My Top 1000 Songs #741: If I Can't Change Your Mind

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.] 

A second visit to Copper Blue, the terrific 1992 debut from Bob Mould's post-Hüsker Dü power-trio Sugar. And if "A Good Idea" showed Mould at his most menacing, "If I Can't Change Your Mind" is Mould at his most easy-going and poppy. It's a sequel of sorts to "See A Little Light," off Mould's 1989 solo debut, infectious jangle free from the buzz & howl of his Hüskering days. Kinda like yesterday's Nick Lowe moment, it's feather-light, not out to change the universe, just a killer single that gums up your brain and still holds up over time. And yet another reminder that, for all of Mould's historical significance in the world of post-punk indie rock, at heart he's a big ol' softie with a knack for a killer pop hook.

Mould live in 2013, slightly different arrangement: