Sugar - Changes

I idolized Bob Mould back in the day. Sugar was a return to some seriously loud rock after Mould's mellow Workbook album. As loud as it was, it wasn't quite a return to Husker Du. Sugar had a lot more of a power pop feel to it.

I saw them at Pearl St. right when this came out. I was right up front and center, so the PA system at the edges of the stage was blasting away at everyone behind me. I turned around near the end of the show to find that just about everyone had left the room and was standing in the stairway or downstairs to protect what was left of their shredded ears. A bit excessive, I suppose. Bob's next show, a couple of years later at Amherst college, was solo and acoustic. I figured it was part of that "Unplugged" craze that MTV had recently created, but no. He explained that he was ditching the band and the amp because his ears were shot.

A: Changes
B: Helpless
Enjoy!