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

Damnit Hellhouse, don't make me feel even badder about leaving it off! (good post otm etc....)

Uggh, the correct word is "worse"

bit surprised to see Drunken Butterfly so low, but also realising that Sonic Youth have an awful lot of good songs.

from wayyy upthread:

100% is great but I watched the video for the first time in ages last week and HOLY COW it is so 1992 fashion it is insane. Dirty Boots is pretty hysterically grunged out too

― da croupier, Monday, May 13, 2013 10:26 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That was a big part of the point with "Dirty Boots", wasn't it?

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, May 13, 2013 10:33 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

was it entirely tongue-in-cheek? The stage dives are hilarious but I didn't totally get the sense it was knowingly so

― da croupier, Monday, May 13, 2013 10:36 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh, I didn't think it was tongue-in-cheek but I think it was pretty deliberately meant to celebrate alt/grunge culture.

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, May 13, 2013 10:39 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

So yeah, no, it probably wasn't meant to be hysterical.

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, May 13, 2013 10:40 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah 'dirty boots' vid was conscious valentine to a particular moment in the culture ('sugar kane' vid was also but there's some definite tongue in cheek there, whereas 'dirty boots' is pretty unabashedly romantic albeit not humourless).

― balls, Monday, May 13, 2013 11:06 PM (Yesterday)

Female lead in Dirty Boots video is wearing Nirvana t-shirt + video was released about 6 months prior to Nevermind so careful with that revisionism...

my god: I forgot to vote for "Kissability."

great post, hellhouse, cheers

i dig both "kissability" and "drunken butterfly", but am cool w not voting for either

like so so many other kim tracks, "kissability" seems as though it deserves to score high on lyrics alone. i place at least equal emphasis on tunes/rocks/jams, though, and on that level, it doesn't floor me.

not, at least, as much so as several other DN tracks

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/064.jpg
64. The World Looks Red
Confusion Is Sex, 1983
(108 points, 8 votes)

You know, similar to Hellhouse (i.e., his statement about the musical approach on Flower being "all v. inspiring to a young, guitar-mangling Hellhouse w/ minimal skillz"), seeing SY perfom "100%" on TV when Dirty came out was a real revelation for me. I hadn't seen them live at that point, but the general artlessness and simplicity of the approach (hit a couple of notes in unison and then freak out between the notes) was super influential and freed me the hell up. I never really worried about being "good" at guitar again (for better or worse).

Oh man, the Letterman dogpile was the first time I saw them perform live. Thought they seemed like the worst band ever, but I wised up later.

Yeah, not even sure I processed it fully, but I had become a fan and was totally mesmerized by some of the guitar on Goo etc., so to see them just going for it like that erased a lot of the negative experiences I had had trying to play guitar and watch folks my age pull of pretty accomplished shit on guitar. It gave me license to be bad, as long as I was bad in an interesting way! (I could not even play barre chords or anything, so even watching punk bands and shit made guitar look hard to me for some reason.) Probably misguided in retrospect, but still, I learned to focus on finding a sound and milk a few notes I liked and not overthink it so much partly because of that experience.

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/063.jpg
63. Protect Me You
Confusion Is Sex, 1983
(110 points, 6 votes)

That was in my top 5 or close.

The kind of counterpoint between the guitar and bass parts on "Free City Rhymes": I can't think offhand of another rock band that has done something quite like that. Thurston's vocal melodic line is a bit more ambitious than what he usually does too.

"Death to Our Friends" and "Drunken Butterfly" are two that would probably make my top 50. "Ghost Bitch" is amazing imo. Top 10. I think I get from that what other people get from "Flower". (Not that I dislike "Flower".)

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/062.jpg
62. Incinerate
Rather Ripped, 2006
(113 points, 10 votes)

Only thing I voted for from the last two song-based albums. Just an infectious guitar pop tune.

clearly my fave from "rather ripped". it flows so smoothly, absolutely stunning song and not very typical for sonic youth. almost too sweet.

Something about the guitars reminds me of the Stones. Not sure exactly why.

Guitars + drums?

"Incinerate" is gorgeous – and, yes, it reminds me of "Factory Girl" a bit, no?

Last one for today. Everybody's watching Eurovision anyway. Tomorrow we'll cover numbers 60-41.
http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/061.jpg
61. Unmade Bed
Sonic Nurse, 2004
(114 points, 10 votes)

