Born in Malone, New York, Mould lived in several places, including Pine City, Minnesota and the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where he attended Macalester College. There, he formed Hüsker Dü in the late 1970s, with drummer/singer Grant Hart and bass guitarist Greg Norton.
Mould released his first solo album after Hüsker Dü broke up; 1989's Workbook eschewed Mould's trademark wall-of-noise guitar for a stripped-down sound featuring acoustic guitars and cellos. 1991's jagged Black Sheets of Rain put Mould in more familiar territory, recalling Hüsker Dü's loudest, angriest moments. Mould also started a record label, Singles Only Label, which released singles from up and coming bands such as Grant Lee Buffalo.
Mould then formed the group Sugar, a college/alternative radio favorite in the mid-1990s. Along with extensive touring, Sugar released two albums, an EP and a B-sides collection before splitting.
Mould returned to solo recording, releasing a self-titled album in 1996 (which is often referred to as Hubcap because of the cover photo) and 1998's The Last Dog and Pony Show. During a stint living in New York City in the late-1990s, Mould's tastes took a detour into dance music and electronica. Those influences were clear on his 2002 release Modulate, which featured a strong electronica influence to mixed critical reviews. To pursue this sound, Mould also began recording under the pseudonym LoudBomb (an anagram of his name). He has released one CD so far under this name.
Mould took a brief break from the music world to get involved with another passion of his, professional wrestling, when he joined WCW as a scriptwriter for a brief period. Creative differences with some of the other writers of the league led to Mould leaving the company and returning to music. The liner notes for Modulate thank some of the wrestlers he associated with, most notably Kevin Nash and Kevin Sullivan.
In addition to his solo work, Mould is also a live DJ in collaboration with Washington DC-area dance music artist Richard Morel, under the collective banner Blowoff. A recording under that banner was released in September 2006. Mould has been asked to do remixes for a variety of dance and alternative rock artists. A recent remix of the Interpol song "Length Of Love" has led to more critical acclaim for the veteran artist.
For much of the 1990s, Mould toured playing solo acoustic renditions of his catalog (occasionally switching to electric guitar midway through his set). In 2005 his solo album Body of Song was cross-announced with his first band tour since 1998. Brendan Canty, best known as the drummer for Fugazi, and Mould's Blowoff collaborator, Morel, played drums and keyboards, respectively, for the 2005 tour. Mould's latest album, District Line, was released in February 2008.
Though his homosexuality was previously something of an open secret, Mould was outed in the early 1990s; he is now openly gay. Though it was often rumored during his Hüsker Dü days that he and bandmate Hart were an item (Hart was also gay, and both acknowledge taking partners on tour), both have flatly denied ever having been romantically involved.
In 2006, Mould contributed the song "If I Can't Change Your Mind" to the album Wed-Rock, an album to promote same-sex marriage.
On September 29, 2005, Mould's song "Circles" was featured on The OC as Marissa Cooper was starting her first day at her public school in Season 3. Mould's song "Dog on Fire" is the theme song for The Daily Show. They Might Be Giants perform the current version. The song "See a Little Light" has been used more than once in various television applications: It was used in the closing scene of the original un-aired test pilot episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, it became one of the principal theme songs for the HBO series The Mind of the Married Man and was also used in a television commercial for TIAA-CREF (August 2007). Mould also composed the theme for the TLC program, In a Fix.
Mould and director Cameron Crowe are close friends; the character Bob Sugar (played by Jay Mohr) in Crowe's 1996 film Jerry Maguire is named for both Mould and his former band, Sugar.
Mould appeared on an episode of IFC's The Henry Rollins Show on June 15, 2007.
Mould also played lead guitar in the house band for the film of John Cameron Mitchell's Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Mould also participated in a Hedwig tribute album, Wig in a Box, on which he covered the song "Nailed."
