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

Man, I totally agree with some dude re "Total Trash".

stuff that nobody voted for (82-00):

I Don't Want to Push It
The Good and the Bad
Echo Canyon
Early American
Bubblegum
Scooter + Jinx
Hendrix Necro
Stalker
I Love You Mary Jane
Compilation Blues
Starfield Road
Doctor's Orders
Waist
Junkie's Promise
Mieux: De Corrosion
Herinneringen
Stil
Contre le sexisme
Heather Angel
Hungara vivo
Radio-Amatoroj
Renegade Princess
Lightnin'

plus most of SYR5 and Goodbye 20th Century

― cock chirea, Saturday, May 18, 2013 2:30 AM (15 minutes ago)

People voted for "I Love You Mary Jane"! Since it was a collaboration, it ended up in the sub-poll up against Psychic Hearts et al. Was on my tracks ballot until I realised it wasn't eligible; shuffled everything else up and appended "Master=Dik", heh.

Also, wow @ Raymond's ballot. Def on for that pint.

xpost

"Hendrix Necro" is DOOOOPE. another Dirty outtake better than half the stuff on the album.

Silver Session sounds really pleasant and enjoyable now. I don't know why I found it boring before.

Hm, I don't think I've heard "Hendrix Necro".

"100%" b-side, on the deluxe reissue of Dirty

s'good

forgot to include "the destroyed room", another b side from the same period

i love the distorted bass on hendrix necro and other songs from that era (mildred pierce, youth against fascism, bone). not sure why kim didn't use that sound more often, a entire SY record with that bass tone would've been great.

Oh, I do know this song. I was really hoping it was an instrumental guitar feedback Hendrix tribute.

stuff that nobody voted for (82-00):
...
Stalker
...
Starfield Road

If I'd voted, "Stalker" would definitely have gotten a vote and "Starfield Road" probably would have gotten squeezed off the list at the last minute.

But "Within You Without You" would have been top 10, and not just because it's the song where I "got" Sonic Youth--I also think it's a perfect cover, honoring what's great about the original while making it completely their own. And the descent-into-squall middle section is right up there with "Silver Rocket."

forgot to include "the destroyed room", another b side from the same period
Someone did vote for 'The Bedroom', which is the same song.

Great work ArchCarrier, really enjoyed getting back into SY this past couple of weeks.

My ballot:

TRACKS
1. The Diamond Sea
2. Candle
3. Shadow of a Doubt
4. Disappearer
5. Hey Joni
6. 'Cross the Breeze
7. Unmade Bed
8. Tom Violence
9. Sugar Kane
10. Disconnection Notice
11. Wish Fulfillment
12. Catholic Block
13. Mote
14. Expressway to Yr. Skull
15. Incinerate
16. Stones
17. Silver Rocket
18. Kissability
19. Stereo Sanctity
20. Beauty Lies in the Eye
21. The Empty Page
22. Genetic
23. Tunic (Song for Karen)
24. Sunday
25. Peace Attack
26. The World Looks Red
27. Skink
28. Rain King
29. Pipeline/Kill Time
30. Theresa's Sound-World

ALBUMS
1. Evol
2. Daydream Nation
3. Sister
4. Sonic Nurse
5. Goo

Just had a look at the big 80s poll where "Schizophrenia" placed second, and there's really any discussion there either - uh, so, why is it an obvious #1 / what lifts it 200-ish points above the rest of their catalogue? I've only recently gotten around to listening to Sister, and there's a bit of disjunction between the title/reputation and what it actually sounds like.

I think it's kind of a unique song in their catalog in many ways -- Steve playing mostly toms (and i think the snare off on the snare drum?), it has this kind of minimal melodic sound of a lot of their slower songs but it's kind of fast and propulsive, one of the only songs where Thurston and Kim alternate long sections of each doing lead vocals, also has a completely different tone and sound from the album that follows. plus there's some possible autobiography in the lyrics (but it was Kim's brother, not sister, that was schizophrenic), but generally the story is kind of vague and eerie.

Strikes me as a tighter version of a few threads from evol: descending melodic line like Tom Violence, spooky Kim vocal like Shadow, psych-ending like Expressway. When I first heard it (when it came out) it seemed like they were just firing on all cylinders on that track.

some dude otm. most of the things i said about "shadow of a doubt" apply here: it's creepy, sexy, mysterious and radiantly beautiful. a perfect pop song that doesn't at all resemble the conventional image of such a thing. i fell in love with it the first time i heard it, and my affection hasn't faded a bit over the years.

i def understand how it might be hard to get into the track when it's hyped as their ultimate moment, but its tight otherworldliness totally blew me away when discovering it in my teens

one way you know it has some surreal romantic weight - m83 totally jacked the climax for "don't save us from flames"

daydream nation was just a perfect sndtrk for the election of Bush I.... i remember listening to it on a Walkman daily as i strolled down 8th Avenue to work.

