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Home , 1981 in music, 1982 in music, 1988 in music, 1989 in music, 1990 in music, 1993 in music

COMLLEHCTS IONS

Patty Dean n the mid- 1970 s and early 1980 s, the creative explosion in ’s I thriving black and white scenes expanded the state’s cultural identity far beyond the shores of Lake Wobegone. This era witnessed the worldwide emergence of new and synthesized styles of popular music. Black music, particularly , vibrantly reflected social conditions, building on ’s declaration of disasso - ciation: “Say It Loud—I’m Black and I’m Proud.” Similarly, white thunder - ously denounced the status quo. A number of Minnesota bands formed in those years signed recording contracts with major labels:

Minneapolis skyline mural from , the nightclub that hosted many of ’s popular black and white bands Patty Dean, supervisory curator for museum collections at the Minnesota Historical Society, is combining two of her life’s grand passions—music and social history—and writing a book on Minneapolis’s black and white music scenes, circa 1975 –85.

Prince and The Time (with Warner Avenue North and Glenwood Bros. in 1978 and 1981, respectively0 Avenue, now the site of a Target The Suburbs(with Mercury/Polygram Center parking ramp. The club’s six- in 1983 ); The Replacements (Sire, inch-high stage encouraged the 1985 ); Hüsker Dü (Warner Bros., physically intense audience-band 1986 ); and (A&M, 1988 ). interaction that obligatory for In 1984 three of the top 10 releases this new, in-your-face music. listed in the Village Voice ’s highly The new club commissioned regarded “Pazz & Jop” critics’ poll Matt Feazell, an aspiring comic- were Minnesota products: ’s book author and employee at nearby “Purple Rain” was in the # 2 spot, Shinder’s bookstore, to produce a right behind ’s cartoon for a t-shirt. Some of the behemoth hit “Born in the U.S.A.”; figures are Minnesota who “Let It Be” by The Replacements was played regularly at Goofy’s. Leading slotted at # 4, and Hüsker Dü’s “Zen the charge is (rock and Arcade” occupied # 8. (Other bands roller extraordinaire, renowned as represented were R.E.M., Tina the “dean of scream”); close behind Turner, and .) is a bespectacled Pat Woods of Man The objects pictured on the fol - Sized Action, wielding a microphone lowing pages manifest the multiple stand. The Hüsker Dü trio of Bob facets of a ’s life and work: Mould playing his signature “Flying the “certifiable riot” that marred the their clothing, the DIY (do-it-your - V” , clutching his three-day wake scheduled to mark self) ethos, the venues and bands, bass, and long-haired drummer the club’s closing in 1983 .2 Accounts and the fans. Recent gifts to the brandishing drumsticks of the evening of vary, but Minnesota Historical Society from wear t-shirts with ’s logo. the music ended when a bouncer members of the Suicide Comman dos, Feazell, now a Michigan cartoon - pulled the plug on local band Final Hüsker Dü, The Time, Soul Asylum, ist and Cynicalman comic author, Conflict. Approximately 100 frus - Babes in Toyland, the cofounders of remembers “seeing the Hüskers [at trated fans, one smoke bomb, $ 3,000 the Minnesota Black Music Awards, the Upper Deck]. . . and thinking in damages, one dozen Minneapolis and the legendary First Avenue/ what a remarkably good punk band Police Department officers, one Seventh Street Entry clubs ensure they were.” 1 He also included ren - arrest, and one excessive-force com - that this vital and culturally signifi - derings of fellow cartoonist David plaint later, the Upper Deck was cant period in Minnesota history will Roth of Minneapolis’s Ferret Comix closed for good. be preserved for the future. and Power for Living fanzine (at the rear with his pet ferret on his shoul - Guitar Pick Souvenir T-shirt, Goofy’s Upper Deck der) and , the bare- Originally calling its music “under - In 1982 the Upper Deck, a Minne - chested frontman for the California ground,” the Suicide Commandos, apolis punk music club, opened on band Black Flag. Minnesota’s first punk band, was the second floor of Goofy’s, a - The damaged instruments under founded in 1974 by three friends: collar bar and strip joint on Second the feet of this rabble foreshadowed guitarist Chris Osgood, bass player

