JAW ON THE FLOOR: Starbucks to Release Sonic Youth Celebrity Compilation (WTF)

Their coffee is ok. Do you have really high standards for COFFEE?

The Sprawl:

To the extent that I wear skirts
and cheap nylon slips
I've gone native
I wanted to know the exact dimension of hell
does this sound simple?
Fuck you! Are you for sale?
Does 'Fuck you' sound simple enough?
This was the only part that turned me on
but he was candy all over

come on down to the store
you can buy some more, and more, and more, and more
you can buy some more, and more, and more, and more
you can buy some more, and more, and more, and more
you can buy some more, and more, and more, and more

I grew up in a shotgun row
sliding down the hill
out front were the big machines
steel and rusty now I guess
outback was the river
and that big sign down the road
that's where it all started

come on down to the store
you can buy some more, and more, and more, and more
come on down to the store
you can buy some more, and more, and more, and more
come on down to the store
you can buy some more, and more, and more, and more
you can buy some more, more, more, more

Seems to me that there's some masculine/feminine issue here, too. If it was a beer shop, would anyone be saying, "Pabst Blue Ribbon is fucking gross, dude?"

Starbucks > Pabst Blue Ribbon

There is certainly better coffee than Starbucks out there, but if you think it's truly awful you should try and remember what things were like 15 years ago. It was all Maxwell House that had been on the burner at 7-11 since yesterday -- and we liked it!

Yes. Starbucks is progressive.

i have proof that starbucks genetically engineers their coffee beans to be angry, contentious loudmouths. the aggressive and pedantic debating style of these GMO coffee beans is disrupting the fragile ecosystem of the amazonian rainforest by making the banyan trees sad. currently, the rainforest is becoming sad at a rate of 3,760 hectares PER DAY.

WE NEED STING

i only drink Starbucks coffee when i am driving long distances, as it's the best (sometimes the only) stuff you can get on the road. otherwise, i make my own or get it elsewhere (and no, not at Dunkin Donuts or McDonalds).

Ironically, if they'd done the album for Dunkin' Donuts, though, there would have been less outrage.

also it is funny that you just called me a loudmouth, vahid.

also, it doesn't matter what it was like in the past, dudes. mediocrity is staring you in the face and slipping down your throat and you're like, "well, at least it isn't maxwell house." it doesn't matter what it isn't, it matters what it is, and that is sub-par coffee.

i didn't just call you a loudmouth, table!! i was talking about the beans. i have definitive proof of a conspiracy by corporate elements in our society to subvert our very way of life!

speaking of mediocrity, my grandfather, who holds a PhD in petroleum geology and lectures and san diego state university, has proof that the use of aspirin and ibuprofen by pregnant women causes acute mental retardation. he has determined, by means of a brief visual survey of the latest class of undergraduates at SDSU, that acute retardation rates among teenagers today may be as high as 50 percent.

furthermore, he has definitive proof that the spiraling economic woes faced by our great nation can be correlated to the decline of the practice of memorization of logarithm tables. today, fewer than one student in 50 can claim to have even memorized one logarithm table.

BTW i don't go to starbucks, i go to PEET's. i have lots of choices of non-chain coffee but i gotta say that peet's chain coffee is even better than the organic free trade coffee that's hand-roasted by my friend at the local mom&pop and even better than the artisinal single-estate venezualan coffee i get at the other mom&pop.

Vahid, you know coffee, man.

another one of my grandfather's theory is that "pet culture" is a conspiracy. he finds it quite striking that america has such high rates of pet ownership. in the middle east very few people have pet dogs or cats, especially when he was growing up. yet these days there is a booming multi-billion-dollar pet industry. a depiction of a family in mainstream media is considered incomplete if the family pet is unaccounted for. just look at the simpsons! they have a dog AND a cat!

what could be the purpose of this vast and insidious social engineering project meant to inculculate pet ownership into the minds of americans?

why, to squeeze every last penny of profit out of the waste products of the all-powerful meat industry.

think about it.

dude does yr grandfather have like a brochure or something, because i am v v intrigued by his ideas and would like to know more

Coffee's such an individual thing, but really, anyone who didn't grow up drinking Savarin from a stove-top percolator is in no position to call Starbucks mediocre.

We also had to walk to school in the snow.

In the early 90s people started going nuts for the Doors, a band that peaked about 20 years earlier. 20 years ago from today, Sonic Youth peaked ... but in this version of the story, they're alive to ca$h in on the cred.

Indie now is the epitome of bland, safe, and beige, having been CUTtIng Edge in the 80s - why do you think the "hipster" scenes today are filled with the most mind numbingly boring and safe people on earth? (all covered in yupsters, etc.)

So yeah, Sonic Youth is just going the natural course of indie/hipster by releasing a CD for Starbucks. nbd.