Ranaldo is also my fave band member.

of the 20x or so times i saw em play, first was on a bill w/ the Minutemen i think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzPsMalV8ns

first hearing the shift at 3:28 was a real "oh no you didn't" moment

I go back and forth w "Schizophrenia"; when I first got into SY and couldn't find anything earlier than DN at the record stores in the malls, it was def a quality older cut. But as I became more exposed not only to their catalogue, but to more music in general, I kind of thought of its uptempo hookiness as sort of bland. But some time in the last couple of years I watched the performance of it at the beginning of The Year Punk Broke, and that reinstated some of that initial strangeness of the song for,me. But I still left it off my ballot...

I do think that as hooky guitar rock goes, it has a really interesting structure--it has no chorus, which is weird, but weirder still is how easy it is to almost forget that, how complete it feels without one--and really builds and develops in unusual ways. The instrumental , which is most of the song, is put together so that the melody/noise ratio is carefully modulated, so as to ratchet up or dissipate tension as needed. The song doesn't seem longer than it is or shorter, but with the amount of stuff they do and ideas they pack in there, it feels like it should be longer. And again, all of this moves so effortlessly that it is easy to take it for granted, as in my aforementioned sniffiness about the song. Taken apart, the diff't components of the song feel very left-field, but put back together, it makes perfect musical sense. But then, that's p much late-80s SY in a nutshell...

i like the idea of hearing schizophrenia as "bland uptempo hookiness"

oh man did morbs vote? would wanna see that ballot

xpost like it's their "that thing you do!"

my first exposure to several of their '80s classics was the performances in The Year Punk Broke and i sorta wish it wasn't, don't think that's the best way to hear those songs

anybody confused by thurston's future midlife crisis needs a supercut of his bits from that

cutting off his bits is not the answer, i don't think

hiyo

oh man did morbs vote? would wanna see that ballot

― trick paddy pollars (some dude), Saturday, May 18, 2013 8:11 AM (13 minutes ago)

I don't think he indulges in such piffle as the artist polls.

I do think that as hooky guitar rock goes, it has a really interesting structure--it has no chorus, which is weird, but weirder still is how easy it is to almost forget that, how complete it feels without one--and really builds and develops in unusual ways. The instrumental , which is most of the song, is put together so that the melody/noise ratio is carefully modulated, so as to ratchet up or dissipate tension as needed. The song doesn't seem longer than it is or shorter, but with the amount of stuff they do and ideas they pack in there, it feels like it should be longer. And again, all of this moves so effortlessly that it is easy to take it for granted, as in my aforementioned sniffiness about the song

OTM. Also, it's worth emphasizing that none of the sections ever come back again after they move on to something new, which is what makes it possible for them to fit so much into 4 minutes! Often, that sort of thing could lead to a really messy composition but they manage to make everything flow in a way that feels organic.

my first exposure to several of their '80s classics was the performances in The Year Punk Broke and i sorta wish it wasn't, don't think that's the best way to hear those songs

Ha, that film put me off Sonic Youth for years - a friend's girlfriend put it on for a group of us, this was in about 1995 when we were in our total grunge backlash phase, we couldn't have been less interested. I've still not seen in full.

I think that was my first exposure to them too.

I saw it in 1997 and was already a fan. At the time, I was almost embarrassed by how dumb Thurston acted and thought the live footage of Sonic Youth was pretty unininspiring except for "Expressway". I thought they were being total asses when they had a chance to do something great for a wider audience, out of sheer arrogance and contempt. Later I thought they were maybe just nervous and awkward about suddenly being on a big label and being in front of bigger audiences than they were used to. After the discussion of T&K's wealth on the other thread, I've been thinking that they were phoning it in for a quick cash grab when it came to things like this and half-assed compilation cuts.

Did someone at Geffen honestly think that Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr had anything to do with punk breaking?

Maybe it's better than I remembered though.

i mean the title of the movie was definitely tongue-in-cheek, and picked out before it ended up being kind of true. don't think DGC was very involved with the movie at all, i kind of imagine if Nevermind and everything hadn't happened they might not have bothered putting out the VHS.

the goofiness of the movie and of their '90s half-assed compilation cuts seems very of a piece with Thurston's Master Dik-era goofiness, that's one place where i feel like major label money didn't change them at all.

