POP MUSIC REVIEWS : HUSKER DU TRIO DOES IT AT THE ROXY

Has success spoiled Husker Du?

Depends on what your concept of success is. The Minneapolis trio’s latest album, “Candy Apple Grey” is on big-time Warner Bros. instead of aggressive independent SST. But before the Huskers played their set Wednesday at the Roxy (the first of three nights there), they were out on the stage setting up their own equipment, and guitarist Bob Mould was casually chatting with kids in front of the stage. In fact, if you didn’t know them, you might have mistaken the band members for roadies.

Until, that is, the group lurched into a no-frills, thundering set of beefy white-noise pop. You can take the band out of the underground, but. . . .

There’s an implied edge of chaotic destruction to the husky Husker sound, which might be expected from any old punk band. But by applying its electric edginess to songwriting that’s closer to the Beatles than Black Flag (the group even did the “Ticket to Ride”), Husker Du manages to transform and redefine both thrash and modern pop with a lumbering, titanic grace.

Drummer Grant Hart’s clean, lucid singing and Bob Mould’s gruff, nasal vocals make for a blend of contrasts--the same kind of chemistry that lets this crew incorporate hard-core energy and classic rock melody. In its live show, the sonic subtleties of a song like the hauntingly romantic “Green Eyes” tended to get lost amid the heavy-metal thunder, but what was missing in shading was made up for in commitment, passion, purpose.

Husker Du songs like “Makes No Sense at All” suggest that the way society is set up, it’s only a matter of time until one’s mental mind set implodes. But the Huskers also hold out the hope of hopeless romance to help salvage the psychic debris. And if that message was obscured by the sonic assault at the Roxy, then this signal was clear: major label or independent, it doesn’t matter when you can make music as essential as Husker Du does.