Hüsker Dü

Hüsker Dü's achievement was to make hardcore punk melodic without making it soft, and to make that melodic quality feel like a formal choice rather than a commercial concession. Bob Mould and Grant Hart — both songwriters, their contributions in more or less equal balance across the catalog — had different approaches that created a band richer than either would have made alone: Mould's melodic fury and Hart's more formal, Beatlesque pop instincts met in songs that were brief, fast, and full of genuine tunes.

Zen Arcade (1984), a sprawling double album of hardcore, folk interludes, and something approaching psychedelia, was the formal statement. New Day Rising (1985) and Flip Your Wig (1985) were the refinements: songs that could have been Top 40 singles if they had been produced with any interest in accessibility. Their Warner Bros. albums — Candy Apple Grey (1986), Warehouse: Songs and Stories (1987) — found them making records that sounded like they were about to break commercially, before the band broke personally instead. The template for melodic punk runs through Hüsker Dü.