Saucerlike Books Special
 

Saucerlike Books Special
May 4, 2008

Three exciting new book are coming in the next few weeks:

The first one is the much anticipated “Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth”. In this book which will be released on May 2nd, David Browne delivers the definitive biography of Sonic Youth, an account based on extensive research; exclusive interviews with the band and those who have worked with them (Branca, O’Rourke, Jonze and Lunch to name a few); and unprecedented access to rare photos, unreleased recording and documents.
If you want to know why “Genetic” didn’t make it into “Dirty”, Why O’Rourke really left the band and what happened in Echo Canyon during 9/11- you better order your copy here.
For this special occasion, David Browne gave saucerlike.con an exclusive interview that can be read here.


A ghost makes a friend. Ulla Shooks is testifying, ladies and gentlemen, countering the wicked with the godly. The powers-that-be are trying to kick in Nikki's door as she, like, struggles against the shackles of conformity? Melissa gets high and dreams of an oblivion that won't make the E! Channel news. Patty Hearst is watching the apocalypse on TV. All this and more is waiting for you in “The Empty Page: Fiction inspired by Sonic Youth”.
The book which will be in the stores on May 29th features an introduction by Lee Ranaldo and contributions from Eileen Myles, Emily Maguire, Steven Sherrill, Rebecca Godfrey, J Robert Lennon, Laird Hunt, Samuel Ligon, Shelley Jackson, Matt Thorne, Katherine Dunn, Kevin Sampsell, Mary Gaitskill, Scott Mebus, Emily Carter Roiphe, Hiag Akmakjian, Jess Walter, Tom McCarthy, Rachel Trezise, Catherine O'Flynn, Peter Wild & Christopher Coake.
Peter Wild, who edited this collection, sent us an excerpt from his story “Radical Adults Lick God-head Style”. You can read it here and order the book here.

And on June 1st comes “No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York 1976-1980” by Thurston Moore Byron Coley. No Wave is a unique combination of iconic images and insider gossip compiled by one of post-punk’s most legendary artists. An extension of punk rock, new wave and the avant garde art movement of the '70s and '80s, the No Wave scene attracted such stars as David Byrne, Iggy Pop, Brian Eno, William Burroughs and Jean-Michel Basquiat as well as many important but less famous artists such as Lydia Lunch, Rhys Chatam, DNA, Teenage Jesus, James Chance and Glenn Branca.
In No Wave Thurston Moore and music writer Byron Coley chronicle the art music scene from 1976-1980. Moore and Coley have selected 150 unforgettable images of the scene’s musicians and artists (most of which have never been published before) taken by photographers such as Bob Gruen, Godlis, Julia Gorton and Stephanie Chernikowski, and compiled hundreds of hours of personal interviews to create an oral history of the experimental movement.
This unique and intimate book provides a never-before-seen exploration and celebration of this rarely documented music scene. Order your copy here.


Moshe

yayyy!
Uh...should I wait for the European version of "goodbye" or order it from amazon.com rather than amazon.uk?... the price is so freakin' low (on .uk it's listed at 16£ on .com at 17$...) , but such a long travel for a book scares me a bit.. I don't want it to arrive bent/fucked up etc. etc... dilemma.

Goodbye 20th Century, Hello New Sonic Youth Biography

Interview by Moshe Levy for saucerlike.com



David Browne is a freelance writer based in New York City. For many years, he was the music critic at Entertainment Weekly, where he started in 1990 as part of the magazine's launch. In the course of that job, he reviewed nearly 1300 albums and profiled everyone from Leonard Cohen and James Taylor to action film stars and the cast of "Beverly Hills 90210" (first season post-Shannon). In 1995, he was awarded a Music Journalism Award for excellence in criticism for an essay on the cultural significance of John Tesh (and no, he's not kidding).

His articles and reviews have appeared in a wide range of publications (the New York Times, Rolling Stone, New York Magazine, Blender, Spin, Sports Illustrated, Mojo) and websites (Time, the New Republic, the Poetry Foundation). In his rare free time, he also blogs for the Huffington Post and reviews new music releases for National Public Radio's website. David received his B.A. in journalism from New York University, after which he was an editor and writer at two now-defunct music magazines of the '80s, Music & Sound Output and High Fidelity. He began writing a column on indie rock for the New York Daily News, which, to his surprise and delight, turned into a full-time job at the newspaper.

