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Bob Mould (birthname Robert Arthur Mould; Oct. 16, 1960) was born in Malone (New York), USA. Toegther with Grant Hart, he was co-founder of the Minneapolis-based hardcore punk band Hüsker Dü (1979-1987), a trio that progressed to become a highly influential power pop, alt. rock band. Both Hart and Mould launched on solo careers immediately after the split and Mould released a well-received primarily acoustic folk rock, singer / songwriter debut album before setting off with his special trademark of alt. rock, power pop combined with a singer / songwriter tradition. The musical style of Hüsker Dü and both Hart's and Mould's earliest solo works have had an important role and may eventually have kick-started the whole grunge rock movement. In the early 90s he put together a new trio called Sugar (1991-95) under which name the debut album
Copper Blue (1992) was released. In a sense it is somewhat hard musically to pin out any noteworthy differences from e.g. Mould's second album
Black Sheets of Rain (1990) and that is to say the music he already produced but for the short period of time Sugar was around, the style was always alternative, indie pop, power pop with much less focus on the singer / songwriter element one may attribute Mould's solo works. Under the name Sugar, only two full albums was released and therefore the '94 album, which also became known as
F.U.E.L., signalled the end of Sugar. From here on, Bob Mould has only released solo albums, almost in a Neil Young kind of way, always experimenting with new styles and very different productions. He proclaimed his retirement as musician in the late 90s as his sufferings from tinnitus made it more than difficult to stay an active composer of music, and the album
The Last Dog and Pony Show (1998) was meant as a final release. However, he returned with brand new material in 2002 as he released his so far most electronic album
Modulate. He may have slowed down on the production level but has kept releasing new material ever since. His latest album
Silver Age (2012) is a return to the golden days of his best albums and also a return to power pop and alternative rock, and it has been received like one of his major releases from the early 90s. Mould is also co-founder of Reflex Records (founded by Hüsker Dü and Terry Katzman in 1981), Singles Only Label [SOL] (founded by Steve Fallon and Bob Mould in 1988?), and Granary Music [GM] (founded by Bob Mould in 2002) on which he has released his solo albums since.
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