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

Although 'pipeline' makes more sense biologically :)

Kill Yr Idols is such a potent EP, makes me feel like if they'd written a few more songs in that era before beginning the BMR stuff it'd probably be their strongest early album.

Hehe. "Shaking Hell" was my #1. "Scary" also figured in my explanation of this choice in an off-thread conversation.

Yay for "Inhuman" as well.

― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Thursday, May 16, 2013 3:46 AM (1 hour ago)

"scary" is a good word for early SY. back then, they often seemed intent on putting down the creep: confusion, bad moon and evol. they mostly dropped this angle on sister, though "beauty lies", "pipeline/kt" and "pch" might have found room on a more unnerving, horrorshow version of that album. by the time they got to goo, they'd traded disturbing for funny, noise and drone for hard rock. suspect that's why so many got off the bus at or by that point.

I had to almost force a goth rock-loving friend of mine to listen to CIS back in undergrad. He said he never thought Sonic Youth could be that good.

the "haw haw haw" bit at the beginning of "inhuman" sounds so much like (later) butthole surfers that it always throws me for a moment. actual lyrics ftr:

my body is a pashline
my body is a super sore!

lol, blew that one. uh, "mind" goes in there somewhere too.

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/034.jpg
34. Disconnection Notice
Murray Street, 2002
(204 points, 10 votes, 1 #1)

wow a #1

the "haw haw haw" bit at the beginning of "inhuman" sounds so much like (later) butthole surfers that it always throws me for a moment.

Wow, I'd never made that link before but that's OTM.

maybe it was a ZZ Top homage like "Eliminator Jr." haha

This poll continues to impress me.

Disco Notice is one of mine, one of Thurston's best melodies imo. And the way it starts out, with that warm screech that almost sounds like a string section but ends up sounding even more like something off of Paik's Satin Black. Just a great way to kind of catch you off guard

"Disco Notice"!

Contendo first coined that in the voting thread

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/033.jpg
33. Disappearer
Goo, 1990
(206 points, 8 votes)

Aww, way too low for my taste.

And the way it starts out, with that warm screech that almost sounds like a string section but ends up sounding even more like something off of Paik's Satin Black.

It always reminded me of a flute.

Ok yeah 'Disappearer' outside the top 30 gets the first TOO LOW from me.

it's a really good song, but i dunno, it's never felt A-list to me.

It's a bit of an oddity to me, a Thurston song that feels like a Lee song.

yeah, you or someone else said that earlier, and it's otm. i had a period where i was head over heals for "disappearer", but in the long run it feels a bit slight (appropriate, i suppose). i prefer "theresa's sound world", which more fully develops a similar idea. spookier, too. even on goo, it's overshadowed by "tunic" and "mote".

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/032.jpg
32. JC
Dirty, 1992
(207 points, 13 votes)

amazing song, my #2. wish it was higher, but i guess that's pretty high.

Fuck, how are we already at 32? Damn. Good stretch. "Brother James" is too low though. The recorded version pales to some of the live ones, but it is such a relentless song, super powerful and rocking as hell. To me it's the pinnacle of that early style, before they tightened up and streamlined the approach on Sister etc. (guess Death Valley '69 is the real indication of what was to come).

Whoever said that "Disappearer" sounds like a Lee song is OTM. I still expect his voice to appear on that song sometimes.

lotta good stuff today, and from here on out I imagine.

Disappearer my #3, JC my #2. Both songs huge linchpins of my adolescence

"Brother James" is definitely the pre-Shelley song that got the most firepower out of his addition

^ version on Walls Have Ears, wow

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/031.jpg
31. I Dreamed I Dream
Sonic Youth, 1982
(209 points, 12 votes)

sweet, was wondering when that would show up. cool how Lee and Kim both had their first vocals on the same song, one a record w/ otherwise all Thurston vocals.

Yeah, Walls Have Ears is a cool record, some day I will shell out the cash and procure a copy of it (the radio station I used to DJ had it and I would play the hell out of that thing). But agree that Shelley really beefed up "Brother James", it is more powerful at a faster speed for one thing. Forgot to say that I regret not finding room on my ballot for "Shaking Hell", glad to see it place relatively high. That is another song that I think is better live (totally devastating live actually), and agree with it being one of the most successful "scary" songs in the SY catalogue. Really glad that they pulled this one out live in some of the late-period shows, as well as "Brother James", cause they ratcheted up my fan-boy giddiness in absurd ways when trotted out.

sold my walls have ears ages ago :(

it is sad he was purple

i dreamed i dream was my #2

wish it were higher (of course), but just seeing it here makes me absurdly happy

Man, someone stole my vinly copy of the S/T record. Glad to see at least one song from it place this high (and maybe not the last?) Gotta say that the run "The Burning Spear>I Dreamed I Dream>She Is Not Alone>I Don't Want To Push It" is a helluva opening statement from a band.

I had JC at #19, admittedly too low even there

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/030.jpg
30. I Love Her All The Time
Bad Moon Rising, 1985
(210 points, 12 votes)

Great song! Sure wish I could have seen a BMR-era tour where they did the segues between all the songs. Love the way the song casually rises out of the murk following the degraded Stooges swipe. Very late cut for me, but again, was hard for me to take individual songs from BMR.

One of my choices.

It's classic for sure. Love the bassline.

My number 2! Such a jam.

Weird tidbit: I heard Camper Van Beethoven's cover first. It was also my introduction to Sonic Youth.

I heard this song first via the Camper Van Beethoven cover, and spent a lot of time trying to reconcile that with the SY that I knew via Evol. Was pleasantly surprised on finally getting BMR.

Jinx, buy me a coke!

heh.

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/029.jpg
29. Karen Revisited
Murray Street, 2002
(212 points, 11 votes, 1 #1)

My #23. "I Love Her All the Time" was my #7.

Wow, good song but surprised that it placed so high! (Awesome reuse of the pic here Arch!) Glad to see more "Murray Street" (and Lee) show up regardless of which song.

Did not vote for it though, went with the other Karen.

The buildup to "ask me if I care" is pretty epic. Not usual for an SY song to get so direct, almost makes it shocking in a way. Does anyone know the story, i.e., is Karen a real person?

Feel like I should stick up for 'Disappearer' a bit as I had it at #4 - it's my favourite of their gauzy melancholia songs and probably the closest they got to sounding like actual shoegaze (ymmv as to whether that's a good thing...). It's basically 'Beauty Lies in the Eye' with a groove and a Thurston vocal. Probably my favourite SY video too.

I like "Disappearer" a lot, a good reason to listen to Goo for sure. It's breakdown seemed like a blueprint for a lot of the cool instrumental breaks on Dirty ("Dirty Boots" as well).