Husker Du - Private Plane (Best Guitar Solo of all Time)

One of my favorite Bands with one of my favorite Songs and the best Guitar Solo of all Time ( Notice to Eric Clapton fans: You will NOT understand....)
You ask how far the farthest star is
To go by bus or to go by car is
Way too far, you couldn't say
You won't get there anyway
He says it takes a private plane
But you could never get back to your feet again
Unless you break the ball and chain
He says "Now, it's a private plane"
With all these places in your mind
There's no reason you have to find
Your private plane
Don't play that game

[@milanotiki]

i SIMPLY CANNOT BELIEVE THAT SOMEONE DISCOVERED HUSKERDU IN 2009...I MYSELF AM FROM BELGRADE,SERBIA,AND I LISTEN HUSKERDU SINCE THE BEGINNING OF 80S,EVEN SAW THEM LIVE IN 85 IN LONDON IN CHRYSTAL PALACE,AND YANKES HAVE NO IDEA WHO THEIR PRESIDENT IS OR WHAT GREAT BANDS THEY HAVE IN THEIR COUNTRY.......HELOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

[@DerekHundik]

i started to listen to H Dus around the same time you were seeing them in London.

[@AK99581]

People don't know Husker Du because they aren't played on radio or talked about much in modern day. This is from 40 years ago.

[@aarongelan1032]

Maybe they were born in 2008

[@klausrain111]

One of America's greatest bands. Saw them a few times. Then maybe ten years ago I went to a book signing event for Bob. Got his autograph, also they took a picture of me standing next to him with my mobile. Couldn't believe it but I was really nervous, and he thought that was pretty funny.

[@195adastra]

I discovered Husker Du about half an hour ago and already I fucking love them! I love original 70's punk and 80's alt rock like REM and these guys are somewhere in between - love it!!

[@couchwarrior2449]

This is the band R.E.M listened to and emulated all throughout their career.

[@rickrose5377]

The summer of 1984 was one of the great periods of my life. On the same occasion, I bought 'Double Nickels on the Dime' (The Minutemen) and 'Zen Arcade' in Cambridge, MA. That's a receipt I didn't bother to keep.

[@ryderferenc9375]

Yeah double nickels on the dime doesn't get the credit it's due, just like husker "don't ".

[@markusantonio4866]

I bought Zen Arcade 20 some years ago on CD never heard it, but liked Sugar and was a big Pixies fan. I lost the receipt but found it 20 years later under my trucks seat. I put it in memorable place.

[@rickrose5377]

@@ryderferenc9375 Holy shit, Ryder. I'm just seeing this comment now (April, 2019). That's Odilon Redon in your profile picture -- 'The Guardian Spirit of the Waters'! I was an Art History major at Yale. When I cared for my mom at the end of her life, I had that drawing on her dresser, framed! It's in a photo album on my phone. God bless you.

[@bretts9635]

Agreed. A special time in music. Still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

[@Heyemeyohsts]

Cambridge mass had tower records in the powerhouse if I remember correctly

[@poughkeepsiejohn1]

Great band and great song. No question about it. Growing up, I would play this song and increase the volume little by little until reaching 10 at the end of the song. It would drive my heavy-metal-loving brother up the wall. He once said to me, "If it wasn't for you, nobody would ever hear of Husker Du!" Now, it seems like a LOT of people have heard them and we're all the more better for it.

[@billingtonbobbington]

Greg Norton's Shorts That's the name of the next greatest band

[@noga5103xX]

Hagahagag

[@mattaki]

king stache

[@scottlebrun6782]

Yeah... I always thought it was funny that he was the straight guy in the band.

[@doitnowvideosyeah5841]

At the time I never thought about their sexuality cause they didn't sing about sex. I have thought of the irony of Gregs clothing choices tho...

[@ruf1980]

Great Scott, i remember german tourists in Italy in the 80'S : those kind of shorts, + socks + birkenstocks.... And yes, very often they sported mullet and moustaches.

