Yeah seriously!!
Bone?????
Bull in the heather??
Quest for the cup?
Starfield road?
SWEET SHINE?

I could go on.
Good god.

Sweet Shine is one of the band’s best songs.

The rest of it just jangle rocks the fuck out.

Going back to the original topic, "Female Mechanic Now On Duty" has always been a favorite - since the first time I heard it, performed instrumentally on that PBS show in summer '97. I loved the riff and all the wildness around it, Steve's thumping beat, the big one-chord noise break, and then that fractured clean riff with Lee's ring-modulated squawks echoing, a new chord with a new beat, Steve shaking that tiny maraca, and then Thurston shaking the ground with his Blue Box bursts. The tension in that one-note climax builds to a perfect finish.

Then the album came out and Kim played the riff all different. What the..? Yeah, I'm still only slightly less bitter 20 years later...it just takes away from the pounding menace that the live version has and gives it a more laidback feel. I love her vocal, and the rest of the song (including that very climax taken from the PBS show) is perfection.

They never played it live with this alternate rhythm, before or after the album was released, so I've just always found it odd that they went with such a different vibe for the album.

All that said, it's still one of my top go-to songs for sitting outside and listening to music, particularly on a rainy fall day like today. Which leads me to a weird topic - do you segregate SY albums by weather/time of day/etc? My friend and I always had a joke about listening to "Ghost Bitch" walking downtown in the early afternoon, how inappropriate it feels. I definitely link certain albums to certain moods, but some are more versatile than others.

Fuck, shut up!

^

Noice.

Now I want to watch the PBS performance and go back down the rabbit hole.

Yes i neeed to see/hear this pbs performance. Is it online? Link?

Are you guys talking about the Sessions At West 54th performance? I loved that show!

That's the one. Has the video circulated on Dimeadozen or some such site? I think I have the audio... Damn messy archives of mine, man. :o

could not write it better.

srsly, I dont know why, but I like the album very much. It is not on the top of my list, but it is still good.

oh, I see. Nirvana connection...

Sidenote: it's very refreshing, to me at least, to encounter LGBTQ+ people who don't adhere to the typical boring music tastes that community too often seems to follow like an obligation or an inevitable trend. I've met dozens of gay people (before anyone gets smartass about it, I don't mention this as "trolling for a badge", m'kay; I'm just stating a fact) and it's always the usual shit suspects: Madonna, Cher, bullcrap. Why can't they go for Hüsker Dü? Two thirds of the fuckin' band were gay! Why can't they go for Laura Nyro?

Just sayin'...
:)

My first gay roommate (I’ve had, like, six) got turned onto Sonic Youth after hearing me listen to “Silver Rocket.”

He was into Aphex Twin and Trail of Dead and Amon Tobin and Nine Inch Nails and (blech) Smashing Pumpkins but sion got really into punk. We saw SY live together a few times.

My second gay roommate (who’s married to a woman and goes by a “female” name now but remains queer), was into Velvets, early REM, Wilco, Televisoon... got me into Television, actually... Talking Heads. Sonic Youth, Husker Du, Modern Lovers... his collection was like mine without the industrial, hardcore and hip-hop. He’s basically my musical soulmate and he’d have have set you straight on this misconception long ago.

Maybe you’re just hanging out with a certain group of gay people?

Anyway, not giving you shit, just funny how different our experiences have been.

Apparently! Piece-a-shit country this one...

I have no idea what you are talking about. I personally know 4 trans experimental musicians. I'm trans. My sort of girlfriend is trans and likes experimental music.

As I said: crap country here, wrong crowd.

In what country do you live?

lol

All of my fellow adolescent queers in the local area listen to mid-2000s pop-punk. I swear to god, if I have to listen to one more conversation about Panic! at the Disco...

1. Sister
2. Bad Moon Rising
3. Daydream Nation
4. Confusion Is Sex + Kill Your Idols
5. Sonic Nurse
6. Evol
7. Murray Street
8. Dirty
9. Washing Machine
10. Goo
11. Sonic Youth
12. The Eternal
13. Rather Ripped
14. A Thousand Leaves
15. Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star
16. New York City Ghosts & Flowers


also Lee is my fav member, hands down... then Steve


but dino jr > sonic youth, tbh

... What would there even be to talk about?!

I’m trying to imagine it but I can get no further than “Panic at the disco! is a band.”

