After Hüsker Dü broke up, singer-guitarist Bob Mould dabbled with a solo career. In the wake of Nirvana’s success, he formed a new power trio with bassist David Barbe and drummer Malcolm Travis. Needing to come up with a band name for an impending gig, he was inspired by a sugar packet on a café table.
Much of Sugar’s recorded legacy came from an initial burst of creativity that created the songs for 1992’s Copper Blue and the 1993 mini-album Beaster. The trio only recorded one more studio album, 1994’s File Under: Easy Listening before splitting – Barbe wished to spend more time with family, and went onto a successful career as a producer with Drive-By Truckers.
Here’s a snapshot of ten tunes from the early 1990s, all penned by Bob Mould. A lot of these selections deviate from Sugar’s alternative rock sound – the list features some of their lightest moments and some of their most intense.
10 Best Sugar Songs
#10 Walking Away
from Beaster, 1993
The calm after the storm, Beaster ends with a gently meditative organ piece. The melody could have come from a 1960s girl band song. Mould told Select that “Copper Blue was such a great pop record that I just saw this as like the evil twin.” Mould grew up Catholic, and Beaster is laced with religious imagery – it was purposely released the week before Easter.
#9 If I Can’t Change Your Mind
from Copper Blue, 1992
Hüsker Dü were an idiosyncratic three-piece, where each player had their own distinct personality. Sugar’s sound was more disciplined and palatable for the mainstream – Mould regarded Cheap Trick’s In Color as “a big touchstone for that record.” The jangly power pop of ‘If I Can’t Change Your Mind’ was a top 30 hit in the UK. The material on Copper Blue stems from a time when Mould was struggling financially – to make money he played a lot of solo shows, road-testing his new songs.
#8 Judas Cradle
from Beaster, 1993
Sugar recorded thirty songs during the Copper Blue sessions – a suite of six darker songs was “quarantined” for the Beaster EP. ‘Judas Cradle’ is one of the darkest pieces, an aggressive six-minute rocker. The Judas Cradle was a torture device used during the Spanish Inquisition – here’s some information from Medieval Chronicles:
The Judas Cradle was a pyramid-shaped wooden device onto which the victim was placed at the top of the pyramid. His or her hands and legs would be tied so that the weight could not be shifted elsewhere. The victims’ feet were commonly tied with each other with the goal of increasing the pain whenever there was a movement of the feet.
The pointed edge of the pyramid was slowly inserted in the anus or vagina of the victim and the torture could continue from a few hours to entire days. The time, however, also varied from victim to victim depending on various factors other than their own ability to bear the pain.
https://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-torture-devices/judas-cradle-torture-device/
#7 Needle Hits E
b-side of Changes and Helpless, 1992
‘Needle Hits E’ is a b-side from the sessions for Copper Blue – it’s a terrific song, but it’s not missed from Copper Blue – it would have been too much of a good thing. It’s quintessentially Sugar, brimming with power and tune. I didn’t realise what the title referred to initially – the word needle can have different connotations in pop lyrics, including drug use and spinning vinyl. But in this case it’s a reference to the fuel gauge in a car – it’s a warning from Mould to a friend who’s running on empty.
#6 Panama City Hotel
from File Under: Easy Listening, 1994
‘Panama City Hotel’ resembles the earlier Sugar song ‘Come Around’, expanding the jangly mantra into a fully-fledged song. There are surprisingly few songs about touring, given how much time musicians spend on the road but this is a good one – Mould lamenting the cheap life of a touring musician.
But senor, I only have ten dollars,
Panama City Hotel
Can’t you give me a room for the night?”
We argue about currency and then
He says I can stay for the night
#5 Hoover Dam
from Copper Blue, 1992
Like ‘I Can’t Change Your Mind’, ‘Hoover Dam’ is another song that departs from the primary sound of Copper Blue. It recalls The Beatles’ work from the mid-1960s; the organ introduction and the string quartet interlude resemble a George Martin orchestration.
“It was this dream song that just turned up as I was waking up one morning. It came to me fully formed, and then it’s just all the baubles that make it that crazy baroque band thing. All that was pretty much in my head too, but you have to sit down and make these baubles shine. That’s the production stuff.”
#4 Tilted
from Beaster, 1993
The core of Beaster is the sequence of heavy songs in the centre – I would have liked to have fitted ‘JC Auto’ onto this list as well. Unlike the other songs on the list, there’s little discernible melody on ‘Tilted’ – it’s pure aggression and angst. Despite its tough sound, Beaster was surprisingly successful, reaching #3 on the UK albums chart.