They're not "shilling" for anything.

http://itchylot.com/ck/misc_postcard_kimgordon_1.jpg

Indie is still cutting edge - music I've been most interested in this year: of Montreal, Ghost, the Fall, Jennifer Gentle, Mary Weiss album with Reigning Sound, etc.

Not "shilling" for anything in this instance

Anyway, that's modeling, dude.

Modeling is very subversive. You don't do anything and you get paid. You don't have to have an expression on your face.

moonship, can you ask your grandfather to start a blog?

I guess I have a kneejerk hate response to Starbuck's music in general; it's usually generic, bland pabulum for aging breeders (not the Kim Deal kind)-- Norah Jones, McCartney, etc. But can you really come up with a best-of style Sonic Youth compilation that fits this mold? They have some background music tracks, but a best-of comp. is likely to have some ballsy shit in it. At least Starbuck's is branching out a little!

Also, I like the coffee, and cute girls are almost always working there.

Sounding too much like Momus - apologies. (x-post)

The Lily Allen album was in Starbucks recently (NYC). I'm not head of her fanclub or anything, but is she really generic, bland pabulum for aging breeders? Not a rhetorical question by any means.

"Vahid, you know coffee, man."

nah he just lives in nocal

Not "shilling" for anything in this instance

I know, Tim. I was just pushing some buttons.

However, I do believe artists who work with Starbucks help sell the brand that is Starbucks. They become part of this larger lifestyle that Starbucks is trying to sell/create: lattes, (bogus) fair trade, stainless steel kitchen appliances, Wilco, Lily Allen, New York Times, and now a little SY. This (psuedo) liberal, we're-the-cool-corporation image. It's all so Clintonian.

And again, if that's what they want to do, go for it.

Ironically, if they'd done the album for Dunkin' Donuts, though, there would have been less outrage.

-- Tim Ellison, Sunday, June 17, 2007 6:01 PM (49 minutes ago)

nah, They Might Be Giants have Dunkin' Donuts locked down.

honestly, even if Starbucks went out there way to pick the most mellow or accessible songs from the Sonic Youth catalog, it would still probably be a pretty good CD. I'm not even sure what songs that would mean, though. all canonical choices like Teenage Riot or just laid back jams like Sunday, maybe? actually, I would totally listen to an album of Sonic Youth's most lullabye-like songs (Unwind, Sweet Shine, Diamond Sea, etc.)

What the hell is wrong with stainless steel kitchen appliances? This thread is starting to get offensive.

Late period capitalism hoovering up everything in its path. Yawn.

Like you would rather that Sonic Youth were old, broke and working the nightshift at Wal Mart. Yeeesh!

This thread is kinda silly.

also, it doesn't matter what it was like in the past, dudes. mediocrity is staring you in the face and slipping down your throat and you're like, "well, at least it isn't maxwell house." it doesn't matter what it isn't, it matters what it is, and that is sub-par coffee.

Horror of horrors!

(this mockery is coming from someone who, by the way, burr-grinds and lever-pulls his own espresso shots every morning)

fair trade, stainless steel kitchen appliances, Wilco, Lily Allen, New York Times, and now a little SY. This (psuedo) liberal, we're-the-cool-corporation image. It's all so Clintonian.

I understand what you're getting at, it's just hard to argue Sonic Youth exists outside that as it is.

Clintonian as opposed to what, though? Kucinich?

Clinton was a progressive, though, and I'm sympathetic to the idea of being accepting to a certain extent of whatever happens to occur, you know? If I hear Lily Allen or Sonic Youth in a Starbucks while I have to hear Panic at the Disco at a local hipster independent shop (which I did recently), I at least note the significance of that.

I understand what you're getting at, it's just hard to argue Sonic Youth exists outside that as it is.

That's a great point. My original contention was with the idea that SY working with Starbucks is some kind of ironic media-punk thing. I just don't buy that. But I also don't think they're now sell outs or anything like that. I just took issue with the idea that this deal was anything more than business as usual.

Clintonian

Tim, not to get too off the subject (whatever that may be), but for me the Clintons simply epitomize the modern take on the socially liberal/economically conservative thing -- the commodification of cool and all that. And the Starbucks brand is a part of that tradition. This is the reason why, in the mid- to late-90s, Harvard Square allowed Starbucks and Urban Outfitters to open shop but rejected McDonalds on the basis that it doesn't allow corporate chain stores. They just don't want corporations with the wrong image (even though Starbucks' business practices are extremely suspect as they are with any chain hell bent on spreading across the globe like a virus).

I think hurting 2 is right, SY could be seen -- on some levels -- as a part of this tradition (if I'm understanding what he's saying). In many respects the rise of alt-rock and Clinton in the early 90s made perfect sense. I can totally see the point of view that says Geffen signed SY simply in order to gain some street cred in the underground. I'd be curious to know what folks think of that idea.

