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

Fellow SY-heads, I need help with something that's been driving me nuts for a couple of weeks. Who is on the left in this photo from the Goo Demos cover?

http://www.coposlouchame.cz/foto_obaly/748071.jpg

It's some tv personality of the 70s, but I have completely forgotten her name. Part of me thinks she's a talk show host from that era.

Ha, that jukebox selection would annoy me too.

I actually like the vocal part on "Diamond Sea" well enough. Thurston's singing is what it is but I don't think it's especially bad on that track. The melody is quite simple and identical to the lead guitar melody but is pretty memorable imo, compared to "Sugar Kane" or "Hits of Sunshine". So I don't mind the YYYs' version. I still think the instrumental parts of "Diamond Sea" are pretty well-done, even if I wouldn't rank it as their most impressive work anymore. If I were to be really critical, the feedback shredding at the end probably goes on a little longer than it needs to.

Re sloppiness in "NYC Ghosts and Flowers": the intonation feels a bit off too. But clearly they were really precise before (e.g. on DN) and since (on the next two albums). So it was probably intentional: interesting to think about what they were going for. Someone suggested Pavement/GBV above. But also, it was at this time that Branca was telling players not to tune precisely (or to play in precise time) with each other. And this track seems like one of their most overtly Branca-influenced tracks.

man "Tokyo Eye" leading into "Making The Nature" scene is beautiful, they're like distant cousins

the little breakdown in "NYC Ghosts" in the 3rd minute with Steve doing the 4 snare hits, that feels kind of weak/sloppy to me (timing is inconsistent, once or twice he only does 3 hits). the crescendo later in the song feels clumsy too. he's never been a flawless drummer and often i think it suits the material but there are times like that where i think it kinda blows the mood and wish they'd done another take or punched it in.

fucking LOVE thurston's "the diamond sea" vocal: lyrics, tone, delivery, the whole thing. the other day i listened to it while driving through low hills in a light rain w occasional sunbreaks. lonely miles, gray-green and glowing. could not help becoming one w the sound and moving out across the sky. the car looked like a tiny thing from up there, this weird metal ant driven by a sad chunk of monkey meat.

btw Gavin thanks so much for doing the Spotify playlist. i noticed it's missing "The Wonder," you should be able to add it, it's its own track on the remastered Daydream Nation (the same one you pulled "Rain King" and "Providence" etc.) from.

Love the passage that begins around 8:00.
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"The World Looks Red" is so nuts, classic 'how the fuck do they even get guitars to sound like that?' song

Love the passage that begins around 8:00.

and the way it builds up starting around 11:00

all of it

Yeah, I just listened to the whole thing and it all still works for me.

The thing that gets me about NYCG&F is Lee's vocal, during the crescendo. Kind of yelling against a gale, the switching to long, haunting sung lines. Just works really well for me.

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/060.jpg
60. Society is a Hole
Bad Moon Rising, 1985
(115 points, 7 votes)

voted for that one, seems real

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/059.jpg
59. Eliminator Jr.
Daydream Nation, 1988
(119 points, 9 votes)

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/058.jpg
58. Green Light
Evol, 1986
(120 points, 6 votes)

Stoked "Eliminator Jr."'s showed up, great abrupt album closer. POOR BOY! RICH BOY! POOR RICH BOY COMING RIGHT THROUGH ME!

btw Gavin thanks so much for doing the Spotify playlist. i noticed it's missing "The Wonder," you should be able to add it, it's its own track on the remastered Daydream Nation (the same one you pulled "Rain King" and "Providence" etc.) from.

Ah, I think I added that from a different version of DN (UK Spotify has two or three listed) which must not be available on the US. I'll change it when I get in from work. 'Anagrama' is missing from Spotify altogether although the other three tracks from that EP are.

'Green Light' is one of my favourite songs on my favourite album, it still didn't make my top 30. One of the many 'catchy in spite of itself' Sonic Youth songs.

