hart was unemployed and relied on support from friends and family.

Hüsker Dü's music became more accomplished and melodic over time. By late 1982, Hart's drumming "rushed the music along more precisely than ever" and he and Mould, who traded vocal duties, were singing more tunefully. While Mould was the band's primary songwriter, Hart began writing more songs. Hart wrote two songs for 1983's Metal Circus
Metal Circus
Metal Circus is an EP by Hüsker Dü, released in 1983. As one of their early records, it was largely rooted in the band's initial hardcore punk style. However, signs of a new, poppier influence emerge on Metal Circus, particularly in the songs sung by Grant Hart...

EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, the "perversely sing-along" "Diane" and the "impassioned speed-pop gem" "It's Not Funny Anymore." Hüsker Dü's more melodic take on hardcore struck a chord with college students, and various tracks from Metal Circus, particularly Hart's "Diane," were put into rotation by dozens of campus radio
Campus radio
Campus radio is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively by students, or may include programmers from the wider community in which the radio station is based...

 stations across the US. Hart was tagged by observers as the "hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...

" of the group due to his long hair and his propensity to drum with bare feet; biographer Michael Azerrad
Michael Azerrad
Michael Azerrad is an American author, journalist and musician. He grew up in the New York City area and received his BA degree from Columbia College in 1983...

 additionally noted that "the wide-eyed sincerity of his songs was far more San Francisco '67 than New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 '77," which contrasted with Mould's "incisively bitter" songs.
As Hart and Mould developed as musicians and songwriters, an unspoken tension and competition arose in the band between them. Tensions were heightened when Mould demanded that starting with 1984's Zen Arcade
Zen Arcade
Upon its release Zen Arcade received positive reviews in many mainstream publications, including NME, The New York Times and Rolling Stone. In his review for Rolling Stone, David Fricke described Zen Arcade as "the closest hardcore will ever get to an opera .....

that the band's records contain individual songwriter credits. In spite of the creative tensions, Hüsker Dü garnered critical acclaim with the release of Zen Arcade and subsequent albums. Michael Azerrad stated that by 1985's Flip Your Wig
Flip Your Wig
Flip Your Wig is the fourth album by the American punk rock band, Hüsker Dü, and its last release on SST Records. By the time of this release in 1985, they had signed a major-label record deal. However, the band felt they owed one more album to SST and delivered Flip Your Wig...

"the two songwriters were trying their level best to outdo each other, and with spectacular results" Hüsker Dü had left the hardcore genre behind, which caused some discomfort with their label at the time, SST Records
SST Records
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was initially called Solid State Transmitters through which Ginn sold electronics equipment...

. In one interview, Hart hinted that SST thought Hüsker Dü were "soft" because they stayed in motels while touring and occasionally wrote happy songs. Hart elaborated, "We don't have to convince the world that we're suffering to convince them that we're artists... There's nothing wrong with being happy."

In 1986 Hüsker Dü became the first key band from the American indie scene to sign with a major label, inking a deal with Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

. However, tensions within the band worsened after signing with Warner Bros. Hart became addicted to heroin following the band's tour behind their major label debut Candy Apple Grey
Candy Apple Grey
Candy Apple Grey is the fifth album by the alternative rock band Hüsker Dü, released in 1986. It was their first major label album, though Warner Bros. had initially lobbied to release Flip Your Wig until the band decided to let SST have it...

in 1986, with Hart also being incorrectly diagnosed as HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

-positive in the middle of that year. Mould and Hart were feuding openly about Hart's drug use and creative conflicts, with Hart accusing Mould of ensuring he could not have more than 45 percent of the songs on each of the band's albums.

The band dissolved after a show in Columbia, Missouri
Columbia, Missouri
Columbia is the fifth-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With a population of 108,500 as of the 2010 Census, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the...

 in support of the band's 1987 double album Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Warehouse: Songs and Stories
-Personnel:*Bob Mould – guitar, vocals*Grant Hart – drums, vocals*Greg Norton – bass guitar, vocals-Production:*Producers: Bob Mould, Grant Hart*Engineer: Steven Fjelstad*Mastering: Howie Weinberg*Photography: Daniel Corrigan, Hüsker Dü...

