The punk rock world was stunned early this morning by the awful news that Hüsker Dü founder, drummer and singer Grant Hart had died after being diagnosed with cancer. He was 56. One person who spent a lot of time with Hart over the past few years was Ken Shipley, President of the Chicago music label Numero Group. Recently, they pulled the curtain off a deluxe Hüsker Dü box set titled Savage Young Dü that’s filled with scores of unreleased songs that fans of the Minnesota rock group had been salivating over for years.
In the wake of Hart’s death, Shipley shared a touching, funny portrait of the one-of-a-kind musician. “Grant Hart would have loved his own death,” he began. “Furious text messaging in the middle of the night seeking confirmation and commiseration. Condolences from acquaintances and media outlets who haven’t come out of the woodwork in years. Emails from the Associated Press at 4:45am. The clamoring for details. When and where? What kind of cancer? He loved to stir the peanut butter. Actively sought the circus, metal or otherwise.”
He described Hart as someone he more than liked, but less than loved. “I had a ton of respect for the guy.” he wrote. “Is there a word to describe that region between love and like? It’s impossible not to love/like a guy who sends you a Bob Mould diss Some ecard at 2:47am. How can you not love/like someone who insists on a high end sushi restaurant for your first meal together and then promptly orders enough food to cover his next two meals. Grant was tortured for sure, but he had a hell of a lot of fun bringing you in on the joke, even if you were part of the punchline.”
Then he described the herculean effort it took to get him to cooperate on the upcoming reissue project Savage Young Dü. “Getting him on the phone was impossible: Call once, hang up, call again hang up. If he wanted to talk, he’d pick up on the third ring,” he said. Shipley went on to describe the first time they ever met in person, which is a truly incredible story.
“It was August-which in Minnesota means hot and muggy. He suggested a trip to the lake to cool off, and guided my rented P.T. Cruiser through residential twists and turns to a place I would later find out was called Hidden Beach by locals. We stripped down to our underwear and began wading out and were soon neck deep. He turned to me and asked, ‘Do you know where we are?’ And I had no idea. ‘This is where I shot the cover for New Day Rising.’
It was one of those moments where you know you’re not the first to experience it, that he’d taken several people out swimming on Cedar Lake while the sun was setting and then used their connection to his past to cement a relationship. But it sure felt special in that moment. That was the real Grant Hart, disarming and masterminding all at once. He green-lit the project shortly after.”
Later, he revealed the moment that Hart shared that he’d been diagnosed with cancer. “I went up to Minneapolis in the spring of 2016 to pick up all the master tapes and files that he’d been threatening to let me take for half a decade, and while sharing a moment in the sun, he turned into me and said, ‘I’ve got cancer,'” Shipley wrote.
Even then, the drummer seemed optimistic about the future. “He told me about the two wonderful developments in his life. He’d finally met someone worth staying with and he wanted to marry her. Her name was Brigid. And after many years estranged from his son, the two had reconciled and were speaking regularly. We hugged at parting, his stubbly face scratching my neck.”
