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

it is beautiful, sexy, haunting and terrifying in equal measure

^^this. i put it on a mixtape for the first guy i ever dated

also, like, explosive crescendo, how can you miss that

I think the biggest point jump so far. My #8, such a cool song. Love it for all the reasons Contenderizer lists.

can't fathom how you could get to "must have been a DREAAAM!" and still be waiting for the song to start

Plus it has the best music video of all time iirc

blew me away as an encore in 98

i was definitely like "KIM TOTALLY LOOKED AT ME DURING THAT SONG"

One of those songs the makes guitar harmonics seem like about the best thing in the world sonically.

wtf alex

The quiet, unsettling parts of A Thousand Leaves are more sophisticated iterations of those quiet, unsettling guitar ripples in "Shadow of a Doubt."

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/003.jpg
3. Expressway to Yr Skull
Evol, 1986
(685 points, 29 votes, 4 #1)

Cross the Breeze was my #1, was hoping for top 5 and to beat out TAR, but still v satisfied w 'almost' in this case...

xp so it has nostalgic value, i get that. the crescendo is pretty tiny, understated, maybe that's the point? but still the song is extremely repetitive and not very inventive. too boring, def not my cup of tea. sorry.

xp anyways, Expressway.

'That's gotta be the greatest song ever written.'

-Neil Young

yes my mixtape anecdote means that's the only reason i like it

always wondered whether Neil was being nice. Had he actually heard it?

Too low! What's wrong with you people. This epic is way cooler than that other super-long epic you all voted so high.

Vinyl, with the lock-groove repeating for 10 minutes or so, is the only way to experience Expressway.

idk, I assume SY still ended p much every set with it back in those days...

(xp to Alfred)

(those days = when they were opening for Neil)

And the last two... Gotta run, I will see the post-poll reactions when I get back!

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/002.jpg
2. The Diamond Sea
Washing Machine, 1995
(707 points, 33 votes, 5 #1)

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/001.jpg
1. Schizophrenia
Sister, 1987
(909 points, 34 votes, 5 #1)

thanks ArchCarrier!

Schizophrenia in a different stratosphere

Kidding, but yeah, "Expressway" my #1. Can handle #3 but love it to death. So glad that I got to see this song live at least once in my life.

sadly I am at work and cannot participate in the obligatory post-yr-ballots section for another seven hours.

thanks ArchCarrier, it was pretty rad.

man i'm relieved Diamond Sea didn't take it all, the right rose won

lol the right HORSE

I didn't expect "The Diamond Sea"! Guess I should have concentrated harder on the results.

Good job ArchCarrier. Thanks.

"Schizophrenia" my #2, but really would have preferred to weigh it equally with "Schizophrenia". Two songs that have meant a ton to me for a long long time.

And yeah, thanks so much ArchCarrier, great job and good fun.

that's a worthy winner, it didn't quite make my top 30 but that's only because sonic youth have so many great songs.

also pleased schizo took it, tho i like both

thanks archcarrier! i didn't vote because i honestly sort of fell off the map sometime in the 2000s but it was a joy watching these roll out, what a great band

Don't know why I am surprised by 5 #1s for "The Diamond Sea", but hell, I am surprised. Thought top 10 maybe, but not #2.

Was pretty sure that "Schizophrenia" would be #1 all along. It is essentially the correct answer.

The quiet, unsettling parts of A Thousand Leaves are more sophisticated iterations of those quiet, unsettling guitar ripples in "Shadow of a Doubt."

― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, May 17, 2013 9:53 AM (15 minutes ago)

???

"sophisticated" is meaningless unless unpacked. you mean you like the ATL tracks more?

thank you ArchCarrier, this was great fun

Cross the Breeze
JC
Disappearer
Sweet Shine
Green Light
Tom Violence
Beauty Lies in the Eye
Female Mechanic on Duty
Theresa's Sound-world
Rain King
Death Valley '69
Halloween
Diamond Sea
Disconnection Notice
Expressway to Yr Skull
Sympathy for the Strawberry
Hoarfrost
Cotton Crown
Karen Koltrane
Tunic (Song for Karen)
Wish Fulfillment
Drunken Butterfly
Secret Girls
Ineffable Me
Shoot
Orange Rolls, Angels Spit
Karen Revisited
Mildred Pierce
NYC Ghosts & Flowers
Washing Machine

Vinyl, with the lock-groove repeating for 10 minutes or so, is the only way to experience Expressway.

― What makes a man shart fire? (WilliamC), Friday, May 17, 2013 9:56 AM (14 minutes ago)

yeah, i was listening to it in the car the other day and was MUCH BUGGED by the lack of lock groove lullaby. why not tack 10 or 20 minutes of it onto the CD? it's not like the records's all that damn long. plus it would provide a nice buffer between the album proper and "bubblegum".

Thanks, ArchCarrier! This was great!

http://do512blog.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/fireworks-1.jpg

THANKS AC!

the Geffen reissues are bullshit, i think that's pretty well accepted

1 Schizophrenia
2 Candle
3 Shadow of a Doubt
4 Rain on Tin
5 Secret Girl
6 Protect Me You
7 I Love Her All the Time
8 Ghost Bitch
9 ‘Cross the Breeze
10 Wish Fulfilment
11 New Hampshire
12 Free City Rhymes
13 The Diamond Sea
14 Green Light
15 I Love You Golden Blue
16 Tom Violence
17 Hyperstation (would have voted for “Trilogy”)
18 She’s in a Bad Mood
19 Shaking Hell
20 Death Valley ‘69
21 Invito al Cielo
22 Six for New Time
23 Karen Revisited
24 Catholic Block
25 Disconnection Notice
26 Incinerate
27 Dirty Boots
28 Hallowe’en
29 Unmade Bed
30 Hey Joni

Albums ballot (which I keep rethinking; probably would list Sister right now):

Bad Moon Rising
Daydream Nation
Confusion Is Sex
Evol
SYR 3

"Intro/Brave Men Run" is the omission I regret the most; "Stereo Sanctity" #2.

I shared this on the other thread and I don't think it got deleted but I made a playlist out of my ballot:
http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/Sonic+Youth+Tracks/86318775

1. Stereo Sanctity
2. Drunken Butterfly
3. Wildflower Soul
4. Shaking Hell
5. The Diamond Sea
6. 'Cross the Breeze
7. The Burning Spear
8. Becuz
9. Sugar Kane
10. Tokyo Eye
11. Brave Men Run
12. In the Mind of the Bourgeois Reader
13. Mildred Pierce
14. Dude Ranch Nurse
15. Shoot
16. Pattern Recognition
17. Master=Dik
18. Schizophrenia
19. Washing Machine
20. The Ineffable Me
21. Karen Koltrane
22. Rain on Tin
23. Protect Me You
24. Anagrama
25. Brother James
26. Kill Yr. Idols
27. Justice Is Might
28. On the Strip
29. StreamXSonik Subway
30. Antenna

"Justice Is Might" is a jam, deserved better.