. Hart was trying to quit heroin using a supply of methadone
Methadone
Methadone is a synthetic opioid, used medically as an analgesic and a maintenance anti-addictive for use in patients with opioid dependency. It was developed in Germany in 1937...

, but the bottle had leaked. Hart played the show, but Mould and Norton were concerned Hart would soon be suffering from withdrawal and thus would be unable to play the next few shows. While Hart insisted he could perform, Mould had already canceled the dates. Hart quit the band four days later. Hart has said his drug use was not the reason for the band's demise, rather, it was the tensions between the band members. Hart said, "It just became that it was easier to be around Bob if you were playing a part of Bob's game," and also said he felt Mould's songs had become increasingly "square."
Mould claims the band officially was called quits after a band meeting at Hart's parents house where Grant's mom claimed that it would be better for Grant if Husker Du only performed on "weekends"

Though it was often rumored during his Hüsker Dü days that he and bandmate Mould were an item (both are openly gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

, and both acknowledge taking partners on tour), both have flatly denied ever having been romantically involved.

Solo and Nova Mob

Six months after Hüsker Dü's breakup, Hart discovered that his diagnosis as being HIV-positive was incorrect. In 1988 he released the solo EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, 2541, on Hüsker Dü's former label SST. The title is taken from the address of his former band's office and rehearsal house, where the members had at one time lived. Marshall Crenshaw
Marshall Crenshaw
Marshall Crenshaw is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist best known for his song "Someday, Someway".-Biography:...

 would later cover the title song, as would the Go-Betweens
The Go-Betweens
The Go-Betweens were an indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Australia in 1977 by singer-songwriters and guitarists, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan. They were later joined by Lindy Morrison on drums, Robert Vickers on bass guitar and Amanda Brown on violin, oboe, guitar, and backing vocals,...

' Robert Forster
Robert Forster (musician)
Robert Forster is an Australian singer-songwriter, best known for his work with songwriting partner Grant McLennan, with whom he co-founded The Go-Betweens.Forster grew up in Brisbane, Australia attending Brisbane Grammar School...

. After the release of the EP, Hart went further into sobriety, recording and releasing the album "Intolerance
Intolerance (album)
Intolerance is the first solo album from Grant Hart, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü.-Track listing:# "All Of My Senses" # "Now That You Know Me" # "Fanfare In D Major " # "The Main" # "Twenty-Five Forty-One"...

" and the associated EP "All of My Senses
All of My Senses
All of My Senses is an EP from Grant Hart, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü.-Track listing:# "All of My Senses"# "The Main"# "Signed D. C."Track 1 is a different version than the one on Intolerance.Track 2-3 are live tracks, recorded 20 November 1989....

" in 1989 and 1990, respectively.

In late 1989, he formed a new band, Nova Mob, with Michael Crego on drums, Tom Merkl on bass, and Hart himself taking guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 duties. The band took their name from a the book Nova Express
Nova Express
Nova Express is a 1964 novel by William S. Burroughs. It was written using the cut-up method, developed by Burroughs with Brion Gysin, of enfolding snippets of different texts into the novel. It is the third book in The Nova Trilogy, preceded by The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded...

 by William Burroughs; it had previously been used by an unrecorded group featuring the young Julian Cope
Julian Cope
Julian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...

 and Pete Wylie
Pete Wylie
-Studio albums:- Extended Plays :-Singles:-External links:***...

. The band released their first EP Admiral of the Sea and album "The Last Days of Pompeii" in 1991. The lineup later changed with Marc Retish and then Steve Sutherland on drums, and Chris Hesler on lead guitar. The band routinely toured Europe to warm reception. Nova Mob released two full-length recordings, one EP and a handful of singles. They disbanded after the last record and a final tour.

Recent years

Hart returned to recording as a solo artist with the release of Ecce Homo
Ecce Homo (Grant Hart album)
Ecce Homo is a live album from Grant Hart, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü. Recorded 13 October 1994, it featured Hart performing songs from Hüsker Dü, his solo career, and Nova Mob on an acoustic guitar.-Track listing:# "Ballad #19" # "2541"...