30 Steve Almaas, and drummer Dave Ahl. Osgood liked to play with white picks, which he used and gave away as souvenirs, because they were easier to find when he lost them on stage floors during his energetic perfor - mances. The emblazoned picks, manufactured by Ernie Ball of Santa Barbara, California, exemplified good fun and affability, a contrast to the aggression and discontent later associated with punk music. Over the next four years the trio, augmented by lighting wizard Linda Hultquist, expanded its audiences from Minneapolis’s Blitz Bar to New Chris Osgood of the Suicide Commandos, opening for The at Kelly’s York City’s pioneering rock club Pub, St. Paul, –2, 1977 CBGB’s, the Albert Lea Ice Arena, and Minneapolis’s Uncle Sam’s (renamed First Avenue in 1982 ). In addition to headlining at Jay’s For the Fans, from the Fans Before the band’s demise in 1978 , Longhorn, just off Nicollet Mall in “Fan” is short for “fanatic,” and The Commandos recorded two LP’s, downtown Minneapolis, the Com - Minneapolis bands—present and an EP, and a single, enjoyed the adu - mandos also opened for internation - past—have had their share. The lation of an official fan club, and, al stars and and range of mementoes available for with Minneapolis filmmaker Chuck toured with . In July 1977 , fans to purchase at concerts, on offi - Statler, made “Burn It Down,” proba - the Commandos opened at Kelly’s cial websites, and at record shops has bly Minnesota’s first music video. Pub, St. Paul, for punk pioneers The gone far beyond the common t- Ramones: “The crowd did go berserk shirt -screened with a band’s . . . [for] the Suicide Commandos. name and logo. And then there are So much so that after their trium - the objects that fans make, either for phant final set . . . people were hol - themselves or as gifts to their favorite lering for the Commandos, even as musicians. The Ramones were mounting Hüsker Dü sign, made from stage. . . . Lead guitarist Chris a drawer front, was given to singer- Osgood, in teen heaven having drummer- Grant Hart in shared the bill with The Ramones about 1984 . Its reverse side wishes and held his own, was heard to him “Happy 5th Anniversary!” and is remark that he shoulda just killed signed by his friends. himself on stage, ’cause life just Besides dissecting lyrics and cop - doesn’t get any better.” 3 ping guitar riffs, some fans spend

31 hours making and personalizing gifts for their favorite bands and musi - cians. A Boston woman in about 1993 recycled a Star Wars lunch box and thermos into a montage of punk rockers Soul Asylum, packed with photocopied photographs, backstage passes, in-jokes, and quips. For example, “BiL” refers to Bill Sulli - van, the band’s road manager for eight years, and is a take-off on the logo for PiL, ., formed by ex-Sex Pistol punk musi - cian John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) in 1978 . Songwriter-singer- instrumentalist ’s t-shirt is decorated with the cover of Ferret, a 1982 –89 Minneapolis comic that featured an interview with the band; 4 on the thermos, Minneapolis’s famed Twin/Tone Record logo is superimposed on bass player Karl Mueller’s t-shirt. Between 1984 and 1989 , Soul Asylum issued six releases on the Twin/Tone label. for playing in Chicago. The writer Cozy Bar and Lounge, and, later, the The Boston fan also included took pains to identify himself: “I was Thunderbird Motel on the Interstate several interview excerpts summariz - the one in the back of the van that 494 strip in Bloomington. “Choco - ing the band’s playful, devil-may-care didn’t say anything. I think I was sort late” was released as a single from attitude (“Beer’s the best. They have of messed up.” Pandemonium, The Time’s 1990 it everywhere and it goes good with The iconic Hershey bar inspired that reunited comedic singer sand and water”) and the link giveaway items intended to promote , guitarist , between fans and a band (“We still releases by the R&B/funk band, The keyboardist (the sole like best when we’re playing in a Time, and by punk rockers Soul white member), drummer Jellybean small room with everyone drinking. Asylum. The Time’s members hailed Johnson, “valet”-straight man Jerome . . . We’re a bar band, basically”). originally from Grand Central and Benton, and internationally Fan mail to artists also frequently Flyte Tyme, mid- 1970 s basement renowned producers and songwrit - displays a personal, homemade bands that formed in the black ers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. touch. This , 1985 , neighborhoods of north and south Like The Time, Soul Asylum was letter, enclosed in a colorful, over - Minneapolis and played at private also formed from a teenaged neigh - sized envelope, thanked Soul Asylum parties and dances, VFW halls, the borhood band, Loud Fast Rules,

