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

thurston goldblum

i've always wondered if the sonic youth apologists (contorting themselves into explaining how all these commercial endeavors are, um, "punk") are the same people who think a band like the Who are hopeless corporate sellouts for doing essentially the same things.

OTM.

I'm not pissed that SY are corporate shills. I don't care, really. If Kim Gordon wants to model for companies that reportedly use sweatshop labor (cough: Calvin Klein), so be it. I just tire of how the shilling is framed as something other than it is -- that I don't "get it," if I call it commercialism. There is nothing to get. They're not art performance adbusting punks having an ironic laugh on corporate America. They are shills for corporate America plain and simple. So am I to a certain extent, but if somebody calls me out on it, I say, "You're right." I don't say, "Oh, you don't get the joke, man. I'm punking the system from the inside."

the table is the table OTM.

STARBUCKS EMPLOYEE A sentimentalist, pimpled.
JOHNSON BRADDOCK A man with a stroller, a goatee, a brownstone.

STARBUCKS EMPLOYEE: So, that was non-fat soy caramel green tea mochalatacino frappe?
JOHNSON BRADDOCK: Yeah. Hey, what is this?
STARBUCKS EMPLOYEE: This is from Starbucks' newest CD, by Sonic Youth, called "Schizophrenia is Taking Me Home." I think this is "Catholic Block," picked by Jeff Tweedy. It's only 10 dollars with any drink purchase.
JOHNSON BRADDOCK: Huh.

Why does this bother you so much? Goateed stroller dude is probably just as likely to have bought Daydream Nation when it came out as to not have heard of Sonic Youth, and my guess is you're a younger guy who wasn't old enough to be into SY at the time. Why do you have any more right to it than he does?

speaking of pimping for $:

http://www.richardkern.com

Table, I am sooooooooo confused as to why this thread even exists.

well, i haven't paid SY any attention since Sonic Nurse, so the fact that they'd be okay with doing something for Starbucks (right on paul mccartney's back, mind you) kind of made me go, "whuh?"

There's only been one album since Sonic Nurse. And was that album so avant-garde and/or anti-corporate (it was released on DGC after all) that their link to a(nother) corporation should be so surprising?

And while I dug your little playlet, you're assuming that Starbucks employees are forced to say they like ANY album in the store as opposed to merely pushing an album, two very different things. And for what it's worth, no Starbucks employee has ever pushed a CD on me nor ever made any comment to me about any of the music in the store.

You're also assuming that a Starbucks employee would automatically hate this CD.

Love,

Tim Horton

you're misunderstanding. i have no more right to it than he does, it's just that any conversation of that sort-- whether it be about Paul McCartney or Sonic Youth-- makes my stomach churn.

That and yes, I am a younger guy, who happened to buy my first SY record when I was nine years old. Granted, that was in 1993, but still-- they were as much a band of my youth as any older dude's.

And yo - a Jeff Tweedy "Catholic Block" could absolutely work.

KJB-- perhaps you should ask yourself why threads such as "5th Best VU Album" exist.

man what a sell-out. next thing they'll be signing to a major label.

As far as I can tell, this is one of the dumbest threads ever.

man, table, what is the big deal? who cares? why are you getting all worked up about this?

I'm not pissed that SY are corporate shills. I don't care, really. If Kim Gordon wants to model for companies that reportedly use sweatshop labor (cough: Calvin Klein), so be it. I just tire of how the shilling is framed as something other than it is -- that I don't "get it," if I call it commercialism. There is nothing to get. They're not art performance adbusting punks having an ironic laugh on corporate America. They are shills for corporate America plain and simple. So am I to a certain extent, but if somebody calls me out on it, I say, "You're right." I don't say, "Oh, you don't get the joke, man. I'm punking the system from the inside."

their shilling in and of itself doesn't bother me; but if pete townshend -- someone who's sold many of his songs for use in ads -- narrated a documentary on the corporatization and commodification of music, you'd think, wtf?! and yet: http://www.mediaed.org/videos/CommercialismPoliticsAndMedia/MoneyForNothing

Glad this thread exists, if only to remind youngsers that Sonic Youth's primary demographic these days probably is stroller pushing homeowners. I tried the goatee back in the 90's, but it didn't work out.