, in 1996, and Good News for Modern Man
Good News for Modern Man (album)
Good News for Modern Man is the second studio album from Grant Hart, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü.-Track listing:# "Think It Over Now" # "Nobody Rides for Free" # "Run Run Run to the Centre Pompidou"...

, offered in late 1999. In 2005 Hart and Mould reunited at the benefit concert
Benefit concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause at...

 for Karl Mueller
Karl Mueller
Karl Mueller was an American rock musician. He was the bass player and a founding member of the Minneapolis Alternative Rock band, Soul Asylum....

, the bassist for fellow Minneapolis stalwarts, Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band that formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983.The band originally formed in 1981 under the name Loud Fast Rules, with the original line-up consisting of Dan Murphy, Dave Pirner, Karl Mueller and Pat Morley. The latter was replaced by Grant Young in...

, who was then fighting what would turn out to be a losing battle with cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

. Hart recorded his most recent solo release, Hot Wax
Hot Wax (album)
Hot Wax is the third solo album from Grant Hart, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü. It was released on October 6, 2009. It is his latest album, following Good News for Modern Man, released in 1999.-Recording:...

in Montreal and Minneapolis, MN. Hart told Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

's Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...

in September 2006, "I'm working on some stuff with the Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a Canadian post-rock band which originated from Montreal, Quebec in 1994...

 people. They've given more of themselves in a few weeks than Bob did in nine years with Hüsker Dü." In 2008, he was one of the guest singers on Lotuk, the third album of Arsenal, a Belgian band combining roots and dance music.

As of summer 2008, the brand new track Schoolbuses are for children can be found on the Grant Hart Myspace site. Grant's new album, Hot Wax
Hot Wax (album)
Hot Wax is the third solo album from Grant Hart, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü. It was released on October 6, 2009. It is his latest album, following Good News for Modern Man, released in 1999.-Recording:...

was released October 6, 2009, his first solo album in a decade. Intolerance
Intolerance (album)
Intolerance is the first solo album from Grant Hart, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü.-Track listing:# "All Of My Senses" # "Now That You Know Me" # "Fanfare In D Major " # "The Main" # "Twenty-Five Forty-One"...

was reissued on February 9, 2010 on 180-gram vinyl, and The Last Days of Pompeii was reissued with extra tracks on December 7, 2010. Grant is currently working on a new album based on John Milton's Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...

.

Solo albums

  • 1988 2541 [EP] – SST
  • 1989 Intolerance
    Intolerance (album)
    Intolerance is the first solo album from Grant Hart, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü.-Track listing:# "All Of My Senses" # "Now That You Know Me" # "Fanfare In D Major " # "The Main" # "Twenty-Five Forty-One"...

    – SST
  • 1990 All of My Senses
    All of My Senses
    All of My Senses is an EP from Grant Hart, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü.-Track listing:# "All of My Senses"# "The Main"# "Signed D. C."Track 1 is a different version than the one on Intolerance.Track 2-3 are live tracks, recorded 20 November 1989....

    [EP] – SST
  • 1996 Ecce Homo
    Ecce Homo (Grant Hart album)
    Ecce Homo is a live album from Grant Hart, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü. Recorded 13 October 1994, it featured Hart performing songs from Hüsker Dü, his solo career, and Nova Mob on an acoustic guitar.-Track listing:# "Ballad #19" # "2541"...

    [live] – World Service
  • 1999 Good News for Modern Man
    Good News for Modern Man (album)
    Good News for Modern Man is the second studio album from Grant Hart, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü.-Track listing:# "Think It Over Now" # "Nobody Rides for Free" # "Run Run Run to the Centre Pompidou"...

    – Pachyderm
  • 2009 Hot Wax
    Hot Wax (album)
    Hot Wax is the third solo album from Grant Hart, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü. It was released on October 6, 2009. It is his latest album, following Good News for Modern Man, released in 1999.-Recording:...

    – Con d'Or
  • 2010 Oeuvrevue [compilation] – Hazelwood

External links

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