C/D: Sonic Youth's GOO

Listened to and/or owned a copy?
Daydream Nation
Whitey Album
Goo (actually listened to this quite a bit in some weird sado-masochistic ritual fashion)
Dirty
Experimental Jet-Set Trash and No Star
SYR1 / SYR3
Sonic Nurse

Have sampled songs here and there from other releases but have heard nothing to disprove my theory. Also saw them live a couple of times in the late 80s / early 90s.

* Sonic Youth (1982)
* Confusion Is Sex, Kill Yr Idols (1983)
* Bad Moon Rising, EVOL, Sister, Master-Dik 12", Ciccone Youth (1985-1988)
* Daydream Nation, Goo, Dirty (1988-1992)
* Experimental Jet Set, Trash, And No Star, Washing Machine, A Thousand Leaves (1994-1998)
* NYC Ghosts & Flowers, Murray Street, and Sonic Nurse (2000-2004)

(The SYR series is its own parallel universe, though not completely unconnected. I left off some other odds and ends here and there like Silver Sessions (for Jason Knuth) for brevity.)

I did this because my appreciation of each "phase" (as I broke it down here) sways up and down in varying degrees. Sometimes, I want to listen to Sonic Nurse.. other times, I just want to here "Inhuman" REALLY fucking loud.

This probably speaks very highly of the band, if my opinion of the albums wavers up and down all around the catalog, all the time. I can't think of too many other bands where I'll revisit and revise my opinion on a band's oeuvre like that.

Currently, I'm re-appreciating the 1994-1998 phase... I don't see this as a sliding scale from the previous one at all! In fact, while it may have been a departure from Dirty, Experimental, etc. is a pretty damn stellar album, better than Dirty by miles -- I say this now of course.

i think goo's a really spotty, flawed album. its got great moments and then really really horrible moments -- which is kind of what's ultimately great about it. from what ive read about the recording process, it seems like they just went hog crazy with the advance form DGC. they set up mics in all corners of the room, the mixes were lousy, they did what they could to salvage it.

I bought the vinyl version of the deluxe edition, largely because Goo was the only SY album I didn't have on vinyl, so I can't say if the CD sounds radically different than the original, but I didn't notice any major changes. The drums on "Dirty Boots" sounded a lot better, but that could also be due to the format. The live version of "The Bedroom", which I did have on vinyl prior to this, sounded better on the Dirty Boots EP, however.

That said, there's an interesting mini-essay by the guy that helped put together the deluxe edition, and all the sonic renovations they made, here: http://www.sonicyouthmedia.com/alt-main/goopop.html

I guess I should download those UC Irvine live show Mp3s while I can, if they are improved.

It's a testament to the writing on this album that the band, per the deluxe edition, probably could have released the songs in demo form and folks would have been cool with that. And SY likely would have "broken through" just as well.

This is the only SY album I really like. I've tried and tried with Daydream Nation and can never get further than a few songs in.

How many others have you tried?

FWIW I think "Washing Machine" is now the correct point of entry for this band.

Goo is a very good album tho.

i could never get into daydream nation either but i had a huge goo phase

goo my fav

Sister and Sonic Nurse are the correct entry points.

Also good albums

Goo and Rather Ripped are the two I will listen to front to back. I go in search of particular tracks on all the others.

I've dabbled in SY. I bought Rather Ripped when it came out and remember enjoying it. Every so often I have a rummage around in their back catalogue and try a random album. Often I'm put off by the fuzziness and lack of low-end, although I get the point, but black metal usually fills that frequency for me better than indie-noise. Now I come to think of it, my first intro to the band was Experimental, Jetset... which I got out the library when I was quite young and was confused by. I haven't heard Washing Machine or Sonic Nurse, but I hear they're good.

It's not my favorite anymore, but honestly EVOL was the entry point for a whole lot of people in the 80s, and I think it's probably a good place to start. My current favorite is NYC Ghosts and Flowers, so not saying anything about quality in hindsight, but the larger world (of music geeks) discovered Sonic Youth via EVOL and the Ciccone Youth single, and it only seems proper to respect that.

Love Evol, hate that Ciccone Youth thing.

My sonic youth love has always been dirty. Their punk album. The long tracks always make me think of the 60s and grateful dead etc. That's not what i like (about this band). Yes it was the first abum i ever heard by them. There is this theory about sy that you love the first album you heard the most..

Sister and Sonic Nurse are the correct entry points.

It was Dirty for me.

Dirty was the first I heard (and it blew me away). I still love a lot of it but I wouldn't rank it as my favourite. It actually struck me as a new kind of psych/prog rock when I first heard it as a teenager!

I've been working through the albums chronologically (obv with other things in between) since I started reading KG's book this week. Just hit play on Goo (90s cassette) now. Love "Dirty Boots" so much.

Something I've been thinking about is the extent to which the often-criticized out-of-tune singing might actually be necessary/appropriate over the intentionally detuned guitars, although I do think that their intonation as vocalists is less controlled/deliberate than their intonation as guitarists.

EVOL is the shit, dl. Creamy genderfucked lunacy. Absolute high point of "indie rock" imo

washing machine was my intro... what can i say it worked

Kind of funny how they start to just sound out of tune when you overdose on them for a week.

Anything SY (discounting the SYR) after 1986 is basically a refinement on EVOL (not an improvement on, imo although YMMV)

BMR points to EVOL but lacks the tunes n noise structure of the latter that would basically set them up for the next 20 years

i remember being 13 and confused as to whether i should be impressed or disgusted by what i heard. like, "this is COOL? this sounds kinda bad."

oh to be able to recover that teenaged feeling

30 years old today, was it ever polled?

My favorite Sonic Youth album.

Just listened to and half-watched the videos from the Corporate Ghost DVD. What stands out rn is that the sound of it is really good: naturalistic but really clear and full, with a satisfying crunch in the guitars. There's almost a lightness in the way the songs zip along tunefully and groovily. I don't entirely disagree with some of the criticisms of the lyrics of "Tunic" upthread.

https://www.spin.com/2020/06/dont-give-me-your-soul-the-oral-history-of-sonic-youths-goo/

First album of theirs that I ever listened to and loved as a 14-year-old crusty hardcore punk kid. Totally changed my life...

but when I listen to it now, there are only a few really good tracks on it...though I will say that it contains Lee's finest moment in the band, afaic, with "Mote."

It's the weakest of their mainstream trilogy

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2176/9085/products/Steely_Dan_2048x2048.jpg?v=1569111560

Listening for the first time in ages, and I think this might be as good as "Daydream Nation." The songs and arrangements are really strong imo and the hooks bigger, and underscoring both it starts with "Dirty Boots." And then goes right into "Tunic (Song for Karen)." And there are so many great twists and turns, like that brief major key(ish) break in "Cinderella's Big Score" or the megaphone-mic in "Mote" or the total shriek-and-noise explosion at the end of "Mildred Pierce" (which may be as abrasive as they get), or "Mary-Christ," which reminds me of "Tony's Theme" by the Pixies ...

Good and strong on tonight’s listen.

Seriously, I don’t know why this record hasn’t gotten as much play as others of theirs with me.

I think that when they come back in on the main riff sped up on "Titanium Expose" is a really exciting. I love that part.

I bought this CD when it came out. I doubt I listened to it a half dozen times.

Something about "Mildred Pierce" is like a perfectly tuned engine to me (and weirdly it's their only song in standard tuning). I think "Disappearer" is my overall favourite, followed closely by "Tunic".