Bob Mould: Classic or Dud?

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