when did Sonic Youth peak

also in the 90s, they had a larger presence as arbiters of cool than a band, ime.

Honestly, they seem completely irrelevant now, and we should really be talking about some band that the Spotify algorithm likes. Consigned to the dustbin of history.

Like, isn't there some North Korean band that glenn likes that should be taking their place in this discussion?

Evol-Sister was the peak and both sound fat as fuck imo

man I'm listening to A Thousand Leaves right now, it's so good, they really fell in love with phaser pedals

xp yeah EVOL and Sister have p good production, but imo the songs on Daydream Nation are better

They peaked with Daydream Nation, you can't surpass Teenage Riot.

they actually did, it's called "Rain on Tin"

i guess as they got songier i loved them less but Sister at least has a bunch of great songs even if i don't love "Schizophrenia"

and i've got no problem with anthemic but it's not a thing i associate with or want from SY

DN might be their best album and imo Trilogy is the best thing on it

They never really mastered songwriting, and hence music was forced to rely on the likes of Steve Kipner and other professionals. Thank god songwriting was recovered from the ignorant masses. It's the only reason we still have music as we know it today...

Sonic Nurse and Rather Ripped are two of their best albums. So many good tunes.

'88-94

Evol-Sister was the peak and both sound fat as fuck imo

― The Remoans of the May (Noodle Vague), Friday, May 12, 2017 2:05 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm. i'd add bad moon rising too

Good questions to ask: why were they important (or were they). Which albums were important in terms of musical history.

I'm sure that Sonic Nurse and Rather Ripped are the correct answers. Thanks, fuckwad, or whatever your name is. Amazing tunes, whooo!

alfred otm, NYC G&F thru Rather Ripped is easily their best run.

EVOL/Sister for me too. I was 16 in 1992 though *blows minds*

tbh I at least like most of their stuff from all decades

NYC G&F is an outlier, thanks to stolen equipment and a credulous bass player....

listening to NYC G&F for the first time in a while, never noticed the O'Rourkian glitch-fest at the end of the first track.

Their mid-80s run (Bad Moon Rising/Evol/Sister/Daydream Nation) is great, Goo is a misstep, Dirty is crap, Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star is almost good, and everything afterward is completely irrelevant.

A cord and a pedal and a life that'll do for now

tbh I at least like most of their stuff from all decades

― Colonel Poo, Friday, 12 May 2017 13:14 (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is true for me too but I guess I would place the peak in the 80s, since those five main studio albums still seem another-level to me. First, I was a little intrigued by flappy bird's comments on production, considering how someone born in 1993 might have no reference point for a time when it was a lot more difficult and expensive to get recording fidelity. But then he went and liked the production on Evol and Sister so that's probably not what's going on.

I hate most of that Ciccone Youth thing, though.

I do rate Murray Street about as high as the 80s albums, though!

i've never liked the production on daydream nation: everything seems masked, sister has a much richer sound

For me the turning point was seeing them supported by Pavement in 92. Pavement just felt so inspired in comparison - I didn't feel the need to see SY again. Hence my vote for 80s.

90s sonic youth is so bad

Their mid-80s run (Bad Moon Rising/Evol/Sister/Daydream Nation) is great, Goo is a misstep, Dirty is crap, Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star is almost good, and everything afterward is completely irrelevant.

― Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Violent J (誤訳侮辱), Friday, May 12, 2017 2:22 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also otm

Hah hah, not touching this thread. Range of opinions on SY evidenced over and over again to be too varied. Last stretch of comments all as correct or wrong as any other. Good luck.

i've never liked the production on daydream nation: everything seems masked, sister has a much richer sound

― mark s, Friday, May 12, 2017 2:29 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah this is otm, Sister sounds much more saturated.

Never really got why so many people think Dirty is crap tbh

They became interesting with 100% and should have called it quits after Creme Brulee.

We've got a sound! = EVOL, Sister, DY
We've got a modern rock/MTV audience! = Goo, Dirty, EJTS
Let's jam! = WM, ATY, NYCG&F
We've learned to combine these things! = MS, SN, RR

I like to love every one of these albums except WM and the one released in 2009.

murray st and sonic nurse are my favs so i guess 00s

Murray Street was the biggest disappointment for me because they brought in the two saxophonists from Borbetomagus on one song, and then just had them bleat softly in the background for like a minute.

much too long, yes

Sister sounds much more saturated.

Oh, totally. It was done on an all-tube analogue board, which I'm pretty sure they pushed/saturated. Such a pleasantly warm and in-the-red sound.

"Kotton Krown" and "Theresa's Sound-World" are my favorite let's-simmer-in-sound-for-its-own-sake SY moments.

