Bob Mould: Classic or Dud?

Have to disagree with you about Black Sheets. As an album, it works because it's Bob acknowledging that he doesn't have to prove his cred to the die-hards anymore. And there's only a couple of unbearables like the sappy ballads off of Workbook or the '95 S/T release. Lots of straight-forward rockers on Black Sheets that sound good at the end of a hot hazy summer for some reason. I do miss the Huskers an awful lot (tho like you, Sugar was technically my intro to Mouldism)..Zen Arcade is still awesome. He could rock harder than any band in 2001, thats for sure.

Bob's first solo period was uneven. Everyone praised Workbook, but I didn't get it--there were some fine numbers, to be sure, especially on the first half ("See a Little Light" rose to the top I figure). Black Sheets of Rain, on the other hand, was bleak bleak bleak--the songs were dull, there was no dynamic range (how can there be when the whole thing is full-on?) and I felt there was precious little emotion in the record, something which later Husker Du-era Bob had.

My expectations for Sugar were extremely low after that. It was a really lovely surprise, then, that I utterly adored Copper Blue, which I think had his best songwriting ever ("If I Can't Change Your Mind" remains my favourite song ever written, bar none), and the backing band gave him a spark that made the album fun and exciting again. Plus that guitar sound...mmmm boy! Beaster was darker but still very sonically interesting. And File Under: Easy Listening, while it wasn't up to previous standards, still had quite a few great tracks.

Solo era two...I think David is probably right that his self-titled album is overall his best, with a lot of great numbers and a couple of blasts of guitar noise guaranteed to annoy parents and neighbors. Dog and Pony has some good numbers, but disappoints.

Ultimately, Mould has thrown off some clunkers, but I think the good stuff far outweighs those. And hell, he'd get classic in my book even if was only for that guitar tone. Mmmm.

All his work with Sugar (& later on, I'd gather) is very professional. Cleanly recorded in a dirty way, like Alan Moulder's production work, or _Loveless_. (One song off _File Under: Easy Listening_ "borrows" the melody from "Make a Wish". Also, he used to say something about his ideal show featuring MBV & Sugar on opposite ends of a football field making as much noise as possible.) Meticulous and modulated. Some inspired moments, sure - "If I Can't Change Your Mind" (as Sean noted), "Explode and Make Up", "Gee Angel". However, this professionalism arrived at the expense of any true passion. Sure, on _Beaster_, he screams his lungs out, but it all sounds pheff - not too different from the bevy of nu-metal poseurs out & about. It could just be a matter of him growing old / up - the intensity on older Husker Du material is apparent even when he's not screaming. Sugar sounds cool 'n' all dat, but it's not half as engaging as the messier stuff that preceeded it.

Sometimes I think that, on "I Hate Alternative Rock" ("I wish you had something new to say"), he's talking about himself. Ach - I feel like I'm talking about an ex-girlfriend that didn't live up to my expectations.

Bob Mould solo - Dud

Sugar - Classic

(I then heard a bit of Husker Du and didn't like that either. But nowhere near as little as Sugar.)

Bobby btw is between C and D. Husker Du: Classic. "Copper Blue", when it came out i played it over & over & over again (esp. side 1). Then out of the blue: nothing. Haven't played it since. By the time the next Sugar album came out (crap name for a band also) didn't care anymore as did most of us.

The only thing they really had in common with an indie band was that they loaded their own gear. All three members had been involved with music for ages and never showed much bitterness about their stature. They made some records, played a ton of shows, were professional and smart about what they did and got the fuck out.

Okay -- so they were on Creation in the UK and Ryko (hardly a Touch & Go or Merge) in the US. Technically they were an indie band. However, Sugar never possessed any of the negative connotations I associate with the word 'indie'. I don't care about how many people have regarded Bob Mould too highly. It's not as if he ever whored himself out for the attention. Besides, he was too busy watching wrestling.

Solo= don't like it. The songwriting isn't on that great level.

Sugar= got copper blue and beaster. I love it! I can't undestand Tom's hatred of them. The NME (for once) got it right!

I like Sugar, and like nobody else I liked File Under more than Copper Blue. "Gee Angel" and "Explode & Make Up" and "Your Favorite Thing" are fucking brilliant. The live disc that came with Besides is also absolutely amazing. I really wish I had seen Sugar live; a bit too young.

His only solo stuff I've heard is the s/t one, and it's great, especially the quieter stuff. The harder/louder stuff sounds a little bizarre without a real band.

After Sugar, I just can't get with what Bob has been doing. It started going wrong with that record where he did all of the instruments and the little I have heard after that one wasn't my thing.

Husker Du, parts of his first two solo records and Sugar are great.

It would be nice if Bob Mound could get over it and come to terms with Grant Hart. Even 15 years down the line, it seems like there is some really bad blood between them. Mould seems to want to write Grant Hart out of the history of the band or something. What a grudge or power trip. Mind you this is all based on reading bunches of interviews with both of them. Considering how Sugar ended up, a pattern seems somewhat evident.

Sugar was really good and much more intense live. It was a pretty brave move on Mould's part to tour a few times with that band before they had a record out. I saw them a couple of times, once at Bogarts in Cinci before anything had come out and once later on in Chicago. They were a blinding wall of sound live.

Never saw Husker Du. They were my favorite band when I was 17-18 years old and broke up my senior year in high school. A friend of mine used to have a tape of Husker Du playing on the Joan Rivers show, they did two songs and the set that looked like the cover of Warehouse: Songs and Stories. Joan also had them over briefly to be interviewed. My friend's Mom taped over it a couple of years later...what a loss. (This is the kind of thing that would be great on some deluxe Husker Du reissue, but Bob and Grant haven't been able to work things out to make something like this happen.)

Sorty...sorry.

It would be nice if Bob and Grant buried the hatchet, it would be great to hear the older albums remastered, particularly as they have never really been done justice on CD. But that seems unlikely, even as recently as Modulate the Grant-bashing persists (I thought the line "Some deadbeat Dad who lives at home" in The Receipt was particularly hurtful, Grant also claims that Bob cryptically reveals Grant's address in the lyrics to that song.)

I only saw Sugar once, in 1994 shortly after FU:EL came out - it was one of the biggest disapointments of my life. You just couldn't hear the guitar or vocals at ALL. Several audience members were trying to alert the band to this fact but to no avail.

Perhaps because Sugar were my favourite band when I was fifteen I still feel a very powerful emotional connection with Bob's songs, particularly those on Copper Blue and Warehouse. But I also believe he does the vulnerable lyrics/loud guitars thing better than anybody else. To this day, I tend to put a Bob record on to listen to loud, through headphones, late at night when I'm drunk!

All time favourites would be Zen Arcade, New Day Rising, Warehouse:Songs and Stories, Beaster.

Weaker moments: Candy Apple Grey (in term's of Bob's songs), Modulate.

Pretty much everything else, classic!

Haven't heard Sugar. Bought 'Modulate' the other day. It's okay, not outstanding, but something I'll listen to again, even though he sounds disturbingly like Dave Grohl, which a friend pointed out to me. Haven't heard anything else of his solo stuff, but apparently it's better. So, I'll have to get it.

Can I just say though, Grant Hart's 'Intolerence' is definitely worth getting.

Husker Du - Classic

Bob Mould solo - Dud

Sugar - Classic

-- alex in nyc (vassife...), July 4th, 2001.

Looking back, that seems a bit harsh. While I still prefer Husker Du and Sugar, there have been moments in Bob's solo work that have been quite good.

Sasha otm re: Intolerance - we need a Grant Hart thread..

don't blame bob for that; he came first. although i always thought grohl was a bit closer to grant hart.

love love love husker du, although they started sliping on the last couple albums. i find sugar a tad bit less interesting than, say, jimmy eat world. not a huge waste of talent, just the usual steady decline.

He just seems so unimaginative, so lacking in spark. Sure, he had a good guitar sound. That doesn't give him license to make bog-standard indie fuzz songs for 20 years.

Sugar: Q. good.

Solo: Hard work.

Mould solo: meh. Some of the Richard Thompson-esque tunes on Workbook like "Brasilia Crossed With Trenton" are top-notch.

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Museum/7147/bobby.html

(via Bob's blog)

No mention of the last album? My take:

http://www.citypages.com/databank/26/1295/article13721.asp

Mould is performing for free in Minneapolis June 22, at the Bryant-Lake Bowl, and is on the Henry Rollins show this Friday...

I came upon Husker Du pretty late, but for a band that was so universally praised from so many different corners, I wasn't all that impressed. I recently stumbled upon a blog maintained by Ben Weasel (of Screeching Weasel fame) and a post where he talks about breaking out the old Husker Du canon and being mostly unimpressed compared to how amazing it sounded back in the day. I'll submit him as my expert witness.

