is 'the guy from sonic youth' a 'celebrity'?

lmao

two ppl voted for the poll option w/her name on it what can i say

I'd like to know what Lydia Lunch's version of "partying" looks like. People berating caged kittens is probably her idea of a good time.

bourbon + cocaine + flirting with guys much younger than her -- I can respect the first and third activity

about what i expected. her voice is... something else these days. i saw her and her band a few months ago and they were pretty great tbh.

yeah, she still has good energy on stage, but she can't hit the notes from that early Teenage Jesus material -- sounds more like Bea Arthur. I am fond of Bea Arthur tho

I haven't partied with Lydia exactly but I did see her do a semi-private "video retrospective" in the pre-Youtube days where she showed video from her personal collection of TJ & J & 8-Eyed Spy & Shotgun Wedding and so on and so on and she also graphically & ruthlessly broke down the sexual proclivities of her various collaborators and it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

It was like Bea Arthur if Bea Arthur knew everything about Rowland S Howard's dick

I haven’t partied with Lydia but I have done the caged kitten thing

I love a few Lydia Lunch albums btw. Sry for the dumb joke

I have no idea what her physical appearance is like these days, but she's an absolutely wretched person.👍🏽

the first Sonic Youth drummer is so good in 'Stranger Than Paradise'

Wow, I didn’t know that guy was in SY... (He was also in Ferris Bueller, lol)

And Eight Men Out

xp - why do you think she's an absolutely wretched person? (not saying you are wrong)

Branwell overthinking really obvious things, as usual, because that is what Branwell does on a Sunday morning:

Like, OMG, duh, you are literally the first person in the world that has pointed out that "celebrity" is a meaningless term! "Celebrity" does not mean a fucking thing these days, now that anyone, even heiresses and indie-rock stars can become ~celebrities~. Not like in the olden days, when Celebrity meant an actual Godlike Celebrity, like Zeus, or Napoleon, or that codger in the next village over who threw a kettle over the pub.

Celebrity means little more than "a person, who is not personally known to me, who nonetheless *means* something to me and whose behaviour is interesting to me."

You may not know this person, and yet you follow their behaviour because you use them as a kind of personal benchmark of what is noble, what is despicable, what is admirable, be that inspiration or aspiration or cautionary tale. When a large enough group of people use the same person in that way, that person becomes a "Celebrity". Now you can argue back and forth all day about how large a group of people it takes to make a person a "celebrity" but Celebrities themselves, they have a use, a purpose, and when people start making those noises about 'omg celebrity culture is ~so terrible~!!!' all that makes me think is "wow, you really don't understand how humans work.'

I *get* why people hate the preponderance of Indie Rock Canon on this board, and revoking Thurston's status as celebrity - or indeed mocking people who consider him and his behaviour worthy of note or discussion - can certainly be a reflection of dismantling the overlong cultural influence of Indie Rock. But on the other hand, when it becomes a stick to beat people with "why do you care about this dumb shit" I think it's pretty obvious why people care about this dumb shit: because people use 'Celebrities" as moral bellwethers of themselves and their perceived group.

I'm of the generation that grew up with Kim and Thurston as kind of "cool older siblings" - and watched them grapple with the same issues that I was facing. How do you maintain a relationship in the face of your political beliefs, and your belief in gender equality? How do you negotiate the desire to not participate in the more abhorrent aspects of consumer society, while still making a liveable standard of living? They seemed to do it well. It wasn't that I was holding them to a *different* or higher standard than ~ordinary folk~, it was just that they seemed to do it well enough that, being of my age and class and gender and interests, they got integrated into what I considered to *be* the standard. And it's not just a bog standard "kill yr idols" display, but more a "you lied to us for half a dozen years. I have the right to feel kinda bummed about being lied to, and to revise my opinions of you, rather than revise my moral standards."

"Who even is this guy" is a perfectly normal response if it's not your generation or not your culture or not your standard. But "Why do you even care about celebrities" is one of those things that makes me instantly question the wisdom of the sayer, rather than the concept of "celebrity".

― claim you hate me; read my twitter account ~religiously~ (Branwell Bell), Sunday, March 9, 2014 4:54 AM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink

lmao

Sonic Youth member has been my gold standard of comfortable level of celebrity forever - pretty sure they're all set up financially, Kim/Thurston/Lee could get a table at a hot restaurant or invite to an exclusive event if they want it, but they're not famous enough to have to deal with paparazzi.

seemed like every other person i knew during my college days in western massachusetts had a gordon/mascis/moore story to tell and all of them reaffirmed my belief to let celebrities and people in general be.

Still find it fascinating I saw Thurston nearly ride his bike into a bus in Stoke Newington. sonic thedgehod

Stokey Youth.