 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.Hart died on September 13, 2017, of complications from liver cancer and hepatitis C.

Grant Hart was born in South 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.