32 which played at party houses, the hats. Jewelry, clocks and watches, scent reflect the flirty androgyny that Seventh Street Entry club in down - temporary tattoos, holographic Prince frequently incorporates in his town Minneapolis, and VFW and guitar picks, purses, scented oils appearance and music. Sons of Norway halls in the Twin and candles, phone cards, and self- Cities and beyond. Candy from a published books were sold at his Do It Yourself Ethos Stranger was the band’s final release NPG () bou - Popularly abbreviated “DIY,” this of new material on the Columbia/ tiques in Uptown Minneapolis and principle is perhaps best seen in the label in 1998 . The candy bar the Mall of America and on the printed materials that punk bands, was coproduced by the label and internet. Get Wild perfume, retailed fans, and labels created and distrib - Chicagoland Tower Records stores, by Paisley Park from 1995 to 1999 , uted in the late 1970 s and early probably as a promotion for the was promoted as the “first unisex 1980 s. With their photocopied, hand - record’s release. fragrance designed exclusively for made appearance, the handbills, Like many in the music business by Paisley Park Fragrance posters, and fanzines present an in the late 1980 s and early 1990 s, Company.” 5 It originally sold for unapologetic, intentionally slapdash Soul Asylum helped to raise money $29 .95 . The graphics and his-her appearance that embodies the energy to fight AIDS and encourage safe-sex practices. In 1993 the enterprising Ramses “Rockdoms” condoms were packaged to resemble tiny album covers for Soul Asylum’s platinum release, . The sometimes contentious and stormy relationship among band mates is often described as being like a marriage or, perhaps, a family with competing siblings. It’s apt that these paper napkins resemble those found at wedding receptions or anniversary parties. They commemo - rated the release of Hüsker Dü’s Candy Apple Grey, the trio’s first release on a major label, Warner Bros., and their sixth album within five years. One of the most prolific and multifaceted performers of his gen - eration, Minneapolis native Prince Rogers Nelson extended his notable energy beyond the usual fan offer - ings of souvenir t-shirts and baseball

33 first poster in an industrial arts class at South St. Paul High School during his senior year in 1978 . He used the printing block for Reflex Records, ca. 1981 –- 85 . The small Rockwell power-drill handbill probably adver - tised a free Tiger Night/Tuesday show at the Longhorn in 1979 . Hart continued to do graphic work for the band, crediting it to his Fake Name Graphx.

Stage Clothes How a performer chooses to dress onstage is often the most critical ele - ment of identity, next to the music itself. One artist’s decision to wear street clothes is as deliberately self- expressive as another’s choice to don an elaborately constructed, highly ornamented costume, accessorized from head to toe. and directness of punk music. Bands pervaded the band’s performances. The Time was one of Minne - and record labels were not the only Singer-guitarist Dave Pirner of Loud apolis’s most sartorially distinctive DIY enterprises in these predesktop- Fast Rules (later Soul Asylum) drew bands in the 1980 s. According to publishing days. ’Zines from the portraits of his band mates for their Prince biographer Dave Hill, The Minneapolis scene, including Your 1982 debut in the Entry at First Time’s look had its roots in vintage Flesh (cofounded by Ron Clark and Avenue; his self-portrait is an abstract clothing shops like Tatters, then Peter Davis), Power for Living (pub - tangle of lines and squiggles. located at Hennepin Avenue and lished and edited by David Roth), In Minnesota, the DIY ethos was Twenty-Fourth Street in Minneapo lis. and Uncle Fester (edited by Jake perhaps most completely realized by Proprietor Marc Luers recounted to Wisely) contained band interviews, Hüsker Dü. With friend and sound Hill: “They were way ahead of the record reviews, comics, and adver - engineer Terry Katzman, they estab - white kids. They just knew it: they tisements for DIY punk labels across lished their own label, Reflex knew the stuff, the double-breasted the country. Records, in 1980 as a “reflex” when ’50 s and ’ 40 s suits. . . . They had to The Replacements’ drummer Minneapolis’s Twin/Tone rebuffed kind of show Monte [Moir, the sole ’s ersatz “Merv Griffin their first single. The design talent of white member] the way. . . . Back Presents” poster for a 1983 show at singer-drummer Grant Hart also dis - in 1980 , no one even knew what Duffy’s in south Minneapolis reflects tinguished the trio from other Twin pleated pants were. But these guys’d the humorous contrariness that Cities punk bands. Hart made their want them all.” 6 Moir’s 1940 s-style