*vomits in mouth*

Because I wanted to take part in the album ranking:

1. Daydream Nation
2. Washing Machine
3. Goo
4. Sister
5. Dirty
6. Rather Ripped
7. Sonic Nurse
8. Evol
9. Murray Street
10. The Eternal
11. Bad Moon Rising
12. Sonic Youth
13. Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star
14. A Thousand Leaves
15. NYC Ghosts and Flowers
16. Confusion is Sex

Note that this is rough and could likely change on a moment's notice. And I'm torn between saying 'sorry if your favourite's low' and 'fuck you, this is my list'.

Good list and directionally in line with my personal taste. The only thing I would suggest is spending more quality time with Confusion is Sex + Kill Yr Idols. Seriously, it'll eventually "unlock" for you and you will be grateful for it.

It’s not THAAAT bad. I like it.

This. I didn't understand Confusion for like two decades. I was never in the right headspace for it. Some random day i try it again and i loved everything about it.

Yyyyyyup.

Every album takes less time to absorb than this one, I think. But when this clicked for me, it kinda shook the world.

Only Sonic Youth album that clicked harder was Bad Moon Rising. I didn’t know what to do with anything after the first 3 minutes or so for several years. Then one day I unearthed the hidden melodies and caught the album’s true vibe. Now I’m always gemming and hawing over whether or not it belongs in the top 3.

Goddamn amazing record, that.

It’s super cool that you’re a teenager who listens to Sonic Youth. Unless times have changed dramatically since I was a teenager (which, of course, they have) this will get you absolutely nowhere until you’re in college, and then people will think you’re cool as fuck and want to talk to you about music all the time.

That said, I’m going to critique your list!!! I’m going to rate each album out of 10 but leave them in the order you had them.

Why? Because fuck you it’s my list critique.


... for now

I didn't even try to provide /10 ratings, it was hard enough ordering them as it was. That said, everything above BMR is at least a 7 IMO.

Yes to this too. It's perfect when you are in the right mood. I love the little stooges tape stuff. The thudding with echo drums.

I think in general I have enjoyed weirder and weirder music as i have aged.

I think with CIS and BMR it is that they have a rather dense and tense sound. They are less tangible.

Yeah but there’s a primordial groove to both records that really entrances me. Like “Protect me You,” which is positively vexing (in a good way) and “I’m Insane,” which might be the most no-wave song ever. The groove just electrifies me every time.

BMR’s better, but both are transcendent. BMR hit me and I’m still reeling all these many, many years later.

you know what, I was in love with CIS and BMR straight away after first hearing which is strange, as I was very young and I was just starting opening my ears to a "different" music back then. till then it was mostly nice "melodic stuff". I remember it very clearly. walking in the winter, lots of snow, just a street lights. I had CIS on one side of the tape and on other BMR, blown away by that albums. I was listening to them albums non-stop for few days alright. Sonic Death was really challenging for me, that was few days after I heard CIS and BMR. could not digest them live outtakes easily.

^ Likewise. Was 15 when I got into Sonic Youth after discovering them via that track they did w/ Cypress Hill. CiS and BMR have that rawness to 'em that I love in music. The agony and despair is ultra-present. SY got a lot prettier as they went on, and likely less angry as people.

I can actually buy that, because I responded that way to similarly abrasive, experimental music straight away. Just not these particular albums.

I think BMR was hibesltt a little weirder because it starts with a glorious melody and then a downright anthemic bass groove, but then folds in on itself and chucks any semblance of accessibility out the window and makes you dig through the brush to find it.

CIS/KYI is kind of a headfuck all over, so somehow less confusing than an album that starts with major chords and then dips intro sludge.

Anyway I really love BMR. And CIS.

rawness and despair are great words to describe it. I would add word dark as well relating to them albums. funny thing, we must be around same age. I have noticed SY for a first time when Judgment Night album came out. then I saw 100% on MTV, it was pretty cool video, but it did not click with me for some reason, then when I heard Goo for a first time during my university time I was in love.

hehe headfuck all over....love it!

A female mechanic?! How asinine of a concept!

Oxymorons are for the cognitively plagued. Listen to more Fergie, now that's a REAL woman.

Actually, I was only 2 years old when Judgement Night actually released. lol

What a beautiful way to describe BMR, Sev. You have a real knack for that.

Thanks bud.

That nonsense word is supposed to be “honestly” I think.

Please just ban this fucker ^ already...

Heh?