Grant Hart
| Grant Hart | |
|---|---|
Grant Hart in 2005 at the Metro Club in London
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Grantzberg Vernon Hart |
| Born |
March 18, 1961 South Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States |
| Genres | Alternative rock, post-hardcore, hardcore punk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, musician |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, drums |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Labels | SST, Warner Bros. |
| Associated acts | Hüsker Dü, Nova Mob |
| Website | granthart |
Grant Hart (born Grantzberg Vernon Hart, March 18, 1961) is an American musician, best known as the drummer and co-songwriter for the influential alternative rock and hardcore punk band Hüsker Dü. After the band's breakup in 1988, Hart formed the alternative rock trio Nova Mob, where he moved to vocals and guitar. Hart's solo career became his main focus after the dissolution of Nova Mob in 1997.
As the co-songwriter of Hüsker Dü, Hart's songs (such as "The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill" and "Turn on the News") received praise from critics and contemporaries. Hart's vocal style, in contrast to that of Hüsker Dü bandmate Bob Mould, was a more measured and melodic delivery. His choice of lyrical themes, which ranged from teenage alienation in "Standing by the Sea" and the depiction of a murder in "Diane," to playful story-telling in "Books About UFOs," helped to expand the subject matter of hardcore punk.
Grant Hart was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the youngest child of a credit union employee and a shop teacher. Hart described his family as a "typical American dysfunctional family [...] Not very abusive, though. Nothing really to complain about." When Hart was 10, his older brother was killed by a drunk driver. Hart inherited his brother's drum set and records; he soon began playing in a number of makeshift bands as a teenager. At the time, Hart had little interest in contemporary rock music. Instead, he preferred to listen to film soundtracks and bought cheap compilations of hit songs from the 1950s and 1960s.
Hart met Bob Mould while working at a record store. Mould, then a college freshman, would buy marijuana from Hart. At first Hart dismissed Mould as "an upstater pretending to be a Manhattanite," but the two soon became friends.
Hart formed Hüsker Dü in 1979 with Bob Mould and his friend Greg Norton. The band's early material had them lumped in with the hardcore movement of the early 1980s. The bandmembers received help from their parents in their early days. In Hart's case, his mother let him use the copier machine at the credit union where she worked to make show flyers, and the band added $2,000 to an existing loan at the credit union to release the band's first single, "Statues," on their own label Reflex Records in 1981. Success existed on a small scale for the band; by 1982 Hart was unemployed and relied on support from friends and family.
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