POLL YR. IDOLS: The official SONIC YOUTH RESULTS thread!

You guys don't deserve Steve.

Even you didn't vote for him!

I didn't vote for a favourite band member btw. I almost never have a favourite member of a band, most especially with a band like this where the ensemble playing is so much the point (to the point where we have trouble identifying which guitarist is playing what).

I didn't vote, I did a list but I am a little too shy.

I voted in this poll, like the band, have most of their records...but I find Thurston & Kim insufferable. anytime I read anything that those said, or hear them talk, I want to throw their records in the trash.

honestly i don't think any list of best SY album covers shouldn't include Washing Machine

― seanpennderizer (some dude), Saturday, May 11, 2013 1:39 AM (9 hours ago)

Sadly, it received just one vote, just like A Thousand Leaves, Confusion Is Sex, Goodbye 20th Century, Sonic Nurse and The Whitey Album

― ArchCarrier, Saturday, May 11, 2013 1:41 AM (9 hours ago)

all of which are less ugly than all of the 2nd and 3rd place finishers, w/the possible exception of bad moon rising.

(lol, just noticed some dude's handle)

Seriously? I don't at all see the appeal of the Washing Machine and ATL covers.

http://i.imgur.com/Cm4HUkG.png

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51GA9bBKSpL.jpg
10. Dirty
(25 points, 7 votes)

washing machine cover is clean, simple & rather clever, imo.

ATL cover is awfully a bit heavy-handed, but well-designed, texturally interesting. plus i like marnie weber.

http://991.com/NewGallery/Sonic-Youth-Confusion-Is-Sex-277107.jpg
9. Confusion Is Sex
(26 points, 8 votes)

^ my favorite SY cover, that and sav's "death valley 69" drawing

(we are counting down ALBUMS now, not COVERS :)

http://sleevage.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/sonicyouth_record.jpg
8. Washing Machine
(27 points, 9 votes)

http://cdn.7static.com/static/img/sleeveart/00/019/238/0001923899_500.jpg
7. Sonic Nurse
(29 points, 12 votes)

Steve is my second favourite band member, if that helps him sleep at night.

http://criticalmassesmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/badmooncover.jpeg
6. Bad Moon Rising
(33 points, 10 votes)

too low.

http://www.drawuslines.com/wp-content/themes/tma/images/bg/Murray-Street.jpg
5. Murray Street
(34 points, 13 votes)

too low

figure goo's up next?

Nope.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6qkdbcy2N1rxa0n6o1_500.jpg
4. A Thousand Leaves
(35 points, 12 votes)

dang! slap me silly. okay w this though.

Goo is right where it belongs, at 11 or 12.

yup. it's my least favourite of their albums.

Huh. Surprised at A Thousand Leaves placing so high.

If I were voting 100% based on how good the albums sounded to me when I was listening over the past week, I might have voted for Murray Street (or POSSIBLY Sonic Nurse) over Evol, despite some of the reservations I mentioned on the other thread.

xposts There was a lot of love for ATL on the first thread. It doesn't hold up that great for me on the whole, despite a lot of good ideas and some excellent moments. I didn't end up voting for a single song from it.

It's the Macaulay Culkin effect.

ATL would sit just outside my top 5.

Notice the jump in points:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RD8fe3qwL.jpg
3. Evol
(71 points, 20 votes)

Notice the jump in points:

yeah, wow. but otm.

p.s. i like goo

Dirty is so underrated ;_;. #3VOL is my number one but Dirty had the most songs on my ballot

I'd put Goo over Dirty but I think I'd have difficulty arguing with any order of the top 9 (or the top 9 I'm now boldly assuming), I can definitely understand why each would be a favourite for someone.

http://eil.com/Gallery/188066b.jpg
2. Sister
(91 points, 29 votes)

And of course
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4gDLlfzH6WM/UPYRFhoElUI/AAAAAAAABoE/UM7TFoVK5Tc/s1600/sonicyouthdaydreamnatio.jpg
1. Daydream Nation
(107 points, 30 votes)

Goo is better than any of the albums that came after it - they never fully recovered after the Dirty nadir. Kim's post-Goo voice is mostly intolerable with few exceptions.

Voted Kim fave member to help liberate her from male, white, corporate oppression. Always liked her songs best. Can't stand Thurston and Lee's bad beat poetry songs are overrated.

Never got the praise of DN cover. Voted BMR. EVOL cover is better than DN.