#3 Man on the Moon
from Copper Blue, 1992
The closing track of Copper Blue shares its name with another notable alt-rock song from 1992 – R.E.M.’s ‘Man on the Moon’. Sugar’s ‘Man on the Moon’ is harder-hitting, mixing thick shoegazey guitars with a stop-start arrangement. My favourite part is the outro, which is another Beatles moment, with Mould’s guitar sounding like a McCartney piano part.
#2 Explode and Make Up
from File Under: Easy Listening, 1994
Both of Sugar’s albums end on a high note. The final song on their final album is ‘Explode and Make Up’, with mellow verses and a big anthemic chorus. Mould told MTV that “‘Explode and Make Up’ is one live vocal take, top to bottom. I use compression to eliminate some of the nasal resonances. Double tracking helps to reinforce the sound, as opposed to chorusing or any other effect available. It’s what I hear in my head when I sing, so that’s why I favor that approach.”
#1 Come Around
from Beaster, 1993
Beaster is Sugar’s most intense record, but it starts with an jangling acoustic guitar. The EP’s opener ‘Come Around’ has an acoustic base, before Mould’s roaring electric guitar adds punch. There’s only a skeletal song here – the only lyrics are Mould repeating “come around” like a mantra. But it’s one of Mould’s most memorable pieces, the central riff is just gorgeous.
Did I include your favourite Sugar song?
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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.
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I like Hoover dam but don’t know so many of the others. Thanks!
Thanks for reading!
You sure got different ones than I do, I’ll tell ya that much. I’ll do my top 10 when I get home.
1. Changes
2. The Slim
3. Helpless
4. Can’t Help You Anymore
5. Frustration (b-side)
6. Slick
7. What You Want It to Be
8. Mind Is An Island (b-side)
9. Man on the Moon
10. Fortune Teller
Free bonus honorable mentions
Anyone (live)
Panama City Motel
Eyes of My Friends (b-side)
Needle Hits E
Company Book
Clownmaster
Yes, our lists are pretty amazingly divergent foe a band with less than 30 songs on their three main albums. I don’t know what a consensus list would be, but mine was pretty low on Copper Blue – feel like tracks like Changes and The Act We Act would be popular choices.
They recorded a lot more than 30 songs so I don’t know why they made their albums so short, especially since they came out at the time when everyone was overloading their albums with about 15 tracks. I remember I used to complain that CDs had become too long and nobody had enough good stuff to justify it. But the unused stuff on the Sugar albums is as good as the released stuff. The deluxe reissue versions just about double the amount of great tracks. About half of my favorites are only on the reissues. Or on Besides.
I think 40-minute albums are probably the right move for Sugar though. My favourite is Beaster and it’s only half-an-hour.
40 minute albums are totally unforgivable. Lol. Even old vinyl LPs were 45 minutes, and that was only because they couldn’t fit any more on it. Ha ha
Actually, I also meant to put Gee Angel and Granny Cool but I forgot
Great list! Tilted my favourite after Hoover Dam.
Yeah, I found your article about Tilted while I was researching, actually.
Thanks for reminding me of Bob Mould, an artist I should probably check out further. I like and in September 2020 featured “Siberian Butterfly” from his most recent solo album “Blue Hearts”.
His songs are pretty melodic, which I tend to find an attractive proposition, especially when it comes to certain music genres like grunge and punk. Some of his tunes sound a bit like power pop!
Hüsker Dü know by name only. Is their music similar to the tunes you featured here?
Husker Du are a bit punkier, especially the early stuff. They had a second vocalist/songwriter, Grant Hart, who tended to write more accessible songs. The production can be tough- the SST label had a house producer named Spot whose techniques were quite primitive.
I hadn’t heard of Sugar before so this was a nice introduction.
Thanks for reading! I found the bit about medieval torture devices interesting
Yet another band I’m not familiar with, but I listened to several of the tracks you chose, and I like their sound. I looked them up online, and saw they had two singles that charted in the U.S., on the Billboard Alternative chart, neither of which made your top 10 list – “Helpless” in 1992 and “Your Favorite Thing” in 1994.
Thanks for listening. I think my list is a little oddball – I wasn’t listening to rock radio at the time, and had little idea what the singles were.
