Zen Arcade is the third studio album from Hüsker Dü, released in July 1984 on SST Records. Originally a double album on two vinyl LPs, Zen Arcade is a concept album about an adolescent who runs away because his home life is unfulfilling, only to find the world outside is even worse. The album incorporates elements of jazz, psychedelia, acoustic folk, pop, and piano interludes; concepts previously unheard-of in the world of hardcore punk. Zen Arcade and subsequent Hüsker Dü albums were instrumental in the creation of the alternative rock genre; the band would later abandon the “hardcore” aesthetic entirely in favor of a post-hardcore style of melodic, guitar-driven music.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/vefkvjcjNj8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Zen Arcade at the All Music Guide