Bob Mould

As the vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the punk power trio Hüsker Dü, Bob Mould purveyed a hard melodic sound that directly influenced the Pixies, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, and at least two subsequent generations of American rockers. Born in Malone, New York, in 1960, Mould attended college in Minneapolis, where he formed Hüsker Dü with drummer Grant Hart and bassist Greg Norton in 1979. With its explosively short songs and psychedelic experimentation, their 1984 double album, Zen Arcade, is considered a hardcore masterpiece. After the trio’s acrimonious breakup in 1988, Mould hunkered down in a farmhouse and wrote his first solo album, 1989’s Workbook, which contained the uplifting “See a Little Light.” He made hard, brainy music over four albums with Sugar, whose 1992 debut, Copper Blue, became Mould’s best-selling release to date. His composition “Dog on Fire,” rerecorded by They Might Be Giants, has been The Daily Show’s theme music since 1999, the same year he briefly wrote scripts for World Wrestling Entertainment. Mould added electronic sounds to his musical palette with 2002’s Modulate while continuing to release tuneful works like 2019’s unabashedly positive Sunshine Rock.