Bob Mould's Workbook

In 1989, Bob Mould took a left turn. Already legendary before his 30th birthday for his noise-and-nuance work in Hsker D, Mould had recently walked away from his old band. He re-emerged with his debut solo album: Workbook. Filled with chiming acoustic guitars, multitracked vocals, pristine production, and even a cello, Workbook was both admired and questioned for Moulds perceived departure from his post-punk roots. Three decades later, the album has emerged as a key for understanding the nascent alternative rock genre and the concerns Mould would explore for the duration of his career. Fusing post-punk sound and confessional lyrics with a richer emotional and musical range, Moulds Workbook merged worlds that seemed unbridgeable at the time. Alternative rock emerged from the wreckage of the 1980s, and Workbook was a model for the genres maturation. Workbook serves its title in two waysas a map for musicians to follow into a new mode, and as a journal of Moulds struggle toward adulthood. It opens conversations about rock, identity, spirituality, authenticity, and the perils and promises of mainstream culture. Walter Biggins and Daniel Couch, two critics who grew up with Workbook, extend these conversationsthrough letters and emails to each other, and through correspondence with Mould and Workbooks musicians and producers. That crosstalk leads to, through this seminal album, a deeper understanding of alternative rock at the moment of its inception, just before it took over the radio.