I hear theres a regularly thrown party in the DC area, specifically catered to over 30's gay men that he DJs at (shirtless) and I think this is very good.

the first six friends on his myspace page all look very Bob-like, its eerie... i'm a huge fan, and interviewed him a couple of years ago, and he was much fun. i listen to his solo stuff and sugar so rarely nowadays, and mostly if i'm feeling especially blue, and i'm not as convinced that he was a better songwriter than grant as i was when i was younger (not that it matters), but i always enjoy it.

if i were to listen to 'can't fight it' right now, i would be a mess.

the bobby hill=bob mould page is very funny.

hahahahaha:

"I have noted down the people who are saying they like it and will be paying less attention to their opinions in future: sorry and all, you're lovely people but it's that mediocre."

Quite possibly my favorite Bob.

His "Blowoff" dj setlists look pretty predictable to me

Bob's got another rock cd coming out with Brendan Canty on drums, on the Anti label in February

http://www.spinner.com/2007/12/04/bob-mould-returns-with-district-line-exclusive-mp3/

Anti has been capturing a lot of veterans on their second wind. That'd be cool if it happened again.

Yes it would. I didn't like Mould's electronic stuff, but the last rock album he did had at least one great song (New No. 1), so I'm hopeful.

New one hailed as a "return to form"

which form?

rooock n' roll!

Saw DISTRICT LINE in HMV and felt sorry -but also proud- for it,
Had a place of its own on the 'new release' shelf. Despite it being late in the day it was clear to me that the staff had either been restacking to keep it neat after the rush, or no fker had bought it. I feared the latter and purchased to make a dent.

It's not bad. But not great, although I sense a grower.

Please kids - listen to 'Who Needs dreams' and enjoy . Had it on a loop. Grandad.

I cannot stop listening to "Believe What You're Saying"

http://modulate.blogspot.com/2008/09/press-release-from-little-brown.html

BOB MOULD TO PUBLISH AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Michael Pietsch, Publisher of Little, Brown and Company, announced this week that Bob Mould will be writing his autobiography in collaboration with Michael Azerrad, author of the bestselling Our Band Could Be Your Life and Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana.

The memoir will, for the first time ever, delve deeply into Mould's life as a musician and his experiences with Hüsker Dü, as a solo artist, and in his most commercially viable and successful work as leader of the 90s indie rock kingpins Sugar. He will also tell the story of his other lives, including his internal struggle with his sexuality, the coming-out process, and his subsequent embrace of, and service to, the LGBT community; his work as a creative consultant / director in the world of pro wrestling; his work as a record producer, including seminal projects by Soul Asylum and Magnapop; and his foray into electronic / dance music, including the popular BLOWOFF club events held nationwide.

Bob Mould said, "For many years, people have asked if and when I would write my autobiography. I have always looked forward to this point in time, where I could tell my stories, to answer the many questions about the music and the lifestyle, and how they inform the creative process. I have not been alone on this ride: friends and foes, mentors and associates, peers, lovers, all traveling by my side. The ride so far has been incredible, and I hope to do my memory right in documenting the journey."

It is expected to be published in autumn 2010.

I've ordered this already!

Autumn 2010? FFS

30th anniversary world tour with original members, all reading excepts to promote Bob's book- in between the hits. Surely?

Do you think Grant will get a chapter?

I hope they all write a fucking book, even if Greg's is a list of recipes

Excerpts.

Sorry journoes/English teachers etc

I'll be buying it for sure

wrestling and gay stuff could be intriguing...

I just heard "See A Little Light" in a TV ad for...something. Fuck. Can't remember what it was, but it sure was inconfuckinggruous.

^^ TIAA-CREF iirc

Update: I cannot stop listening to "Circles"

epic 9-minute live take...

Mr. iTunes keeps shuffling Zen Arcade and the Zen Arcade rough mixes in with a bunch of 00s metal, and I'm getting a refresher on how astonishing Mould's playing was at that point. But then Spot's digital effects rack and Bob's "I'm a serious songwriter now" attitude came into the picture. He's been loud since then, but did he ever really shred again? "Plans I Make" is the only one I can think of.

"Plans I Make" is a total rampage.

Yeah. About as heavy as you can get.

Funny, I just spun "Bob Mould" and "The Last Dog And Pony Show" for the first time in years. Both have strong moments and Bob-by-the-numbers moments as well. I much prefer the two pre-Sugar solo albums and haven't bothered with his 21st century output.

A review of his memoir:

Hüsker Dü played faster and louder than almost any band of its era. The noise was an evocation of, and a cover for, Mr. Mould’s roiling emotions. He knew he was gay at 5, but throughout most of his career he fled from the stereotypical gay lifestyle. There was nothing campy or effeminate about Bob Mould.

After the years with Hüsker Dü and Sugar blow past, “See a Little Light” changes, and so does Mr. Mould. He begins to seek out pieces of what he calls “the big gay puzzle” and, typically for him, does nothing halfway. He gets buff. He becomes a D.J. and makes electronic music. He begins to describe himself as a “bear” and hangs out in leather bars.

Mr. Mould had several long-term relationships, but once those end, his libido begins to roar the way his guitar did. He writes about his fondness for gay military porn and sleeps with “someone from every branch of the military.” He has so many one-night stands that he learns to “keep a Costco family pack of toothbrushes on hand” because he is, he says, a “thoughtful whore.”

Read it the other week. He writes prose like he wrote lyrics: dourly, and with almost no trace of humour. He warns at the beginning that readers should not expect anecdotes, and boy does he deliver on that warning. He comes across as self-justificatory, misanthropic and really rather boring. He intensely resents (in order of resentment): Grant Hart, assorted former lovers, Greg Norton, assorted former label people. Every time he admits fault for something, there's a "but …" to follow. The misery lifts rather when he discovers his bear identity, but it's still not a barrel of fun. Best section is the stuff about wrestling, which is actually interesting, maybe because it's the one part of his story where he is not the most important creative person around, and knows it.

Still, it made me go back to New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig, which was enjoyable.

Big Washington Post profile today that doesn't say too much(it's a cleaner version of the above). I want to hear more about his songwriting and wonder what his memoir says about that.

He really doesn't talk too much about his songwriting in the book.

"Not campy or effeminate"...is this some people's ideas of what all gays are? I had no idea he was a "bear"!

One of my closest chums is a good friend of Mould and his boyfriend. They go to bear clubs together.

"Campy or effeminate" is what Mould's idea of gay men was - he didn't realise there were other gay men like him, and because he was so tied up in the rock underground, he didn't discover them until he was pretty much middle aged. That's when he becomes happy, when he realises he can be an out gay man without being campy and effeminate. He writes at some length about getting himself in trouble in one interview, when he's discussing his sexuality but tells the interviewer he's "not a freak", by which he means campy and effeminate. Naturally, he blames it on the interviewer.

The indie rock scene at the time was pretty difficult for gays. Campy or not, it wasn't very supportive. Then again the entire eighties culture wasn't very supportive. People like Bob Mould coming out created a more tolerant atmosphere.

Oh, I wouldn't dream of criticising him over any choices over his sexuality. My only complaints are about his prose.

At least he looks great on the cover!

He writes at some length about getting himself in trouble in one interview, when he's discussing his sexuality but tells the interviewer he's "not a freak",

I seem to recall that the interviewer was A-V gay novelist Dennis Cooper. (in SPIN)

Will probably get this outta the library at some point for the military-porn/soldier-fucking content, and since I saw Husjer and Sugar play multiple times. I lost most of interest in BM when he stopped drinking, started working out and doing crap DJ work.

that Cooper interview was bizarre: lots of throat-clearing before Mould issued the most guarded of admissions.

I was semi-aware of his sexuality years before that when some indie zine (likely C0sl0y's) had some indie troll saying in an interview, "Well, you gotta feel sorry for Husker Du, they're fat AND gay."

what's his beef with greg norton?

"beef"

envious of mustache

I had no idea Mould was gay until after Sugar disbanded. had simply never occurred to teenage Husker Du fan me.

not that it matters, really. but you'd think (hope?) the punk/indie world of the 80s would have been a little more welcoming of out gay performers.

these days I don't really enjoy his stuff, the lyrical obsessions are all so accusatory and unhappy

His sexuality was the http://images.ientrymail.com/famousdeaddb/paulharvey_small.gif REST OF THE STORY of my pals and mine's high school obsession with Hüsker.

"You like that song? Do you? Did you know that it's about A GUY? SEE? Look how tolerant we all are…"

Mould's Hüsker songs preferred on the second person pronoun over gender specificity.

Grant, too.

Well, I wouldn't take indie alone to task for it, most rock scenes of the day had issues. It's just that you expect people who posture about their dissent with the mainstream to be more supportive.

that's presumptive. Jerks listen to the same music as non-jerks.

long interview with the guy on the (local) NPR yesterday with some call-ins. there was a good qn from chris osgood of suicide commandos about his writing process in the crazy in-the-van years, and he basically said "notebooks".

then there was a very guarded qn from the interviewer along the lines of, "so many people love HD so much, they look back on those days fondly, they'd like to know why you all hate each other". and he was basically like "eh, i'm older now but i still don't like those guys"

i'll try to find it

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/06/14/bobmould/

xpost He thinks Norton was lazy. Didn't do enough on the business side, didn't write songs, had to have his bass parts redone by Mould or Hart on later albums. AND HE STILL EXPECTED TO GET PAID!

Him getting mad at Norton for not writing songs… I always assumed that Norton just gave up trying to compete. When he did write a good one, it got relegated to a B-side!

