Talk:Zen Arcade

Untitled
What facts are in dispute, exactly? Why is the article flagged as such? The existing info seems correct. Gyrofrog 18:41, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * OK, looks like someone removed the "In Dispute" flag. Gyrofrog 06:26, 1 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I just made some copyedits in an attempt to clean up this article a bit. Among these was a clarification in the numbering of the band's albums. Metal Circus is an EP, clocking in under 20 minutes, and should not be considered a full-length album. -- Gyrofrog (talk) 17:40, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Uhhh, the idea that ZA is the FIRST record to incorporate the elements claimed in the iteration of this article is hyperbolic. I'm fixing it.--Dirtypants 01:39, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

I just wanna say this album rules.

Does anyone know what "Zen Arcade" means?

There were more than 25 tracks recorded. According to, the non-LP songs recorded were Eight Miles High, Dozen Beats Eleven, Some Kinda Fun (noted in the media notes), and an untitled Grant Hart piano piece; with Eight Miles High being the only one commercially released. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.20.48.140 (talk) 21:25, 7 January 2019 (UTC)

<^>v!!This album is connected!!v<^>

 * All song titles serve as redirects to this album, have their own pages, or have been placed at the appropriate disambiguation pages.--Hraefen Talk 16:42, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I don't know how to edit this, sorry for format, the song Pink turns Blue is NOT about drugs. It's about necrophelia. Please edit the page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.112.51.163 (talk) 08:26, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

Music
ok i'll get you references but just listen to them. Land Speed Record is definitevely hardcore. There are no songs on Zen Arcade at all that sound this way. Sure there are some similarities manifesting as violence indicative of hardcore but that is for the most part thrash, not hardcore. Listen to the differences between these violent songs on Zen Arcade and Land Speed Record. I didnt call Articles of Faith (Band) definitively emo. I called Rites Of Spring that. I promise you, Bob Mould producing those two Article Of Faith albums is not just some coincidence. So, whats the connection? Well, I've already explained that.

Where are the references to show that Land Speed Record was a hardcore album, and Zen Arcade was not? It seems like a fairly large assumption to make. Original research is also present in the section. Why are Articles of Faith mentioned twice, and called the definitive emo band? CloudNine 10:10, 3 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Listen to Pride then listen to Heroin and Mohinder THEN edit my contributions. did any of you know about the octave chords in Pride? no of course you didnt. Any of you know about Bob Mould producing Article Of Faith's emo record that same year? maybe. did you connect the dots? i doubt it. please feel free to do so now.216.16.193.253 10:12, 3 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, but you need a reference for such a statement; has someone else made the connection before? If not, it is original research. I'll add a tag however. CloudNine 10:27, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

EMO
fourfa.com

the link i included was talking about octave chords and their fundamental role in emo.

on the opening page of fourfa's history it talks about husker du's role in general of emo.

even the wikipedia entry on husker du discusses how zen aracde is often cited as the beginning of emo. so you just think these people are delusional or that something i learned today is just as hardcore as land speed record?!


 * Post-hardcore is better than that. --186.87.18.30 (talk) 03:24, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Song duration
The track listing does not contain durations for any of the songs. I find this especially surprising as it was a collaboration of the week. Tommy Stardust 14:25, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I was busy that week. Anyway, what I feel should also be done is the tracklisting should be split to reflect the original vinyl release (discs and sides). I can pull out a vinyl copy over the weekend for reference. WesleyDodds 10:30, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Critical reception
Rolling Stone magazine did not review Zen Arcade until after the following album New Day Rising came out. I know this because I browsed RS reviews weekly at the time. Zen Arcade received considerable attention in other publications outside the punk zine world (such as Village Voice), but the implication that Rolling Stone reviewed Zen Arcade "[u]pon its release" is misleading. The online reprint of this review (in tandem with Double Nickels on the Dime, another album that seems to have confused Rolling Stone) is dated 1985, which chronologically is more like playing catchup. / edg ☺ ☭ 02:47, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

Questionable first paragraph
I find it hard to say that Zen Arcade was not a commercial success. SST invested around $1,500 for its recording, and they sold so many copies of it they could never keep it in stock reliably until about 1995. There are no hard numbers on exactly how many copies it has sold, which is part of the Huskers' fight with SST, and why we don't have a remastered CD out today (it's not going to be reissued until Mould and Hart are satisfied that they've got all their back royalties). But still, this album more than made its money back, and was one of the first 1980s underground American albums to get mainstream attention.

Also, the statement that the album has "recently" attained cult status is very dubious. It may be that the modern-day emo kids are just discovering it, but believe me, generations of kids have gotten through their teenage years with the help of this album. It has been a cult favorite for at least 20 years. Leamanc (talk)

Narrative
What is the exact plotline to this album? I can understand the basic plotline, but certain songs don`t make any sense. ~ Alec scheat (talk) 05:30, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

"Spot's Arcade"
single LP w/ outakes/alternate takes fr ZA sessions. does it merit inclusion in ZA entry? Fp cassini (talk) 08:17, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

Dead external links to Allmusic website – January 2011
Since Allmusic have changed the syntax of their URLs, 1 link(s) used in the article do not work anymore and can't be migrated automatically. Please use the search option on http://www.allmusic.com to find the new location of the linked Allmusic article(s) and fix the link(s) accordingly, prefereably by using the Allmusic template. If a new location cannot be found, the link(s) should be removed. This applies to the following external links: --CactusBot (talk) 19:05, 1 January 2011 (UTC)
 * http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=A2votk6hx9kr3

Assessment comment
Substituted at 11:15, 30 April 2016 (UTC)