[@guitarpedaldemos9121]

I love this song! best solo of all time?…. I hate when people say things like that. One of the reasons I like Bob Mould so much as that he approaches music as an art, and not a competition.

[@j-fpilote1576]

Hüsker Dü puts Nirvana to utter shame on so many levels. They should have been the ones to break alternative rock wide open and get the recognition thet rightfully deserve.

[@LeotheOrangeCat]

nah - they were inventing it - which is better

[@Pauleymack]

Nirvana......great debut in Bleach but Christ, they went downhill quick.

[@johnnybravo5726]

is this really the consensus on nirvana?

[@jxomxo]

For one, Nirvana sited these guys as own of their biggest influences. And for another, In Utero is considered a magnificent alt rock album

[@mikecraig8454]

Kurt was pretty. End of.

[@DeanRadioMusic]

Bob's work on the Husker instrumental "The Wit and the Wisdom" (also off the "Flip Your Wig" LP) is one of the greatest Noise-guitar solos I've ever heard. The guitar sounds like it's being strangled to death, but in a very creative way. Listening to it reminds me of one of my favorite Titles for an instrumental: "Flossing With An E-String" by Kraut, another '80s hardcore band.

[@imnotveryfondofit2379]

Why wouldn't a Clapton fan like this guitar solo? I do and I often really like Clapton as a guitarist. A guitarist like Bob uses the intensity of heavy distortion and Beatles-esque melodies to make a sound that hearkens back to the Beach Boys and other surf musicians but doesn't devolve into lame caricatures of those players (something many guitar players have a problem overcoming). It's not blues-based rock like Clapton is, but it is still remarkable playing in it's own way. But yeah, if all you want to hear in a guitarist is blues influenced soloing then this may come as a shock to you. Like anything, when you hear something (genre, band) for the first time it all tends to sound the same. But a little patience and an open mind and you can discover things about the guitar and how it sounds that previously were in your listener's blind spots.

[@kyburnses]

Great song, epic guitar from Bob as usual. However, I must say that his attack near the end of Celebrated Summer is to me the ultimate Bob tirade.

[@GotLotsaFaith]

This track is yet another example of how nimble, playful, tasteful, peppy, understated, charming and generally poppin' this rhythm section is. Grant and Greg are both the life of the party... (I have tried playing this song with various drummers and bassists and let me tell you it was an absolute nightmare trying to get them to calm down and play on the beat). Yes, Mould's guitar part/solo - if you can even really call it a "solo" - is awesome, but like anything that is awesome, generally there are other people involved and this track would be NOTHING without the lean, mean, pep of G&G. My favorite rhythm section of any band ever. Sorry...

[@jcleaverchamberlinjr]

I go for underrated guitar solos myself and I'm a HUGE Husker Du fan! I AGREE GREAT SOLO!

[@cartoonsandcannabis]

My favorite solo was in "Indecision Time"

[@dn5803]

Jesus. This is still utterly brilliant.

[@adamyoung480]

Aloha. Brilliant band and song.

[@ichithekikker]

they're the best band ever! the solo is pure poetry

[@gregordiezemann-io6zd]

Akkord solo❤😊

[@sociodoc]

Yep, don't know if I'd call it Bob's best guitar solo, but the end is truly incendiary. Saw them in '85 or '86 and recall Private Plane as being the most intense song of the set... complete, utter pandemonium - they totally blew the walls out of the building.

[@nikolaik1147]

Do you happen to remember what show this was and what songs were played? Thank you.

[@sociodoc]

@@nikolaik1147 Union Ballroom, University of Kansas, 4/30/86. Setlist.fm has the sets for the Irving Plaza, NY gig just prior and the Dallas show shortly after to give you an idea of what was played.

[@GotLotsaFaith]

(I love the smiles in this picture. Makes me smile every time) If Husker Du were to be compared to the scholars that now reside in the historic annals of science and discovery, I'd have to say they were along the lines of Niels Bohr--he was but one of the very few decorated men credited for unlocking the inner mysteries of the atom, some 135 years ago. To my mind, in terms of music, they are that important.

