Ten Sonic Youth Highlights
We all live with our own personal regrets.
Anyhow, I compiled my own favorite moments with an ear towards what were also important moments for the band.
10) Kicking Bob Bert out of the band and replacing him with Steve Shelley: I don't think they kicked Bob out of the band, but it sounds cooler that way. I did see a documentary on the group where Thurston admitted that once Shelley was in the group they went from being a "kick-ass band" to being a "kiss-ass band," so the seeds of regret were sown deep in the group. Shelley must've signed a pretty iron-clad contract because over the past 25 years they haven't been able to get rid of him no how. He did change the band since he's been more adept at the "drum roll" from what I can hear, though his use of "metal" has been less adept.
9) Sister, the album: If I had to pick one Sonic Youth album above all others, it's this one. It has everything the band did well in its past along with what it would do well in the future. Catchy tunes, moody tunes, lots of cool, scraping sounds and soothing ones as well. A Crime cover and tons of originals that showed they were learning to write beyond just the experimental phase.
8) Daydream Nation (double album): Every band that wishes to be taken seriously must at some point make a "double album." Of course, the ensuing years led to the CD over vinyl and suddenly bands didn't record double albums but really long ones with little point. But this one was recorded with the idea that it had four sides and was epic in scope. This album also walked something like fourteen miles in the snow uphill both ways to get to school, but that's another issue.
7) Ciccone Youth: Did anyone truly enjoy The Whitey Album? I don't know. It was amusing and proves how much these guys really liked to get weird. The fact that they needed a side project to unleash their "alternative" side is pretty wild. It wasn't like their albums were these uptight pop productions.
6) Goo on DGC: Sonic Youth show up on a major label. Hell has frozen over and now the Eagles can officially reunite and Nirvana can sign to DGC without feeling like lame-o's. Nirvana immediately outsell Sonic Youth, which doesn't really bother the band, though it does make them wonder if they might have a shot at sneaking into the pop charts with a few clever disguises or a few catchy choruses.
5) "I Wanna Be Your Dog" on NBC's Night Music: There was a period in the late-80s and early 90s when music that was once figured to have no commercial potential suddenly found itself being taken seriously by enough people to suggest that maybe it wasn't so weird after all. Tom Waits, after all, was on his way to becoming a legend and he broke his throat years ago. Late night TV has always been a spot where you can sneak a few things in between the infomercials. So the sight of David Sanborn, the Indigo Girls, the late Hiram Bullock and Sonic Youth jamming out on the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog" didn't seem all that unusual. Surreal? Yes. But why not? NBC would sure cancel the show in due time, so why not freak out while you can?
4) Performing on July 4, 1992 in NYC's Central Park with Sun Ra opening: All I can say is, it sure was hot that day. A decade earlier, you probably couldn't have filled more than a very small rock club with either of these acts. But in 1992, you could pack Central Park. Sure, plenty of people were "curious onlookers," but that's still progress of some kind.
3) Rather Ripped: Having not heard their latest, I will just applaud them for their other fairly current release, Rather Ripped, which sounded much better than most bands who have been around for nearly thirty years. No female back-up singers. No horns. No phalanx of session musicians to play their parts. Bravo, guys. You still do the heavy lifting yourselves.
2) Headline 1995 Lollapalooza Tour: This is probably one of the reasons these sorts of things eventually fall apart. The brutal truth is Sonic Youth do not attract the kind of "numbers" on a consistent basis to really justify headlining a capitalist enterprise. They will always be a prestige act who appeal to a limited amount of people. It's just the way it is. They deserve to headline an "alternative" music festival, but I'm sure Green Day would be the act the kids come out to see.
1) Opening for Neil Young tour of 1990: I know quite a few Neil Young fans who hated sitting through Sonic Youth. Then they had to sit through Neil playing superloud with Crazy Horse, which apparently was more enjoyable to them. I've never thought of Sonic Youth as being particularly difficult music. It might not be to everyone's taste, but to get hostile to it indicates to me you didn't party properly in the parking lot beforehand, for which you only have yourself to blame.
