Bob Mould Here We Go Crazy
Bob Mould's Here We Go Crazy lands as a taut, emotionally direct collection that marries punk friction to power-pop melody, and across seven professional reviews critics largely agree it succeeds. Earning a 78.29/100 consensus score from seven reviews, the record's shortest, sharpest songs - notably “Neanderthal”, the title cut “Here We Go Crazy” and “Hard To Get” - repeatedly emerge as the best songs on the album for their hooky choruses and rattling riffs.
Critics consistently praise Mould's ability to turn personal reflection, trauma and mortality into immediate rock songs. Reviews highlight how tracks such as “Lost Or Stolen” and “When Your Heart Is Broken” extend the set's emotional range, offering moments of plaintive tenderness amid thrashy urgency. Across the professional reviews, writers note themes of resilience amid chaos, alienation, nostalgia and blunt truth-telling, with several critics calling the record a late-career return to the raw dynamics of his earlier work while retaining a stripped-back, song-focused production.
While most appraisals emphasize the album's bite and concise songwriting, some reviewers point to a brief mid-section of darker material that tempers the momentum; others celebrate those somber songs as necessary counterpoints that deepen the record's impact. Taken together the critical consensus suggests Here We Go Crazy is a rewarding, immediate listen - compact, occasionally feral and often consoling - and a noteworthy chapter in Mould's ongoing musical legacy, with standout tracks that fans and newcomers will cite when asking whether the album is worth listening to.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Neanderthal
7 mentions
""Neandrathal" is a Sugar -fueled rager with provocative lyrics."— PopMatters
Hard To Get
4 mentions
""Hard to Get" is exhilarating, delivering that rush that can only come from Mould and his bandmates"— PopMatters
Lost Or Stolen
4 mentions
"a heartbreaking song that ends on the haunting line, "Everything I thought was lost / It was stolen.""— PopMatters
"Neandrathal" is a Sugar -fueled rager with provocative lyrics.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Here We Go Crazy
Neanderthal
Breathing Room
Hard To Get
When Your Heart Is Broken
Fur Mink Augurs
Lost Or Stolen
Sharp Little Pieces
You Need To Shine
Thread So Thin
Your Side
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 9 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Bob Mould’s Here We Go Crazy finds its best songs in the short, fizzing blasts that marry melody to menace - notably “Here We Go Crazy” and “Neanderthal”, which set the record’s tone with hooky choruses and rattling riffs. The album’s mid-section, including “When Your Heart Is Broken” and “Fur Mink Augurs”, digs into darker material but never loses Mould’s knack for turning pain into sing-along immediacy. By the third act, tracks like “You Need To Shine” and the closing “Your Side” push the record toward light and compassion, making clear why listeners ask about the best tracks on Here We Go Crazy and which songs stand out. The overall effect is a taut, invigorating set where the best songs are brief, bracing and unmistakably Mould.
Key Points
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The best song(s) are brisk, melodic blasts like “Here We Go Crazy” that pair catchy hooks with lyrical gravity.
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The album’s core strengths are stripped-back immediacy, melodic craft, and a three-act arc from uncertainty through darkness to emerging hope.
Themes
Critic's Take
Bob Mould keeps it blunt and brisk on Here We Go Crazy, the anthemic title track and the thrashy “Neanderthal” doing the heavy lifting in that classic Hüsker Dü vein. Wakefield hears Mould’s truth-telling voice in the rush of “Here We Go Crazy” and the unsettling reflection of “Neanderthal”, while “Lost Or Stolen” channels Ian Curtis and adds darker texture. Brighter moments like “Thread So Thin” and “Your Side” provide tidy celebrations of unconditional love, keeping the record from becoming relentlessly grim. The result is a 30-minute, 11-song sprint that trades maximum distortion for focused songwriting, which is why fans asking "best songs on Here We Go Crazy" will point to the title track, “Neanderthal” and “Lost Or Stolen”.
Key Points
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The title track is best for its anthemic, Sugar-like sonics and centrality to the album's throwback energy.
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The album's core strengths are raw honesty, concise songwriting, and a balance of darker themes with moments of love.