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/057.jpg
57. The Burning Spear
Sonic Youth, 1982
(124 points, 7 votes)

TOO LOW. Their best bassline?

Just trawling around YouTube looking for live performances of this, and came across this cover by Thee Oh Sees(!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwEWBZBVgkE

Wow, that's actually pretty good! Very faithful to the original.

First jump of more than 10 points:
http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/056.jpg
56. Kool Thing
Goo, 1990
(135 points, 7 votes)

wow, quite low for "Kool Thing." if we only did a top 50, i'd definitely be thinking that's next the entire time.

definitely happy "Eliminator Jr." made it, always my favorite part of the Trilogy. does that mean "Hyperstation" is the most popular part and still to come, or it's the least popular and missed the top 100? i really have no idea which is more likely.

As a very low-level Sonic Youth fan I didn't vote in this but Kool Thing would have been Top 10 for a dilettante like me. First SY song I heard iirc. Sounded like the cover of Goo come to life.

does that mean "Hyperstation" is the most popular part and still to come, or it's the least popular and missed the top 100? i really have no idea which is more likely.

The former imo.

I voted for "Green Light". I don't buy into the romanticism as much as I used to but it's still always a pleasure to hear this: it has energy, a good hook, and a great atmosphere and the dissonant breakdown is fantastic.

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/055.jpg
55. Titanium Exposé
Goo, 1990
(136 points, 7 votes, 1 #1)

Man, I would never do this to a guitar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAsgPdvyMAo

P cool performance though. That's the tour where I saw them do "Burning Spear", although iirc they weren't nearly this aggressive when I saw them.

Better sound and video, though no putting down guitars and whacking them on the stage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1YVPanmh0Q

I didn't vote for anything from the first EP but this might have made a top 50.

Ha, I never actually saw this before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQqYarShWWA

Did Ranaldo always play that song with a baseball bat??

"Titanium Expose" is fantastic, props to whoever made it their #1

Did Ranaldo always play that song with a baseball bat??

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Wednesday, May 15, 2013 7:57 AM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no, he used to play baseball with it

Ha

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/054.jpg
54. I Love You Golden Blue
Sonic Nurse, 2004
(138 points, 9 votes)

awesome, i hope i'd be proven wrong by that song doing well

it's amazing how many of these songs i can't even hum, even though i've definitely heard them all.

that said, a few of my votes are trickling in already; Green Light, in particular, came in super high on my ballot.

seeing titanium expose over kool thing baffles me. i've listened to the former plenty and have never been able to get into it.

I don't get why they keep saying SY is making their network television debut on Letterman when they appeared on David Sanborn's Night Music in 88!

'I Love You Golden Blue' makes me cry.

"Golden Blue" in my top five

too looooooow, i remember my first listen to it clearly, the melody snaking out of the noise was startlingly beautiful. (i was on a megabus, which may seem to ruin the profundity of the memory but tbh i have many good megabus music memories.)

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/053.jpg
53. Hoarfrost
A Thousand Leaves, 1998
(139 points, 9 votes)

Golden blue = pretty and deserving tho I didn't vote for it

"Hoarfrost" another top tenner for me, and my favorite Ranaldo track.

it is fine this morning to see "burning spear", "society is a hole", "i love you golden blue" (toldja) and "liminator jr." the last is the only one i actually voted for, but the rest definitely belong here.

"titanium" and "kool thing" are alright, but w/e. not a big fan of "hoarfrost" or "green light". flat vocals on the latter bug me, as they do on "starpower". it's a good song, don't get me wrong, but there are eight songs on evol i like better.

love that oh sees "burning spear" cover. sounds like hungover liquid liquid.

Fuck man, again, missed a bunch. First of all, "Burning Spear" way too low, thought this would crack the top 30 for sure. Awesome song, and a great album opener (first album no less). Thought "Society Is A Hole" would get a little more love as well, but it was a late cut for me.