Yeah, it's not so much that Norton didn't write songs, but that he didn't write songs and wanted decent money.

One WTF moment is when he reveals he vetoed 2541 from one of the early Hüsker albums cos it sounded to similar to something by the Dream Syndicate (Tell Me When It's Over, maybe - he doesn't say). He thinks that's when Hart started to feel bitter. He accepts now it was one of Hart's best ever songs but clearly doesn't feel that bad about vetoing it.

i dunno, you tour america as the third member of a band with ppl like mould and hart, you deserve some $

It's not like he's getting any composer royalties.

playing w/ The Roots on Fallon tomw night

I really need to listen to those first two Bob Mould solo albums again. I liked them quite a bit back in the day, but it has been years since I put them into the player.

Christgau reviews the Mould memoir and Earle's Husker bio. He's not pleased: "For an amateur, Mould’s an efficient stylist. But he either leaves his gifts as a raconteur at the dinner table or hasn’t matured into empathy quite as ripely as he thinks."

the band’s drummer and co-leader, Grant Hart, still scuffling in the Twin Cities, however valiantly Earles praises his negligible solo music

i could be misreading Christgau's gnomic sentence, but i think that's rather unfair to grant's music, which is hit'n'miss, but hits so well when it hits (thinking 'you don't have to tell me now' or '2541' or 'if i was afraid' here).

The Christgau review is worth it for one phrase alone, describing Hüsker Dü as a "transmutation of wrath into flight".

i also liked the passage where he quotes (and expands upon the quote) Azzerad on how grant's drumming was such an intrinsic part of husker du's sound. i remember the first editor i ever worked for describing sugar as 'pub rock', even though she loved husker du, and while i preferred sugar's steadier, sturdier rock drums as an alt_rock teen, there's something about grant's drumming that evades that four-square stomp in favour of something almost jazzier, certainly weirder and more inventive, that swaps the obvious fills and flourishes for something more unexpected.

Hart's drumming is more like rhythm guitar than it is like "proper drumming", although that would be at his most restrained (ie. most content to restrict himself *to* rhythm) - much of the time the drums are all blur and treble, like Mould's guitar

Christgau is unnecessarily rough on Grant Hart's output. I'll still take Intolerance over any Bob Mould solo record.

I do wish Husker Du would get back together, though. They broke up a couple years before I was old enough to see bands.

I'll take Intolerance and Good News ... over Candy Apple Grey, on most days. Certainly over any Mould solo, save perhaps Copper Blue and Beaster.

In an interview I did with Hart years ago, he noted how Mould's coming out of the closet was so not surprising by the time he formally did it that the only surprise was that Mould struggled so much with it for so long. I gathered them being gay was not exactly an open secret, just something they never really talked about. Or at least that was Grant's perspective.

And how lame of Mould to claim that Norton didn't contribute enough. I gather one of the major points of contention between Mould and Hart was that the former thought the latter was contributing too much, and that he all but promised the next Husker disc was not going to be split 50/50, songwise. And of course, Mould was in a position of power at this point, having cleaned up first, while Hart, strung out, could be easily, opportunistically scapegoated.

Whenever I listen to old Husker Du music, I'm struck by two things:

1. Bob is a master guitarist. The fact that he's playing DJ music instead of guitar is a waste of his talent. It would be like DJ Shadow playing acoustic folk music.

2. Grant's songs are just as good as any of Bob's. On New Day Rising, they're better.

kornrulez6969, point 2 OTM. Point 1, I do agree, but I think Bob probably felt burned out on electric guitar, and probably on the expectations on him in that arena. It's like why Pete Townshend always says he rather go sailing than do a Who tour (but does them anyway).

And I actually think a Du reunion would be a disaster; they haven't played together in decades, and the constant gigging in the 80s is what made them such a powerful unit. But maybe I'm just saying that because I was lucky enough to have seen them, on the first Warehouse tour. I don't remember where I put my keys, but I remember that show like it was yesterday. But then, despite the fact that a full-on Jam reunion would likely suck, I'd still go see them, so I definitely get where you're coming from.

you know, as much as i love bob mould's music, i can never forget something everett true wrote about him in melody maker: that bob mould was cursed to always sound like bob mould. and as much as i like that sound, it's seemed a bit of a creative dead end since Beaster - not that one or two tracks from his solo albums since haven't been amazing - and all the DJ stuff has yet to convince me there's a fresh direction within him.

i also wouldn't want to see a Du reunion, and I never saw them, and still wear the repro Warehouse tee I bought 17 years ago as a 16 year old.

I saw Bob countless times when I was in college, solo or with Sugar. Sold beer to Greg once. Never met Grant.

I've been listening to their albums since I was a high school senior. They're still one of the few bands from then that I listen to now as a married man in his late thirties with two kids.

And all that said, I hope they never get back together. It wouldn't even be close to being the same. Bob and Grant playing together at Karl Mueller's benefit was way more of a final epilogue than any of just have expected.

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2011/06/23/bob-mould-roots-jimmy-fallon-change-your-mind/

Whenever I listen to old Husker Du music, I'm struck by two things:

1. Bob is a master guitarist...

^so true. The guy could really play.

scrolling back to xgau's review it would have been nice if he spent more time on the book and less on husker du's music (as illuminating and evocative as his description of that early 83 show is). idk, haven't read it yet, but there must be more to mould's experience as a gay man in the hetero-world of indie rock.
maybe the book fails to deliver the goods on this rich and unexplored territory but xgau's review barely glances at that. and his dismissal of mould's prose is unsupported by any quotes.

the Times review was better at pointing to examples.

this, to my mind, is a more thoughtful and better-written review of the actual book.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/books/see-a-little-light-by-bob-mould-of-husker-du-review.html?_r=1&ref=dwightgarner

He writes prose like he wrote lyrics: dourly, and with almost no trace of humour. He warns at the beginning that readers should not expect anecdotes, and boy does he deliver on that warning. He comes across as self-justificatory, misanthropic and really rather boring. --"Ithappens" quote from upthread

I get the impression that most reviewers of the book think about it like this ilx poster's view expressed upthread. It makes me less interested in reading it.

Uh, I guess some reviewers.

well Mould and 99% of all memoirists. "self justificatory misanthropic and really rather boring" also describes about 99% of HC punk IMHO

Christgau did remind me of a show I saw later in 83: Husker Du/Minutemen @ Danceteria. Cowabunga!

so serious question: did the Hüsker boys attract male groupies or something?

hetero me didn't even know Mould was gay at the time I saw Husker Du perform

ask Bob M that one Alfred but from the audience his sexuality was not obviously apparent, to say the least

I've had a long-running conversation about this w/one of my best friends who's gay & also been a professional musician his whole life. back in the early 90s when I was a magazine editor we tried to do a "personal testimony" kind of article about his experiences in the (surprisingly) closeted/macho rock world.
The piece never got written mostly cause my buddy is a gifted songwriter but not a journalist (which I guess proves Xgau's point sorta) anyway his 80s band opened for HuDu in FLA. he hung out w/Grant Hart (platonically) after the gig and said he was a nice guy but got no gay vibes from anybody in the band.

Brief review in WSJ by Ken Kurson.

"startlingly serpentine" eh

Are there even such a thing as male groupies? In the strict Pamela Des Barres definition of the word?

The whole homosexuality thing with Husker Du… I don't know how to put it. I don't want it swept under the rug when talking about the band, but it was such a "novel" thing back in the day for most punk fans, it has a tendency to get overblown. "Were Grant and Bob lovers?" Why would you even ask that question. Was Kim Deal fucking Black Francis?

And besides, didn't Grant father a child? Yes, gay men can do that, but it does blur the whole situation, especially when you're asking cockamamie questions about relations between the band members.

I met a friend of Grant's once who described him as bi, and yes, he had a kid.

I certainly thought Norton was the cutest guy in the band before and after I knew about the other two's sexuality.

"Were Grant and Bob lovers?" Why would you even ask that question. Was Kim Deal fucking Black Francis?

Those two questions are not, er, equal which should explain why there are numerous excellent reasons one would ask the first question.

I'm not trying to be confronational or seem like I'm dismissing the first question, but it seems like the only reason it ever gets asked whether Bob and Grant were lovers is because they were both gay and playing in the same band.

The head games and tension that existed throughout the band's tenure as a reason to ask… it seems to me that there have been hundreds of bands that went through that (hell, I just read the Pavement bio where Malkmus pulls a Mould and sits in the back of the van with his hood up, not talking to anyone.) The whole, "WELL, they must have been ASS FUCKING, those homos…" seems a bit disingenuous.

Again, Kevin. I'm not trying to disparage ya, but I'd also like to hear for what reasons you wonder.

Oh I see. I thought you were dismissing outright the question of their sexuality. Still, there are ways to conceive of any erotic/romantic tension between Mould/Hart more positively, i.e.g, as a engine for songwriting or musical energy. Plus it's just a flat-out more politically compelling story than Malkmus sulking or whatever, ya know?

I assume most intraband friction stems from erotic tension. It's natural to wonder whether two gay men in a band were lovers.

