Flip Your Wig

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Brutality was always the central selling point for this loud and fast Minneapolis trio, but there was a strange development after five years on the independent SST Records. Melodies happened. The last album before jumping to big Warner Bros. Records, 1985's Flip Your Wig contains some of guitarist Bob Mould's strongest songcraft, from the cracked chorus of "Makes No Sense at All" to the big-rock chords of the sociopolitical power lesson "Divide and Conquer." Though Hüsker's raw production and biting lyrics helped them avoid punk charges of "selling out," this album hints at traditional pop values. --Steve Knopper --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Flip Your Wig
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Flip Your Wig - One of Huskers Best
  • "Normal people going for a spin"
  • Husker's Low Point
  • Bad Example
  • my favorite
 Flip Your Wig
Husker Du
Manufacturer: Sst Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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HardcoreHardcore | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
PunkPunk | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
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Similar Items:
  1. New Day Rising
  2. Zen Arcade
  3. Metal Circus
  4. Eight Miles High/Makes No Sense At All [EP]
  5. Copper Blue

ASIN: B000000M0N
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

  1. Flip Your Wig
  2. Every Everything
  3. Makes No Sense At All
  4. Hate Paper Doll
  5. Green Eyes
  6. Divide And Conquer
  7. Games
  8. Find Me
  9. The Baby Song
  10. Felxivle Flyer
  11. Private Plane
  12. Keep Hanging On
  13. The Wit And The Wisdom
  14. Don't Know Yet

Amazon.com essential recording

Brutality was always the central selling point for this loud and fast Minneapolis trio, but there was a strange development after five years on the independent SST Records. Melodies happened. The last album before jumping to big Warner Bros. Records, 1985's Flip Your Wig contains some of guitarist Bob Mould's strongest songcraft, from the cracked chorus of "Makes No Sense at All" to the big-rock chords of the sociopolitical power lesson "Divide and Conquer." Though Hüsker's raw production and biting lyrics helped them avoid punk charges of "selling out," this album hints at traditional pop values. --Steve Knopper

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Flip Your Wig - One of Huskers Best.......2006-10-06

This is the great over looked album of Husker Du's original SST releases and my favorite. I think it is so overlooked because of the obvious greatness of New Day Rising and the fact that somehow, Rolling Stone managed to brainwash everyone into believing that Zen Arcade is the Holy Grail of Eighties Garage/punk. Fip Your Wig was the very first Husker Du album I ever heard and the first song I heard was Find Me - I heard it on KNLU in Monroe, LA. (One of the best college stations in the world at the time - I think they were kickin' out all of 25 watts.) Find Me did for me what it asks. In a soup of Smiths and Hairmetal the open chords of Find Me screamed like nothing I had ever hear before. The rest of the songs do not disapoint with two exceptions, the obligatory experimental song The Wit and the Wisdom and The Baby Song. One particular standout is Divide and Conquer - it will have you shaking your head and pounding the steering wheel on the way to work! This album/CD, what ever the format stands up very well even 20 years later.

4 out of 5 stars "Normal people going for a spin".......2006-04-03

Flip Your Wig was Husker Du's last album for SST before they ventured to Warner Bros. At this point, it was already clear they were moving in a more mainstream direction than their post-punk roots. This album has a more open, accessible sound than the raw, rough-around-the-edges New Day Rising which was also released in 1985. At his point in their career, Grant Hart was really emerging as an amazing singer/songwriter and I wish more of his stuff was on this album (well, not "The Baby Song"). His tracks on their next album, Candy Apple Grey, are awesome.
"Flip Your Wig" (Mould) 2:33: The title track was the opening for many of their stage shows. It is a fun, little song with Bob Mould and Grant Hart both providing lead vocals. I like the lyrics: "Sunday section gave us a mention/ Grandma's freaking out over the attention/ Now my friends abound They're coming back around./ Long distance on the other end says I need them for a friend/ No matter what I choose I'm the one they want to use." Still, I'm not all that crazy about this song. I think it is because I do not like the saying "flip your wig."
"Every Everything" (Hart) 1:56: Storming rocker by Grant Hart. The tempo really kicks at the chorus. A hard rockin' two minutes!
"Makes No Sense at All" (Mould) 2:43: One of the Huskers most recognizable songs. It was released as a single backed with the Minneapolis-based Mary Tyler Moore Show theme "Love Is All Around" complete with music video. A Husker Du standard.
"Hate Paper Doll"(Mould) 1:52: I don't care for this song. It is very recognizable. As soon as it pops on I think, "Ugh! That paper doll song!" It just seems a bit hokey for me (for lack of a better term).
"Green Eyes" (Hart) 2:58: One of Grant Hart's best! A love song without sounding like one. Not sappy, but sweet with a cool guitar riff provided by Mould that drives the track.
"Divide & Conquer" (Mould) 3:42: A noisy rocker by Bob Mould. Not one of my all-time Husker favorites, but it's good once in a while.
"Games" (Mould) 4:06: This song is just OK. It is not near as hokey as "Hate Paper Doll," but "It's a game that anyone can play" line, musically, seems a bit contrived.

