Bob Mould visited the Twin Cities to celebrate the career of foundational Minneapolis punk band Suicide Commandos. During his time in town, Mould visited The Current studio in St. Paul to play solo versions of songs from his bands Hüsker Dü and Sugar.

Between songs, Mould, who lived in Minnesota during college and for several years afterward, chatted with host Zach McCormick about living in the Twin Cities at such an ignited time for the emerging local punk scene.

Interview Highlight

Zach McCormick: So you're in town to take part in this wonderful farewell performance and show for the Suicide Commandos. And I was wondering if we could talk a little bit about your connection to Chris Osgood, frontman of the band, what their influence meant to you and the rest of the rest of the kind of Minnesota punk scene when you were getting started.

Bob Mould: Oh my gosh, the Commandos were everything. So I grew up in the Adirondacks, and when I was 16, I used to read Rock Scene magazine, and they'd have, like, scene reports, and they had a photo of the Suicide Commandos. I knew I was coming to Macalester. I saw they were from the Twin Cities, so I bought the album ahead of coming out. Loved it. Got here in September of '78, and Thanksgiving '78 was the "Commandos Commit Suicide," you know, the three shows at the Longhorn. So I was like, "Oh, this is sad." So, you know, Thanksgiving goes to Christmas, goes to New Year's. And then I'm at Oarfolk and — Oarfolkjokeopus, the record store that was on 26th and Lyndale [in Minneapolis] back in the day — and there was, you know, the flyer with the phone number pull tabs for guitar lessons from Chris Osgood. And I thought, "Well, if I can't see him, at least I can hang out with him."

Zach McCormick: Yeah!

Bob Mould: So I would go over to Chris's house. I think he was on Pillsbury and lived in the top floor of a big house with his then girlfriend, and I think she would like, hide in the closet, and we would do guitar for an hour. So we did a lesson. Then I said, "Oh, great. Can we do another lesson?" He's like, "Yeah, just do another one next week." Did the second one. And at the end of it, I'm like, "Can we do another lesson?" He's like, "No, you're ready. Just go start a band. You're done." So that was the guidance that I needed. And, you know, then met Grant and Greg, and within a couple months, we were Hüsker Dü. And before the end of that semester, I think in May of '79, Chris oversaw the recording of the first Hüsker Dü demos at Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center at Macalester.

Zach McCormick: It's so cool to have him be this kind of figure for the local scene, because I think a lot of people, maybe nationally, don't realize their first record came out in '76; like, the same year as the Ramones' self-titled. I mean, that's super cool for a Minnesota band to be able to have put something on the map that early.

Bob Mould: Yeah. I mean, it was, well, there was Blank Records, which was Cliff Burnstein, who's now Q Prime Management, you know, everybody, I mean, Metallica, everybody in the world they manage. And so, yeah. So Cliff ran Blank Records as like a subsidiary of Mercury, I think, and Commandos and Pere Ubu, another band I loved — and I think there was a third record, it might have been a Bizarros album? But yeah, Chris and Steve and Dave were so generous and so helpful to everybody, all the new bands in the scene. Yeah, I don't think people understand the impact that they had on what was to come in the early '80s in Minneapolis.

Video Segments

00:00:09 Hoover Dam (Sugar)
00:03:18 Interview with host Zach McCormick, part 1
00:10:00 If I Can’t Change Your Mind (Hüsker Dü)
00:13:19 Interview with host Zach McCormick, part 2
00:23:21 Makes No Sense at All (Sugar)
00:26:12 Thank yous

Musician

Bob Mould – guitar, vocals

Credits

Guest – Bob Mould
Host – Zach McCormick
Video Director – Derek Ramirez
Camera Operators – Sean Belcher, Derek Ramirez
Audio – Evan Clark
Producer – Derrick Stevens, Ariel Tilson
Digital Producers – Reed Fischer, Luke Taylor

External Link

Bob Mould – official site