Just for argument's sake, I've been asking myself what I would think if Fugazi did this. But Fugazi isn't on Geffen, and it would more fly in the face of what they openly claim to stand for.

Still, even Fugazi represents a kind of soft capitalism. MacKaye is highly entrepreneurial and business-savvy, and the low-marketing strategy they use happens to be brilliant marketing.

(bogus) fair trade

Do you have a source on this? Just curious, I'd like more reasons not to go to Starbucks.

This (psuedo) liberal, we're-the-cool-corporation image. It's all so Clintonian.

What the hell does this mean?

I can totally see the point of view that says Geffen signed SY simply in order to gain some street cred in the underground. I'd be curious to know what folks think of that idea.

What underground are you talking about here? The indie underground? So you think that by singing SY to Geffen, then the "underground" hipsters or whatever would think Geffen was cool??? Huh??? This thread makes no sense.

Sonic Youth are just a band, that's it. If you think they've sold out by doing this, you are fooling yourself. Geffen is a huge music corporation and Starbucks sells coffee and stale scones. SY "sold out" (whatever that means) years ago when they signed to Geffen. Get over it.

(even though Starbucks' business practices are extremely suspect as they are with any chain hell bent on spreading across the globe like a virus).

Does McDonalds provide health insurance for their employees?

^^

This is what I'm getting at, everything I've read and everyone I've known that's worked for Starbucks talks about how remarkably progressive they are (not just in comparison to other chains, but *actually* remarkably progressive).

If you think they've sold out by doing this, you are fooling yourself.

I've explicitly stated that this is not my issue. Please reread my posts.

Does McDonalds provide health insurance for their employees?

The answer is no, but that doesn't mean Starbucks is a great company. Both these sites address some very important issues regarding unionizing and health insurance:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/starbucks/grinding.cfm
http://www.starbucksunion.org/ (This link has plenty of debate regarding the health insurance)

SY to Geffen, then the "underground" hipsters or whatever would think Geffen was cool??? Huh???

Years back, J. Marlowe wrote a review on A Thousand Leaves for Ugly American, and he talked about this idea that Geffen signed SY, in part, to help validate the label with other indie bands that might've been more suspect of signing to a major: Look we're not so bad we signed SY and let them do what they want. I'm not saying this was the case, but it's an intriguing view. I can see it happening. Geffen is one deviously smart dude, and after reading Mansion on the Hill, I can see the guy forseeing the possibility of some kind of commercial "alt-rock" movement and devising ways to cash in on it. I don't think that's so outlandish. I mean, it wasn't like SY were tearing up the Billboard or moving major units back in the early- to mid-90s.

info/criticism on fair trade and milk:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/Starbucks/index.cfm
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/1795.html
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/starbucks.html
http://act.oxfamamerica.org/campaign/starbucks_mtf

there was certainly the idea that they might break through via "kool thing," etc. at the beginning.

Ultimately I think the main thing all of this attests to is that it's pretty damned hard to maintain a middle-class lifestyle into your fifties and sixties based even on a successful music career if you're not a MEGA star.

(not just in comparison to other chains, but *actually* remarkably progressive)

i don't think Starbucks is nearly as insidious as Wal-Mart or even McDonald's, but it is all about globalization, which is something I just don't dig. By design, I don't think globalization is good for the world.

there was certainly the idea that they might break through via "kool thing," etc. at the beginning.

That's certainly true. Was Sonic Youth instrumental in getting Nirvana to sign with DGC? I don't know that history.

Ultimately I think the main thing all of this attests to is that it's pretty damned hard to maintain a middle-class lifestyle into your fifties and sixties based even on a successful music career if you're not a MEGA star.

This is becoming increasingly true for all of us. It's scary.

xpost well ok but it's not just a middle-class lifestyle these guys want, they want e.g. a Lower Manhattan studio. I'd be surprised if anyone in SY is anything like struggling financially, but I could be wrong.

is there some irony being missed given that, as I understand it, Thurston is a stroller pushing Connecticut homeowner? Named Thurston?

i pointed out the irony earlier. thurston moore was the narrator for a documentary about the corporatization/commodification of music/the music industry: http://www.mediaed.org/videos/CommercialismPoliticsAndMedia/MoneyForNothing

also, i wonder if some of the folks defending sonic youth right now (for getting it on with starbucks, for playing daydream nation in its entirety in their current shows) are the same ones who dumped on the Who in 1989 for accepting corporate sponsorship for their reunion tour, and for (on a few occasions) playing tommy in its entirety.

The Who's first farewell tour in 1983 was sponsored by Schlitz. "Schlitz Rocks America!" And indeed they did.

Sorry, it was 1982:
http://www.postergeist.com/posters/roll10/PIC00013.jpg

Starbucks > Schlitz