The first NYT (daily) review says they took their BFs on the road with them at times.

Azerrad's Our Band... mentioned it too.

Eh. I mean, I've never wondered if the members of Veruca Salt were lovers or if Fred Schneider and Ricky Wilson ever had a thing going.

Use your imagination!

Hell, if we're using our imagination, why do we keep excluding Greg Norton?

The 1983 issue of me and my buddy's Thrillseeker fanzine had an interview with Husker Du (that someone did for us) but it never included such questions. Maybe Tesco Vee discussed such things!

Huskerslash

I've never wondered if the members of Veruca Salt were lovers

i'm pretty sure i wondered this

The whole homosexuality thing with Husker Du… I don't know how to put it. I don't want it swept under the rug when talking about the band, but it was such a "novel" thing back in the day for most punk fans, it has a tendency to get overblown.

also, its weird to me (beyond some journos' general ignorance of the hardcore scene beyond its biggest names) that HD's homosexuality is regarded as a total anomaly, when, in the Texas scene at least, there were a number of out-and-proud gay hardcore rockers - thinking the Big Boys' randy turner and the dicks' gary floyd in partic.

i mean, obv. it wasn't the norm, but...

a lot of very serious wondering

What I find weird is thinking of HD as anything more than 'incidentally' h/c after Metal Circus

at least a side and a half of zen arcade is demonstrably h/c?

I assume most intraband friction stems from erotic tension. It's natural to wonder whether two gay men in a band were lovers.

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, June 27, 2011 11:49 AM (51 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I agree. I always wondered if dudes like Jorma Kaukonen was nailing Grace Slick, or if Bob Weir was getting head from Donna Godchaux.

sort of, but not fully? you mean "Dreams Reoccurring", eg? xp

I'm thinking most of side 3 in particular - biggest lie, masochism world, pride, etc...

ok. I haven't listened to ZA in over a decade, probably.

Brief review in WSJ by Ken Kurson.

Kurson was the bassist in legendary 80s/90s Chicago band Green. Mould was a fan of Green, and insisted they open HD's final Chicago show.

K.K. no doubt revving up for Giuliani 2012

(we were co-workers and used to hung out a bit, before he went full Republican)

Interesting. I played in his post-Green band (the Lilacs) for a bit. Not a trace of conservatism in him at all in those days (early 90s). Always wondered how/why the transition happened.

Eh. I mean, I've never wondered if the members of Veruca Salt were lovers or if Fred Schneider and Ricky Wilson ever had a thing going.

Oh come on, pleasant plains. This is Homosexuality 101 shit. With homosexuality erased from history to an enormous extent and bullies/trolls (what's the difference?) like history mayne or Camille Paglia "requiring" hard evidence for homosexuality to even exist in most historical instances, it becomes crucial, sometimes life-saving, to seize and insist upon (hi)stories of homosexuality. I'm assuming you're straight which might explain why you don't care about Mould's or whoever's homosexuality. But for most gay people, it's of monumental importance.

Besides do you have to be gay or even care about a Mould/Hart relationship to be interested in homosexuality in a hardcore/punk/Amerindie/whatever scene? And is that "transmutation of wrath into flight" in Hüsker Dü's music 100% unrelated to the homosexuality of the band members? To paraphrase D.A. Miller's superb essay "Anal/Rope," it seems as if you're determined to acknowledge
Mould/Hart's homosexuality so as to prevent it from entering into an eventual understanding of Hüsker Dü's music.

Kevin, maybe I wasn't clear. I'm all about discussing the bandmembers' sexuality and especially coming from a 99% hetero-culture that wasn't always that supportive, despite supposedly liberal punk rock attitudes. I do want to hear how it was accepted 30 years ago, how it affected their craft and even the WE. ARE. SPARTA! descriptions of the band's habits on the road are insightful.

My hang-up only comes from the Did they?/Didn't they? gossip around whether Grant and Bob were lovers. Not whether they were gay or should be out about it. It seems like it cheapens their orientation and cheapens real talk about the band, from icy moodswings from Bob to Grant's drug use.

As it is now, John Lennon and Brian Epstien having an affair is more worthy of discussion than Grant Hart and Bob Mould having a physical relationship.

I never took Homosexuality 101. It wasn't an elective offered to me.

hey Tarfumes, I saw the Lilacs play at Coney Island once, were you in the band then?

xpost I don't see a difference between "discussing the bandmembers' sexuality" and "gossip around whether Grant and Bob were lovers," esp. given the crucial role gossip plays in histories of disenfranchised people. But I'm willing to leave it at that.

I never took Homosexuality 101. It wasn't an elective offered to me.

Doesn't usually exist as an elective per se. But I'm sure you've taken it to some extent. ILM, for instance, offers course credit.

Just don't accidentally sign up for Homosexuality 101-B. That one includes a lab.

fwiw, i took Heterosexuality 101 as a correspondence course.

xpost

haha. the lab was my favorite part!!!!!!

hey Tarfumes, I saw the Lilacs play at Coney Island once, were you in the band then?

Ha, actually, I couldn't do those east coast shows because I couldn't get time off work. I did do a few shows with them that summer, but they were all in Chicago.

Good interview at The AV Club today: http://www.avclub.com/articles/bob-mould,58231/

Interesting interview.

I'm enjoying the book so far.

Also, Grant's still kind of a jerk when you talk to him

Read the first 100 pages of this today in one sitting. It's good (and I'm way more Mats than Husker)

I read the book and enjoyed it overall but left it liking Mould less; I can see why the band was an untenable situation, he and Hart seem like just entirely different people. Mould comes off as a bit of an egomaniac, hugely self-involved and often foul-tempered and humorless. Still, couldn't put the book down. I know Hart pretty well and the portrait of him Mould paints, while not pretty, is quite accurate, even if it ignores the better parts of his personality. It's a wonder they made as many albums as they did.

Given that the Huskers are all over this site at the moment , I'll resurrect a Bob thread.

Just stumbled across some reviews for his new one"Silver Age'. Seem very positive. Believe me, twenty years ago, I would've bought it by now, but these days I'm out the loop

Apologies if this has been done. I did search.

Any reaction out there. It rocks apparently. Anti Blowout

I'm not even really a big Huskers/Sugar/Mould fan and I think it's amazing, top to bottom. Can't even believe how much I dig it.

It's like he drank whatever miracle elixir brought Superchunk back two years ago. Or maybe it's all about Jon Wurster.

Anyway, the Mould album is streaming at Rolling Stone. You can listen for yourself.

http://www1.rollingstone.com/hearitnow/player/bobmould.html

The album is really, really good. Nothing you haven't heard before, but a remarkable summation/conflation of his various bands, Husker Du/Sugar in particular.

Nothing you haven't heard before,

Gonna see him and band tonight do Sugar's Copper Blue and the new "Silver Age"

http://m.stereogum.com/pl/1142922/watch-bob-mould-kick-ass-on-letterman/video/

This is better than the album by a country mile, mind you.

I interviewed him last week, and I asked him if he was worried that playing "Copper Blue," his most popular album, would overshadow the new album, and he immediately answers "not after you hear us play the new stuff."

i haven't listened much to either of his bands but a friend recorded & mixed this, so i'm gonna check it out

aw bob was so good and cuet on letterman

i read his autobio in one sitting last night and it made me like him a lot less. comes off as a totally humorless, bland, self-serious and helplessly self-obsessed big baby. there's something really plain about his songwriting and lyrics, even in husker, that just doesn't do it for me. even tho i love husker. and some of his solo stuff. and some sugar songs. but i never really get super into them...there's something so plain about his songs, i can't quite pin it down

Something about BM even daring to try and write an autobiography, to get it out there, seems so strange to me. At least before his twilight years.

For years you couldn't even get a photo of him on his albums. Maybe the suspicions I had of him were best kept wrapped up in that Back Sheets of Rain/Beaster-type tortured persona. But he's happier now, so whatevr.

Saturday night at the 930 Club in W. DC saw he and his band (Superchunk's drummer) do Sugar's Copper Blue and the new "Silver Age" plus Husker Du cuts "Celebrated Summer", "I Apologize," and "Makes No sense at all." At times the vocals were too muffled. Maybe he likes it that way--with the treble up and the guitar buzzing very loudly. Not much variety, just cathartic, adrenalin releasing speedy tunes.

i thought the mix was a little off! i was way up stage left in front of the FOH board - though honestly from that vantage pt pretty much anything i've seen at 930 sounds trebly as hell

really liked how the copper blue stuff came off live - very powerful slowed-down arrangement of "the slim" for example. haven't spent a ton of time with silver age but i like it a lot so far

"The Slim" did sound great. He sped up "Fortune Teller" though. I did not head over to Black Cat for Mission of Burma afterwards though. That was probably noisy and great too

Was looking at some set lists last night. Mould has been varying the Husker Du songs he's been doing on the tour

Part of the Williamsburg bill:

Copper Blue plus
The Descent
Round the City Square
Hardly Getting Over It
Could You Be The One
I Apologize
Chartered Trips
Keep Believing
--
Something I Learned Today (feat. Craig Finn)
In A Free Land
--
Makes No Sense At All

Haven't heard this yet, but I'm on the list to get ahold of it from my local library. I just noticed a couple of things:

Song title "The Descent"
Silver Age = Silverage?