Was there a time when Sonic Youth's fanbase wasn't middle class college-track types?

I don't feel worked up, Mr. Que. I'm not pissed off about this or anything.

I just find the corporatization of what was once anti-corporate culture-- and the willingness of anti-corporate culture to embrace corporatization-- rather interesting. I mean, what's next? A greatest hits of Magik Markers CD called "My First Ass-Fuck"?

It's not anti-corporate hatred on my part as much as interest in the motives behind SY's decision and Starbucks' branding mechanism and how it will work.

Kim and Thurston need money for their kid's college fund. And I don't blame them.

once people get old enough they'll do anything for money. cuz they know they are gonna die and nothing matters. it's no big deal. old people who never sold out have no teeth left. and they are sad a lot.

t's just that any conversation of that sort-- whether it be about Paul McCartney or Sonic Youth-- makes my stomach churn.

Ok, so you invented an unrealistic, unlikely conversation to churn your own stomach?

Scott's observation is doubtless more right than we know. Perhaps slightly related to it:

...primary demographic these days probably is stroller pushing homeowners.

The more I go on in life the more I'm utterly bemused at how...conventional that demographic in general still sounds. More so, since I'm of an age where I 'should' be a stroller-pushing homeowner etc. I'm not surprised by that path at all (nobody should be unless they're from planet Tharg or something), it's more I like I'm observing something through a window.

Anyway, back to music.

Not only is that their primary demographic, but most of *the kids* probably couldn't care less about them.

As far as the commercial potential - I'd take the SY-headlined, cancelled Lollapalooza as a barometer, i.e. it'll probably do fine in coastal cities, college towns, Chicago, etc. and fail in middle America. Of course if Starbucks is smart, which they are, they're probably not pushing this in all stores.

KJB-- perhaps you should ask yourself why threads such as "5th Best VU Album" exist.

Do you come with Cliff Notes, Table?

Love,

Someone not from Planet Tharg

It should be no surprise to anyone but the delusional kids on this thread that financial security = good thing.

Ned, what do you mean by "conventional"? If you mean, they do what "the average" American does, well, that's not surprising, since most people in America are average Americans, and so most "stroller pushing homeowners" are average Americans.

Or do you mean something besides that?

Sometimes a tie is just a tie.

And sometimes it's purple.

rimshot.wav

http://www.winnipegfreepress2.com/blogs/speirs/wpcontent/uploads/2006/07/web%20600%20half%20dressed%20man%2025.jpg

They're not "shilling" for anything. They're not going on TV and telling you to go to Starbucks. When you're in the music business, you go around and play shows and make recordings and people offer you money for those things and you take the money.

I mean, unless it's something really gross. Starbucks isn't that - it's a chain coffee shop.

http://www.winnipegfreepress2.com/blogs/speirs/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/web%20600%20half%20dressed%20man%2025.jpg

Some kid at a recent of Montreal show I went to had scrawled "Fuck Outback Steakhouse" on his t-shirt.

Do you come with Cliff Notes, Table?

You obviously come with an asshole, KJB.

"Should helmets be mandatory?" is a great headline.

Some kid at a recent of Montreal show I went to had scrawled "Fuck Outback Steakhouse" on his t-shirt.

"I'll show you a Bloomin' Onion!"

I mean, if Lennon's "Imagine" turned up in an army recruiting ad, I might raise an eyebrow...is there some irony being missed given that, as I understand it, Thurston is a stroller pushing Connecticut homeowner? Named Thurston?

Or maybe he rents...

having kids is so "conventional"

something really gross. Starbucks isn't that

Uh, Starbucks is fucking gross, dude. Their coffee and food are awful.

Also, Mr. Lord Sotosyn, I'm perfectly aware that financial security is a good thing.

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.