34 fedora and Stacy Adams loafers His Converse All Star sneakers, or their appearance as functionality. completed . Stacy Adams “Chuck Taylors,” are named after Converse gave this pair to Mueller, shoes, manufactured in Brockton, the Akron Firestones basketball play - who wore them in performance, as Massachusetts, since 1875 , have long er who publicized the shoe through the duct tape on the soles testifies. been a choice of African American basketball clinics in the 1920 s. Now While Hüsker Dü eschewed any men wishing to present a hip or cool an American classic, these hightops pretensions at stylish dressing, the image. have been worn by a wide array of band’s sometime ragtag appearance The choice of footwear, on and artists (including Michelle Shocked, still managed to provoke a reaction. off stage, was equally important to , , and The One Boston fan remembers: “When Soul Asylum bassist Karl Mueller. Ramones), probably as much for they took the stage, the audience

Hüsker Dü’s , Greg Norton (in hat), and Grant Hart, preparing for their Today show broadcast, May 1987

35 thought some terrible mistake had on the agenda. I wear what I wear Hennepin Government Center on been made. Three auto mechanics ’cos it dries out quickly, and I can , 1987 . from the garage next door had hang it on a hanger every night.” 7 apparently broken in and were Still, some of the Hüskers’ Minneapolis Mural impersonating a punk rock band: clothing decisions (or non-decisions) This backlit mural of the Minne apo - two unshaven fat guys and a bassist became trademarks. Singer-drummer lis skyline hung between the men’s with a handlebar mustache.” A Grant Hart frequently played bare - and women’s rooms on the mezza - British reporter once asked guitarist- foot. A hat that bassist Greg Norton of the First Avenue nightclub singer Bob Mould why the musicians purchased in about 1984 from a from about 1982 until April 2000 , dressed as though they’d come St. Paul store specializing in Austra - when it was replaced with an up - “directly from some Midwest truck lian products became as much a part dated one. Freelance artists affixed stop.” Mould answered, “Everything of his identity as his handlebar mous - tape to two panels of semi-opaque that everyone wears is their uniform. tache. A national audience saw this acrylic to render the Foshay Tower, This is my uniform, for better or most “un-punk” hat in the 1986 IDS Center, and other downtown worse. I’m a very pragmatic person. video “Don’t Want to Know If You buildings. They then covered the . . . I like to occupy myself with Are Lonely” and again when NBC’s surface of the two panels (which, things that make me happy and Today show broadcast a live perfor - together, measured 3.25 feet tall and interest me, and clothes are not high mance from the south plaza at the just over 15 feet long) with black paint and removed the tape. The panels were screwed into a fluorescent- lit shadowbox.

Tour T-shirt One of the essentials of life (besides duct tape) is a commodi - ous, reliable vehicle capable of ferry - ing sound equipment, instruments, and musicians from coast to coast and all points in between. In 1983 Soul Asylum bassist Karl Mueller sold the band’s pickup and bought a sec - ond-hand Dodge van for $ 500 in Detroit Lakes. Dave Pirner sketched his band mates as they appeared in the new convey ance, embarking on their first headliner tour to Madison, Chicago, Cleveland, and New York City in 1984 . The tour promoted their Twin/Tone release, “Say What You Will Clarence, Karl Sold the

36 numerous awards from the MBMA and was honored with the organiza - tion’s first Artist award in 1997 .8 The Minnesota Music Awards, once known as the “Yammies,” were originally sponsored by Sweet Potato, a predecessor to the weekly news - paper City Pages. At the 1986 cere - mony, Soul Asylum shared Best Garage Band honors with Hüsker Dü. The Clams’s guitarist Cindy Lawson McClellan recalled that Soul Asylum tipped the award over and used its concave acrylic surface as an ashtray for the remainder of the evening. 9 Soul Asylum went on to garner international awards as well. In 1993 the band’s hit “Runaway Train” was voted the winner of the bear-shaped Rockbjornen award by readers of the Swedish publication Aftonbladets. In 1987 Hüsker Dü won a Minnesota Music Award in the Cover Art category for Grant Hart’s color- saturated, abstract composition on Truck,” produced by Hüsker Dü’s Music Awards founders Pete and the cover of Candy Apple Grey. Work - Bob Mould. Kimberly Bedell Rhodes spent thou - ing at a Twin/Tone studio where the sands of hours nurturing and honor - LP was recorded, Hart layered whole And the Winner Is . . . ing musicians who played and taught and broken glass of varying textures On , 1982 , the first Twin Cities , gospel, R&B, and classical music. on a glass shelf. Over several days, Minneapolis St. Paul Black Musical Though the MBMA began modestly, he and Minneapolis photographer Awards were presented at the Prom as the silver award certi fi cate from Daniel Corrigan “experimented Center in St. Paul. The printed pro - the first ceremony shows, the with manipulation and distortion” gram announced the reason for the Rhodes’s dream grew over the years. through the placement of lights and new awards: “So many times achieve - A local newspaper lauded the pro - minutes-long exposures. 10 ments are never acknowledged gram as “a crucial showcase for local among our people. Yet encourage - black performers” because “heavy - Jellybean’s Jacket ment is a key to inventiveness.” For weight talent scouts” from major In the mid- 1970 s, Flyte Tyme was the next 16 years, Min nesota Black record labels attended. Prince won probably the Twin Cities’ major rival