Nods to former SST label-mates The Descendents? You tell me.

just saw him on the letterman show and it was super weird

Why so (Don't have access to the video of it right now)?

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2014/03/06/photos-bob-mould-plays-workbook-at-the-930-club/

Mould wrapped up the night with favorites like "Helpless," "Hoover Dam," and "Descending," and ended with a new one, "From the War," from his forthcoming record, Beauty & Ruin, out in June. He said with a chuckle, "The new record feels like the culmination of a lot of things over the past couple of years. Who I am, what I feel, what I want...without being a dick." It may have taken 25 years, but Mould seems to be at peace

i guess i was a little surprised because he was playing "see a little light" and i thought wow, weird but pleasant (possibly pandering) song choice. but then letterman was like bob mould ladies and gentleman, 25th anniversary workbook and i saw bob make this little 2-5 hand gesture and i could totally see the dork portrayed in his autobio, which i have been reading in bits to drag it out. i didn't realize it had been that long and he was clearly excited about it.

i guess it was like a little window into this person whose music i have been listening to for most of my life. it was just an unusual experience for me personally, i guess. there was nothing weird about the performance itself except that i thought the band lacked the proper enthusiasm.

also disc 2 makes it seem like CD is the way to go here -- the workbook songs are from a show at the metro in chicago in '89, so it's the album lineup, i'm assuming, with anton fier?! can anyone confirm that? i'm sure it's still a pretty great show if it's not the album lineup but i was just wondering.

i really feel gross at the idea of buying a reissued cd of a cd i bought the first time and still have

sometimes i wonder, what's trenton like as a place?

if i had to guess, kinda bleak and grim but there's a lovely way the sun comes through the kitchen window at a certain time of day

i really feel gross at the idea of buying a reissued cd of a cd i bought the first time and still have

― we slowly invented brains (La Lechera), Friday, 7 March 2014 15:49

Very conflicted about this, live tracks notwithstanding.

Yeah, I've tried to skip buying reissues of stuff I have just to get a live gig which I listen to a couple of times and file away.

i read his autobio recently and it was a great combo of terribly written and ceaselessly un-selfaware

He tries really hard to make himself not seem like a dick, but not 100% successfully. It's entertaining.

I saw Bob play the Entry Sunday night, lots of Husker tunes, it was brilliant

Star Trib piece with set list

Yeah, I saw him last summer and the old Husker songs with Jon Wurster on drums were unrelenting.

in a free land!

Wow, that song would have been great to hear. Heard him do some old Husker songs with Wurster but not that one

Might as well leave this here...

http://thequietus.com/articles/16153-husker-du-zen-arcade-review

Sunday night he did something from every Huskers record ("Real World"! first time 30 yrs!) except Land Speed Record...not that stopped me from screaming out "Data Control".

And w/r/t Zen Arcade...when he launched in "Something I Learned Today" 15 yr old me and 38 yr old me were equally happy.

New album, "Patch The Sky" out today. I loved "Silver Age" from a wow-I-thought-he-had-lost-it perspective and then "Beauty and Ruin" is just a total stunner. It takes a few spins to absorb the sounds and get into the lyrics but sonically this sounds a part of the previous two.

I listened to it once, and while a few cuts immediately seemed memorable, others sounded like formulaic Mould. I feel like he can write some songs in this style in his sleep.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/arts/music/bob-moulds-advice-keep-it-simple-and-avoid-streaming-music-services.html

Mr. Mould credits a 2011 tribute show to his past work led by Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters with refocusing his songwriting after a period of experimenting with electronica and with D.J.-ing. (He also released a memoir that year.) “In a funny way, it gave me the O.K. to sort of steal from myself a little bit and not feel that need to reinvent again or to go down a different path for the sake of going down it,” he said. “Everything led back to the core guitar-bass-drums, simpler pop songs, more direct.”

"Fugue State" has hung in there on my students' college station Megaseg after three years, and every time it plays I admire its verse-chorus-verse. None of his new albums are essential, but it's good to check on an old friend and know he's doing fine.

New album did indeed sound a little generic Mould. Not bad at all, just more of the same.

Of course it's on the nose, but these are not times of nuance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD7TxGTPsV4

I'm happy to listen to an angry, familiar voice. First time he's released rock albums in back-to-back years since Sugar!

It's sharper -- melodically, structurally -- than any of DBT's protest songs in the last four years.

That's fair.

I've gotten to where I don't bother, maybe as much as I should, to check out political rock songs--which, in my listening usually come down to and from being pissed off by the news---if occasionally they get hassled by the cops, it's no more than that (could be coz they're white etc). The previous Truckers album was so tedious (incl. obvious, to anyone else who halfway keeps up w the news) that I haven't gotten to their latest, even though it's all on bandcamp, generously enough. I will, though. And prob this Bob.

The sentiment's fine, but it's a good example of why I don't care at all for the hardcore side of Zen Arcade or for anything from that first whatever-it-was of Husker Du's. "Real World" and "Divide and Conquer" and "Newest Industry" are just as spilling-over with outrage, but they're all songs first. I don't hear much of a song here.

Yeah, that's what tends to happen when the outrage (etc.) takes over. Southern Rock Opera had the music, plus the relief and release of hearing my white Southern near-neighbors/contemporaries delivering it rat on time, in the early heydays of our homeboy George W. Had the added creative spark sardonic humor too, which they seem to have lost along the way, or tend to neglect. But they've continued to make good albums from time to time, ditto Mould, so I'll check in at some point.

*fellow* white Southerners, Ah meant to say.

BOB MOULD ANNOUNCES DISTORTION ANTHOLOGY BOXSET
24CD DISTORTION: 1989-2019 & 8LP DISTORTION: 1989-1995 BOXES RELEASED OCT 2nd 2020 ON DEMON MUSIC GROUP
WATCH A LIVE VERSION OF “COULD YOU BE THE ONE?” AT THE 9:30 CLUB IN OCT 2005

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b41w5nKFxE

THREE FURTHER VINYL BOXES TO ARRIVE IN 2021

WATCH DISTORTION BOX SET TRAILER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrccqvXhJlw

On October 2nd, 2020, Demon Music Group will release Distortion: 1989-2019, a chronicle of the solo career of Bob Mould and his band Sugar. This massive anthology compiles for the first time the entirety of Mould’s recorded work from 1989 onwards: 18 studio albums, plus four live albums and two albums of rarities and collaborations. Assembled with Bob Mould’s full involvement and featuring new sleeve notes from legendary UK music critic Keith Cameron plus exclusive new artwork, this is the definitive portrayal of an American rock icon.

“It’s called Distortion because it describes the music and it fits the world we live in,” says Mould himself. “In this new age, everybody shares their life in real time. But I’m not done yet. If I didn't have a constantly active career, this anthology might feel like the proverbial dirt landing on top of my coffin — though somehow I seem to be able to crawl my way out of the dirt every time!”

Today’s news comes accompanied by audio and video of Mould performing ‘Could You Be the One?’ – a latter Hüsker Dü classic, drawn from the trio’s 1987 swansong Warehouse: Songs and Stories – at Washington D.C.‘s 9:30 Club in October 2005, in the process bringing it back to dynamic, electric life. It features on the CD anthology’s Distortion Plus: 1989-2019 rarities and collaborations discs alongside other highlights from the show.

Speaking of the show, Mould offers: “For years, I didn’t play Hüsker Dü material with my subsequent touring bands.” He continues: “This was the first time my longtime friend and colleague Jason Narducy (bass) played in my touring band. Rich Morel (keys) was my work partner for 11 years in BLOWOFF, and the 9:30 Club was home for our monthly dance party. Brendan Canty (drums) nudged me out of my self-imposed ‘rock retirement’ after the 1998 Last Dog and Pony Show tour (which is also chronicled in the box set). Brendan's company Trixie Productions filmed and edited the show.”

As Mould’s musical trajectory enters its fifth decade, now is the perfect moment to reflect on the journey so far. Distortion’s 24-CD box set edition features 295 tracks, mastered by Jeff Lipton and Maria Rice at Peerless Mastering in Boston, and includes every solo album from 1989’s Workbook to 2019’s Sunshine Rock, the entire Sugar catalogue, Mould’s long out-of-print electronica projects LoudBomb and Blowoff, and four live albums spanning the period 1989-2008. Also included is Distortion Plus: 1989-2019, a new and exclusive collection of rarities and collaborations, featuring such highlights as ‘Dear Rosemary’, Mould’s 2011 collaboration with Foo Fighters, his fabled Golden Palominos contribution ‘Dying From The Inside Out’, plus a previously unreleased demo version of ‘Dog On Fire’, his theme tune for Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.

