Husker Du made only six albums during their brief career, which lasted less than 10 years. But as you'll see in the above list of Husker Du Albums Ranked in Order of Awesomeness, they made the most out of almost every single one of them.

Hailing from Minneapolis during a period that also yielded two of the era's most groundbreaking and best artists, Prince and the Replacements, Husker Du took a different musical path from their fellow Minnesotans. While they shared much with the Replacements, at least on the surface, they were always more ambitious and direct in their approach.

Both bands emerged from the city's hardcore punk scenes, and both outgrew them within a few short years of their debut albums. But where the Replacements pretty much relied on a single songwriter, Paul Westerberg, Husker Du had a pair of strong central figures in Bob Mould and Grant Hart, which eventually led to their collapse. (Husker Du also didn't have the self-sabotaging mechanism that kept the Replacements from becoming the huge stars everyone thought they'd be.)

During their brief run, they managed to release a half-dozen LPs that swapped the noisy punk of their 1983 debut for a college-rock version of power-pop music by 1987. Along the way they made a two-LP concept album (no other punk band would even attempt to wade so deep in prog territory), covered '60s psych-pop milestones like Donovan's "Sunshine Superman" and the Byrds' "Eight Miles High" and crafted college rock's equivalent to the White Album.

They were also a great rock 'n' roll band that wasn't afraid to pile on guitars and riffs. They embraced the music of the past instead of trying to dismantle it (something they shared with the Replacements and R.E.M., but very few other of their self-righteous peers), and found a way to make rock music exciting during a period that gave birth to hair metal, faceless synth pop and desperate attempts by the old guard to stay relevant. They were one of the all-time best, as you'll see in our list of Husker Du Albums Ranked in Order of Awesomeness.

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