Sugar was an American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band active in the early 1990s. Formed in 1992, they were led by the singer and guitarist

Bob Mould Robert Arthur Mould (born October 16, 1960) is an American musician, principally known for his work as guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü in the 1980s and Sugar in the 1990s. Early years Born in Malone, ...

(ex-

Hüsker Dü Hüsker Dü () was an American punk rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist/vocalist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart. They first gained notabili ...

), alongside bassist

David Barbe David Barbe (pronounced ˈbɑɹ.bi BAR-bee; born September 30, 1963) is an American musician and producer/engineer from Athens, Georgia and director of the Music Business Certificate Program at the University of Georgia. He is chief of Chase Pa ...

(ex-Mercyland) and drummer Malcolm Travis (ex- Human Sexual Response).

Career

After frontman Bob Mould departed from

, he released two solo ventures, ''

Workbook Workbooks are paperback textbooks A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational i ...

'' and '' Black Sheets of Rain''; neither album was well received and Mould was released from his contract with

Virgin Records America Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

in 1991 as a result. Shortly after, Mould recorded a demo tape of over thirty songs and formed Sugar with

and Malcolm Travis. The band was named in an Athens, GA Waffle House Restaurant when Mould spotted a sugar packet on the table where he and the other two band members were sitting. Their first concert was on February 20, 1992, at the

40 Watt Club The 40 Watt Club is a music venue in Athens, Georgia. Along with CBGB, the Whisky a Go Go, and selected others, it was instrumental in launching American punk rock and new wave music. The 40 Watt Club was the primary performance space for numero ...

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

, after a few weeks warming up in

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

's downtown practice space. Later in 1992, the band released the album ''

Copper Blue ''Copper Blue'' is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band Sugar. It was voted 1992 Album of the Year by the NME. All of the songs were written by guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, who also co-produced with Lou Giordano. Musically, t ...

'' on

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first Compact Disc, CD-only independ ...

in the US and

Creation Records Creation Records Ltd. was a British independent record label founded in 1983 by Alan McGee, Dick Green, and Joe Foster. Its name came from the 1960s band The Creation, whom McGee greatly admired. The label ceased operations in 1999, although ...

in the UK. ''Copper Blue'' was named Album Of The Year 1992 by ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

''. The music videos for the singles "If I Can't Change Your Mind" and "Helpless" received extensive air time on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

shortly after the album's release. The single for "If I Can't Change Your Mind" had moderate success in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. In the spring of 1993, they released '' Beaster'', an EP of material recorded during the ''Copper Blue'' sessions. The album proved to be more aggressive than the content on ''Copper Blue''. After an abortive attempt to record a second album, the band regrouped and released '' File Under: Easy Listening'' in September 1994. It reached No. 7 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. A

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

, '' Besides'', followed in July 1995. The band played their final show in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in 1995, Mould broke the band up in spring 1996. Barbe wished to spend more time with his growing family and expand his solo career. Travis took over the drumming slot in

Kustomized Kustomized was an American indie rock band formed by former Mission of Burma and Volcano Suns member Peter Prescott. History The band was formed by Prescott following the breakup of Volcano Suns in 1993.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie ...

spent the summer of 2012 touring and playing ''

'' in its entirety.

Discography

The discography of Sugar consists of three studio albums, one compilation album, one live album, two boxsets and eight singles.

Albums

Box sets

*''A Box of Sugar'' (Edsel, 2013) – 5xLP *''Complete Recordings 1992-1995'' (Edsel, 2014) – 5xCD

Singles

*All singles were released on both Creation and Rykodisc; except where indicated.

References

External links

* Sugar's AMG entry {{Authority control Creation Records artists Alternative rock groups from Minnesota Musical groups established in 1992 Musical groups disestablished in 1995 American musical trios Rykodisc artists Merge Records artists 1992 establishments in Texas