That makes some sense. Honestly, I don't remember it that well. Maybe I'll watch it again.

fave tracks (1-30)

the diamond sea

starpower

wildflower soul

shadow of doubt

total trash

skip tracer

kill yr idols

disappearer

the sprawl

brother james

green light

the burning spear

sugar kane

karen revisited

kotton krown

pattern recognition

expressway to yr skull

catholic block

teen age riot

dirty boots

schizophrenia

tom violence

mote

macbeth

stereo sanctity

death valley ‘69

hey joni

little trouble girl

rain on tin

into the groovey

fave albums

evol

washing machine

sister

daydream nation

murray st

fave album cover - goo

fave band member - lee renaldo

side projects

thurston moore - demolished thoughts

free kitten - sentimental education

lee renaldo - scriptures of the golden eternity

Sentimental Education was a wild record

in the choose-yr-own-aesthetic-adventure narrative of SY’s career, here’s this month's preferred arc (would like to know who else slotted Inhuman at #1, but I'm not sure I need to ask):
1) Inhuman
2) Death to our Friends
3) Brother James
4) Shadow of a Doubt
5) Brave Men Run
6) Schizophrenia
7) Death Valley ‘69
8) I Dreamed I Dream
9) Flower
10) Starpower
11) Society is a Hole
12) Kill Yr. Idols
13) She’s in a Bad Mood
14) Protect Me You
15) Making the Nature Scene
16) Shaking Hell
17) I’m Insane
18) Beauty Lies in the Eye
19) Pacific Coast Highway
20) Macbeth
21) Youth Against Fascism
22) JC
23) Fire Engine Dreams
24) Loop Cat
25) Side2Side
26) Panty Lies
27) Peace Attack
28) The Neutral
29) Jams Run Free
30) What A Waste

1) Confusion is Sex
2) Bad Moon Rising
3) EVOL
4) Kill Yr. Idols
5) Sister

band member: KG
cover: BMR

oh yeah my top 5 albums were

1. Sister
2. Sonic Nurse
3. Washing Machine
4. Goo
5. EVOL

Big drop between 1 and 2

sleeve, there's the excellent gila monster jamboree vhs documenting a show from 85 in the mojave desert
http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/lp/vid2.html
― today's tom soy yum, mean mean thai (Spectrist), Sunday, May 12, 2013 5:37 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Holy shit, this is fantastic (on you tube)

Croup!!! Sonic Nurse!

I'm still baffled by White Kross not making the top 100 when everything else from Sister placed so high. Makes absolutely no sense to me.

i cut "white kross" fairly early on and never looked back. it's a classic, no doubt, but not any moreso than most of the rest of the album. my favorite attack-mode track from sister = "stereo sanctity", and i felt i had SY as a noise-punk force of nature p well covered elsewhere w "kill your idols" & brother james".

overall, i'd call it luck of the draw more than an outright dismissal

yeah nearly every sister track made it so would guess its absence is due more to ppl putting a limit to how many tracks from sister they'd vote for than any judgment on the track itself. would guess w/ a different voting scheme in place, one where say ppl ranked every single sonic youth track it would've placed in top 100. curious what albums had the most ballot representation, if there were any ballots w/ no tracks from sister or daydream nation, etc. i know there were stones ballots that didn't have any exile tracks.

Great answers re: "Schizophrenia", cheers. The Kim/Thurston vocal tradeoff def. feels more organic than "Teenage Riot"'s prelude/main act structure (maybe reinforced by them skipping Kim's parts when they play it live) - Sister also has "Kotton Krown" which has unison-y vocals, and I guess a similar appeal (not really knowing Sister's rep, I would've guessed "Catholic Block" would have come in second, though I guess both that & "Silver Rocket" didn't place as highly as my expectations).

This cover is great btw:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_ZXr9uAolI

Trawling around the 'net looking for Sonic Youth covers - combination of SY's sounds being hard to easily replicate & SY's lyrics often sounding really, really dumb when not carried by Kim/Lee/Thurston's attitudes or w/e mean it's slim pickings - the Faint & the Go! Team provide game reinterpretations of "Mote" & "Bull In The Heather" respectively, Cat Power's "Schizophrenia" sounds exactly as you'd imagine it, the Elf Power "Kotton Krown" turns the freakout into a 60s quasi-raga ... I'm quite taken with this alt-country "The Diamond Sea" by Cuff the Duke:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbE9nTMrnXU

Gutted, can't seem to find the Young@heart Choir version of 'Schizophrenia' on YouTube.