Beautiful new artwork has been created by illustrator Simon Marchner, while the 72-page booklet features sleeve notes by Cameron, new interviews with Bob, a foreword by writer and actor Fred Armisen, testimonials by Richard Thompson, Shirley Manson and Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, plus lyrics and unseen memorabilia. A 1,000-limited edition includes an exclusive print hand-signed by Bob himself.

http://recordstoreday.com/Photo/418463920142

Also released on October 2nd is the first in a series of four vinyl box sets spanning the same 30-year period. Distortion: 1989-1995 contains eight-LPs, beginning with Workbook through to the final Sugar studio album File Under: Easy Listening, plus Besides, Sugar’s compilation of B-sides and non-album tracks and Distortion Plus: 1989-1995 a new and exclusive collection of rarities and collaborations. Each album is mastered by Jeff Lipton and Maria Rice and features new Simon Marchner artwork; the 28-page companion booklet features new sleeve notes plus lyrics and memorabilia, while a 750-limited edition includes a 12”x12” screen print of the new Copper Blue artwork, hand-signed by Marchner and Mould.

http://recordstoreday.com/Photo/418463920179

The 24CD Distortion: 1989-2019 and 8LP Distortion: 1989-1995 boxsets are released Oct 2nd, 2020, via Demon Music Group. Keep your eyes peeled for three further vinyl boxsets in 2021.

testimonials by Richard Thompson

Nice touch, knowing how deeply Mould is hit by Thompson's work.

That seems like a lot of Bob Mould solo!

24 CDs of Bob Mould soloing.

Wow, that is an absurdly thorough box set that I have somehow heard most of. I'm due for some re-listening, but right now my instincts tell me

Modulate > Life & Times > Workbook > Last Dog & Pony Show > s/t > Beauty & Ruin > Black Sheets of Rain > Body of Song > Sunshine Rock > District Line > Silver Age > Patch the Sky

I'm unlikely to buy this box, but I will say that this coming out reminded me that his self titled album exists. For whatever reason, it's not on Apple Music so I'm going to blame that. I bought that CD when it was released in 96 or so and loved it, but my life was at peak chaos that year and I completely forgot that it existed; even a few years back when I went and rediscovered the whole stretch from District Line through Silver Age, I forgot to listen to it, since it wasn't in my library (mp3s were all on another hard drive; I'd sold the CD years and years ago). I went back and gave that a listen and fuck me if I don't think it's his greatest album. For those interested it got a standalone vinyl reissue in the EU earlier this year apparently.

and district line -> patch the sky or sunshine rock or whatever it is, that's a pretty amazing run of albums, even though they're a bit samey sounding.

also, I hate this new artwork (for both the albums, and the artwork on the boxes). so cheap looking. I don't know why he didn't use the originals, which were amazing up to s/t anyway.

Because depending on the licensing agreements he'd probably have to pay for them again.

I went back and gave that a listen and fuck me if I don't think it's his greatest album.

It's a great record. Anymore Time Between is his greatest break-up song (maybe tied with Can't Fight It)

I'm partial to Copper Blue myself.

i remember liking silver age a ton

Man, I gave up after Last Dog And Pony realizing it was just going to be more of the same from then on and I was getting tired of his scab picking and mid tempo rock. For about 10 years (88-98) his music meant the world to me, but then I aged out of adolescent navel gazing (I still like Workbook though).

Grant's solo albums are all fantastic to me, though, right to the end.

The albums after Dog and Pony are 'more of the same' in so far as they have a consistent aesthetic and approach, but they aren't anything like Dog and Pony; like I said up above, they're all like 'pretty good Sugar albums'.

If I had to rank post-husker, I'd do it this way:

1. Copper Blue
2. Bob Mould
3. Workbook
4. Black Sheets of Rain
5. Beaster
then basically everything else tied for 6th place (I haven't gone back to Dog and Pony or the electronic side projects)

I'ill also stan for Copper Blue.

i dug “last dog and pony show” a fair amount when it came out, would like to listen to it again. haven’t heard any other solo mould.

No reason to stan for Copper Blue -- it's one of the decade's best albums.

and, yeah, Workbook, I'll argue, was acoustic and strange like Automatic for the People was but four and a half years early.

I bought Mould albums through the eponymous 1996 albums.

I've only ever gotten into Beaster and Copper Blue. Everything else has had its moments but has fallen short of my high expectations.

Workbook > Copper Blue > everything else

(for me)

(and omitting Husker Du / Grant solo from the ranking)

I often think HD had to happen to produce two recordings as piledriing, subtle, and beautiful as Copper Blue and Beaster.

Oh yeah, if I'd included Sugar in my list they'd all come first of course. With File Under first among firsts.

Beaster >>>>>

Most of Mould’s post-eponymous album seem like the work of a confused middle aged man who no longer knows what to do with himself. Dog & Pony was supposed to be his MCCARTNEY or something, and it’s extremely weak. MODULATE is embarrassing. Didn’t he start DJ’ing in Berlin or do something ridiculous along those lines?

Grant Hart’s catalog is straight-up wonderful from beginning to end, and I hope his final recordings get released

that's hardly 'most' of his work. yeah he did some electronic stuff but he has seven guitar-heavy (some really heavy) albums that came after that, with an 8th coming out soon.

But even his guitar-centered stuff in the 21st century sounds dull and uninspired for the most part

eh, disagree. Those albums are as good as FUEL IMO.

he had a dj residency in San Francisco, I believe

Don't want to dox him but I occasionally see him in the park walking his dog. He's absolutely nondescript and blends in like a regular joe. I keep meaning to ask his thoughts re: my pet theory on how he invented shoegaze* but I wouldn't want to "out" him/creep him out, and most of the time I'm running after my kid.

*HÜSKER PÖLL: Warehouse - Songs and Stories

I don't think he'd have any issues talking to you about things, I've heard he's perfectly friendly. I didn't realize he was still living here.

eh, disagree. Those albums are as good as FUEL IMO

Imo (and I think this quite a common opinion) FUEL was his weakest album to that point in his career. I felt he was treading water, sonically and, to an extent, in the songwriting. Like, that point in the late 90s where he talks of being sick of loud guitars, *that* album always sounded like he was ready to hang it up (even though it happened a few years later)

Tbh I hear quite a bit of that album in the recent stuff, guitar tone included; it feels like stuff he could do in his sleep; some of it is great, but I feel myself paying more attention when he changes things up in a more dynamic sense - Workbook after the Husker split, Beaster after Copper Blue, even Modulate (even if we knew at the time that changes were afoot)

Even Copper Blue - although it kept the guitars - was tonally a 180 from the relative murk of Black Sheets of Rain

Bob profiled by Stevie.

Interesting interview. I still haven't listened to Blue Hearts yet though

Oh, Guardian interview above with its discussion of the reconciliation with Grant discussed on Husker Du thread

Husker Du : Classic or Dud, Search and Destroy.

parts of the new album sound quite superchunk, which probably isn't too surprising considering he's using their rhythm section and he's an obvious inspiration

dude is prolific as hell. also he's gonna turn 60 in a couple weeks, which i am perhaps not ready to contemplate

WTF at that Bad Brains note.

New album is terrific. That and the new PE made a righteous angry 1-2 playing them back to back.

Bad Brains were notorious homophobes, it’s been written about a lot; AFAIK they’ve renounced that stance and behaviour of the time in recent years, which is something.

I didn’t know that Mould visited Hart before he died; that brought more than a tear to my eye.

Not sure which thread I posted it on but...

There's a pretty big free concert here every early autumn that's folk/bluegrass-focused but also draws in artists from all sorts of genres/pockets of music.

In 2017 shortly after Grant died, Bob Mould was playing one of the 5 stages and while we were walking by (we hadn't committed to watching anything as we had a young babby with us), he opened his set with this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cejMKLwT-Y

bob mould turns 60 today

happy birthday to bob!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA_pPgwguR8

These are his important years

Compositions For The Young And Old

Heh

I need to listen some more, but at least for my tastes, Sunshine Rock may be his most enjoyable album since Sugar. I never got into the work he put out after Sugar and before his current trio - it wasn't necessarily bad, but it never clicked with me. Silver Age and its two darker follow-ups were the first Mould albums I kind of enjoyed in a long time, but as mentioned above, they don't break any new ground, musically speaking. I get the feeling most people think Sunshine Rock is more of the same, but I think the songs are fundamentally better - better tunes, better hooks, better production. It's not an enormous difference, but it's enough that it's emerging as a real standout for me.

(FWIW, as much as I like Sugar, the stuff I play most is Hüsker Dü - one of my very favorite bands.)

Sunshine Rock is definitely excellent, a late-era peak. I interviewed him circa then and he said the sleeve was a tribute to the labels of the Beach Boys 7"s he collected and revered as a kid.

Nice! Yeah I noticed, though for me it was the old Beach Boys CD's that used to replicate the same label (not all of them, but most of them starting with the early '90s reissues and box set).

I jumped around some of the earlier trio albums, and Sunshine Rock feels more like a noticeable improvement over the others. Hüsker Dü was often an insanely catchy band to me - arguably a lot of that came from Hart, but I really missed how those tunes came drenched with Mould's guitar. His trio albums may have been a return to that approach, but except for a handful of cuts like "I Don't Know You Anymore," I don't think he really got anything quite on par with that alchemy of sound and songcraft until Sunshine Rock.

