Female vocals on Hüsker Dü's Hare Krsna?

July 22, 2008 11:50 PM

Who sings the (female) backing vocals on Hüsker Dü's song Hare Krsna off of Zen Arcade?
posted by unmake to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Best answer: There are female backing vocals? I just assumed it was Grant Hart; his voice can be pretty high-pitched.
posted by macdara at 6:19 AM on July 23, 2008

Best answer: Apologies if you have the liner notes and looked already, but if not: the only clues are that all three are credited (generally on the album, not for the specific song) with bk. vocals, and the only specific mention for the song is that "Grant did all the stuff to 'Hare Krsna'". I'm tempted to agree that he could be doing the backing vocals as part of that "stuff".
posted by bah213 at 6:26 AM on July 23, 2008

According to the Wikipedia entry on the album, Dez Cadena apparently did backing vocals on 'What's Going On?', but that's a different song, and Dez is a he.

Now, there were a number of women associated with the SST crowd at the time (late '83-early '84) so if it's definitely a woman's voice you hear (don't have the track with me; I hate it so I deleted it from my mp3 rip of the album) it could be anyone. Naomi Petersen, perhaps?
posted by macdara at 6:34 AM on July 23, 2008

Best answer: I too always thought it was Grant singing high.... (pitched)
posted by porn in the woods at 7:27 AM on July 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I always interpreted it as a female's voice (and at some point I got the funny idea it was Aimee Mann, which just reinforced my bias) - but after listening to a live version (and assuming Grant Hart sings the chorus) I was clearly mistaken.
posted by unmake at 10:44 AM on July 23, 2008