Themes
Critic's Take
Bob Mould returns with Here We Go Crazy, a record where the best songs - notably “Lost or Stolen”, “Hard to Get” and “Neanderthal” - crystallize his mix of fury and tenderness. The title track and “Neanderthal” supply Sugar-fueled rage and worn-down lyrics, while “Lost or Stolen” stands out as a tearjerker with one of his most affecting vocal performances. Power-pop “When Your Heart Is Broken” and the heavy “Sharp Little Pieces” expand the album's emotional reach, and the closer “By Your Side” leaves a quietly sweeping final thought. This is an album of clear-eyed songs that help you keep fighting, which is precisely what makes these the best tracks on Here We Go Crazy.
Key Points
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“Lost or Stolen” is best for its heartbreaking lyric and one of Mould’s most affecting vocal performances.
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The album’s core strengths are its blend of furious rock and tender, rallying lyrics that keep fighting amid despair.
Themes
Critic's Take
On Bob Mould's Here We Go Crazy, the best songs - notably “When Your Heart is Broken” and “Hard To Get” - crystallize his knack for mixing anthemic tunefulness with raw urgency. Jon Dolan writes in a voice that admires the mountainous sweep of “Breathing Room” and the pounding clarity of “Neanderthal”, insisting these are among the best tracks on Here We Go Crazy because they pair oceanic guitar buzz with teaming melody. The review keeps returning to the record's blend of aggression and melody, making clear why listeners asking "best songs on Here We Go Crazy" should start with “When Your Heart is Broken” and “Hard To Get”.
Key Points
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“When Your Heart Is Broken” is the best song because it combines anthem-scale tunefulness with urgent emotion, rivaling his classic work.
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The album's core strengths are its blend of pounding aggression, oceanic guitar textures, and accrued wisdom about aging and resilience.
Themes
Cl
Critic's Take
Bob Mould's Here We Go Crazy feels less like a manifesto and more like a survival manual, with the best songs - notably “Neanderthal” and “You Need To Shine” - delivering the record's fiercest truths and its most consoling moments. The reviewer writes in that familiar, plainspoken way that spots Mould's knack for melody even when he claims to be keeping things simple, and it is “Neanderthal” that registers as the album's fiercest moment while “You Need To Shine” offers the communal balm the songs reach for. Together these tracks crystallise why fans will call this one of his most immediately satisfying records in years, equal parts bite and solace. The record's small victories and clear-eyed hope make it one of Mould's most approachable late-career statements.
Key Points
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"Neanderthal" is the album's emotional peak, a fiercely autobiographical fight-or-flight song.
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The album's core strengths are plainspoken songwriting, melodic craft, and a blend of bite and consoling hope.
Themes
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Critic's Take
In his usual terse, reverent way Sam Lambeth finds the best songs on Here We Go Crazy to be its title-track and the buoyant “Breathing Room” - the former shifting from dense guitar chug to anthemic release, the latter bursting into an uplifting chorus. He praises “When Your Heart Is Broken” as proof that Mould's power-pop craft remains undimmed, and singles out “Fur Mink Augurs” and “Neanderthal” for fans who prefer a feral, thrashy edge. Lambeth keeps the tone both admiring and wry, noting the album balances dour contemplation with shards of sweetness that make these tracks standouts.
Key Points
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The title track is best because it crystallises Mould's blend of dense guitar and anthemic release.
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The album's core strengths are taut, jagged melodies that balance dour contemplation with shards of sweetness.
Themes
Re
Critic's Take
In this review the best tracks on Here We Go Crazy are the muscular trio of “Neanderthal”, “Hard To Get” and the plaintive “Lost Or Stolen”, which together show why Bob Mould still writes incisive rock songs. The critic praises “Neanderthal” for thrashing and crashing like his Hüsker Dü days, celebrates “Hard To Get” as anthemic pop-punk, and singles out “Lost Or Stolen” as a particularly miserable, affecting acoustic centrepiece. The narrative frames the album as angrier and more introspective than recent work, yet still rocking hard and occasionally hopeful in its closing songs. The review thus answers who and what supply the best songs on Here We Go Crazy, emphasising those three tracks as standouts.
Key Points
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The best song is a hard-hitting rocker like "Neanderthal" because it channels Mould's Hüsker Dü-era fury with thrashing riffs.
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The album's core strengths are its blend of furious rock energy, introspective lyrics about loss and isolation, and moments of acoustic tenderness.