Sonic Youth
Born within an era of more conventional contemporaries, Sonic Youth’s penchant for throwing together young angst with a similar experimental noise as previously created by The Velvet Underground has proven to be, unpredictably, the voice for a generation.
The band was formed by two guitarists – Thurston Moore, from Connecticut and Lee Ranaldo, from Long Island – and bassist, Kim Gordon in 1981. Both Moore and Ranaldo arrived in Manhattan at the peak of the post-punk, NYC No Wave scene, Thurston’s girlfriend, Kim, already active within the thriving musical-time. Topping themselves off with occasional collaborations with avant-garde composer Glenn Branca, plus keyboardist Ann DeMarinis and drummer Richard Edson for concert-excursions, the group played their first ever live-show at Moore and Gordon’s own arranged ‘Noise Festival’.
Shortly afterwards, DeMarinis departed the act, and the newly-founded quartet released their debut eponymous EP on Branca’s Neutral Records label during ’82. The following year, however, was Edson’s turn to leave the group, in pursuit of an acting career, and his replacement arrived within the form of Bob Bert, who went on to drum on ‘Confusion Is Sex’ – their debut-LP in 1983. The next release soon after, an EP – ‘Kill Yr Idols’ – was released on a German label, Zensor.
Early the following year, Thurston Moore attempted to arrange the band a contract with British indie-label Doublevision, but the company wasn’t interested. Yet, one of the owners – Paul Smith – took an admirable leap from his present position as one of the co-owners of Doublevision to releasing the ‘Youth’s records on his new imprint, Blast First, Smith soon scoring a distribution-deal with Rough Trade to further the band’s name and music.
\'The Simpsons\'/Sonic Youth Image, Copyright \'The Simpsons\' 1996
After and amidst even more releases, it was their new album, ‘Bad Moon Rising’, the group’s first for Blast First, which got the press talking and interest heightening, and Bert was soon replaced with the more permanent Steve Shelley. Offers from major-labels arrived following this surge of activity, and the foursome chose to sign with STT, the people behind Black Flag and Hüsker Dü, soon releasing ‘EVOL’ in 1986, achieving college-radio air-time and further press notoriety.
Yet, it was the band’s follow-up – ‘Daydream Nation’, a double-album – which really got the ball rolling. Still deemed by many as the band’s finest work to date, its frantic pace and relentless energy, which spawned such numbers as the underground hit ‘Teen Age Riot’, enabled considerable popularity – sadly not aided by Enigma Records’ poor distribution and eventual bankruptcy, which meant that many music-stores were unable to stock the release. Ironically, this prompted a huge demand which greeted the LP with even further relish at the time.
The band moved on to DGC, and signed a contract promising them complete, creative control, and the chance for the members to act as A&R for the label. Their major-label debut, ‘Goo’, of 1990, proved a more focussed effort and gave the band their first top-100 record, Neil Young soon inviting the guys on tour with him across the US. Their next full-length, the Butch Vig-produced ‘Dirty’, soon went gold upon its release, and coincided with tours with Mudhoney and Nirvana – who the group incidentally introduced to DGC – possessing a fuller, pop-grunge sound, and bringing with it hit singles such as ‘100%’ and ‘Sugar Kane’.
Chart-wise, their most popular indentation was ‘94’s ‘Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star’, but reactions were mixed, and the group took time out for the now-married Moore and Gordon to bring up their first child, Coco Haley. The next year, a headline-slot on the US Lollapalooza tour gave them the finances to open their own studio, and ‘Washing Machine’ was spawned, garnering the band their strongest reviews since ‘Daydream Nation’. And, after further EPs on Sonic Youth’s own SYR label, 1998 featured ‘A Thousand Leaves’ – the grand pre-cursor to 2K’s ‘NYC Ghosts & Flowers’, their most challenging work to date. With Jim O’ Rourke having worked with the act for the last couple of releases, his position was further solidified on 2002’s ‘Murray Street’ – which was both produced and played on by O’ Rourke, who even tours with the band currently.
Prolific, unique and unexpected, Sonic Youth remain one of the world’s greatest alt-music treasures.
OFFICIAL SITE: With details on how to create your own DIY Sonic Youth T-shirts and stickers, let alone high quality streams of video and audio material, this is an essential site to check out.