I totally missed Blue Hearts (which came out in late September), but it'll be interesting to compare. It's a full-out protest album, but he wrote and possibly recorded some protest songs prior to Sunshine Rock before setting them aside for thematic reasons. I don't know if they're the same songs, but I get the impression tunefulness was more of a secondary concern, so it's possible Sunshine Rock is so engaging due to intent and design as much as a musical breakthrough.

Copper Blue was a Sugar album, clemenza. Sugar was the band that Mould started after Husker Du.
― pplains, Saturday, March 2, 2013 6:44 PM (eight years ago)

That still makes me laugh--from the Husker Du poll, in response to my general cluelessness about post-Husker projects. (I'm sure there were at least some hardcore Beatles fans in 1970 who had zero interest in solo Beatles music. Would've been infinitely harder to avoid, though.)

Found a sale-bin copy of The Last Dog and Pony Show a couple of weeks ago. I've got this weird thing where I expect new films from my favourite filmmakers to be great, but I approach my favourite musicians warily. Which is counter-intuitive; there are a thousand moving parts to a film, and you'd expect them to be more susceptible to disappointing results.

Seems to be indifference to Dog and Pony thread, and Christgau didn't even review it, but I think it's surprisingly good. The opener, "New #1," is a little ordinary, and "Megamanic," the electronic whatever, is silly, but there isn't another song I don't like at least a little, and there are a few where I get the old Husker Du buzz. My two favourites are "Classifieds" and (especially) "Taking Everything."

Seems to be indifference to Dog and Pony in this thread...

I haven't listened to that and the self-titled album since I mentioned it in this thread in 2009. They're not bad albums but, at the time coming right after Sugar, they never made me love them. Their respective tours were great, though.

Bob has a best-of coming out that I plan to check out. Sometimes pulling key tracks off albums help recontextualize and inspire revisitation.

Dog and Pony was funnily enough the first solo Bob Mould I picked up, after I read a review (and an interview too IIRC) in the Sunday Times.

Ha it was the first (and only) solo Mould I ever bought and I remember really liking it! I hadn’t even heard any Husker Du or Sugar at the time, bought it based off a Big Takeover interview. It’s good though!!

Bob Mould was a disappointment after Sugar's successive triumphs. All I remember are the superb opener with his leaden drumming and "Egoverride."

I think there's a lot to commend on Hubcap - the slow smoulder of Next Time You Leave, the beautiful proggy Hoover Dam vibes of Fort Knox King Solomon, the stop-start harmonics of Art Crisis, the "fuck it I've had enough" tenor of Roll Over And Die.

But yeah, nothing that matches Anytime In Between - I think that's one of his greatest songs, tbh, so bereft and sorrow sodden.

watching his band absolutely kill it right now.

10 Husker Du songs? More?

Holy crap, that's amazing. He did eight at a Brooklyn Steel show several years ago - one of the best shows I've EVER seen - and that seemed like a lot. He only did a few at Webster Hall in 2021 so I thought maybe the uptick was a temporary thing in the wake of Grant's death, but I'm seeing nine at a solo show he did in Dublin back on July 1st. I guess NOW's the time to see him if you want a lot of Dü?

Mould plays Saturday afternoon at Milwaukee's Summerfest - presumably with his band since it doesn't indicate it's a solo show on his website: https://www.summerfest.com/artist/bob-mould

Hmm, actually, maybe just ("just") 9 tonight, too. I want to say he did:

Flip Your Wig
I Apologize
Something I Learned Today
Makes No Sense at All
Celebrated Summer
Chartered Trips
Hate Paper Doll
Never Talking to You Again
Hardly Getting Over it

but I’m seeing nine at a solo show he did in Dublin back on July 1st.

I was there. I didn’t count, and someone nicked the setlist as soon as Bob walked off, but that sounds about right. Mostly HD stuff from Zen Arcade to Candy Apple Grey, and songs from Blue Hearts which actually fit in really well with the older tunes. Plus a few from Sugar and solo.

Last time I saw Bob was the Workbook anniversary retrospective tour. Before that, solo at the Birchmere with Kristin Hersh. He was loud AF, and more than a little cranky.

I admire Bob immensely but I do not think he's great as a solo act. Especially with an electric guitar and nothing else. It's an unforgiving sound.

Ugh

This was with his most recent longstanding cohort Jason Narducy and Jon Wurster. They rock and seem to be having so much fun playing this stuff.

Yeah the trio sound is good! Just don't love him solo quite as much, sorry

I admire Bob immensely but I do not think he's great as a solo act. Especially with an electric guitar and nothing else. It's an unforgiving sound

This is why I passed on his latest (solo electric) tour in these parts - he plays songs like “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” and other stuff originally recorded with acoustic guitars and it just seems to smother any of the subtleties of the original recordings.

It’s nice that he’s dipping into more of the back catalogue but imo it just seems he’s more at ease these days with sticking to a familiar sound and set up rather than exploring his more leftfield journeys of the past

(I might be wrong but it seems like he doesn’t really perform as many solo acoustic shows these days)

It’s nice that he’s dipping into more of the back catalogue but imo it just seems he’s more at ease these days with sticking to a familiar sound and set up rather than exploring his more leftfield journeys of the past

Yeah, and that's why the last few albums and band tours have been good! I've seen him a few times in various formats: Sugar, various solo bands, solo electric (works for Billy Bragg!), solo with drum machines, etc., all behind albums that more or less made no impression at all, and they've all been pretty dull. After I saw him on the Modulate tour - alone on stage with a drum machine, and maybe once or twice a guitar, iirc - I heard a guy after at the merch table and, very politely, he says to the guy behind the table (more or less), "I know this isn't really your job, but I've been a fan for decades and have seen every one of Mould's shows here, but this was terrible and is going to be the last one."

Long and short is that Mould is (go figure) apparently most at ease making the music he's good at, stun-guitar power-trio stuff.

I've seen him twice with his current band and once solo, and I have to agree, it's a lot better with the band. I think he sounded great at his solo show, but at a certain point, it wore a bit thin and I got the impression that it was really hard to sustain an entire set of similarly paced songs with only one raging guitar. (I started thinking about solo acoustic shows and why those were more likely to be great, and virtually every one I enjoyed didn't rely on one guitar either - they usually had accompaniment in spots or the singer mixing it up with a piano and possibly a harmonica.)

xp did Sugar tour for Copper Blue / Beaster? Seems like those shows would have been awesome.

i saw them in november of 94 w velocity girl & magnapop -- it was ok but FU:EL was my least favorite Mould album at that time and there was not nearly enough Beaster content, certainly 0 Dü

the ticket was $10 <3

I’m certain Sugar toured for Copper Blue, yes, and before the release too.

I saw that FU:EL tour, too, and it was a bust, imo. The recordings of earlier Sugar tours sound great.

Also saw that tour and the mix was so loud, all the dynamics were lost. I mean, it was fun to bear the brunt of such a guitar assault but it wasn't satisfying as far as "music" is concerned.

I brought Bob into a commissioned round-up of 2006 dance-related releases, thought there was more but this is it:

Blowoff (Husker Du/Sugar frontman Bob Mould, times DJ Richard Morel), on their amorously armored, self-titled debut, brought shadows into stripe the strobe light. Blowoff summons Bob as Leatherman, dancing like Peter Boyle in Young Frankenstein surely would have, if only he'd reached the beach.

this is unrelated to live shows but i do have a question --

can anyone explain what is the musical reason that every time I hear "JC Auto" there is a specific point where it sort of morphs into "Poison Years" (mostly the chorus, from BSOR) every time i hear it? Both songs reference Jesus H Christ but aside from that i can't quite figure it out!

for ease of comparison
JC Auto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JacQxqqtbrQ

Poison Years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc-fROR3NN0

sorry it's Workbook not Black Sheets of Rain

I’m certain Sugar toured for Copper Blue, yes, and before the release too.

Yup. I saw (part of) the first Chicago appearance of Sugar, which predated the release of Copper Blue by two months. I mainly went to see openers Scrawl, who played a brilliant set (I was lucky enough to see them again almost exactly a year later, opening for PJ Harvey). But I was also excited to hear Mould’s new band. Three songs in, the realization that Grant Hart was the heart and soul of Hüsker Dü was painfully evident. Sugar wasn’t bad; they were just…there. Standing still. They did not threaten to take off, blow up, or collapse. I was so underwhelmed by the first few songs that I left. Come to find out later they played the Who’s “Armenia City In The Sky” for an encore. Serves me right, I guess.

Anyone pony up for that humongous CD box set Edsel put out of everything "Bob" yet?

xpost

Yeah that was my experience of Sugar too, a more competent ploddy version of HD without any frisson or danger. They played London before Copper Blue came out, supported by Milk and Swallow which I'm sure was a little joke on the part of the promoter, and whelming it was not.

A friend and bandmate of worked sound at some pretty high-end venues in the 90s, and said that Sugar was the absolute loudest act he ever supported. Like, louder than Metallica Slipknot, Gwar; indeed louder than any metal act then in existence.