Solo Discography
Workbook LP (Virgin, 1989)
See A Little Light Single (Virgin, 1989)
Wishing Well + 4 Tracks Single (Virgin, 1989)
Black Sheets of Rain LP (Virgin, 1990)
Poison Years Compilation LP (Virgin, 1994)
Egøverride Single (Rykodisc, 1995)
Bob Mould LP (Rykodisc, 1996)
The Last Dog and Pony Show LP (Rykodisc, 1998)
Modulate LP (Granary Music, 2002)
Live Dog 98: The Forum, London UK Live LP (Granary Music, 2002)
Long Playing Grooves (released under anagram LoudBomb) LP (Granary Music, 2002)
Body of Song (Yep Roc, 2005)
District Line (Granary Music, 2008)
Silver Age (Edsel 2012)
Beauty & Ruin (Merge Records, 2014)
Patch the Sky (Merge Records, 2016)
Sunshine Rock (Merge Records, 2019)
Bootlegs
The Calm Before the Storm (Kiss The Stone, 1994)
Bands Produced
Soul Asylum, Made To Be Broken LP
Articles of Faith, Give Thanks and In this Life LPs
Magnapop, Hot Boxing LP
Verbow, Chronicles LP
The Zulus, Down on the Floor LP
Impaler, If We Had Brains... We'd Be Dangerous LP
Low, Tonight the Monkeys Die Remixes EP
http://www.bobmould.com
http://modulate.blogspot.com
Argos
Bob Mould Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Basement where the sex goes
Centuries of seed and stain
Underwater we remain
Nederlander profile
Round and nose of straight line
Dark hair buzzed and figurine
Hang out by the fruit machine
Right next to the bathroom
Skinhead muscle polo red
Cruising with a passion
Lead me to the Sanifair
Reach into my underwear
Damrak leads to Rokin
Everyone is smoking
Stand aloof in front of me
We ignore each other so perfectly
Head to the darkroom so narrow
Steep down the staircase I follow
The opening lyrics of Bob Mould's song 'Argos' paint an eerie picture of an underground basement where anonymous sexual encounters occur. The singer is standing inside the Argos, a reference to the Amsterdam sex club that the singer frequented. The place is a site of decades of semen and other bodily fluids, a physical reminder of the people who have passed through this space before. The water referred to is likely representing the fact that the location is below sea level.
The lyrics also describe a particular person nearby, a "Nederlander profile" standing next to the singer. He is described with dark hair, is buzzed, and is figurine-like in his appearance. The song also mentions a "skinhead muscle polo red," whom the singer sees by the fruit machine near the bathroom, cruising for other men. The location's conveniences, such as the Sanifair restrooms, lead to other places named Damrak and Rokin, both of which are nearby streets in Amsterdam.
As the singer follows the latter man, they both end up in the so-called 'darkroom,' a specific space designed for anonymous sexual encounters. The lyrics convey a sense of detachment and anonymity, where two people can exist only for a few critical moments, out of time and outside the realm of the everyday. The singer ignores their partner, and vice versa, reinforcing the idea that this is a temporary arrangement, with each person being faceless and replaceable.
Line by Line Meaning
Standing at the Argos
I am at a place called Argos
Basement where the sex goes
The basement is a place for sexual encounters
Centuries of seed and stain
The basement has been used for sexual activities for many years
Underwater we remain
We are hidden and secretive
Nederlander profile
A Dutch person's profile
Round and nose of straight line
The person has a round face and straight nose
Dark hair buzzed and figurine
The person has short, dark hair and looks like a statue
Standing right beside me
The person is standing next to me
Hang out by the fruit machine
The person is hanging out near a fruit machine
Right next to the bathroom
The person is very close to the bathroom
Skinhead muscle polo red
The person is muscular and wearing a red polo shirt with a shaved head
Cruising with a passion
The person is looking for someone to have sex with
Lead me to the Sanifair
The person leads me to the Sanifair public restroom
Reach into my underwear
The person touches my genitals
Damrak leads to Rokin
One street leads to another
Everyone is smoking
People are smoking cigarettes
Stand aloof in front of me
The person stands in front of me in a detached manner
We ignore each other so perfectly
We are both pretending to not notice each other
Head to the darkroom so narrow
We go to a small, dark room for privacy
Steep down the staircase I follow
I follow the person down a steep staircase to get to the room
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: BOB MOULD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind