A little-heard Hüsker Dü single has been added to this coming April’s Record Store Day releases. “Statues” and “Amusement” were two tracks Bob Mould and Grant Hart recorded in 1980 at Minneapolis’ Blackberry Way Studio in hopes of securing a record contract with Twin/Tone. Instead, the band signed with Reflex Records, who will reissue the first Husker Dü single on April 20.
“Statues” is an anomaly in that sense that, even though it predates the band’s first two LPs Land Speed Record and Everything Falls Apart, at four minutes and 29 seconds, it is double the length of any of the hardcore bursts found on those two records. It wouldn’t be until Metal Circus‘s “Diane” in 1983 that the band once again started playing longform songs, which they eventually mastered on ’84’s Zen Arcade. So while “Statues”/”Amusement” was Dü’s first single, the music has more in common with the band’s SST years. The reissue will also include “Writer’s Cramp” and “Let’s Go Die,” two other tracks recorded at Blueberry Way and intended for the “Statues” 10″ before Reflex opted instead to par the single down to a 7-inch. Head to Rolling Stone to hear “Statues.”