37 to the Grand Central trio of Prince, including a four-person horn sec - shows in Chicago and even Morris Day, and Andre Cymone. tion. Their ambition and DIY atti - Memphis.” 11 , a Terry Lewis (later of the Grammy- tude was like that of their white con - graduate of Marshall High School, winning Flyte Tyme Productions), temporaries Hüsker Dü. According went on to play with The Time, and singer-saxophonist to Prince biographer Dave Hill, by 1984 , when he wore this jacket in (of later “” fame), and “They were a model of young, black Prince’s film Purple Rain, he was a drummer Jellybean Johnson were self-organization. . . . They actually seasoned professional. the core of this band, which organized tours out of town, sometimes numbered as using their own ‘raggedy ithout the originality and many as ten people, old bus’ to play energy of these Min ne - W sota bands, the current face of America’s youth-oriented would be quite different. These artists’ inno vations and do-it- yourself attitudes reflected particular values, paved the way for other art - ists, and influenced the national music scene. The Minne sota Histori - cal Society is committed to docu - menting and recording this vital, creative part of our state’s history and continues to develop its music- related manuscript, artifact, and sound and visual collections. With the help and generosity so character - istic of Min ne sota’s musicians and music-lovers, the Society is becoming the place to research the state’s music in its many forms. K

NOTES

1. Matt Feazell, email to author, , 2001 . 2. City Pages, Sept. 7, 1983 , p. 1. 3. Twin Cities Reader, , 1977 , p. 9. 4. Roth later directed videos for Soul Asylum. 5. NPG mail-order catalog, n.p.,

38 1995 , copy in author’s possession. 6. Dave Hill, Prince: A Pop Life (New York: Harmony Books, 1989 ), 102 –03 . 7. See http://www.thirdav.com/ zinestuff/ stargreen.html; , Sept. 28 , 1985 , online at http:// www.melvillem.freeserve.co.uk/mmmm/ HuskerDuMM 9-85 .htm. 8. Minnesota Black Music Awards program, 1982 , copy in MBMA Records, Minnesota Historical Society (MHS), St. Paul; Minneapolis Star and Tribune, Sept. 26 , 1986 , p. 13 C. 9. Cindy Lawson McClellan, interview with the author, Dec. 5, 2001 , notes in MHS museum collections accession file. 10 . Grant Hart, telephone interview with the author, Jan. 28 , 2002 ; Daniel Corrigan, telephone interview with the author, Jan. 29 , 2002 . 11 . Hill, Prince, 20 –22 .

The Upper Deck t-shirt, Loud Fast Rules/Soul Asylum items, Reflex Records Benefit hand - bill, and all but the Hüsker Dü items in the collage, p. 33, were donated to MHS collec - tions by Karl H. Mueller; all Hüsker Dü items are from Greg Norton; the Minnesota Black Music Awards are the gift of Pete and Kimberly Bedell Rhodes; the guitar pick is the gift of Chris Osgood; the Stacy Adams shoes, The Time candy bar, and fedora are from Monte J. Moir; the suit jacket was donated by Jellybean Johnson; and the First Avenue mural was donated by The Committee, Inc. The Get Wild perfume was a museum collec - tions purchase. All color photography by Peter Latner/MHS. The photo on p. 31 (detail, p. 29) is by Morris Day (upper left), William “Hollywood” Doughty, Andre Anderson mmarkos/image dump: www2.bitstream.net/ ~imagdump; p. 35 is by Daniel Corrigan; (later Andre Cymone), and Linda Anderson (kneeling) in Grand Central, later and p. 38, from the MHS collections, is by Champagne, about 1975 Charles Chamblis.

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