Labels

Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth - Thurston Moore

Thurston Moore

Vocals, Various

Sonic Youth - Kim Gordon

Kim Gordon

Bass, Vocals

Sonic Youth - Lee Ranaldo

Lee Ranaldo

Guitar, Keyboards

Sonic Youth - Steve Shelley

Steve Shelley

Drums

Formed: 1981
Location: New York, New York, USA
Genre: Rock, Noise Rock, No Wave, Art Punk
Years Active: 1981 - 2011
Meaning of the Name: Sonic was the nickname of a friend and Youth was a reggae word for 'band'
Way of Working: Collaborative
Associated: The Coachmen

Essential Releases

Sonic Youth - EVOL

EVOL (1986)

A symbiosis of no wave and noise rock that established the band's new sound.

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

Daydream
Nation (1988)

Double album of challenging noise that took all of the band's influences and crafted them into something new.

Sonic Youth - Goo

Goo (1990)

Debut release on a major label. Includes elements of alternative rock and more accessible songwriting.


Sonic Youth reinvented rock music to in order to save it, and by doing so, used an abrasive form of creative destruction to shatter the genre at its very foundations. Emerging from New York's No Wave art scene in the early '80s, they rejected the sonic vocabulary of commercial rock: verse-chorus song structures, predictable melody, and traditional blues riffs in a way that was more boundary-breaking than punk.

Traditional music goes to great lengths to find sounds that are pleasant to hear, but noise rock takes a different approach, mercilessly pursuing the atonal and the dissonant. Not for the sake of it, but to obliterate tired assumptions in order to rediscover the beating heart of rock, and imbue it with new life. With these deconstructionist aims in mind, bands like Sonic Youth argued that all noise is music when structured and reproducible.

To prove this claim they emphasised elements of rhythm, volume, and texture. Abusing their guitars by inserting screwdrivers and wrenches into them, Sonic Youth destroyed the primary symbol of rock on a nightly basis. Lee Ranaldo played his with an electric drill in place of a pick, Thurston Moore with a file, and the band even took literal hammers to their strings in order to create unconventional, damaged sounds. Additionally, by using multiple custom tunings, their live shows became spectacles of performance art where the 'tools' of rock were remoulded into what Sonic Youth wanted them to be.
Thurston Moore slashing his guitar with a file.
Thurston Moore slashing his guitar with a file.


Furthermore, the band not only deconstructed rock music physically but thematically as well. Early songs such as 'Death Valley '69' directly reference the murders carried out by The Manson Family in Death Valley in 1969. The twisted family lived at the house of Dennis Wilson, drummer in The Beach Boys, in 1968 and Charles Manson even had a hand in writing 'Never Learn Not to Love' (1968).

The Beach Boys, one of rock's most identifiable bands, represent the genre's reliance on melody and harmony. Conversely, Manson represents insane, violent death. The Beach Boys song 'California Girls' (1965) is referenced in Sonic Youth's 'Expressway to Yr Skull' (1986) with the lyric "We're gonna kill the California girls", highlighting the contrasting approach of both bands: L.A. vs New York; sunny and uplifting vs dark and cynical.

Additionally, when Kim Gordon provides vocals, as she does on tracks like 'Shadow of a Doubt' (1986), melody is replaced with spoken word in order to defy expectations and provide detached immediacy. She was a fan of the nascent hip-hop genre, that uses a similar style of delivery and is perceived as more 'real' than the fantasy world of song because its cadences are closer to everyday speech.

While achieving only limited commercial success, Sonic Youth provided rock music with a much-needed shot in the arm that questioned its underlying assumptions and re-evaluated decades-old conventional thinking. Bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Teenage Fanclub, Pixies, and Nirvana would take these ideas and expand them over the next decade. The coming renaissance that resulted in the emergence of grunge, shoegaze, and alt-rock didn't occur in a vacuum, it is the direct result of Sonic Youth and their dauntless deconstructionism.


Skills

*This is a work in progress. Values are subjective.

Emotional Impact

i Does it connect with the heart? What does it make you feel and how much of it?
80

Mental Impact

i Does it connect with the head? Social issues, interesting observations, clever lyrics, similies etc.
90

Originality

i Are they unique? Did they break new ground, use new techniques or create new genres.
100

Artistry

i Using creativity and imagination to present themselves in a unique way. Example, Wu-Tang Clan as Shaolin and Marvel characters etc.
90

Authenticity

i Do they really mean what they say? Is it autobiographical, personal?
90

Live

i Stage presence, working the crowd, performance. Miming, forgetting lyrics reduce this.
90

Production

i Studio techniques. More important for electronic music including hip hop.
60

Musicianship

i Their ability to play individually and as a group. Technical skills. DJing. Freestyling for hip hop.
60

Singing

i Technical attributes.
60

Songwriting

i Storytelling. Cohesive themes. Is the song about something? Stan by Eminem is an example of excellent songwriting.
80

Danceability

i Does it make you move? Do you tap your foot, nod your head or move your whole body?
40

Fun

i Is listening to it a good time? Are the lyrics funny? Depressing themes lowers value.
45

Consistency

i Have they put out good music across their careers. Two good albums and 5 band ones will reduce this value. Reduced for Pixies due to their post-reunion albums.
75

Range

i Fast, slow, ballads, party jams. Do they go beyond their own genre?
85

Cool

i Laid-back, icy detachment, unflustered.
90

Charisma

i Factors include appearance, force of personality. Elvis making people faint etc.
35

Commercial & Critical Success

Awards

Certifications >>>

  • Goo - Silver in the UK

Charts >>>

  • Dirty - Number 6 in the UK

Critics >>>

  • NME - EVOL - Best Albums of 1986: 4th
  • NME - Sister - Best Albums of 1987: 4th
  • NME - Daydream Nation - Best Albums of 1988: 9th
  • Pitchfork - Sister - Best Albums of 1980s: 14th
  • Pitchfork - Daydream Nation - Top 100 Albums of the 1980s (2002): 1st
  • Rolling Stone - Daydream Nation - Best Albums of 1988: 2nd
  • Rolling Stone - Daydream Nation - Best Albums of the '80s: 45th
  • Rolling Stone - Rather Ripped - Best Albums of 2006: 3rd
  • Slant - EVOL - Best Albums of the '80s: 82nd
  • Slant - Sister - Best Albums of the '80s: 72nd
  • Slant - Daydream Nation - Best Albums of the '80s: 30th
  • The Wire - Murray Street - Best Albums of 2002: 1st
  • The Wire - Sonic Nurse - Best Albums of 2004: 2nd

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