Bob Mould (born October 16, 1960, in Malone, New York) is an American music… Read Full Bio ↴Bob Mould (born October 16, 1960, in Malone, New York) is an American musician, principally known for his work as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for influential rock bands Hüsker Dü in the 1980s and Sugar in the 1990s.

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

Steam of Hercules
Bob Mould Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

We stand and watch the stars
The sky was filled without light
The trains below the aeroplanes go
Shuffling through the night

We made it to the ocean
The cliff at the end of the road
And burning off petroleum

To tug that heavy load

We sail against the storm
From mountains through the seas

The sandy beach collapsing from
The steam of Hercules

Overall Meaning

Bob Mould's song Steam of Hercules creates a mesmerizing experience for his listeners by painting vivid imagery with his lyrics. The song begins with the singer and possibly another person looking up at the stars, taking in the vast expanse of the universe. The use of words like "sky was filled without light" creates an eerie and almost haunting feel to this image. The trains below and airplanes above them create a sense of chaos, and the movement of the trains shuffling through the night adds to the feeling of restlessness.

The singer then transitions to the ocean, standing on a cliff at the end of the road. The use of "burning off petroleum" gives the sense of urgency and desperation, as though they need to move quickly to get to their destination or complete their mission. They "tug that heavy load," implying that there is some kind of immense burden they must carry. Finally, they set sail against a storm, traversing through mountains and seas. However, even after making it to their destination, the sandy beach collapses from "the steam of Hercules," suggesting that even after all their efforts, something unexpected and powerful can still bring them to a halt.

Overall, the song Steam of Hercules creates a sense of restlessness and urgency, as though the characters must keep moving at all costs. The imagery evokes a sense of determination and strength, but also hints at the fragility of human existence in the face of external forces.

Line by Line Meaning

We stand and watch the stars
We pause and marvel at the celestial lights in the sky

The sky was filled without light
The dark sky lacked any artificial illumination

The trains below the aeroplanes go
Trains on the ground appear small compared to planes in the sky

Shuffling through the night
The sound of trains moving softly through darkness

We made it to the ocean
We arrived at the coastline

The cliff at the end of the road
A steep and precipitous terrain at the conclusion of our journey

And burning off petroleum
Using fuel derived from crude oil to power our transportation

To tug that heavy load
To pull a significant weight with great effort

We sail against the storm
We navigate adverse conditions while traveling by sea

From mountains through the seas
Journeying from the lofty peaks to the vast water bodies

The sandy beach collapsing from
The shore erodes and crumbles due to