Daydream Nation was the peak, but the biggest dropoff didn't come until after Goo.

i love the diversity of opinions itt :)

which are the LPs not yet repped for?

whichever they are they are are the best

I still love all those 80s records.

which are the LPs not yet repped for?

― mark s, Friday, May 12, 2017 3:16 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Confusion is Sex & SYR series

Washing Machine and A Thousand Leaves are my favorites and the ones I return to most often though being in my teens when they were released is no doubt a contributing factor.

Confusion was included in this:

those five main studio albums still seem another-level to me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=506nWs6Wi-U

EVOL is apex for me. it's the one where it sounded like they could be almost anything at all, and most of the tracks on it feel less 'received' or stereotyped in terms of structure than Sister and later records. That would become their biggest weakness to my ears, ditty after ditty...

My favorite albums from Sonic Youth are Daydream Nation and Goo.
I pretty much like to imagine a world where Sonic Youth is a pop band.
So in my little world they peaked from 1988-1990. Not sure how that translates to the poll answers tho.

Considering the 90s were a time where Beck was into drone guitar and Olivia since before he could speak and he was so slack that his real name was the sound of a sneaker hitting the wall I think that playing into the dissonance = credibility = cool equation was probably a part of it, even if the story of them starting SYR to allay "sell-out" accusations was spurious

that Beck interview is fucking classic. SYR4 is great.. i was a super-stupid fan of sonic youth in 1999, and it fell right in line with my own trajectory outwards, discovering the larger world of music, fucking around with sounds and recording regularly. side A (of 4) sounded fully unhinged, with Kim G's vague, hushed vocals woven into the loose fabric - it was mysterious and difficult to understand. it introduced me to Christian Marclay, who made satisfying percussive sounds w/turntable, records etc. on "Burdocks" (a highlight) and throughout the four sides (the longer Cage pieces esp.) "Six for New Time" is another highlight, maybe the closest thing resembling a song (Slint-like?) on the album, and it introduced me to Pauline Oliveros. loved the variety of percussion and electronic sounds, the general sparseness of it, with meaty textures and odd juxtapositions.. but the ideas it presented were sometimes more appealing than the actual material/results. i'm glad to have been naive or ignorant of any supposed political or aesthetic intent for the album at the time, though i really dug the layout (font, graphics etc.) of the SYR series.

Considering the 90s were a time where Beck was into drone guitar and Olivia since before he could speak and he was so slack that his real name was the sound of a sneaker hitting the wall I think that playing into the dissonance = credibility = cool equation was probably a part of it, even if the story of them starting SYR to allay "sell-out" accusations was spurious

― fgti, Friday, June 9, 2017 8:13 PM (twelve minutes ago)

this post is poetry

True story (and PUA tip): I shared that interview with my current partner of 3.5 years when we were first courting.

SYR4 is great.. i was a super-stupid fan of sonic youth in 1999, and it fell right in line with my own trajectory outwards, discovering the larger world of music, fucking around with sounds and recording regularly.

This was very similar to my experience. By '99, I'd just started getting seriously into experimental composers. From my weirdly self-absorbed pov, it just seemed like a logical direction for them to go at the time, with the alternative moment in popular culture having more or less passed, esp after they had already put out a 20-minute song that was mostly a noise jam on a Geffen record.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

154 votes! nice. kinda surprised that 00s placed last

The results are too close

Lmao

this fuckin guy http://pitchfork.com/tv/22-over-under/1987-thurston-moore-rates-harry-styles-vaping-and-90s-nostalgia/

154 votes

wtf

xp i love that when they get to "90s nostalgia" thurston sounds like he's midway through a stereotypical old person speech "which was the style at the time..."

also damn i know i've thought this and probably posted this before but are those caricatures they do for the over/under's intentionally really bad and unflattering?

The "1987" in that url was really fucking with my head.

vaping blows

otm

"Sugar is just wicked at my age."

hey that too (i'm the same age as him); weight gain is a bitch for old dudes, even stringbeans like thurston

TeenAge wiot

hello twenty, fifteen!

sister-sister-sister

radical adults lick godhead style

boys go to jupiter get more stupider
girls go to mars become rockstars

one two one two one two titty

don't forget to close the door

Terror Twilight’s second attempt at actualization began at Sonic Youth’s Lower East Side studio/practice space Echo Canyon, rented out to the band at friends’ rates. The manageable budget was the main attraction but within a couple days it became apparent that the studio’s sundry idiosyncrasies were a bridge too far for Godrich. Acceptable headphone mixes were nearly impossible to achieve and the faders were upside down.

they peaked a lot when the faders were upside down, probably