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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
I've always dug Sugar and Bob Mould, and now I dig him even more after reading about his life. Very open, interesting, and honest.
Bob Mould is a brilliant artist, whose songs have been some of my favorites for twenty years. If you read this book hoping for insight into Mould's artistic process or his particular genius, you'll be disappointed.
Mould does discuss the circumstances around the creation of all of his albums, and does reveal the inspiration for many of his songs, but he doesn't try to figure out what separates the great songs from the forgettable ones. The events go by quickly in a "we played here, then recorded this, then fought about this" without much room for introspection.
In the end, the lack of insight might be a blessing. What insight we do get doesn't paint Mould in the best light. He has a habit of treating his coworkers badly. He acknowledges this throughout the book, but never seems to do much better. No one is perfect, and I don't like Mould any less for his personal flaws, but it's always tough to read about one of your heros and realize that you wouldn't want to hang out with them.
The best parts of the book are the non-musical parts. It's inspiring to read about Mould's evolving ideas about his sexual identity. His stint writing for professional wrestling is also fascinating.
Overall, I'm glad I read it, but I would only recommend it to big Bob Mould fans. It did prompt me to relisten to a bunch of his music, which is always a good thing.
This was just okay for me. I liked reading about how he went from disaffected youth to more balanced, sober and happy middle age--at one point he makes the observation that his career and life have stayed engaging because he's still learning and curious and excited about stuff. That's amazing and nice to read. There is lots of minutiae about gigs and shows and record company dealings that might have been interesting to a super fan but not so much to me--I feel like that stuff is only interesting if something really off the wall happens. All this to say....it's a long book, not always that interesting.
As much as I worship Bob Mould - I got bored reading through an itinerary of his life and quit 1/3 of the way through.
Despite me being a big Husker Du fan, I thought this was the best written music autobiography I've ever read. I liked Keith Richards Life, Tony Iommi's Iron Man (could have used a better ghost writer), even Motley Crue's Dirt (surprisingly good!), but hands down, this was the best! Highly recommended!
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Major Eeyore.
Enjoyed this audiobook. Prepping for seeing Bob in October and was neat to hear him tell in his own words about his life.
If I could give it 3.5 stars I would. It's an autobiography - I can include what i want, and tell my side of the story. But it is an interesting story, and I can feel the noise of his shows, and the quiet of his writing and his business sense, as a musician, and truly a leader of the band.
Well there were times I thought that I wouldn't finish this book. It certainly isn't the book that tells the Hüsker Dü story and is very repetitive but then it would seem that Mould has been repeating the same mistakes throughout his life to date.
I'd have liked to have read more of Mould's ideas about why he has been so self destructive in both his career and his personal life but he either genuinely doesn't know or its perhaps unwilling to be that candid.
I'm pleased for him that he seems to have found some genuine happiness in life and long may that continue. The major positive for me in this book is that it lead me to relisten to his work and give some of his later albums more time
I'd have liked to have read more of Mould's ideas about why he has been so self destructive in both his career and his personal life but he either genuinely doesn't know or its perhaps unwilling to be that candid.
I'm pleased for him that he seems to have found some genuine happiness in life and long may that continue. The major positive for me in this book is that it lead me to relisten to his work and give some of his later albums more time
Honestly, the parts about Mould finding his path as a gay man in the punk rock scene and American musical icon were more interesting than his accounts of making the music. I wish he'd skewed more personal and less into his terse, clipped descriptions of his career since that's the case.