Flip Your Wig

Template:Use mdy dates {{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |{{#if: September 1985 | Template:Short description}}}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=New Day Rising1985Candy Apple Grey1986AlbumFlip Your WigHuskerdu flipyourwig.jpgHüsker DüSeptember 1985March–June 1985Nicollet, Minneapolis, Minnesota* Power popTemplate:Sfnm

• punk rock<ref name="allmusic"/>40:09SST (055)Bob Mould, Grant Hartx|2=</?t[drh][ >]|nomatch=}}|Template:Main other}}Template:Main other}}

Flip Your Wig is the fourth studio album by American punk rock band Hüsker Dü, released in September 1985 through SST Records. It was the band's best-selling album to that point for their label SST Records, and was the last they made for that label.

Production

As the band's first self-produced album, they spent months in the studio to achieve higher-quality production for its melodic power pop songs.Template:Cn

By 1985 Hüsker Dü was the best-selling band on SST Records.Template:Sfn The band had wanted to produce their previous album New Day Rising, but SST insisted on sending long-time label producer Spot.Template:Sfn With Flip Your Wig the band was finally allowed to self-produce.Template:Sfn Recording took place over several sessions in the band's hometown of MinneapolisTemplate:Sfn from March to June 1985, by far the longest the band had spent in the studio.Template:Sfn The cleaner production complemented the more melodic songs, still performed with heavily distorted guitars in a high-powered manner.Template:Sfn

Mould said, "There's more emphasis on the vocals. They're a little more out-front. The production is the main thing. Clearer vocals and less emphasis on guitar. The crazy solos... I think we're a little out of that now."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Songs

Guitarist Bob Mould and drummer Grant Hart each wrote roughly half the songs,Template:Sfn which continued the band's trend toward power pop and away from the fast, noisy hardcore punk of their earliest material.Template:Sfnm

"Makes No Sense at All" was released as a single,Template:Sfn with "Love Is All Around" (the theme song of the Mary Tyler Moore Show) on the b-side.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The a-side was the band's first song to achieve significant airplay on album-oriented rock radio.Template:Sfn and its video was the band's first.Template:Sfn

"The Baby Song" was a tribute to Grant Hart's newborn child. In 2010, The A.V. Club named it one of "24 songs that almost derail great albums".<ref name="avclub">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Release and reception

Flip Your Wig appeared via SST in September 1985. It débuted at No. 5 on the CMJ album charts and received more radio airplay and mainstream press attention than the band's earlier releases, including stories in Creem, Spin,Template:Sfn Rolling Stone.Template:Sfn Robert Christgau declared in The Village Voice that with the album's production the band had "never sounded so good",Template:Sfn and the album placed in the top ten of the magazine's critics' poll for 1985 along with New Day Rising.Template:Sfn Flip Your Wig became SST's best-selling album at the time of its release,Template:Sfn moving 50,000 copies in its first four months.Template:Sfn

By the time the album was released Hüsker Dü had signed a record deal with the major-label Warner Music Group,Template:Sfn who were keen to release the album themselves.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, out of loyalty, and because of SST's appointment of new promotions manager Ray Farrell, the album was given to SST.Template:Sfnm

Decades later, Bob Mould saw Flip Your Wig as "the best album Hüsker Dü ever did".Template:Sfn Ira Robbins and John Leland at Trouser Press describe the album as "Positively brilliant — fourteen unforgettable pop tunes played like armageddon were nigh" and rate "Makes No Sense at All" as "one of 1985's best 45s".Template:Sfn AllMusic's review says "Flip Your Wig would be a remarkable record on its own terms, but the fact that it followed New Day Rising by a matter of months and Zen Arcade by just over a year is simply astonishing."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personnel

Liner notes adapted from the album sleeve.<ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

Hüsker Dü

• Bob Mould – guitar, bass, piano, lead and background vocals, percussion, producer
• Greg Norton – bass
• Grant Hart – drums, lead and background vocals, vibraphone, slide whistle, percussion, producer

Technical

• Steve Fjelstad – engineer
• Fake Name Communications – cover design<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Bruce A. Christianson – front cover photography
• Daniel Corrigan – back cover and insert photography

Charts

Weekly chart performance for Flip Your Wig

Chart (1985)	Peak position
UK Indie ChartTemplate:Sfn	1

References

Works cited

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