[@ThePboy24]

They certainly exploded like atoms on stage...

[@richalderson6069]

They looked so unlike a rockn'roll band but yet rocked harder and more passionately than any dude with long locks of hair and spandex did when they were around.

[@Musicvideodaily]

zen arcade new day rising flip your wig love em their sound is so freakin' great. Bob's guitar!!! R&RHoF: put these guys in there pronto.

[@incognito8475]

Best 3 def

[@thebonesaw..4634]

I get you, man. I was just talking with a friend about how I couldn't share my Punk fandom. The closest I got was sharing and talking about mainstream bands: Blondie, The Talking Heads... maybe the Ramones. I just linked "Could You Be The One" on my Facebook, but book-ended it with, "This is awesome... but I don't expect you to understand".

[@void0094]

This song gives me emotions no other song can give me

[@BIDENKART]

It's not a solo, it's a riff. It's still the greatest riff of all time, period-- it's so sad, yet happy and fast. This song has such a positive message and a fucking insane sound.

[@MOTOPAC]

Always liked this one.

[@tobarstep]

Greg Norton : Original Hipster.

[@LB00146]

No Greg was REAL.. Kurt Cobain was the original hipster

[@cftvdata]

My favorite Bob solo: search for Keep Hanging On live in Trenton here on YT. It blows anything that wound up on a studio LP out of the water and then some!

[@blakemanke64]

This is such a great song!

[@drrobert7543]

It's a great song and a great band but actually this doesn't have what I would call a guitar solo-even between verses he's basically playing rhythm but he overall kicks ass and he manages to sound like playing 2 guitars at once.

[@h8paperdoll]

I always liked: solo on Gravity and then a few with Sugar and solo: Hear Me Crying, and Explode and Make Up...check out his latest as well...Bob hasn't lost a bit!

[@mike196212]

Loewe68: I get it completely. HUGE fan of Husker Du here. Don't really believe in best of anything but Bob IS criminally underrated.

[@currawongs]

great drumming

[@LazyJacques]

RIP Grant Hart.

[@KowalskiVanishing_Point]

Well, I'm thinking solo from "In a Jar" by Dinosaur Jr. is pretty darn good too.

[@KowalskiVanishing_Point]

midnight_storm_(vǫrðr) Tjoho!!!

[@viral0998hj]

Yeah but Husker du is better

[@josephsinsalot]

The lung always pulled at the old heartstrings too

[@rickrose5377]

J Mascis/Mould. Jeez. Don't do that to me. That's Sophie's fuckin' choice.

[@rickg8015]

Lou Barlow is a big Huskers fan..

[@camobutt]

One of my favorite Husker Du songs..thanks for posting. Yep, Clapton wouldn't understand..

[@mtj027]

I am biased into thinking "Celebrated Summer" has the best solo, but that's also my favorite song ever. This one is in the top five for sure. Also, the Clapton comment MADE MY DAY because I hate people who are in love with Clapton and guitarists like that not getting(there isnt much to get) music like this. I know a few.

[@poughkeepsiejohn1]

The great thing about Husker Du is that their songs wind you up and just don't let up. How many other bands out there play music this loud, this fast and this good? As for the greatest guitar solo of all time...well...check out Neil Young's "Archives Vol. 1" before answering that.

[@professormarcellom5723]

a melhor banda !!

[@joetotale1]

One of my favourite ever guitar solos is in the Fall's version of f-oldin money. Exquisitely brief!

[@tressor904]

I'm both an Eric Clapton and Husker Du fan, I love both his solo's and Husker Du's - am I missing a trick?

[@Geekman333]

Nope. You got it.

[@klasse645]

It sure is one of my top ten

[@HPSFRoadrunner]

Last I heard Norton was Head Chef at a restaurant in Red Wing MN.

[@stephenroche5107]

Brilliant !

[@spnhm34]

Like being in a hurricane, but in a good way

[@ivanmdc22]

Best Husker Du solo is the break from 1:45 to 2:20 in Whatever Just a couple of notes... but fuckin' goosebumps!

