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

WM is like 80% great, which is a winner in my book - it made my top 5 albums ballot

I think I like how bass-driven it feels. Someone said upthread that it carried over some of the "bluesy" quality of EJST&NS - is that an accurate description? Maybe i should check that album out.

Love that cover of "Computer Age"; v.appropriate for SY's uh curation instincts or w/e that they'd cover off Trans before the 80s had ended.

I'm a pretty sporadic fan of SY but I voted "Computer Age" super high (#3?). Waaaaay better than the original, it seems built for SY: Moore's voice on the sing-songy "weeks and months & years" parts is my favorite vocal of his, against the squall.

Yeah, without your vote it would have been #130 or so.

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/096.jpg
96. The Neutral
Rather Ripped, 2006
(58 points, 4 votes)

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/095.jpg
95. Pattern Recognition
Sonic Nurse, 2004
(60 points, 5 votes)

i'm loving the photos!!!

"Pattern Rec" was one of my votes, one of the few tracks from that album that i actually love

did we ever do a pavement poll like this one?

it was one of the first, actually: PAVEMENT • TRAX • POLL rEsULtS!!!

"Pattern Recognition" smokes

I hope I Love You Golden Blue gets in.

"The Neutral" one of mine. So is "Paper Cup Exit."

i am kicking myself for missing that pavement poll

praying "Becuz" places somewhere in the top 100

i'm loving the photos!!!

― Beatrix Kiddo (Raymond Cummings), Monday, May 13, 2013 5:41 AM (12 minutes ago)

yeah, me too. nice work, ac.

Pattern Recognition is the first one of mine to place. One of the songs I rediscovered while listening to the albums the last couple of weeks. I think at the time Sonic Nurse was released I kept going straight to "Unmade Bed" and thus never gave this one a fair chance.

cannot forgive the word "coolhunter". will fight to the death. i cringe at it like the "what becomes a mirrorshade most?" line in g-force. cyberpunk not kind to SY.

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/094.jpg
94. Little Trouble Girl
Washing Machine, 1995
(60 points, 6 votes)

i didn't vote for this, but nice to see it's getting respect. dug it heavily at the time of WM's release but ultimately there's something "gimmicky" about it, which is (maybe) why it didn't rate my ballot in comparison with the rest of the discography.

"Little Trouble Girl" is a song i always kind of overlook as not a particular favorite but when i actually listen to it and think about it i'm like damn, that is a unique song. so many Kim Gordon songs nobody else in the world could have written.

i think kim will win this tracks poll, and handily.

didn't vote for "little trouble girl" but i do love it. almost a lullaby, if a creepy one.

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/093.jpg
93. Anagrama
SYR 1, 1997
(60 points, 8 votes)

- Murder Jeans

Hearing "Slow Revolution" for the first time - lovely, lovely song.

woohoo "Anagrama"!

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/092.jpg
92. In the Kingdom #19
Evol, 1986
(62 points, 3 votes)

didn't vote for that, but very glad it's here.

kinda excited to revisit all the songs on this i haven't bothered to hear in years

Man, missed a lot here already. Glad the rollout starts at 100! Already a few on here I was sad to cut, so glad others threw them a vote ("Saucer-like" in particular).

I think "Paper Cup Exit" is a great song, only one here I voted for though it wasn't super-high on my ballot. Don't think it is too surprising that most of Lee's songs will place, cause he really doesn't have that many. Less opportunities for them to get lost in the shuffle (i.e., I had a lot more opportunities to say to myself that a particular Kim or Thurston song had a better equivalent on an album).

"Anagrama" is hitting the spot right now.

Yeah, I that is my favorite SYR song/jam. If I hadn't decided to ignore all SYR records for my ballot it would have made it.

Little Trouble Girl & Kingdom 19 = songs I like a lot but didn't vote for. So, hooray!

considered putting Anagrama super high on my ballot, but in the end it got pegged back to 26th place. still, a little surprised that it didn't fare better.

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/091.jpg
91. (TIE) The Wonder
Daydream Nation, 1988
(63 points, 3 votes)

Awesome picture.

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/090.jpg
91. (TIE) Dude Ranch Nurse
Sonic Nurse, 2004
(63 points, 3 votes)

fuck yeah. "dude ranch nurse" is one of the late-period tracks i really regret cutting. super catchy and not a little sad.

but i have to call the oblig "too low!" on "in the kingdom". #14 on my ballot and the first of my votes to show.

yes! didn't think this one would make it. The other song from Sonic Nurse I voted for.

"Dude Ranch Nurse" is one of the songs that originally turned me off of Sonic Nurse, and I am not really sure why now. Just wasn't buying that album when it came out, seemed like weaker rehashes of stuff they had done more successfully on other albums (as I stated above already I guess), but when I listen to it these days I just hear them using the vocabulary they had developed in new ways, i.e., casually throwing in a lot of changes, turnarounds, and little moments and jams into each song. Just a really well-crafted and textured record. I can see why almost every song on Sonic Nurse would get a vote as someone's favorite on the record. I didn't vote for "Dude Ranch Nurse" but am not sad to see it place above one of the songs I voted for off of it.

Well, not really "new" ways, but they seemed to be stringing the vocabulary together pretty effortlessly in a good way, for me it makes the record flow really well and not drag at all.

Yeah Kingdom deserved better, was pretty high on my ballot

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/089.jpg
89. She's in a Bad Mood
Confusion Is Sex, 1983
(64 points, 6 votes)

Think this was a casualty of a hasty ballot for me. Glad it placed, but maybe too low?

I remember cutting this one because I already had 4 other songs from this era, I agree that it is probably too low.

Amazing track. The dissonance is almost terrifying. According to Chris Lawrence's page, the prepared guitar is actually Thurston, not Lee. My mistake there.

good, but not a full-on favorite. okay w the placing, as long as the early stuff gets decent representation in the higher rungs.

So this is the Thurston/Lee rhythm/lead division I tend to expect when I can distinguish them at all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N0jNLvd7Ds

I spent so much time on the later records that I completely forgot about tracks like 'Bad Mood'. It's too bad, because it's awesome - in the literal sense of the word.