David is also the author of three books: "Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley" (2001), "Amped: How Big Air, Big Dollars and a New Generation Took Sports to the Extreme" (2004) and the upcoming biography of Sonic Youth, to be published by Da Capo on May 26, 2008. David was kind enough to talk to us about his exciting new book.

Q: Why did you choose to write a book about Sonic Youth?

A: It was a combination of admiration and timing. Since it had been almost 15 years since the last book on them was published, the time felt right for a new one that would not just re-examine their early days but take readers right up to date. Since I’ve loved their music for over two decades, I also couldn’t pass up the chance to revisit all those records and write about them at greater length than in magazine or newspaper articles.

Q: Do you see any connection between the subject of this book and the subject of your two previous books?

A: I didn’t, but my wife did. After I told her about this idea, she said, “That’s your theme—people who do what they do out of love and suddenly find that what they do is becoming more accepted and mainstream, and how they seek to hold onto themselves and their identities.” (I’m paraphrasing, but that was the idea.) And she had a point. My first book, “Dream Brother,” was a dual biography of Jeff Buckley and his late father, Tim, both of whom absolutely embodied the idea of music as transcendence, of following one’s muse and bucking music industry pressure in order to satisfy one’s artistic vision. My second book, “Amped,” was about the extreme sports scenes—skateboarders, BMX riders, and so forth. I’ve always thought of those athletes as the sports equivalent of indie rockers. And given how increasingly mainstream those sports are getting (the Olympics, etc.), and how those athletes are all being hit upon by corporate sponsors, the same theme applies, but in a sports context. So a book on Sonic Youth, who have held onto their core values and identity over the course of over 25 years, is very much of a piece with cultural/artistic themes I’ve explored before.

Q: It is interesting to compare the Sonic Youth and the Jeff Buckley story. While Sonic Youth gained their mythological status through long years of hard work, Buckley became a myth with relatively small catalogue and in a short time. What does it imply about American culture?

A: It probably implies that America, along with lots of other places, loves a good “tragic young death” story—and certainly, we’ve seen enough of those in rock and roll. (I should add that I first interviewed Jeff in 1993, before he even made his first album, “Grace,” so I was a fan before his truly tragic passing.) And what’s also strikingly different about Sonic Youth is the almost complete absence of “Behind the Music”-style tabloid gossip: no drug overdoses, car crashes, busts with groupies, and so forth. They truly are all about the work ethic, which probably isn’t as sexy to the general public!

Q: Is it harder to write about living myths?

A: Absolutely. They give you feedback—as opposed to the deceased parties! But seriously: Yes, a little tricky, since I was trying to be both journalist and fan, which is always a bit tricky to navigate. Hopefully I was able to be both in the book.

Q: Were you a Sonic Youth fan before you wrote the book?

A: Absolutely. I first heard their music back in ’85 when I received a copy of “Bad Moon Rising” when I was working at a small, now defunct music magazine. I was both fascinated and terrified, but I kept listening—and I have a particularly vivid memory of playing an advance cassette (yes, cassette) of “Sister” and instantly falling in love with “Kotton Krown.” I’ve been following them ever since, and have interviewed them for articles for the late Musician magazine, the New York Times, and Entertainment Weekly, where I worked for many years. Thanks to me, “Dirty” was the album of the year in EW in 1992, for whatever that’s worth. To this day, I enjoy bike riding around Manhattan to their music more than any other band. The energy and the sound are perfect accompaniment. All of their albums are on my iPod.

Q: As a fan I always wondered if I really want to know my idols personally or intimately because I thought it might ruin the image I had in my head about them. Did you have any thoughts about it before you wrote the book?

A: I think a biographer always has such concerns. I certainly came across some less-than-flattering comments about the Buckleys during my research. In this case, though, I wasn’t too concerned, since I’d already spent a good chunk of time with them, especially for a big EW story I did back in 2002. During a trip to Northampton for that story, I almost couldn’t find a hotel room, and Kim and Thurston actually offered to put me up in their house. Needless to say, it’s very rare of anyone in the public eye to do that. I did indeed find a local hotel room at the last minute, but their offer said a lot about their hospitality and generosity.

Q: Some of the band members are authors themselves. Isn’t it terrifying to write about people who know a thing or two about writing? I know they were quite critical about previous writings about them.

