Bob Mould Sucks Ass (In A Good Way)
Unlike some former members of Hüsker Dü, Bob Mould still makes his living as a musician (following a brief stint as a writer for WCW five years ago). He talks about his new album, Body of Song to The Onion AV Club this week. Also covered: everything else he's been talking about in interviews for years, like losing weight ("I was working out two hours a day") and his former band ("The last 18 months sucked ass— not in a good way"). Now, though, he has a blog, and he explains that he's no longer as depressed as he used to be:
AVC: It's really interesting to hear you sound so optimistic. One interviewer circa Workbook called you "the most depressed man in rock." That's quite a title.See him laugh and smile on tour... chances are, he won't beBM: He's never met Stephin Merritt, obviously. [Laughs.] I'm not the most depressed man in rock, not anymore. I'm grateful to still be in the race.
Posted at 2:10 PM
I think Bob's blog is really good reading. He turned me onto Kashi Go Lean cereal, and has instructed me all about bears Not to mention he is one of my favorite rock gods of the 80s. The new album is really fine - check it out.
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Well, it's Grant who gets the biggest mouthful there, and he doesn't say much about Greg "Sportin'" Norton, so who knows? He may enjoy a good elk tenderloin there if he's wandering through Wisconsin. To nitpick, you can't actually stay at the Nortons -- it's not an inn or anything -- and the food is utterly fabulously awesome. And you can see discreetly displayed bits of exciting Greg Norton ephemera, like an autographed Patti Smith album and stuff like that. Totally go if you're in the middle-of-nowhere cheeseheadland.
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actually, the husker du beef was more bob and grant. there was never much mention of greg, at least I've never read any. and he had the coolest moustache long before it was okay, or even ironic. what a guy! on an even lighter note, bob's new record sounds like che, but in a cool way.
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cher, not che. I am not sure how anything could sound like che guevara.
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I think someone needs to say the emperor has no clothes here. I have been a diehard Bob Mould fan since Candy Apple Grey (admittedly late if you were a real Husker fan) and own every CD. I have loved his solo work and the Last Dog and Pony Show was a phenomenal tour and CD. This new CD is only marginally better than the last train wreck electronic CD he released 'Modulate' The whole angle marketing this CD was a return to rock and I was very excited to hear it. Then the Cher vocoder kicked in on the first 4 songs. Unbelievably awful.
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Will be seeing Bob and the new band of players tomorrow night in Atlanta. While a fan since '83 I've only seen post-Husker shows. With different players or solo hearing Bob play songs like "Celebrate Summer" still get me charged up.
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Sorry Mark, but I think you're wrong. "Paralyzed" is as good a song as Bob's produced in a long time, and there's only a couple of misfires- "I am vision, I am sound" simply doesn't work, and "shine your love light hope", which features the dreaded Cher warble. Admittedly, almost the whole of the album "Modulate" stunk to high heaven, but at least he was trying something new. Everyone's allowed a howler once in a while. I was lucky enough to catch his London show earlier this month, and it was brilliant. The Copper Blue stuff sounds amazing.
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Hey, Robert from Belgium here!
I'm a die hard Bob Mould fan and I have to say that even "Modulate" is a 100 times better than some other shit we have to listen to all of the time! The show in Brussels was really good and The "Copper Blue" stuff does sound amazing. The songs from "Body of song" worked really well, I am vision, I am sound live sounds great! To bad he didn't play "days of rain"
Great songs, great band (Why do we still have to talk about Hüsker Dü)great concert! Hope to see Bob in Europe again!
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I find it odd that people can't let Bob and his music develop. I have been listening to his music for nearly 15 years. I love Husker Du, Sugar etc but I am not the same person today as I was when I first started listening to the music. I have changed and I hope that my favourite artistes grow as well. I found Modulate challenging but enjoyed it. Body of Song represents what I like best about Bob's music - great, heartfelt lyrics and music with a strong emotional kick. I saw the Mean Fiddler concert in London and thought the band sounded great. Electronica and kick ass rock can work just a well in the studio as live. My opinion - "Bob, keep up the good work". Have to confess, the gig made my Tinitus worse! Clear evidence I am getting old.
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I find it odd that people can't let Bob and his music develop. I have been listening to his music for nearly 15 years. I love Husker Du, Sugar etc but I am not the same person today as I was when I first started listening to the music. I have changed and I hope that my favourite artistes grow as well. I found Modulate challenging but enjoyed it. Body of Song represents what I like best about Bob's music - great, heartfelt lyrics and music with a strong emotional kick. I saw the Mean Fiddler concert in London and thought the band sounded great. Electronica and kick ass rock can work just a well in the studio as live. My opinion - "Bob, keep up the good work". Have to confess, the gig made my Tinitus worse! Clear evidence I am getting old.
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In answer to Matthew's question about Che Guevara, I'd expect him to sound like Daniel J.'s (or was it Love and Rockets's?) revved-up "Motorcycle". A little more tonal cojones than the scooter, probably.
Even if the film 'Motorcycle Diaries' hadn't highlighted this element.
It's an obvious and catty 'Oh, well-maybe-he-likes-Ross Perot-too...' put-down to invoke only Cher. I don't like the vocoder overdone, but I recently heard it featured in some old school rap and found it a nice variation. The worst in-concert moment I had however was the Modulate tour's version of Brasillia x/d w/ Trenton. Greusome. I look forward to the birthday show in L.A.
And I like High Fidelity live, but it doesn't really fly on the disk.
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I especially like the fact that in this series of posts no one has tried to insult each other. Thanks for debating and not hating...
I can hear that people are allowed to evolve. And I certainly have a wider range of music in my catalog then 80s Minneapolis rock and roll. In this case I feel like Bob's evolution is into music he's not good at creating. Electronic songs from DJ Shadow, and Unkle, Chemical Brothers, even more recently Kasabian are all heads and tails above the stuff Bob is doing now electronically. Paralyzed is a good song but it used to be Bob's albums were just top to bottom amazing.
No longer.
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Hmm. Bob's forays into electronica haven't been the best things he's done, but he's getting better. As I mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of 'Modulate', and I've probably played the Loudbomb thing twice- but you have to admit that they're loads better than Megamanic!
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Yes, real idea... Continue in the same spirit.
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