I forgot how much I liked the first and last songs on Beaster and I listened to them a little while ago in the bathtub and they really belong on the list. But I still don’t much like the songs in the middle too much.
I kind of went for extremities on my list. Changes would have been good to include though.
Graham, I’ve listened to some of Hüsker Dü but not enough. From what everyone says….I should like them but the ones I’ve heard hasn’t really hit me. I’ve seen them listed in power pop categories so yea I need to dive in them.
What album or songs of theirs would you recommend? I did like some of Mould’s recent solo songs I liked.
I just listened to some of Sugar…I like it…it seems a little more rounded than Hüsker Dü soundwise.
Husker Du had some terrible production – very tinny, and it can be a barrier. New Day Rising is maybe a good place to start – my favourite single album from them. I made a playlist here that emphaises the poppier stuff- https://albumreviews.blog/2021/02/21/10-best-husker-du-songs/
Sugar have better production and are more accessible.
Thanks Graham… from what I’ve heard they are more accessible.
After I wrote this I saw the link to that and I’m going over it now…thanks man.
Yessir. Sugar had a much better sound than Husker Du, not to mention better songs. And his singing really improved also along with his songs, as far as I’m concerned.
When I first heard Sugar…I thought woo… this IS different than the few songs I’ve heard from Husker Du.
I was listening to Beaster today actually. It’s one I missed totally at the time but I absolutely love now.
Doesn’t get as much attention as Copper Blue, but the intensity recalls Husker Du.
You’re totally right.
I think my list would be:
Fortune Teller
The Slim
The Act We Act
Explode and Make Up
The Needle Hits E
Gift
Your Favorite Thing
Man on the Moon
Panama City Hotel
JC Auto
And I’m a fan of Barbe’s contributions. Especially Company Book, Where Diamonds are Halos and Frustration. I once read that he ended up working in a college’s recording program, which is cool. Seems like a pleasant and fitting way to cap off his career.
I think my list reflects the fact that I listened to Besides more than the proper albums. The live disc that came with the first edition is excellent.
File Under Easy Listening was in every discount bin in Canada in the mid/late 90s. I can remember seeing it marked all the way down to 3 bucks once, which in an era when a new CD was twenty bucks and old stuff was priced at $25-30 was pretty remarkable. Too good a record for the discount bin, but apparently the distributor thought it was going to be big and it didn’t work out.
The Slim and Fortune Teller are totally excellent choices. And I agree the Barbe b-sides on the reissue are great. Especially Frustration. If they would have swapped them out with half the tracks on the original album it could have been as good as Copper Blue.
I need to check out the b-sides.
Thanks for writing in. Pretty similar list to mine – I like ‘The Slim’ a lot.
David Barbe has done some producing for The Drive-By Truckers.
I found the three Sugar albums in secondhand bins for about $8 total. think., but never found ‘Besides’. I think Rykodisc printed too many copies, but they could have easily been huge.
Some copies of Besides came with a second disc that featured a live performance with an excellent set list (From the famed First Avenue in Minneapolis, iirc). In my opinion, if you’re going to track it down, it’s worth taking the time to get that edition. Once I got accustomed to Mould’s live singing–which is pretty wild–I found it very enjoyable, so much so that I think of some of those live cuts as more authoritative or better to the ones on the record. The live version of “The Slim” is particularly choice (and probably the reason I ended up loving that song so much–it’s a great live song, and I didn’t see that coming based on the album version), and the Barbe songs really shine, and some of the Mould-led B-sides do as well (“After All the Roads Have Led to Nowhere” comes to mind).
P.S. Just found your site recently and I’ve really been enjoying your reviews.
Thanks for reading. Is your user handle a GBV reference?
I’ve never been huge on live albums, but I should try and find some of it on YouTube or something.
It absolutely is! You’re the first person to notice. The other username I use on forums is pretty obscure (although more obvious) Pavement reference and nobody’s ever noticed.
I’m a fan of Sprout’s contributions. Maybe I’m predisposed to the guys who toil in the frontman’s shadow, just like with David Barbe here.
Truth be told, I’m not usually a big fan of live recordings either. I usually find them inferior to studio versions in almost every way that matters. But there are exceptions to every rule and that Sugar album seems to be one of them for me (again, once you get used to Mould’s crazy live vocal, which threw me at first). Great energy, and perhaps some of the songs benefit from the lack of polish. As a Husker Du fan you might appreciate that.