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

still, i can't escape the sense that the musical support she's getting is halfhearted at best. "orange rolls" and "arthur doyle" at least wash the monkey wrenching down with dumb-catchy riffs. i also miss the personality and offhand wit of stuff like "quest for the cup" and "washing machine".

I like "Orange Rolls" but for me, "Contre le Sexisme" and "Heather Angel" >>>>> the rest of the songs you mention.

well said! xp

also, "Female Mechanic" rules.

Yeah, that one too.

I'd probably love a whole album that was like the KG songs on ATL, actually.

the day last week that i listened to nothing but Kim songs was really enjoyable.

I don't know where to put this so I'm putting it here.

Brief descriptions of my Sonic Youth shows:

EVOL tour, 7/19/86 (I am 19):
Indianapolis, IN @ Hoosier Ballroom

http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/cc/071986.html

Hot summer in Indiana. I was fully on board with EVOL and had been really fanatical about the band since the fall of 85 when I got turned on to BMR. Word came that they were playing in Indianapolis at a venue called the Hoosier Ballroom. I drove up with some older people from the community radio station, a couple of friends my age, and the kid brother of one of my roommates. Everybody under 21 had to be paired off with a "guardian" who of course pretended to be an older brother or whatever. All the minors also had to have food on the table in front of them at all times. Despite what the link says, Dinosaur did not open - there were two local bands. Probably 30 people there. I have a flyer, but just found out my scanner is outdated.

The band was in prime form. A year or two later I found a zine interview where they explained that they had done mushrooms the night before, which they claimed was unusual and changed the vibe of the show. I remember "Death To Our Friends", screwdrivers in guitars, Kim's hair all in her face, Thurston screaming. I've talked to a few of the friends I went with over the intervening decades, and we are all still blown away by how good it sounded, as well as the performance itself. A hurricane of sound.

SET LIST:
Tom Violence
White Kross
Shadow of a Doubt
Starpower
Death to our Friends
I Love Her All the Time
Flower
Green Light
Brother James
Kill Yr Idols
Expressway To Yr Skull
--
World Looks Red
(no existing recording known)

Sister tour, 4/25/87 (I am 20):
Oberlin, OH @ Hales Gym

http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/cc/042587.html

Three friends and I drove to Cleveland to participate in a No Business As Usual anarchist demonstration, and to visit one guy's girlfriend, who went to Oberlin. As a bonus, the weekend included the WOBC annual music festival, and one of the events was Sonic Youth and Big Black on campus (it was $6). I remember more about the demo and the weekend in general than the show, but it was one of those shows where they played a ton of stuff from a not-yet-released LP (in this case, Sister). In addition to what the link says, they also played the Ramones medley for the encore which made me freak out and jump up and down a lot. I have clearer memories of Big Black playing than SY - it was right before Headache came out. There were maybe 200 people? Lots of students. I also have a flyer for this show.

SET LIST:
Catholic Block
Tuff Gnarl
Pipeline
PCH
Stereo Sanctity
Cotton Crown
Schizophrenia
White Kross
Beauty Lies in the Eye
Hotwire my Heart
Ramones medley, maybe other songs?
(audience recording exists)

Daydream Nation tour, 12/10/88 (I am 22)
Charlottesville, VA @ Traxx

http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/cc/121088.html

Got my heart broken right after graduating from college, six months later I took a leave of absence from my dead end pizza job and went to stay with my folks for like six weeks, feeling sorry for myself. I even ended up staying later than I had planned because of this show. Happy Flowers and B.A.L.L. opened. The band was totally burnt out, it was like the second to last gig on the DN tour. Show was good, and like the link implies they did in fact open with "The Sprawl". But I remember the set being a bit short, and they got sloppy near the end. Kramer was passing a bag of wine through the crowd and there was a big chaotic tired jam for the encore (see link). I have a really shitty walkman recording of this show somewhere. Maybe 150 people?