"Find Me" (Mould) 4:05: A strong hard rocker by Mould. The intensity stays with this one while the other heavy Mould track "Divide & Conquer" rocks out at the end. This song drags a little. Excellent, emotional vocals by Mould.
"The Baby Song" (Hart) 0:46: Well, at least it's only 46 seconds, but it is a complete waste of 46 seconds. It is Grant Hart playing around on a slide whistle.
"Flexible Flyer" (Hart) 3:01: Hart makes up for the bad filler track with this one. This is a fun, accessible song about enjoying life using a popular sled as an example. "If your heart is a flame burning brightly/ You'll have light and you'll never be cold/ And, soon you will know that you just grow/ You're not growing old." Great track! One of my all-time Husker Du favorites! I only wish Hart's vocals were louder and clearer. His voice seems so quiet on some of these tracks.
"Private Plane" (Mould) 3:17: Nice, straight-forward rocker. Airlines seems to be a recurring theme with Husker Du ("Find Me", "Dead Set on Destruction").
"Keep Hanging On" (Hart) 3:15: A Grant Hart classic! From the opening bass line on, this song just kicks! Hart's vocals are excellent here, too.
"The Wit and the Wisdom" (Mould) 3:41: Dark, foreboding instrumental.
"Don't Know Yet: (Mould) 1:56: Interesting instrumental. It has a cool vibrating guitar sound. It is OK as an album ending, I guess.

Flip Your Wig is not as solid as Candy Apple Grey and doesn't have as many amazing tracks as New Day Rising, but the best tracks on here (most of which are Grant Hart's) make this album definitely worth, well, maybe not flipping your wig over, but at least shaking it around a bit.

2 out of 5 stars Husker's Low Point.......2006-02-26

This album has bugged me for years, being the only Husker Du album I feel just plain outright sucks. For a long time I was under the impression that the problem with this album was its horrendous production (other reviewers have pointed out the specific flaws; this must be the worst production I've ever heard on a rock album, absolutely sucks the life out of the music). I've concluded however that the production flaw doesn't cover the whole range of this album's suck-age. Rather - and I'm being balasphemous here - the songwriting flat-out sucks as well. To my ears, this is the band's nadir, tremedously disappointing coming on the heals of such masterworks as "Everything Falls Apart", "Zen Arcade" and "New Day Rising". The bank's subsequent albums, "Candy Apple Grey" and "Warehouse", were marred by Mould & Hart's sub-par production as well (though better in comparison to this album), but at least the songwriting on those albums was much improved over this flaccid one. All in all, this is the only Husker Du album I wouldn't recommend.

1 out of 5 stars Bad Example.......2005-11-07

Breaking away from a mob mentality and becoming a true free thinker is always a great thing. In the mid `80's, several hardcore bands were able to evolve out of the basic hardcore blueprint into something special. The doom punk of Black Flag, the noise rock of Big Black, and the goth punk of Samhain were excellent examples of the evolution of hardcore. Husker Du's attempt at evolving from hardcore wasn't very impressive to say the least.

