Discord & Rhyme: An Album Podcast

Discord and Rhyme is a podcast where we discuss the albums we love, song by song.

065: Sugar - Copper Blue (1992)

“The last thing I wanted to do was re-create Hüsker Dü with other people. It would have been flimsy, and people would've seen through it.”

Bob Mould

Can you hear those towering walls of amped-up guitars in our latest episode, accompanied by aching lyrics you can barely hear? That’s because we’ve loaded it with Sugar! After pioneering alternative rock in the hardcore punk band Hüsker Dü, frontman and guitarist Bob Mould briefly went solo, then formed a new power trio named after a stray packet of sugar that caught his eye while eating at a Waffle House. (This naming convention would not be repeated until the 2000 Hootie & the Blowfish covers album Scattered, Smothered and Covered.) Sugar’s high-decibel, disarmingly sincere brand of power pop has always made the band Will’s preferred branch of the Mouldverse, and this week he’s joined by Ben, Will, and special guest Scott Floman to discuss their 1992 masterpiece Copper Blue

Miscellany

  • A few years back, Merge Records released remastered deluxe editions of Copper Blue/Beaster and File Under: Easy Listening. They do indeed sound somewhat better, and there's a generous complement of bonus tracks on each set. They're great packages. But from a fiscal standpoint, it's tough to recommend the reissues when the originals sound just fine and can be found in the “please take these off our hands” bin in every record store in the world.

  • Regarding the airy loudness of those early masters, D&R producer Mike DeFabio says that this sound is an artifact of the early compact disc era, and nobody really got CD mastering right until around 1995. To wit, Bob Mould told MusicRadar in 2012, “We were trying to fit a lot of information into a stereo mix. So when I put the tapes back up and listened to them sort of flat again, I thought, Wow, mastering has come a long way! We can do a lot more to this now.”

  • Will hadn't considered Scott's intepretation of “A Good Idea” as a song that describes a third party witnessing an assisted suicide, but he’s been pondering it since the recording and would like to hear from anyone who has a theory. Will adds: “I'm going to be thinking about it a lot (and admittedly, possibly more than Mould did), and trying to work out the way the song's pronouns leap back and forth, between whether the male in the couple is one claiming credit for the good idea. Again, there is a very real possibility that this is Mr. Mould doing a fine impression of Pixies' Black Francis in his cheerful bloodlust.”

  • Rich hadn’t done his solo Bob Mould homework before recording, but if he had, he would have recommended Mould’s 2019 album Sunshine Rock, which is a remarkably solid album, especially coming this far into Mould’s career. You can buy it and the rest of his catalogue (including Hüsker Dü and Sugar) at bobmould.com.

  • Amanda wishes to note that "If I Can't Change Your Mind" reminds her specifically of "That Thing You Do," although "Hey Julie" is also a good comparison. 

  • The cold open draws heavily from the sixth-season Simpsons episode “Lisa’s Rival,” which features a subplot where Homer finds a giant pile of sugar.

  • For more Yes, this time in its proper context, please consult our 25th episode, a double feature on The Yes Album and Drama featuring Dave Weigel. 

Other links 

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call

  • Chris Willie Williams (host)

  • Rich Bunnell (moderator)

  • Ben Marlin

  • Scott Floman (special guest) 

Copper Blue tracklist 

  1. The Act We Act

  2. A Good Idea

  3. Changes

  4. Helpless

  5. Hoover Dam

  6. The Slim

  7. If I Can't Change Your Mind

  8. Fortune Teller

  9. Slick

  10. Man on the Moon 

Other clips used 

Sugar:

  • Tilted

  • Gee Angel

  • Come Around

  • Your Favorite Thing

  • Feeling Better

Other Bob Mould projects:

  • Hüsker Dü - Something I Learned Today

  • Hüsker Dü - Eight Miles High

  • Bob Mould - Wishing Well

  • Bob Mould - The End of Things

  • Hüsker Dü - Standing in the Rain 

Others:

  • Pixies - Debaser

  • “Weird Al” Yankovic - First World Problems

  • Yes - Changes

  • Fountains of Wayne - Hey Julie

  • Yes - Fortune Seller

  • Yes - Man in the Moon

  • My Bloody Valentine - I Only Said

  • The Archies - Sugar, Sugar

Band/album personnel 

  • Bob Mould - guitars, vocals, keyboards, percussion, production, engineering

  • David Barbe - bass

  • Malcolm Travis - drums, percussion

  • Lou Giordano - production, engineering

  • Tom Bender - mixing

  • Howie Weinberg - mastering 

Credits 

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of: 

  • Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

  • Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste

  • The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...

  • Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

  • Herbie Hancock - Hornets

  • Kraftwerk - Autobahn

  • Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen

  • Sugar - Slick (this episode only) 

You can buy or stream Copper Blue and other albums by Sugar at bobmould.com, your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and be ever wonderful.

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