Sonic Youth: Classic or Dud/S&D?

I mean, they did start out 30 years ago. I'm thinking about how I would have felt about 1951's biggest music stars when I was 13...

I don't fault a kid for not liking Sonic Youth in 2012 at all but I also think that's a false equivalency, considering the developments in popular music between 1951-1981 vs rock music from 1981-2012 (and considering that he likes the Black Keys). Like, I'm not sure 'datedness' is his problem.

Oddly, and for no reason now that I think about it, I'd assumed the 13 year old was a girl. Weird.

Ha, I guess it was unfair for me to assume that the kid was a boy!

And I don't know, this doesn't look so bad:

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/bg_hits/bg_hits_51.html

But it would have bored the crap out of me in 1981...

i can't imagine that there are many 13-year-olds to whom any phase of SY's career would make much sense

Maybe the ones who are against fascism.

I just think that a 13-year-old kid in 1983 could have had the same reaction to Sonic Youth. (I was hearing it in 1995.) In fact, that seems even more likely to me.

(OK, I guess I was thinking more of what a 'best-selling hits' list from 1951 would look like, which I can guarantee that list is not. But, yeah, Sonic Youth wasn't exactly topping the charts in the early 80s either.)

I mean, isn't Ke$ha a Sonic Youth fan?

i assumed 13-year-old girl too, whereas i'll generally sexistly tend away from that. odd.

ke$ha's favourite bands list was basically an ilxor's dream iirc (roky erickson and silver apples are what i remember from it), so that maybe doesn't count.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_singles_of_1951_%28U.S.%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1951_in_music#Top_hits_on_record

(I loved Howlin' Wolf when I was 14 btw!)

xpost

I usually assume that girls are too sensible to write letters to well-known artists just to tell them they suck.

Not sure why I'd assume that though. I didn't realize that I have my own issues with gender roles and it was certainly unfair of me to take them out on a 13-year-old troll.

I wrote a lot of regrettable hate mail to celebrities as a kid, worst of all to the undeserving and great Pee-Wee Herman.

I also wrote a letter to Martin Short telling him about my big crush on him. In sum, sucks for a kid to say some dumb shit off the cuff and then it's immortalized on the internet.

I know when I was 13...never start off with Bad Moon Rising as your first SY album, some things just aren't meant to be

Although this kid's rant would have been funnier if she/he had laid into one of O'Rourke/Ibold/Kim G as third guitarist

HEY KID, LOOK AT DIS
Alternative rock icons Sonic Youth, followed By The Black Keys, on viewer and hella sponsors)-supported Austin City Limits
full episode, so watch out http://video.pbs.org/video/1757512915/

Or if the letter had went more like "I’m 13. I have a little band. We are so much better than you. Honestly. You are the worst band I have ever seen in your entire life. You are worse than Rebecca Black. The bass player just hacks the bass and plays one chord. Seriously, ever tried Googling "linear counterpoint"? "Polytonality"? The guitar players are playing the same freaking tunings you've played since 1988: F#F#GGAA, big freaking deal. The guitarist in my band read about just intonation on Wikipedia and tried it out last night. I know you guys are old. I just didn't think you'd be stuck in the 19th century. The drummer is okay if you think 4/4 is REALLY EXCITING. But honestly the vocalist needs to listen to Sainkho Namtchylak. Oh and Fred Frith is one guy and is better than you.

(xpost to Although this kid's rant would have been funnier if she/he had laid into one of O'Rourke/Ibold/Kim G as third guitarist
)

"had gone"

bad moon rising was my first sonic youth record, i bought it on tape. i think i was fourteen and it made no sense, but it slowly revealed its self to me and changed everything about music for me, its still the one i like the most.

Is Ibold gonna start manning the bar at Great Jones Cafe again?

again? p sure he served me less than a year ago.

(my last visit to date)

So nobody can stand to xppost watch alternative rock icons Sonic Youth, followed by The Black Keys, on Austin City Limits?

(That's hilarious, Abbott.)

But honestly the vocalist needs to listen to Sainkho Namtchylak.

Nice. I was just listening to Lost Rivers the other day and thought pretty much the same thing.

I just watched the SY performance, dow. It was surprisingly good. Maybe I was wrong to write off The Eternal (top 20 Billboard placing!).

that this kid is 13 is really a distraction. he's essentially one of hundreds of thousands whose response to SY music is "hey you don't play your music properly, you're awful", which is a common response to their music by dullards of all stripes, at least this kid gets a pass because he's so young. a friend of mine, who's a music journalist, had a massive 'discussion' on his facebook page the other weekend about SY and the consensus opinion was that SY is po-faced and unlistenable, which i cannot even grok.

bad moon rising was my first SY too, when i was 16 I think? and it put me off SY for months, until i borrowed Dirty out of the library and it all began to make sense.

i think the eternal makes better sense live? i respected it rather than loved it when it came out, but they played a bunch off it in london last new years eve and it really blew my mind.

Bad Moon Rising is my favorite SY album and will probably be my favorite even after I die.

yeah, its pretty much mine now, too. but when yr a 16 year old who wants to hear the band who 'inspired nirvana', its a hard chew to swallow.

Ha I think I was listening to SY when I was 13, though I was def listening to the first three Geffen albums

if i had heard SY when i was 13, i would have definitely hated them.
in fact i probably did when i was 23, 33, and 43 as well.
i only liked them when i was 19.

also, whatever their motives, i think its a bit much that a bunch of grey hairs have posted this kid rant.

Is Ibold gonna start manning the bar at Great Jones Cafe again?
again? p sure he served me less than a year ago.
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius)

I just assumed he didn't do that anymore...pretty cool he served you. I might go check it out

Sonic Youth '87, full show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1QZAETFJ3a8

"Kool Thing" was the... err.. koolest thing ever when I heard it at 13

Wow, that show from '87 is great so far (halfway through). I really love "Hold That Tiger", pretty similar tracklist, but you can watch em play! Didn't see my first SY show until 97 I think, so very glad for any decent footage from those times. Thanks dow!

yeah i love that era of the band, so powerful.

Thank Tyler, he's the one who linked it from his blog. Also, I need to check this, and several other full-lengths listed on the same page
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVL0kSBf1es&feature=related

Man, seems like there is quite a wormhole to disappear into. Thanks Tyler! Lee is really killing it, making my Friday.

yeah it's interesting -- i haven't watched too much footage of the band over the years, so it's cool to see who's playing what, guitar-wise. Some stuff I always assumed was Lee is actually Thurston or vice versa.

The Austin City Limits set (their part of the show is about 24") is pretty cool, although when they were on Soundstage a few years ago, a set of about the same length got really awkward, like they were bumping into each other--too many cooks...? Maybe that had something to do with the hiatus, although hadn't O'Rourke already left? Sorry I don't keep up.

Yeah, it can be surprising as to who is playing what on the songs sometimes, though I usually have it sussed out. Was more suprising to me sometimes on later stuff, like "Rain On Tin". I had assumed, after hearing the record, that Lee played the cool ascending/descending lines at the end with O'Rourke, but was very surprised to see that it was Thurston for some reason.

what the hell does "S&D" stand for (thread title)

Uhh, "Search and Destroy" I believe, as in what is great and what sucks.

Thank you, sir.

And what about "www"

I'm kidding

Hah! Sure thing. Took me a while to figure out a lot of the ILM architecture/coding. Still am not sure exactly what the meaning or origin of "challops" is.

it is an argumentative seafood

delicious, but rough on the digestive system