HUSKER DU: Zen Arcades LP

There are records that changed the rules, and then there is Zen Arcade, the 1984 double album that essentially wrote new ones entirely. Hüsker Dü took hardcore punk somewhere it had never been, through acoustic passages, psychedelic haze, and a sprawling concept that most punk bands of the era would have laughed at, then pulled off anyway with more conviction than anyone had a right to expect.

Bob Mould, Grant Hart, and Greg Norton were operating at a speed and intensity that defined the American underground, but Zen Arcade is the moment where the ambition outgrew the genre. It's the record that made post-hardcore a thing worth pursuing, and its fingerprints are on everything from Dinosaur Jr to the entire 90s alternative rock explosion. If your vinyl collection includes Husker Du, it's probably already built around records like this. If it doesn't, this is where you start.

Double vinyl LP, 2 x 12-inch. Hardcore punk and alternative rock from Minneapolis, USA. Original release 1984. Fans of: Minutemen, Replacements, Mission of Burma.