Ubuntu 16 and MySQL Fun

Did a fresh install of Ubuntu 16 LTS on Azure and installed MySQL with defaults (no password). For whatever reason, I could only connect to the database via sudo. I tried all sort of grant options to no avail. Finally this link here helped https://askubuntu.com/questions/766334/cant-login-as-mysql-user-root-from-normal-user-account-in-ubuntu-16-04