Sonic Youth

Mmmm Sonic Youth. A band who have one of my Desert Island Discs as in the mind blowing Teenage Riot, but tbh apart from that I have found this band a tough cookie to get to grips with. Summoning the vast amounts of effort it's going to take to trawl through the back catalogue just defeats me tbh. It doesn't help because some of what they do sounds like turd (imo).

So what do I do? Well I write a letter to WATMMers to help me out. I bet there are absolute gems to discover....

I love this band but i'm hard pressed to give you something else other than a list of my favourite albums of theirs. I would try Bad Moon Rising, Evol, Sister, Daydream Nation (Obviously, although i don't rate it as highly as anyone else) Of the later albums I recommend Washing machine, A Thousand Leaves and NYC Ghosts + Flowers. I'm not sure how much help this will give you but those are the ones I find to be most interesting.

I have listened to Daydream Nation but found it underwhelming, maybe because I was expecting a whole albums worth of Teenage Riots. Knowing Sonic Youth, I guess that was never going to happen.

My favourite albums are:

Sister

Daydream Nation

Goo

Dirty

Washing Machine

A Thousand Leaves

Murray Street

I got into them rather late (around 89/90), hence the earliest albums are not included.

  On 5/25/2011 at 9:15 PM, beerwolf said:

I have listened to Daydream Nation but found it underwhelming, maybe because I was expecting a whole albums worth of Teenage Riots. Knowing Sonic Youth, I guess that was never going to happen.

No, but their discography is full of the weird, wonderful and brilliant. It's best just to dive in to it.

I haven't heard a Lee Ronaldo song I didn't like. They don't let him sing enough, he's just so cool.

I've heard a few songs kinda ruined by Kim Gordon.

  On 5/25/2011 at 11:02 PM, Candiru said:

I haven't heard a Lee Ronaldo song I didn't like. They don't let him sing enough, he's just so cool.

 

I've heard a few songs kinda ruined by Kim Gordon.

Yep. I think there are a few songs on Dirty (the only album I have) ruined by her. I think Sugar Kane is similar to Teenage Riot, those types of songs I adore.

Being faced with a dozen Sonic Youth albums is kind of daunting lol.

all sonic youth albums are good, from 1-10

sure you'll come across some [not many] that are either boring or not in your taste, or maybe even are just not very good

still it's a safe bet that they're very much worth hearing.

notable for new fans is that the PRE evol/sister/daydream albums are really interesting and good

and also that the post 90s albums are really good

as in: sonic nurse/murray stream street/ and all others. especially the recent one with the krautrock shit

one other really good thing is the fucking 2 disc version of Daydream Nation reissue... has a live recording of the whole album. it's truly phenomenal music, one of the coolest live recordings i've ever heard, in terms of the musical exploration

I like Rather Ripped. I like the catchy songs on it.

I recommend going out to rural upstate new york, lighting a joint, and listening to Murray Street/Sonic Nurse. Tis some of the chillest music.

  On 5/25/2011 at 11:02 PM, Candiru said:

I've heard a few songs kinda ruined by Kim Gordon.

She kind of ruined the band for me. I was very late to their stuff and the first chance I got to see them was the series of gigs where they played Daydream Nation as a whole. Encores were other stuff. Great gig and all but she came across as being really snooty and "cooler than thou". Since then whenever I listen to them it just reminds me of that too much, especially when she's singing. It's just the weirdest experience to enjoy a gig but end up really going off the band. That said, I've still got time for Lee Ranaldo. He's just cool.

So, now, I'm just not listening to them for a few years and maybe in 2014 I can go back and they'll be super-awesome again and I'll start grabbing more of their discog.

EVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOLEVOL

  Quote

I've heard a few songs kinda ruined by Kim Gordon

i like her on a few songs.

i saw them in austin last year and was amazed that kim singing anti-orgasm sounded even worse than on the album (which i thought was already bad. i do like the song tho).

but yehh i love this band. favorites would have to be evol, sonic nurse, experimental jet set trash and no star, dirty, and sister.

I am gonna check out Evol and Murray Street, an early album paired with a later album. And continue like that. See how we get on. Thanks for the replies

Good idea! :-)

  On 5/25/2011 at 9:00 PM, Aces said:

Bad Moon Rising, Evol, Sister, Daydream Nation

Yeah, these are the four essential ones for me. Great run of albums. There's a lot to like in the later stuff too, but these are the ones I come back to. Start-to-finish fantastic albums.

Oh, and to anyone saying Kim Gordon ruins Sonic Youth - you must be out of your freaking minds.

Also this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzRk4XXSA3g

If you like the poppier end of their stuff (teenage riot) then i recommend fri/end from thurston moore's trees outside the academy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf4PaiiLJps&feature=related

Don't discount Dirty just because it was their grunge cash in album. I think it works as a good primer as well.