RECAP:
100. Secret Girl (50 points, 4 votes)
99. Saucer-Like (52 points, 3 votes)
98. Paper Cup Exit (55 points, 4 votes)
97. Computer Age (57 points, 4 votes)
96. The Neutral (58 points, 4 votes)
95. Pattern Recognition (60 points, 5 votes)
94. Little Trouble Girl (60 points, 6 votes)
93. Anagrama (60 points, 8 votes)
92. In the Kingdom #19 (62 points, 3 votes)
91. (TIE) The Wonder (63 points, 3 votes)
91. (TIE) Dude Ranch Nurse (63 points, 3 votes)
89. She's in a Bad Mood (64 points, 6 votes)
88. Reena (64 points, 7 votes)
87. (TIE) Stones (72 points, 6 votes)
87. (TIE) Genetic (72 points, 6 votes)
85. I'm Insane (74 points, 4 votes, 1 #1)
84. NYC Ghosts & Flowers (79 points, 6 votes)
83. Androgynous Mind (80 points, 4 votes)
82. (TIE) Flower (81 points, 6 votes)
82. (TIE) 100% (81 points, 6 votes)
80. Sweet Shine (81 points, 7 votes)
79. Providence (82 points, 4 votes)
78. Rain King (82 points, 6 votes)
77. Ghost Bitch (84 points, 4 votes)
76. Death to Our Friends (85 points, 3 votes)
75. Chapel Hill (87 points, 6 votes)
74. (TIE) Into the Groove(y) (88 points, 5 votes)
74. (TIE) Cinderella's Big Score (88 points, 5 votes)
72. Macbeth (89 points, 6 votes)
71. Jams Run Free (89 points, 7 votes)
70. Free City Rhymes (94 points, 8 votes)
69. Superstar (97 points, 5 votes)
68. Tokyo Eye (100 points, 5 votes)
67. Making the Nature Scene (106 points, 7 votes)
66. Drunken Butterfly (107 points, 7 votes)
65. Kissability (108 points, 7 votes)
64. The World Looks Red (108 points, 8 votes)
63. Protect Me You (110 points, 6 votes)
62. Incinerate (113 points, 10 votes)
61. Unmade Bed (114 points, 10 votes)

Spotify playlist

Man, the Top Fifty will be fun.

Makes me a little sad that we've probably seen the last of the post-2002 records now

- 7 of my top 30 have placed.
- i don't think all the other 23 will be in te top 60. 20 would be a lot.
- my highest up till now was "into the groove(y)" which i had on #4.

Makes me a little sad that we've probably seen the last of the post-2002 records now
You sure? ;-)

btw i am just listening to syr5, the kim gordon plus that japanese chick plus dj olive album and it is pretty good, i think i have never really listened to it. i think it beats "psychic hearts" easily as best side-project. it is quite varied with lots of interesting rhythms.

I'd definitely take it over Psychic Hearts but I never really felt like KG was adding that much to it. I'd much rather listen to Mori's own work.

I would think there are quite a few post-"Murray St" songs still to place, but I guess we'll see. "100%" the only song to place so far that I would have thought was much more highly regarded for some reason (though I didn't vote for it), so it will be interesting to see when stuff I consider to be "hits" start showing up. Cool spread of songs so far for sure.

Or listen to her with Zorn or Douglas.

xpost

xp she is adding her voice which is quite a lot. plus a little guitar.

Oh, I know. What I mean is that I don't think the music benefits that much from KG's contributions.

"100%" is the only single from the Geffen years that leave me cold.

for many years i had the poster of 100% on the door to my cellar room. i bought it after an open-door concert in 1992 or 1993 when they played the lorelei festival near the rhine. new order were there as well but compared to sonic youth were ridiculous.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f1/Sonic_Youth_100_percent.jpg/220px-Sonic_Youth_100_percent.jpg

open-air concert

4 of mine have placed. Don't know if that means I'm very with the majority or against. I also haven't had much to say besides "I like this song, but didn't vote for it" or (occasionally) "I voted for this song", so I've mostly been keeping mum.

(Oh, and thanks for reminding me about Eurovision)

3 of mine have placed, including my #1 ("I'm Insane") and my #4 ("Making the Nature Scene").

Only 3 of mine so far as well, curious to see what might not make the cut.

xp sonic youth & eurovision? am i the only who finds that these two go together as well as cats and water? eurovision is everything i hate about popular music. the music is annoying rubbish, the show is terrible stupidity. to me it is pure hype, nothing else. total delusion.

6 of mine have placed. Looking at my ballot, I'm thinking that most of my songs will place, I'm mostly with the majority I think, except for a couple of odd personal favorites (I don't think many sonic youth fans like "the ineffable me" or "shoot" as much as I do).

I'm wondering where my #1 is going to place. It's one of those songs that rarely seems to get mentioned among the best sy songs, but that I'm sure pretty much everybody likes, though maybe not as much as me.

Six of mine have placed so far - four of them in the last five entries! Nice run there.

Nothing from Sister, Murray Street or The Eternal has placed yet right?

Listening to 'Rain King' right now, that little chuggy riff it goes into at 3:14 is so great.

Hey, you're 'alex in mainhattan' not 'Alex in NYC'. I think I'm well past the age where I can say 'x is everything I hate about popular music' without any irony. :)

that's a strange argument. should i start loving eurovision because i am old? that doesn't makes sense to me. the older i get the more difficult i get concerning music. the percentage of the music around me which is awful rises and rises. and i don't hink it is the declining quality of the music which is surrounding me. the reason is probably that i get more and more picky with each year. the probability that eurovision will ever be my bag is close to zero. without irony. ;-)

Oh, I'm not interested in arguing the merits of Eurovision (at least not here). It's fun, I find it hard to get worked up about 'manufactured music' etc. Anyway, my highest was Unmade Bed at 25.

Six of mine have placed this far

Makes me a little sad that we've probably seen the last of the post-2002 records now

― society is a lol, it makes me j/k to my friends (some dude), Tuesday, May 14, 2013 12:19 PM (1 hour ago)

would put good money on "turquoise boy" and "i love you golden blue", perhaps in the higher reaches. even odds on "rats" & "reena".

o wait, "reena" already showed. splash one