In the wake of Hüsker Dü's demise in early 1988, Workbook became a talking point even before it was released in April 1989. Bob's solo debut paved the way for him to have a career as a singular musician and songwriter in his own right, apart from the baggage of his previous band. It set the tone for his next 30 years as a creator and influence. Workbook was so high-profile, in fact, that it's easy to forget that he had other things on his plate at the time, and that his creative life could have gone in a different direction entirely.
Even while Hüsker Dü was still active, Bob produced Soul Asylum's Made to Be Broken in 1986, supporting his fellow Minnesotans, as well as Articles of Faith's In This Life in 1987. During the Workbook period (1988-1989), he wrote a ton of poems and short stories, fragments of which turned up in his solo debut. Bob's most concentrated work as a producer, though, came because of his love of singles rather than albums. Early in his memoir, Bob recalls how his father would bring up old 7-inches from his general store's jukebox, and how those little records sustained him during a difficult childhood and adolescence. Pop singles were his first loves. So, when Bob got a little money in his pockets (courtesy of Hüsker Dü's deal with Warner Bros.), it seemed natural to want to start a independent label. Given how much of Bob's creative life is rooted at Maxwell's, Steve Fallon's legendary club, it seemed even more right to get it going in New Jersey. He joined up with Fallon and Nick Hill, a DJ for WFMU-FM, the state's acclaimed free-form radio station, and suddenly Bob had a little label.
The Singles Only Label (SOL) put out its first recording in 1988, the year before Mould released Workbook. Singles Only was exactly what its name said—the company produced 7-inch vinyl singles, and only 7-inches. The artists produced represent a pretty great roster of 1990s indie-rock talent—Daniel Johnston, Mojo Nixon, Grant Lee Buffalo, Syd Straw, Yo La Tengo, Chris Stamey and Will Rigby of the dB's, Morphine, and even Moby. This was Bob's musical community, his peers in the burgeoning alt-rock world, the people he toured with and on whose couches he often slept. Practically every act SOL released had played at Max well's at some point. So, with this label, Bob paid tribute to the scene that sustained and influenced him. He gave back to it, too: When Bob formed Sugar in 1992 and just knew it was gonna be a great band, he released the band's first single (“Helpless”/“Changes”, a nice one-two punch) as a 7-inch on SOL.
In its visual design, SOL also paid homage to those tiny labels and independent companies that disseminated those early rock 'n' roll singles that Bob loved, particularly Sun Records. Most of SOL's releases featured a generic cutout sleeve and sticker, just like those old Sun and Stax 7-inches.
This could have been Bob's life post-Hüsker Dü, as a community-building record producer and label head. Indeed, SOL's output was closer musically to Workbook than to the hardcore of Hüsker Dü's roots—more jangle-pop and singable melodies than distortion and political fury. Instead, SOL fizzled out in 1994, after releasing close to 60 singles. Still, it's worth remembering that SOL was happening all through Bob Mould's first solo period.
