“We went to Waffle House and I saw a sugar packet. Those songs went from being the third Bob Mould solo album to being by a band called Sugar”: Bob Mould on Hüsker Dü's rise and fall, and what changed when he swapped his Ibanez Rocket Roll for a Strat

Bob Mould plays a gray Strat onstage at an outdoor gig. He wears a black T-shirt and glasses, and there is a Blackstar head in the background.

Prolific songwriter Bob Mould is a reluctant generational icon. Sure, he’s proud of his musical accomplishments and realizes he has been a major inspiration for a wide range of mainstream acts, including Nirvana, Pixies, Weezer, and Green Day.

He’s well aware that if it weren’t for the open chords and ringing hooks he injected into Minnesota-based Eighties hardcore band Hüsker Dü and later, Sugar, college music and alternative rock might not have evolved in quite the same way. And yet, like some of the groups he has inspired, he doesn’t relish being in the spotlight and cherishes his privacy.