Hüsker Dü - Diane

Diane. Diane. Diane.

Album: Metal Circus EP
Recorded: Redondo Beach, California
Genre: Punk, Hardcore Punk, Post-Hardcore
Album Release: October 1983
Length: 4:39
Producer: Hüsker Dü & Spot
Vocalist: Grant Hart [age 22]
Label: SST Records

Official Audio


Live in London from 1985


Cover version by Therapy?

Charts, Streams & Sales

Spotify: 1,250,000 +
YouTube Music: 615,000 +

Credits & Gear

Bass, drums, guitar

Details

• 'Diane' was played live as early as 1981.
• Hüsker Dü were a three-piece that had two songwriters. Some songs are Bob Mould on vocals, some songs are Grant Hart.
• The band rejected a major label deal from Elektra Records to stay independent because they wanted to retain creative control over their music.
  
• 'Diane' is about the 1980 rape and murder of Diane Edwards by serial killer Joseph Ture Jr in West Saint Paul, Minnesota. The song is sung from Ture's point of view and because of this is deeply disturbing. The band eventually stopped playing it live as they found it too upsetting.
  
  One could rightly ask why the band would even write the song in the first place? Hüsker Dü drummer Grant Hart knew Diane Edwards as they were both from the Saint Paul area of Minnesota, Grant from the south and Diane from the west.  They weren't friends but they knew each other. West Saint Paul was a small town of less than 20,000 people.
  
  When Ture was found guilty in 1981, a crime of that magnitude, six murder convictions, including the killings of three children, can really shake-up a small community. There's a feeling that it could've happened to anyone, any family and that is truly terrifying. People process grief in different ways and the 20 year old Grant Hart did so by writing a song. Also, the general public weren't aware of the grizzly details until much later.
  
  
• The bands debut album was released in January 1983, though it would be nine months later, in October of the same year, that the band really showed their promise. The Metal Circus EP strays from the restrictive style of hardcore punk into the burgeoning post-hardcore sound that was still in its infancy at the time. 
  
  
• Hüsker Dü were a major influence on many bands, especially three-pieces such as Nirvana and Green Day. When Pixies advertised for a bassist they asked for one who was a fan of Husker Du. It was Kim Deal who answered the request
  
  
• The chorus for 'Diane', a song about a murdered woman of the same name, features Grant Hart repeatedly shouting "Diane" in a way the makes the first syllable sound like the word "die".
  
  
• Punk was built on an ethos of three chords and the truth. A lot of the musicians could barely play but the vibe is what really mattered. You don't need a university degree to understand the important things in life like love and hate. In the same way, you don't need to be classically trained to play a riff or a beat. This approach revolutionised music by making it D.I.Y.. In the 70's, if you could pick up an instrument you could be in a band, but only if you played punk. As it worked out, plenty of people wanted to be in a band and soon, the music was everywhere.
  
  It gave people total creative freedom because they could stand up and scream their truth with no experience required. People didn't care if it sounded awful. Awful was part of the appeal. Punk arose out of the sixties, which was principally about peace and love. Where was the room for aggression or violence or hate in the sixties? These feelings, no matter how distasteful, are also a part of the human condition and as such also yearn to be expressed. Punk gave people an avenue to do just that.
  
  But if you have three chords and the truth you still only have three chords. A lot of the people in punk bands could barely play but those who could began to branch out and post-hardcore was born at the start of the eighties.
  
  Post-hardcore, which emo developed from, is just as fast-paced, emotional and aggressive as punk but also had valleys and peaks instead of being all action from the start to the end. Accordingly, the songs are typically longer, have a greater emotional range and cover a wider variety of topics. They also require more musicality to perform, include melodies and require the listener to pay closer attention to the songs.
  
  

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