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

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.

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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.

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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

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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.)

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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.

Also, let it be noted that already a post-2002 has crept in, and I am sure it won't be the last. "I Love You Golden Blue" really is beautiful, glad to see "Sonic Nurse" still showing up in the results.

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52. Becuz
Washing Machine, 1995
(143 points, 8 votes)

FUCK YEAH

This vote was close to #15 for me, I think

Correction, was #12

Alright, this is the first one I really don't understand. I would cut this song from "Washing Machine" if I could, don't understand it as an album opener at all. Guess it's the middle section folks like?

me too. i like the picture AC chose tho. it effectively communicates the badness of the song.

Wow,woah, we are on totally different SY wavelengths

I simply don't get how anyone can loathe this song

Sorry Raymond, guess so. Just not my favorite Kim moment, especially on that album. I love the title track and "Little Trouble Girl".

And yeah, agree that that picture is awesome. I find "Junkie's Promise" to be worse than "Becus", and really it's surprising that I like Washing Machine so much, but it was the CD era and I just skipped those two songs whenever I listened to that album. "Saucer-like" essentially became my WM opener.

Junkie's Promise DOES suck, I find common cause with you there. Worse, the thing always made me think of Kurt Cobain.

Really I don't "loathe" it, I just don't think it is a particularly strong Kim song. 7 other people were on board though.

I would keep "Becuz" over "Junkie's Promise" any day of the week though. Would have made my "most hated tracks" ballot if there had been one.

Saucer Like was a jam; the other lee song on that album always left me cold

11 out of 9 ain't bad

It's cool, grandavis. After all you're talking to someone who admits having no use for any of DN, which is sacrilege.