[@stignorgaard7391]

That guitar is much like Big Country

[@jhvalk]

No, no, no - right guitarist, wrong song. The greatest guitar solo ever is Bob Mould playing with Sugar - the instrumental bridge to "Tilted". Nobody human can play that fast, or that well.

[@bengrimshaw4811]

Dirk I salute you...Bob should have turned it up in the mix but you are completely and utterly right. Bob's solo in Tilted is the best ever...and also my favourite song ever even after 21 years...

[@colinmurphy3478]

Lol I love Husker Du but citing Bob Mould as the beacon of lead guitar technique is funny.

[@epichalocat2887]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/poPJiIeInZqrmLs

[@vladimirsimic6493]

i agree

[@dramce]

music is not a race... being the fastest does not mean anything here.

[@filmfanman65]

Sounds like Bob Mould is saying Bob Hope's private plane lol

[@blueshades9312]

that's what I'm always going to refer to this song as now...still love it too!

[@terrypussypower]

Psych-O-Sonic 99 He's actually saying "Bob Hope's a private plane!"

[@FablesJonny]

awesome song!!

[@fivedigitcreature]

Grant Hart

[@33b331]

As you should. I'm jealous. :( I got to watch the live uprising of Uncle Tupelo (over the early 90's . . . before they went to five - the trio, that's where it was for them), but not getting to see Husker Du live will always stick in my throat, at least just a little.

[@fenwyfrnk]

One of bob's best shirts. "Cage Match" is a close second

[@defrok6673]

Another of HD's best....

[@FablesJonny]

all aboard!!

[@terrypussypower]

Bob Mould showed me how to play this!

[@blackwood2805]

any one that says bob mold cant play guitar listen to zen arcade or land speed record or metal circuis the mans a genius!!!

[@Malpractice2003]

Great song, but i'm waiting the guitar solo part that you said...i guess you're referring the guitar lick with some lil' intervals on 1:24, right? That's beautiful, too.

[@dner75-xh9le]

Tuckin' in the Red Wings Shoes T-shirt. Relying on the styling, that old dirty dog Norton.

[@ronjohnston5925]

Best guitar solo was Diane. Second best Eight Miles High cover.

[@void0094]

For some reason this song gives me an odd spiritual connection that I get very rarely while listening to guitar based music.

[@1988rlp]

hahaha i love how the guy with the handlebar moustache and the hot pants is the one straight guy in the picture

[@borbetomagus]

Bob's best solo? Now might be a time to have another listen to Bob's unpredictable solo on 'Indecision Time' from "Zen Arcade".

[@RabbiJochanan]

Bob is a genius. But I like his solos on "Girl who lives on heaven hill", "Celebrated summer" and "Pink turns to blue" more.

[@stephenroche5107]

Fucking awesome.

[@xmlbroker]

Search your feelings. You know it to be true.

[@philldixon7605]

Saw them in Sheffield, someone threw a cigarette at Bob, if looks could kill.

[@stephenroche5107]

Fucking brilliant !

[@joecool5670]

One of my favorite Bands ever. Of course ther is a Solo...but the onle real Solo in Rock Music was by Jimy Page on Zepplin II on Heartbreaker because it is only Guitar an so solo.... ;-) Only for splitting Hair here...

[@prinznevsky]

good solo, great song, overlooked album, but I'd vote "Could You Be the One" as Bob's best guitar solo moment, with "Pink Turns To Blue" as a real close second.

[@wcarloswilliams]

don't know about best guitar solo EVER, there's a lot of music out there. iIhave heard three,four note solos which fit the song. IE Mudhoney touch me i'm sick.

[@tishpish4939]

It ain't "The Best Guitar Solo of all Time" but damn it's glorious!

[@Triewer]

No, actually my favorite guitar player of all time is Steve Howe. I'm also a fan of Jimi Hendrix, Steve Hackett, Steven Wilson. Dave Davies of The Kinks is underrated. There's a lot of great guitar players out there.

