| Flip Your Wig | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 1985 | |||
| Recorded | March–June 1985 | |||
| Studio | Nicollet Studios,Minneapolis, Minnesota | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 40:09 | |||
| Label | SST Records (055) | |||
| Producer | Bob Mould andGrant Hart | |||
| Hüsker Dü chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Flip Your Wig | ||||
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Flip Your Wig is the fourthstudio album by Americanpunk rock bandHüsker Dü, released in September 1985 throughSST Records. It was the band's best-selling album to that point for their labelSST Records, and was the last they made for that label.
As the band's first self-produced album, they spent months in the studio to achieve higher-quality production for its melodicpower pop songs.[citation needed]
By 1985 Hüsker Dü was the best-selling band onSST Records.[3] The band had wanted to produce their previous albumNew Day Rising, but SST insisted on sending long-time label producerSpot.[4] WithFlip Your Wig the band was finally allowed to self-produce.[3] Recording took place over several sessions in the band's hometown ofMinneapolis[5] from March to June 1985, by far the longest the band had spent in the studio.[3] The cleaner production complemented the more melodic songs, still performed with heavily distorted guitars in a high-powered manner.[6]
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."[7]
GuitaristBob Mould and drummerGrant Hart each wrote roughly half the songs,[6] which continued the band's trend towardpower pop and away from the fast, noisyhardcore punk of their earliest material.[1]
"Makes No Sense at All" was released as a single,[5] with "Love Is All Around" (the theme song of theMary Tyler Moore Show) on the b-side.[8][9] The a-side was the band's first song to achieve significant airplay onalbum-oriented rock radio.[10] and its video was the band's first.[5]
"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".[11]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [2] |
| Chicago Tribune | [12] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  [13] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 9/10[14] |
| The Village Voice | A−[15] |
Flip Your Wig appeared via SST in September 1985. It débuted at No. 5 on theCMJ album charts and received more radio airplay and mainstream press attention than the band's earlier releases, including stories inCreem,Spin,[10]Rolling Stone.[16]Robert Christgau declared inThe Village Voice that with the album's production the band had "never sounded so good",[15] and the album placed in the top ten of the magazine's critics' poll for 1985 along withNew Day Rising.[10]Flip Your Wig became SST's best-selling album at the time of its release,[17] moving 50,000 copies in its first four months.[5]
By the time the album was released Hüsker Dü had signed a record deal with themajor-labelWarner Music Group,[18] who were keen to release the album themselves.[19] However, out of loyalty, and because of SST's appointment of new promotions manager Ray Farrell, the album was given to SST.[20]
Decades later, Bob Mould sawFlip Your Wig as "the best albumHüsker Dü ever did".[21] Ira Robbins and John Leland atTrouser 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".[22]AllMusic's review says "Flip Your Wig would be a remarkable record on its own terms, but the fact that it followedNew Day Rising by a matter of months andZen Arcade by just over a year is simply astonishing."[23]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Flip Your Wig" | Bob Mould | 2:33 |
| 2. | "Every Everything" | Grant Hart | 1:56 |
| 3. | "Makes No Sense at All" | Mould | 2:43 |
| 4. | "Hate Paper Doll" | Mould | 1:52 |
| 5. | "Green Eyes" | Hart | 2:58 |
| 6. | "Divide and Conquer" | Mould | 3:42 |
| 7. | "Games" | Mould | 4:06 |
| 8. | "Find Me" | Mould | 4:05 |
| 9. | "The Baby Song" | Hart | 0:46 |
| 10. | "Flexible Flyer" | Hart | 3:01 |
| 11. | "Private Plane" | Mould | 3:17 |
| 12. | "Keep Hanging On" | Hart | 3:15 |
| 13. | "The Wit and the Wisdom" | Mould | 3:41 |
| 14. | "Don't Know Yet" | Mould | 2:14 |
Liner notes adapted from the album sleeve.[24]
| Chart (1985) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Indie Chart | 1[26] |
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