"New Day Rising" is the true dividing point in the Husker Du catalog with half of the songs representing their old sound and the other half representing their new direction. If you liked "I Apologize," "Celebrated Summer," "If I Told You," and "Books About UFOs" then you are sure to like "Flip Your Wig." If you liked "New Day Rising," "Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill," "Folk Lore," and "I Don't Know What You're Talking About" then you will probably hate "Flip Your Wig."
From the vocals to the guitar to the tempos, "Flip Your Wig" is cleansed of all hardcore elements. There were no more passionate shouts or screams coming from Bob Mould or Grant Hart. There may be a bit of fuzz in the guitars, but barely enough to be noticed. The songs pretty much stay at the average pop rock pace. To sum it up, these are cheesy '60's style pop songs that are very annoying.

When this album was released in 1985, Reagan had just been reelected and the Christian "moral majority" were at the peak of their power with the FCC and major media outlets censoring anything that may be even slightly rebellious. It was the worst point in time for Husker Du to begin recording soft rock songs devoid of anger.

5 out of 5 stars my favorite.......2005-06-05

Flip Your Wig is my favorite Hüsker Dü album. the title track is one of the catchiest songs i've ever heard. very call-and-response type song. all of mould's songs on this are amazing. hart's keep hanging on and green eyes are good pop songs. makes no sense at all is also just catchy and infectious as hell. then they branch out lyrically with divide and conquer. the baby song i don't really find that funny but isn't really filler. games is my favorite song with lyrics like "i don't need to go walking in misery" and "never a need to justify it when when people say i was important too." husker du have become my 2nd favorite band of all time. check these guys out. they influenced too many bands not to be well known.
Yeah, Oh Yeah, This Shit Will Flip Your Wig
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Wake up and Rock!
  • Finally... Some Real Heart from SF!
 Yeah, Oh Yeah, This Shit Will Flip Your Wig
Throttlefinger
Manufacturer: Scooch Pooch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

PunkPunk | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
Punk RevivalPunk Revival | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00002JV3W
Release Date: 1999-09-21

Tracks:

  1. Headfake
  2. Bad Deal
  3. Bastard
  4. Got The Itch
  5. On Parole
  6. Snaggletooth
  7. Rough Rider
  8. Look Around
  9. Wildfire
  10. Song #10
  11. Step Aside

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Wake up and Rock!.......2000-04-29

ThrottleFinger brought me back to what I like best,...Rock and Roll "pure and sweet" with no strings attached.

5 out of 5 stars Finally... Some Real Heart from SF!.......1999-12-17

Finger-bleedin' jammin' - literally (you'll have to see 'em live to really understand what that means)! The undeniably heaviest 3 piece on Earth! If you have a pace-maker, you'll want to pull it out for this one. Non-stop energy that's almost too much for the on-the-brink-of-roadrage personality that is I. The freakin' bass is so heavy the natives are bracing for the aftershock - TooTankt hits it hard! It'll get you wired and leave you wanting more - so set your CD player on auto-repeat and be prepared to be hit in the face with a wall of POWER! This one's OUT OF CONTROL!
Outbreak
Average customer rating: Not rated
    		Outbreak

    Manufacturer: Eds
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

    GeneralGeneral | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
    ASIN: B000CA48NI
    Release Date: 2004-07-27

    Tracks:

    1. Simplex Begendings
    2. Enfuego
    3. Outbreak
    4. The Unheard
    5. Ambulance Ambiance
    6. Gag Glorious
    7. Life In The Night
    8. Cheesebread
    9. Transcribe2Survive
    10. Blue Bathtub
    11. Understudied
    12. Honor Roll
    13. Red Rad Rush
    Yeah, Oh Yeah, This Shit Will Flip Your Wig
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      		Yeah, Oh Yeah, This Shit Will Flip Your Wig
      Throttlefinger
      Manufacturer: Scooch Pooch
      ProductGroup: Music
      Binding: Audio CD

      Punk RevivalPunk Revival | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
      GeneralGeneral | Rock | Styles | Music
      ASIN: B00005NTTS
      Release Date: 1999-10-19

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      1. Head Fake
      2. Bad Deal
      3. Bastard
      4. Got the Itch
      5. On Parole
      6. Snaggletooth
      7. Rough Rider
      8. Look Around
      9. Wildfire
      10. Song#10
      11. Step Aside

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