Sugar - JC Auto
It took me a few months to get a copy of Beaster, even though I wanted one badly. That’s how it was back in high school, you know? Never had any money. Anyway, the first time I heard “JC Auto,” it was when it got played on the local college radio station. I never heard the DJ announce what it was, but I recognized Bob Mould’s voice, of course, so I wrote it down on the dub I made of the radio show as a Husker Du song. I couldn’t imagine that Bob Mould still had this sort of angry fire in him. His vocals sounded harsher and more intense than they had on anything he’d done since New Day Rising. After three progressively more mellow Husker Du albums, two acoustically-inclined solo records, and an extremely melodic Sugar debut, I figured Mould’s yelling days were over. It didn’t bother me to think that; after all, he was getting older, and his newer records were still good. I just didn’t think I’d ever see him do another song like “Real World” or “I Apologize.”
[…]
A few bits of ephemera that you may well already know and have just chosen not to mention, but that I can’t be helped but ramble off because I’m an obsessive Bobophile:
- My understanding of “born on a holiday” (and, well, the whole Beaster concept) is that Grant Hart’s birthday fell on/around Easter. I’ve always read the subtext of JC Auto as Bob basically saying “go ahead, blame me for the collapse of Husker Du, I’ll be your martyr,” which kind of typifies the sort of passive-aggressive anger Bob so frequently directed Grant’s way in interviews and such.
- the lines “Parts Of It Seem Over Now, You Expect A Real Solution” and “People Outside Inside Staying Out for Nothing” are nods to the Workbook track “Poison Years,” which is also quoted melodically over those lines (and which is also, predictably, about Grant).
No, I didn’t know either of those things, that’s really interesting. Thanks.
Also, aren’t you the one who pointed out the “Crystal M-E-T-H” thing from Candy Apple Grey to me? First song “Crystal,” then “Merry Eiffel Tower High”? You’re a pro at catching this stuff, which I would never think to look for.