SET LIST:
Cross the Breeze
The Wonder
Hyperstation
Teenage Riot
Hey Joni
Rain King
Kissability
Brother James
Eliminator Jr
Silver Rocket
I Wanna Be Yr Dog => Jumpin' Jack Flash jam

Goo tour, 8/4/90 (I am 23)
Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart's

http://sonicyouth.com/history/con-set.html

Jesus, I barely remember anything about this show. Thurston had some goofy hat on and Kim was giving him shit for it, I think? We had driven a couple of hours to get there. There were WAY more people than at the Traxx show I had seen less than two years before, it was more like a big concert hall show. 500 people, maybe? Recorded and bootlegged.

SET LIST:
Tom Violence
White Kross
Dirty Boots
Tunic
Titanium Expose
The Wonder
Mote
Cinderella's Big Score
Kool Thing
Mary Christ
Catholic Block
Kill Yr Idols
(bootleg release as 'Energy")

Pre-NYCGAF tour, 9/5/99 (I am 33)
Seattle Center Arena, Bumbershoot Festival

http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/cc/090599.html

Well look at that, my memory is bad - they played 'She Is Not Alone", not IDID as I thought in the voting thread. Like I described there, this was almost entirely an instrumental set - another "work the songs out on tour before recording" gig. Kim played a lot of guitar. The (hordes of) mostly younger kids were confused, restless, and started leaving about halfway in. The Master Musicians Of Jajouka did NOT open, they played a different set later that night with Lee Ranaldo. This was in an 8,000 seat mini-stadium. There's at least one AUD recording.

SET LIST:
Free City Rhymes
Renegade Princess
Nevermind (What Was It Anyway)
Small Flowers Crack Concrete
Side2Side
StreamXSonik Subway
She Is Not Alone
NYC Ghosts & Flowers
--
Lightnin'

Next chance I had to see them was on the Nurse tour, I think, but I didn't wanna go up to Portland with a friend. Oh well, looks like I missed my last chance!

Oddly, I saw them do a show in NYC sometime around DN I think where there was a spiel about a hat, I think Kim's in that case. I wonder if there was a SY hat thing...

awesome post, sleeve, jealous that you saw those

I saw the same Daydream Nation show as sleeve, about a month earlier. Found some footage on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeyjIZPrH9g

It was the last live show I'd see for more than 15 years. I was 27, and after almost a decade of doing nothing but, it wasn't fun anymore. Not Sonic Youth's fault, although I can see where their particular style might have fit well into something that was going to happen with me sooner or later anyway.

awesome post, sleeve, jealous that you saw those

^^^

cosign. EIII and I tried to see them on the EVOL tour at Maxwell's in Hoboken but we were turned away at the door. we got lost on our way home and ended up taking, like, fifteen different buses in ever-tightening concentric circles around Jersey City in the cheap urban-interzone version of After Hours. NJ Transit was prob. just fucking w/us b/c EIII puked all over the train on the way up.

wow, thanks for that tour, sleeve! i wish my show memory were half as detailed. hell, even a third would be an improvement...

yeah, great post sleeve, thanks so much for taking the time to share that!

Sister ALMOST beat Daydream Nation! Sigh.

Amazed tbh

anyways, here is not a bad way to spend an hour. I posted it on Facebook, but it is probably appropriate here too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QZAETFJ3a8

loving these Youtubes, thanks folks! That brief 2-minute clips thing clemenze posted seems significantly more focused than I remember them being at the show I saw.

is there any official concert footage available other than their stuff on The Year Punk Broke?

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

STOKED

Wow, they have the energy and intensity of a metal band in that 1987 show. Very different from the dazzling precision of the Murray Street tour (or the relatively blase ATL tour).