Full album results:
01. Daydream Nation (107 points, 30 votes)
02. Sister (91 points, 29 votes)
03. Evol (71 points, 20 votes)
04. A Thousand Leaves (35 points, 12 votes)
05. Murray Street (34 points, 13 votes)
06. Bad Moon Rising (33 points, 10 votes)
07. Sonic Nurse (29 points, 12 votes)
08. Washing Machine (27 points, 9 votes)
09. Confusion Is Sex (26 points, 8 votes)
10. Dirty (25 points, 7 votes)
11. Goo (23 points, 10 votes)
12. Rather Ripped (8 points, 4 votes)
13. Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star (7 points, 2 votes)
14. SYR9 (5 points, 1 vote)
15. (TIE) Smart Bar Chicago 1985 (4 points, 1 vote)
15. (TIE) Sonic Youth (4 points, 1 vote)
17. Kill Yr Idols EP (3 points, 2 votes)
18. (TIE) NYC Ghosts & Flowers (2 points, 1 vote)
18. (TIE) Sonic Death (2 points, 1 vote)
18. (TIE) The Whitey Album (2 points, 1 vote)
21. (TIE) Goodbye 20th Century (1 point, 1 vote)
21. (TIE) Hits Are for Squares (1 point, 1 vote)
21. (TIE) Silver Session (For Jason Knuth) (1 point, 1 vote)
21. (TIE) SYR3 (1 point, 1 vote)
21. (TIE) The Eternal (1 point, 1 vote)

Alright, that's it for today. I'm taking a break tomorrow, but check this space on Monday for the results of the song poll.
Good night, everybody!

Lee's bad beat poetry songs

more obvious during the Geffen era but he becomes more graceful sometime after Washing Machine.

Kim's post-Goo voice is mostly intolerable with few exceptions.

disagree, but i was asking earlier where she acquired the strangled whisper/scream voice that, imo, only really becomes a problem on ATL. and yeah, she started doing that on dirty: "shoot", "drunken butterfly", "orange rolls". but i love those songs! and she's done good work post-dirty. i like her on experimental and washing machine, count a few of her sonic nurse and rather ripped tracks among SY's best.

man I am wondering if you just hate ATL's pacing, where Kim's aggro noisepunk is allowed to completely disrupt the beatific calm the other two are cultivating, rather than Kim's aggro noisepunk in and of itself (which to me doesn't blot out the autumnal groovejamz but just inverts their beauty/noise ratio, and offers interesting counterpoint, but I've made this case before blah blah blah...)

(that was to contenderizer, btw)

very interesting/weird album results -- maybe people were voting strategically for underrated stuff or something? that's what i did -- my ballot was Murray St/Jet Set/Sonic Nurse/Sonic Death/The Eternal because i figured the '80s studio classics didn't really need my vote. in any event now i feel bad for stuff like Goo and Confusion now, those albums are pretty central to the band's identity and catalog.

i wonder if this means A Thousand Leaves tracks will do super well? i kind of assumed it'd just lodge a couple songs into the lower reaches of the poll. how many are we doing anyway, top 50?

"Lee's bad beat poetry songs"

more obvious during the Geffen era but he becomes more graceful sometime after Washing Machine.

― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, May 11, 2013 1:24 PM (1 minute ago)

yeah, poetry can be a problem w SY. i'm rarely bothered by lee's poetry styles because they worked so v well early on: "in the kingdom", "pipeline/kill time", "me & jill". as a result, even when he makes me wince ("skip tracer"), i'm likely to give him a pass.

thurston sometimes bugs the crap out of me though. i don't believe he has much invested in most of what he says. that works great for goofy nonsense like "mary-christ" and "youth against fascism", but it makes vocal sections of "wildflower soul" and the "hits of sunshine" intolerable.

there's a story in "Goodbye 20th Century" about how Steve finally snaps w/r/t Thurston's habit of forgetting/making up lyrics when they played live, yelling "they're YOUR songs! you WROTE them!!!"

when they played "Wildflower Soul" live Thurston would stop singing even sooner than he does on the record and just focus on the jam.

Ha, "Small Flowers Crack Concrete" was his lyrical nadir. I was going to say that whatever you think of Lee's beat poetry, it's better than Thurston's.

"Hits of Sunshine" is all about Moore's faux stoner impersonation (BLOOZE AND HAY-KOOOO)

man I am wondering if you just hate ATL's pacing, where Kim's aggro noisepunk is allowed to completely disrupt the beatific calm the other two are cultivating, rather than Kim's aggro noisepunk in and of itself

i'm not sure why i single out kim's ATL tracks as notable failures, given that i like roughly similar stuff on earlier and later albums. maybe it is, as you say, the uncomfortable contrast between T & L's blissed-out hippie vibes and kim's artpunk harshness.

still, i can't escape the sense that the musical support she's getting is halfhearted at best. "orange rolls" and "arthur doyle" at least wash the monkey wrenching down with dumb-catchy riffs. i also miss the personality and offhand wit of stuff like "quest for the cup" and "washing machine".

love the Kim Gordon tracks. she always brings the seething, wounded viciousness that drags the band back to NYC, back to urban decay, squall, desolation, desperation. her tracks can be embarrassing and shrill and harsh, but she still cracks the coolness and detachment of the band's later autopilot years w/ a ragged delivery that brings a missing element of urgency.

still, i can't escape the sense that the musical support she's getting is halfhearted at best. "orange rolls" and "arthur doyle" at least wash the monkey wrenching down with dumb-catchy riffs. i also miss the personality and offhand wit of stuff like "quest for the cup" and "washing machine".

I like "Orange Rolls" but for me, "Contre le Sexisme" and "Heather Angel" >>>>> the rest of the songs you mention.

well said! xp

also, "Female Mechanic" rules.