Personally I have no idea why a song like "If I Can't Change Your Mind" or "See a Little Light" or "Important Years" needs to be the loudest sound in the universe. But evidently it is part of the Mould shtick. Always has been.

can anyone explain what is the musical reason that every time I hear “JC Auto” there is a specific point where it sort of morphs into “Poison Years” (mostly the chorus, from BSOR) every time i hear it? Both songs reference Jesus H Christ but aside from that i can’t quite figure it out!

I don’t have an answer for this, but it does remind me that the start of “Deep Karma Canyon” on the s/t solo album nicks the verse riff from Saccharine Trust’s “A Human Certainty” so he’s probably not beyond recycling musical motifs here and there.

and said that Sugar was the absolute loudest act he ever supported.

I remember reading a Musician magazine rundown of Mould’s amp rig around that time, and it said that his stage volume — just his guitar, without bass or drums — was 128dB.

For comparison, the first Guinness record holder for Loudest Pop Group was the Who at 120dB.

I love Copper Blue more than any HD album. So there's that.

"Copper Blue" still sounds impeccable. Produced with Lou Giordano, who I believe was HD's longtime sound guy.

Oh, and MBV at its loudest usually hovers around 120dB, and has reportedly reached close to 130 at its absolute noise zenith, so it seems unlikely Mould comes close to that. Mould is loud, but it's not disorientingly loud like MBV (and a few others, like Mogwai, High on Fire, etc.)

this is from the FU:EL tour and sounds pretty good to me

(it was also the bonus disc on certain pressings of the 'besides' comp)

(actually saturday)

Bob Mould got married today. 💕 Congrats Bob and Don. pic.twitter.com/3x8fH1qepR

— Roni (@roni1133) May 7, 2023

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fvk2_QNX0AALK1l?format=jpg&name=large

You will lose your mind
When Bob Moulds are two of a kind

Tour dates, starting in Chicago July 25, most marked Solo Electric, which I find kind of appealing at this point:

track to get concert, live stream and tour updates.
https://bobmould.com/tour/

Wow - Chicago, Skokie and Schaumburg. He must love northern Illinois.

Elkton, Maryland?! (nowhere near me, or at least as far as you can get in Maryland away from me, unless her were to play Deep Creek Lake or something).

Yeah I noticed that the Maryland gig is very far away from the Md suburbs of DC and even Baltimore. No DC or Baltimore gig listed

Saw him perform solo last night -- absolutely lost my shit and had to bend down to scream into my knees to protect my neighbors' ears when I recognized Something I Learned Today (without the bassline, which took a few seconds longer than I expected!) and then he followed it with Chartered Trips. I have never heard either of these songs performed live and I most definitely flipped tf out. How exhilarating.

He only played two songs I didn't know and the rest felt like a sonic trip through my life from 15 to present. I did actively miss Grant several times, especially when he sang Flip Your Wig bc I always loved the "I don't know" Grant part so I sang it myself. It only took about 5 seconds of hearing him play guitar to alleviate my concerns about there not being a band. It almost felt more intimate this way even though it was outdoors and most of the crowd was in a lawn chair (I scooted to the front and did not regret it). Hell yeah Bob Mould 4-ever <3 XOXOXOX

That was one of the solo electric shows?? So want to go.

Yep. Would def recommend!!

glad you had such a good time! what guitar does he play live now?

Workbook is so damn impressive.

Just mentioning it for the record.

He played Sinners and their Repentances in addition to See a Little Light — fun to hear a deep cut!

No idea about the guitar. I’m not a guitar person.

He mostly plays the silver Strat with the Lace Sensors live, I think? I remember him having some kind of custom DOD 250 variant, a TC Electronic Flashback delay, an EHX Freeze (mostly used for transitions between songs, it seemed), and a Wampler Ego at the end of the chain into a Deluxe Reverb the last time I saw him.

thx!

Bob Mould is sitting in with the 8G Band on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Thursday August 22

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwngl8api94

Nice . I think NBC is going ahead with their plans to make Seth Meyer’s show dump the studio band to save NBC money. I think that explains the song choice “Makes No sense at all”. A dc rooted musician Ely Janney is in the band

members of les savy fav as well

When he's 64. (I've got "Makes No Sense at All" cued up for a grade 3 class this morning. May make no sense at all.)

Hope they like it

They didn't walk out of class en masse, but I think they liked the Just Dance "I Gotta Feeling" they picked for DPA better.

New alb:
https://www.stereogum.com/2292316/bob-mould-here-we-go-crazy/music/

Album isn't available till March. Title track "Here We Go Crazy" is consistent with his recent songwriting style

I prefer Cooper Blue over his 84/85 albums.

I prefer Copper Blue over most music made by all humans.

^ this

otm to both of you

Better than Husker Du? Insanity

This is Grant Hart erasure for which I will not stand

I love Sugar and like HD very much. No erasure.

I love HD and like Sugar very much. Good thing we’ve got both!

I’m glad to have both too!

2541111111111111111111

You can sing “for which I will not stand” to the tune of “what promise have I made” lol

I love Husker Du but Copper Blue is like the best songwriting from them with production that's like a million times better.

I concede that I was not weaned on Du; they were never a watershed band for me and I got into them late. In fact, my favorite album of theirs is the swansong live document because I think the songs simply sound better than the studio albums. I mean, "Ice Cold Ice" off The Living End is so much more urgent and powerful than the studio version.

More though, Grant Hart fans seem to find this blasphemy far more than those who gravitated towards Mould. Which makes sense.

Off Copper Blue
Best: The Act We Act
Runner up: Slick

Hard to choose from "Changes," "A Good Idea," and the keyboard break in "Hoover Dam."

"Here We Go Crazy" is very good.

I agree. I went back to the other five he's done with this trio - I wouldn't recommend listening to them all in one sitting, but on their own, each one really holds up. Even though he's much younger than Dylan (and his music isn't similar at all), it brings to mind Dylan's latter day work in that it's one album after another performed, arranged and produced in roughly the same mold. Like Dylan, he's not trying to redefine his sound anymore, instead he's focusing on what his songs are trying to address or say.

Interview in Rolling Stone is good. This part stood out:

At this point in your life, what does it take to physically rev up to that intensity?

Okay, so the dirty little secret in the business is: If you love a band and the singer or the drummer are over 60, take a look at their tour itinerary and see how many back to backs (shows) they’re doing. That tells you. I know I’m not as spry as I was in my 20s, and I know that I don’t have the raw power I did in my 30s, but I can still summon that every night, the closest I can get to it. I do not sit onstage. I run around and I am soaking wet after 10 minutes.

The hard part is the recovery. The voice is the hardest thing. It’s a lot of water, a lot of sleep, trying not to scream bloody murder every single night. Just little shortcuts. When I’m on tour, I do not talk. I go to soundcheck, and I do a half a song, and I shut up, and I do 90 minutes, and then I shut up. I might say “Starbucks” or “bathroom.” At the after-show, I’m not going to talk to everybody for an hour and a half. If I do that, the tour is over. I’m going to get a lanyard that says, “Can’t talk.”

it's one album after another performed, arranged and produced in roughly the same mold

Don't you mean mould?

lol

NY Times interview discusses what he likes to watch and do. Here's some of it

Morning Walks at Ocean Beach, San Francisco
I have really bad tinnitus from work — I mean, I will never have silence again. So one of my favorite things in life is to get up before the sun comes up, and just walk for two hours. It’s one of the few places where I can get my head right, because all I can hear is the sound of the ocean.

Games
This is so pandering, but no matter where I am, before I look at the news or start returning calls, I get on The New York Times Games app. Spelling Bee is addictive — if I don’t get Genius on it every day, I get really upset. And when I’m home with the husband, we play a lot of Catan, which is quite fun.

Coffee
Since I’m a dry alcoholic, much of my daily existence revolves around coffee — one of the few things I have left. When I get to a town, there’s always a couple of hours between soundcheck and show, so I’ll look on Yelp: “Oh, this one has some reclaimed wood — maybe that’s a third-wave coffee shop!”

New Japan Pro-Wrestling
This is a Japanese company that has their own app that contains the history of their company, which goes back more than 50 years. I enjoy their historical stuff, especially from the early ’90s, when Japanese wrestling was state of the art, and setting the stage for what in-ring American wrestling would look like.

Anne Lamott
I was raised Catholic, and I was able to connect with her on that level, because she’s very spiritual. She writes a lot about parenthood and children and addictions — the choices we make, and the places we end up.

‘Only Murders in the Building’
I love New York City so much, and “Only Murders” is probably my favorite TV show. My husband and I went to New York in April. We were going to go to this weird, like, bear-jockstrap party on Christopher Street, but Fred Armisen said, “You should come over to ‘S.N.L.’!” It was so packed on the floor, and my husband’s like, “Who’s this guy that keeps backing into me?” And it was Martin Short!

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/arts/music/bob-mould-favorites.html

a little surprised this is on a 'major label' but i suppose what that means now is very different from what it meant 40 years ago

Yeah, this is great. I like that it's a tight half hour too.

His current run is the best era of his music since Sugar, imo.

it was Martin Short

AKA lead singer of Hüsker Dü's punk progenitors the Queen Haters

in front of me & my kid at the grocery store checkout line this afternoon:

kings hawaiian rolls
hershey syrup