[@eldoabrahamson]

1. There is no best guitar solo of all-time. 2. If there was one, this would definitely not be it.

[@grassyknollington8657]

78rpm by STIFF LITTLE FINGERS, now there's a great guitar solo.

[@juripaluan7800]

In my opinion best solo of Mould is in "Indecision Time". Listen to it!

[@unit2655]

26 people haven't found their private plane.

[@seanyoung3865]

saw em twice...this tour and Candy apple.Saw sugar once too

[@nikolaik1147]

Do you happen to remember what shows those were? Thank you.

[@mrbasic86]

Ya he's pretty cool

[@glenbroemer]

the flexible flyer solo is also good

[@andreweparks]

Hüsker Dü!! ;D

[@bjscorpio4041]

Bob's not wearing a long sleeve t-shirt.

[@infineontrode]

AWS!

[@ucprod]

Yes ... yes this is the best solo of all time.

[@vladimirkabanov7610]

I was having a great time till I read all the whiny comments about how this song does not, in fact, have the best guitar solo.

[@henkejohansen4563]

One of Moulds best solos at least ... Sounds like Roger McQuinn mixed with Buzzcocks

[@MAROTOXTRMNTR]

Clapton? ... In Mould We Trust

[@UncleTobyColour]

Hüsker Dü

[@conductorinblack]

Bob Mould is NOT god. He's cooler.

[@jordanmurray410]

Based on God's lousy book he's a total buzzkill, never had that issue with Husker Du

[@alibobali4032]

snort. I get it that you look up to him, and you should, but could you not say really dumb things about a really smart guy...? Please...

[@TheBoilin]

All time favorite anti-heroes!

[@Olle_Svenska]

@lovelaj0149 Was a Joke, because in Germany we have this "Umlaute" (Ä, Ö and Ü). So I got them as Keys on my Keyboard. But you can do it, too. By pressing the ALT-Key and entering a Code with the Numberkeys. Ä = ALT+142 ä = ALT+132 Ö = ALT+153 ö = ALT+148 Ü = ALT+154 ü = ALT+129 ; )

[@terrypussypower]

Best tune on "Flip.....".

[@RobertNugent]

As long as we're listing all time greatest guitarists, I'm thinking it's a tie between Richard Thompson and Keith Richards.

[@Frunobulax123]

Frank Zappa is surely one of the all time great guitarists, weirdy overlooked though.

[@dejordyball]

Like Mark Twain said of Wagner, Zappa "is better than he sounds."

[@Gl0wBuzz3r]

They split in 1988 so it depends how old they are - there are plenty of fans who weren't even born when they were around!

[@SuperSquark]

I head a rumour that Flip You Wig was the GREATEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME. Am I wrong? Jedi say no!

[@lopakavolmer6723]

RIP Grant

[@robertharrold4214]

Try 'Money' 'another case of suicide' studio version... or live.

[@paulmcnicholas3846]

Turn on the News

[@JASCOBAR]

He may be gay but he does actually have a daughter who I guess now would be all grown up. When I saw them in a magazine photo some years back she was a young teen-ager. Bob maybe 'GranPA' now.

[@jasmoran66]

Don't use terms like 'best'. 'My favorite', perhaps.

[@periurban]

There was a solo? I heard a break, but I heard no solo?

[@intentions666]

I speak as a guitarist. What's the difference?

[@periurban]

intentions666 Good question! I'm also a guitarist (of very modest talent), but to me a solo is an extended extemporisation or improvisation using the harmonic structures of the piece, usually allocated a significant space on the song, or sometimes being the main feature of the piece. A guitar break is an eight or 16 bar section filled by the guitar to act as a buffer between (usually) choruses. Breaks tend to be more rhythmical in nature, although not always, and tend not to vary far from the structure of the song, whereas a solo can take the song in a completely different direction, as in Page's solo on Stairway to Heaven.

[@bicklesby1]

periurban stfu

[@aaba1938]

bicklesby1 Great shitpost there, buddy.

[@giovannigee]

I guess that's the best you can do when you have no intelligible retort to someone who's actually knowledgeable in the matter.