“The original blue Strat that I bought in ’88 became the ‘Bob guitar’… that was when I started reinventing the way I looked at guitar”: From Hüsker Dü’s “fighter jets” to Sugar’s “sheets” of guitar, how Bob Mould built his wall of sound

Bob Mould plays The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on a stage lit in blue.

Bob Mould’s ferocious wall of sound has been cited as an influence by everyone from J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr and Joe Genaro of The Dead Milkmen, to Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters. It all started with Hüsker Dü, a punk-meets‑college-rock assault that Mould recalls as being akin to “three fighter jets racing to get there first”.

Though in all fairness, fans of classic records such as 1984’s Zen Arcade and 1986’s Candy Apple Grey might liken those records to more than speed-racer pyrotechnics.