Grant Hart (solo, Husker Du)
SPB: How do you feel about the Twin Cities music scene today? Local and national media seem stuck in a comparison mode, endlessly bringing up Replacements and Husker Du without as much mention to the local musical history over the past 20 years. How do you feel the scene has evolved, changed, or stayed the same since the national impression of "Twin Cities music" was formed?
Hart: At first I was going to explain that phenomenon by saying that the music press, including books, have become very lazy. The biggest investigative tool has become the computer and Google rather than field reports from the clubs and parties and other places where music is performed. You used to see more journalists at shows. Now they are at home waiting for the download. Also, the same thing happened in reverse. A young music reporter is very likely to dismiss Replacements and the mighty Du as “shitty ‘80s hardcore bands” with the provocation being nothing more than viewing the wrong YouTube sample.
Another cause for this is the way importance is compounded over the years. When you ask the question, “Who was the greatest dancer in the ‘30s?”, you will get the answer “Fred Astaire” for the simple reason that he has been put in that rank so often, for so long, that nobody can even think of an alternative answer.
The press tend to not talk to fans about the past. They read other reports from their favorite journalists and have lost the need to inform the public. So instead they grandstand an opinion that is surest to be agreed with, or [one that] is controversial.
People have always needed to go out and see for themselves.
