By Jim Walsh
Infamously, “Husker Du” translates to “do you remember?” in Norwegian and Danish – and Peter Rudrud most certainly does.
“I’m from South Minneapolis, went to Washburn High School, and I used to go to Know Name to buy records, but what really started things for me was when I first went to [Oar Folkjokeopus Records, now known as Lucky Cat] when I was 15 or 16,” said Rudrud, branch manager at the George Latimer Central Public Library, and Minnesota Music Archive board member. An avid live music fan, Rudrud has donated much of his Husker Du collection to the Archive.
“Terry Katzman worked there, and Jim Peterson, and they turned me on to so many things, like Robyn Hitchcock and the Velvet Underground. I pretty regularly took the bus down there and just sort of hung out. The first Husker Du album that I saw up on the wall there was New Day Rising, so that would have been 1985. As that recent release 1985: The Miracle Year has attested to, that was when everything was really happening in terms of how productive they were and the amount of touring they were doing.
“They always seemed to land back at First Avenue’s main room, so I went to any of those all-ages shows I could go to, and I just started buying up everything. That first “Statues/Amusement” seven-inch [single] I bought from Oar Folk, and I’m just so grateful for that record store and Terry Katzman in particular for talking to me and being so warm.
“From there…it’s not like an obsession but I just really, really love [Husker Du’s] music. Made my own cassettes, brought them to college. I think I made friends with another guy from Minneapolis because we both had the same Flip Your Wig t-shirt. I think I only ever saw Husker Du in the Mainroom [at First Avenue] but it was probably three or four times.”
Rudrud will be there when Bob Mould’s titanic post-Husker outfit, Sugar hits the First Avenue stage September 10-12. Today, this gives us the excuse to rifle through the titles of those legendary bands, and while we’re at it, check out the new must-see documentary, Changes: The Story of Sugar.
“Sugar came out as a super bright spot for me. I just loved them and bought their albums and celebrated them and listened to them endlessly,” said Rudrud. “And then Nova Mob and Grant Hart’s solo stuff. Grant was such a fixture. I have so many good memories of seeing him at the Turf Club or First Avenue.”
It turns out the Minnesota Music Archive is stuffed with the prolific Bob Mould, Sugar, Husker Du and Huskers-related catalog, namely:
Sugar: Copper Blue (Rykodisc, 1992); File Under: Easy Listening (Rykodisc, 1994); “Helpless” b/w “Changes” (Singles Only Label, 1992)
Husker Du: various artists, Barefoot & Pregnant (Reflex/Garage D’or, 1998); 1985: The Miracle Year (Numero Group, 2025); Candy Apple Grey (Warner Bros., 1987); “Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely” b/w “All Work and No Play” and “Helter Skelter” (live) (Warner Bros., 1986); various artists, Du Huskers—The Twin Cities Replay Zen Arcade (1993); Husker “Eight Miles High” b/w “Masochism World” (live) (SST, 1984); Flip Your Wig (SST, 1985); “Makes No Sense At All” b/w “Love Is All Around” (SST, 1985); New Day Rising (SST, 1985); Savage Young Du (Numero Group, 2017); Sorry Somehow (Warner Bros., 1986); “Statues” b/w “Amusement” (Reflex, 1980); Tonite Longhorn (Reflex, 2023); Warehouse: Songs and Stories (Warner Bros., 1987); Zen Arcade (SST, 1984);
Bob Mould: Egoverride (Rykodisc, 1995); Live From Studio X (Merge, 2016); The Last Dog and Pony Show (Rykodisc, 1998); Workbook (Virgin, 1989);
Grant Hart: Ecce Homo (World Service, 1995); The Argument (Domino, 2013); “2541” b/w “Come, Come” and “Let Go” (SST, 1988); Nova Mob, Admiral Of The Sea (Rough Trade, 1991).
Many of those titles were donated by Rudrud, who remains part of a rich Minneapolis tradition of rockers-turned-library science professionals, whose ranks include Jim Peterson, Ernie Batson, Neva Fuller, Pd Larson, and Mark Engebretson. Their origin stories similarly began with reading liner notes, rock mags, and fanzines, which have translated into professions that preserve all this punk-rock magic for posterity.
“Even when I didn’t have enough money to buy a record, I went to Oar Folk and I’d buy Forced Exposure or Matter magazine or The Big Takeover,” said Rudrud. “A lot of it was just being curious and reading and wanting to know more about something. Yeah, I definitely think that drives my interest in working in libraries.
“And then as I’ve gotten more income and gotten older, it’s been, ‘I want to get this. I want to have this. This is the missing part of my collection.’ I don’t obsess over a lot of artists, but some I do, and I try to be aware of what’s out there. It’s just sort of a pleasure to put it together and to know that I have it there, on my shelf.
“That’s what led to [MMA executive director Mitch Thompson] inviting me to be on the board, because of my work in libraries and also being someone who [hears] lot of live music. Mitch and I overlapped in my previous career in film and television production, too. It’s been a pleasure working with the other members of the team and putting this Archive together. One of the things I first noticed is we don’t have any Husker Du. I told him I had a lot, and he encouraged me to donate music. I finally just dropped it all off. It was easy.”
Librarians, archivists, historians, punk rockers—there’s something symbiotic about this bunch. Not to mention, as Rudrud does, something noble.
“It just seems like we have such a disposable society. There’s always the forgetting of things and how libraries and collections are sometimes under attack. There [are] things that fall through our fingers a lot, too,” he said. “So I do think it’s a positive and noble act to say that [music] has value and shouldn’t be forgotten, and to put it out in a place so people can research it and celebrate it and find connections with it.
“Something we’re developing is [highlighting] these connections between artists, like who’s played on what record, and who produced other bands, the way Bob Mould and Grant Hart did.
The Minnesota Music Archive serves as a family tree, history lesson, and a source of more connections than any community meet-up you can name. Not to mention a boon for all those musicheads who grew up studying liner notes.
“Even just having the catalog of all these artists is so worthwhile. Just [documenting] the ways that the scene here grew, different iterations of bands – I just think that that kind of connection to is a work is great. It makes people cherish those connections that might be forgotten as well.
“With the archive, we’re just creating a tool for acquisition and for gathering everything we need to put it as public-facing [resource] and to make it a robust and useful tool. For appreciation and discovery, but also for research so years later you can discover this whole scene you didn’t know anything about.”
Jim Walsh is a veteran singer, songwriter, columnist, journalist, author, and historian from Minneapolis.
He can be reached at jim@demomn.org