Friday, September 21, 2012

Today in Old Guy Rock news

Back in 1985 I bought an album called "New Day Rising" by a band called Hüsker Dü on CASSETTE.  This wasn't an ironic, arch, look-at-how-quirky-we-are-releasing-an-album-on-cassette thing, it was a thing because bands used to release albums on cassettes as a primary medium because people had cassette players.  There was no such thing as CDs and computers cost $10,000 and didn't do anything interesting.  DINOSAURS ROAMED THE LAND AND THE COSBY SHOW WAS ON PRIMETIME.  I was an impressionable youngster and loved the fuck out of this cassette (and the other Hüsker Dü stuff I subsequently bought).

Hüsker Dü went on to influence pretty much every band that came after them, including most bands you like.

 Hüsker Dü broke up and Bob Mould, the frontman, went on to form another group called Sugar that I also fell in love with, predictably enough.  And he also put out a bunch of solo stuff.  Then he started doing some electronica stuff that I never paid attention to.

Fast forward to now.  Bob Mould has put out a new album which is great and sounds just like classic Bob Mould stuff. (Well, it sounds like Sugar more than Hüsker, but that's fine with me.)


Bob looks like a comp lit professor in this video. We've all gotten old!

So Bob's playing tonight at the Fillmore.  I'll be there.  This'll be fun because I'm usually in the 95% percentile of oldest people at shows but I'll be in the bottom 20% at this one.  Also, The Thermals are opening and they're pretty great too.I was wrong; Churches are opening, not The Thermals, whoops.

If you're thinking about going and you're on the fence, let me just tell you that a couple of years ago I saw Bob solo at a Noise Pop show and even though it was just him and an electric guitar, no backing band or anything, I think it was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

2 comments:

GG said...

Saw the Bottom of the Hill show a few months ago where he played Copper Blue in its entirety -- it was awesome. He still rocks your socks off. And Jon Wurster is a total bonus, hopefully he's joining him on this tour, too. Have fun!

TK said...

Yeah, I think Wurster is still the tour drummer. He used to be in a band with a friend of mine.

Judging from the setlists online, they're still playing Copper Blue all the way through, along with a smattering of Husker and new stuff. Should be great!