I kind of feel like I'm watching Krallice.

yeah, for the first four songs or so, I was like, "okay, yeah, shoegaze" and then it turned into something quite a bit more fierce...!

haha this is great. "this song is called 'Sister'...::plays unaccompanied guitar for a few seconds, stops:: oh, Steve, you wanna start it?"

dangit, i wanna watch these, but am beat. maybe i will watch them psychically while i sleep.

that sounds like a good premise for a pk dick book to be adapted into an sy song

do contendroids dream of electric guitars?

^underrated display names ship won't use

Everybody ready?
http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/song_results.png

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/100.jpg
100. Secret Girl
Evol, 1986
(50 points, 4 votes)

woah, top 100!

question: are you gonna do a Spotify playlist of the songs in the countdown as we go, or will you leave that for someone else to do? (i'd volunteer myself, but i'm gonna be working a lot this week and probably wouldn't update it very promptly)

I don't use Spotify, but I'm sure someone else will volunteer.

Also, I'm not going to post YouTube videos with the entries, but I highly encourage everyone to post relevant clips!

Secret Girl had such a huge impact on me.

Ha, I wonder if I gave "Secret Girl" half its points. I've always loved it. All the percussive sounds in the first half are them whacking muted guitar strings with a lot of reverb, right?

xpost

OK, watching a couple of live clips, I think they were playing with a tape. Does anyone know the source? A horror film soundtrack? Actual sound collage?

Yes! Secret Girl made it! Voted for it.

IMO Secret Girl >>> Providence

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/099.jpg
99. Saucer-Like
Washing Machine, 1995
(52 points, 3 votes)

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/098.jpg
98. Paper Cup Exit
Sonic Nurse, 2004
(55 points, 4 votes)

ATL was the first SY album I disliked. I even gave the CD away. I like "hoarfrost", "sunday" and "hits of sunshine" but the album was a bit of a chore for me to listen to. I guess I should listen to it again, its been a long while. Whats is it that everyone loves about it?

"Saucer-Like" is a good song that always kinda gets lost in the shuffle for me, nice to see it get a little shine

If PCE made it, Lee is going to rampage the poll.

Sweet that "Saucer Like" made it - that was one of my votes.

It took me to cotton to ATL and I never really LOVED it - there were a few songs I liked way more than others, and I remember transporting for and catching overlap with SYR songs. It never became a real favorite overall, but it's special in the sense that a) it dropped during the summer I stayed I'm my college town, between junior and senior years, b) I saw SY touring it and they were great, and c) the killer moments on it, like some of the gently psychedelic tilts on "Sunshine," are absolutely sublime even now.

NYCG&F is the first/only SY I sold almost back almost right away.

I thought ATL was amazing the first time I heard it (I can remember I'd just got a new stereo at the time and it was one of the first things I played) but after a few listens the handful of annoying filler tracks started to grate. I still think it's a pretty good album because the highs are really good but it's not first-tier SY by any means. I'd probably put it on a par with Washing Machine.

Really surprised Goo didn't make the top ten albums.

http://www.melson.nl/ILM/sypoll/097.jpg
97. Computer Age
The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young, 1989
(57 points, 4 votes)

(whisper it) Washing Machine is actually maybe my favourite SY of the albums I've heard (Evol / Daydream Nation / Dirty / WM / A Thousand Leaves / Murray Street / Sonic Nurse).

Washing Machine contains both my favourite and least-favourite SY songs.

WM is like 80% great, which is a winner in my book - it made my top 5 albums ballot

I think I like how bass-driven it feels. Someone said upthread that it carried over some of the "bluesy" quality of EJST&NS - is that an accurate description? Maybe i should check that album out.

Love that cover of "Computer Age"; v.appropriate for SY's uh curation instincts or w/e that they'd cover off Trans before the 80s had ended.

I'm a pretty sporadic fan of SY but I voted "Computer Age" super high (#3?). Waaaaay better than the original, it seems built for SY: Moore's voice on the sing-songy "weeks and months & years" parts is my favorite vocal of his, against the squall.