when did Sonic Youth peak

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.

eh... 80s

80s but hey they were no Live Skull

This is really tough, there's stuff I love and stuff I'm not fussed about in each decade. EVOL through to Dirty is the classic run but I love Sonic Nurse as well. I think I'd have to say '80s. Also for what it's worth I've never had a problem with the production on the '80s records and I first heard them in 2002.

i find the idea of bands (or filmmakers) 'peaking' not at all consistent with a perfect rollercoaster curve in all cases. (esp those who last ~ 30 years)

There are some v sublime songs on WM like Saucer-like, Washing Machine, Unwind, and Skip Tracer. even No Queen Blues features some super-saturated, all-strings-tuned-to-the-same-frequency, trembling/beating freq's -lushness going on.. the album is some kind of turning point for them, with the subsequent SYR series (silver sessions, hey!), their old equipment getting stolen, and then the near demo-like quality (muddled-ass/immediate version of Ineffable Me) of A Thousand Leaves. ATL is lush as hell, summer of '98 (goin' nuts), phaser/flange excess, Wildflower Soul, Hoarfrost, Snare, girl et al. ATL is raw and beautiful, their last great album, imo. maybe they peaked with Sweet Shine.

I Love ATL despite the longeurs. "Hoarfrost" is my favorite Ranaldo song on any album.

xp yeah my favorite Lee song is Saucer-Like despite that wackass beat poetry bridge

Karen Koltrane, too. lot of neat sounds and weird, dank atmosphere going on in that track.. and the pretty part of it, towards the end.

'Daydream Nation' and 'Goo' feel like the peaks with 'Murray Street' firmly establishing their high quality but very Sonic Youth Template form since 2001. Even the latest Thurston Moore album sounds like it's a child of 'Murray Street' to me.

Still a big fan.

it's not so much that I think the initial run is incomparably better as it is that I find Daydream like 2 standard deviations better than *anything* else they did.

i find the idea of bands (or filmmakers) 'peaking' not at all consistent with a perfect rollercoaster curve in all cases. (esp those who last ~ 30 years)

― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Friday, May 12, 2017 3:47 PM

much less poets

lmao

1985-1988

I always listened to this band for sheer texture and a kind of weird animal vibe and for me Sister is it

I used to manage a really creepy middle aged guy who was really heavily into Sonic Youth and Swans. He was a teacher and would openly hit on the (adult) students. I would've sacked him but he was quite seriously ill and possibly only surviving due to the company's unusually generous health insurance, so I let him transfer to a different city instead.

Pretty sure I had a point I was making here but it's completely escaped me. 80s.

I long wondered what they would sound like if they used DI guitars and then they went and did it on Rather Ripped.

"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