Everybody's got different tastes and all, but when I first heard they're cover of "Beat on the Brat" on it back in '87 I honestly got what was so great about punk rock for the first time. I was into post-punk before punk, and when Sonic Youth pulled that back to the basics number, they laid out the energy of the freedom that came from banging out those two chords in two minutes for the whole jaded world to see.

Then you've got the title track, which for me, achieves everything the Beastie Boys ever wanted to do but messed up swigging Budweiser. Smartass White-noise Rap the way God would have intended if God weren't so fucking square and serious and shit.

The sound collage stuff is gratuitous as fuck, sure, but it's every bit as fun as Negativland's first record in a very similar sort of way. It sounds like a band having a good time and laughing at the fact that the world is treating them as important, and making a joke about that by acting stupid, but never fully disguising that they are just acting stupid.

So yeah, Master-Dik is a curio, if Sonic Youth is a curio.

what songs are on that ??

Wow, thank you, you pretty much said my feelings on it perfectly.
I'm glad I have it, but its no where near a favorite of mine

it's been a week & i still haven't gotten mine yet. kung fu always takes forever to get me stuff.

Really? I live in houston and I got mine in a little under a week.

I'd give my right arm to own this album...

man, buy it! with this euro dollar rates it's more than worth it!!!

You would hate yourself for doing so....

You're right, nic, this arm could be useful for my job. I think I've got enough money to buy it. How many euro I need to buy it ? i'm bad at maths.

Fuckingshit Fick Hsyoihatealheveroke

exactly. dead on, dead-air.

i don't know about yr copy, but the paper sleeve on mine has a review from Maximum RockNRoll. the esteemed Mr. Weasel says

"Sonic Youth - who like to sing about shit that no one understands. But there are a hell of a lot of people who pretend they do, thus making themselves feel hip while stuffing greenbacks into the pockets of the aforementioned 'artists.'

Now there's a word: 'ARTIST.' Yes, Lydia Lunch, Diamanda Galas, and Sonic Youth are all artists and you and me just ain't cool enough to be diggin' their scene. I'm real fuckin' sorry, but Lydia Lunch getting fucked by a .357 magnum is not my idea of art. It is however my idea of a brilliant marketing scam."

next to the review are band photos that make me think of goo. very "rock star-ish" in one sense... but clearly just a band having fun at a photo shoot dressing up like rock stars. i thought the choice of music and the photos together formed a brilliant response to someone who writes

"It's like in order to get on SST records you have to

1. Be really boring and pretentious
2. Hate hardcore
3. Look like my dad"



hahaa, FUCK YOU, Ben!!

also there's a sticker on the sleeve that says

"Warning!! Not as good as Atomizer, so don't get your hopes up, cheese."

Right, that sticker was originally put on the Headache ep by Big Black. The fact that Sonic Youth used the same sticker to point out that this too was a fucking around move between Sister and Daydream Nation was ingenious.

Do you know if SY are on amicable terms with Ben Weasel? the way they eventually resolved their "disagreement" with Christgau...?

I doubt it. Christgau had to resolve things with them when he realized his bad mouthing was making them look good and him look like a fool. I don' t think Weasel is smart enough to get that.

Plus, they took Christgau on fully with the "I killed Christgau with my big fucking dick" single, while with Weasel, they seem to be embracing what he said. I heard them talk about it in interviews at the time, and they were like, "We thought we should have an intellectual forum on the sleeve rather than just on the vinyl itself." He was just so easy to mock without saying anything nasty.

I do know that the Maximum Rock 'n Roll radio show played their version of Beat on the Brat when it came out on "Master-Dik" though. But the djs were all going on about how it didn't sound at all like Sonic Youth.

finally arrived today, gonna listen to it while i smoke one after work... f'sho!

FYI, Smells Like also made it available in digital format via eMusic.