Last night, Bob Mould posted a snippet of a new song on his social media accounts: “The toddler and the sycophants/Time to say goodbye,” he sang. The inspiration for the song was evident enough. Although Mould was born in New York State, he attended Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and he spent the Eighties fronting the mighty Twin Cities indie trio Hüsker Dü. Mould, who is currently based in San Francisco, hasn’t lived in Minnesota for several decades, but when he heard the news that Gov. Tim Walz had been chosen to be Kamala Harris’ running mate, he was, he says, “fucking ecstatic.”
Until Rolling Stone told him yesterday, though, Mould wasn’t aware that the presumptive Democratic vice presidential candidate is seemingly familiar with his work. Mould spoke with RS about Walz — and the surprise news of his taste in homegrown Minnesota music.
Given all your earlier years in Minnesota, how are you feeling about Tim Walz?
This is just incredible. He’s a sensible guy, a progressive guy, thoughtful. Nineteen eighty nine was the last year I had a Minnesota driver’s license. I live in San Francisco now, so I’ve been Team Kamala for a long time. But, with Tim, this is crazy. You can’t write this stuff.
He’s younger than me. I was already out of Macalester by the time he graduated high school. But he’s a straight shooter, has common sense. If he sees shenanigans, he calls shenanigans. I think we’ve all very quickly come to see what a straight-up guy we have here to help this country keep moving in the right direction. We are happy-dancing in this house. My goodness.
He seems like a real music head, too.
I don’t know much about his musical taste.
Well, let us fill you in. Beto O’Rourke just tweeted out his support for Walz, writing that they became friends in Congress and shared their love of Minnesota musicians like Dylan, Prince, the Replacements — and Hüsker Dü.
[Pause.] Wow. I was a big Beto fan when he made his presence known on the national stage, and I was always grateful when he mentioned my work with Hüsker Dü.
But wow. [Another pause.] Shocker! So now I’m in it now! I guess my first question to presumptive vice president Walz is, “So do you like the original Tim mixes or the new mix?”
Then I’d say, “Vice President Walz, one of the great joys of my life was arriving at Nicollet Studios every morning knowing that the Replacements were making Tim in Studio A. And that wonderful joy every morning of going down to get my second cup of coffee and being able to say, “Good morning, [Tim producer] Tommy Ramone.” I mean, come on!
We just need to know what his favorite Hüsker album is.
Well, I’m hoping for Flip Your Wig. That’s my personal favorite. But Warehouse would be OK, too. Or maybe he’d pick New Day Rising. But I’m telling you: Whatever deity one chooses to believe and worship and spend time with, today is heaven on earth. The whole party is so energized. It’s so clear this poison has got to go and we just got to start getting kids educated again and letting people have choices over their own lives.
Walz also presided over the renaming of a stretch of Minnesota highway after Prince, and even signed it into law with purple ink.
Perfect. We got to keep this going. I’m just giddy about all of this. This is what goodness is. This is what goodness looks like. We got to go with it, right?
And now you’re in the national conversation to some degree.
[Laughs.] My proximity to presidency. History is rhyming really fucking hard right now. It’s like, just listen to the chorus.