A: They’re all smart, well-read people, for sure, and I suppose that is somewhat intimidating. But I couldn’t dwell on that too much or I’d go nuts. I just charged ahead and tried to be as fair, comprehensive, and thorough as possible. That’s all I could do. I was more terrified the first time I interviewed, back in 1988 when “Daydream Nation” was coming out. I was young and very green, and facing all four of them in the Blast First office in downtown New York was incredibly intimidating. Somehow I got an article out of it, but God knows how!

Q: Sonic Youth are so experienced and well trained to handle the media. Did you feel at any point that you couldn’t break through and get the information you are looking for instead of the information they are willing to give?

A: For the most part, no. I spent numerous hours with each of them, and they were all, at one point or another, pretty candid about their feelings on the band, particular albums, and people they’ve worked with. That said, they were a number of “off the record” comments, and I honored those requests.

Q: When the band is asked what is the secret to their success the usually say that it is thanks to the democratic decision-making process they use. I can imagine that as in any other democratic institution, there are also conflicts and power relations in the band. Did you manage to find such conflicts? How does the band resolve them?

A: You’ll have to read the book to find out! But yes, they have wrestled with those issues. Each one of them has firm, definite opinions about how records should sound, what tours or concerts should or shouldn’t be embarked on, etc.—and, in general, how the band should proceed in general. People assume Kim and Thurston form a power block, but they disagree as often as they agree, it seems. Jim O’Rourke told me one of his role was to be what he called “the quirk officer,” the buffer zone. He felt that part of his job was to hear each of them complain about the other, and then help them figure out a compromise. But they absolutely debate and vote. In fact, “Murray Street” would have been called “Street Sauce” if Steve hadn’t objected. Since he put his foot down, “Murray Street” it was. That’s just one example.

Q: Thurston enjoys the “star” position in the band. He is also more dominant as a songwriter in the last few records. Does this cause any tension within the band?

A: It’s not so much his dominant songwriting so much as the media’s perception that Kim and Thurston are basically the band. That’s caused as much tension as anything, it seems. They really do see themselves as a democracy, which doesn’t always jibe with the media’s interest in the “cool couple” that fronts the band. I think that’s been a source of tension, on and off. But I think they all also realize that it’s Thurston’s songs and ideas that start the Sonic Youth engine.

Q: I think that Sonic Youth is the only band in history that was accused for “selling out” twice in their career (first to Geffen, now to Starbucks’ Hear Music)? Do you think that these accusations influenced the band’s artistic choices and music?

A: By their own admission, they do have a tendency to go in a different direction if they feel too pinned down. A good example, of course, is “Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star.” After making too somewhat commercial (for them) albums, “Goo and “Dirty”—and hearing some of those “sellout” remarks--they decided enough was enough and bashed out a far less produced record with far less commercial appeal than those two. The Impact of the Starbucks release won’t be heard until we know how their new songs sound, so we’ll see.

Q: Did you have any surprising moments doing your research?

A: Oh, tons. Lee making his singing debut, in high school, with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “4 +20.” Kim dancing to “Wooden Ships” (by same band) during a high school dance recital. Who knew CSNY played such a role in their upbringings? I didn’t. I also didn’t know until I started the book that Kim’s high school boyfriend was composer Danny Elfman (whom I interviewed as well) or that the decision to drop Lee’s “Genetic” from “Dirty” resulted in a tense inter-band showdown, the biggest internal crisis of their career (according to Thurston). Just a few of many examples.

Q: What should Sonic Youth fans expect from your book?

A: I’d like to think they will learn a lot more about their childhoods and upbringings than ever before, more about what was going on behind the scenes we can call their “pop” years (1990-1995) and glean a few peeks into their personal lives over the years. They’ll hear from more people in their lives than ever before, from Thurston’s mom to some of their childhood friends to famous-friend types like Sofia Coppola, Spike Jonze, and Chloe Sevigny. They’ll get a better sense of why Jim joined—and left—the band. They’ll go behind the scenes at business meetings and in the studio. I aimed for a well-rounded book that discusses music, career, music-industry matters, personal lives, and overall social/cultural context.

Q: I love the title of your book. What do you think was the role of Sonic Youth’s music in the transition to the 21st century?

A: Thanks—I like the title too (and happily admit that I cribbed it from their own album). I thought it was perfect in that Sonic Youth, along with a few of their peers, really did seek to remake and remodel the idea of pop music—songwriting, collaboration, guitar tunings and such—and remove it from any long-held connections to vernacular music (blues, country, and such). They weren’t the only ones to experiment with those notions and structures, but they were really were among the first of a new breed of rock band.

Q: What do you think the 21st century holds for Sonic Youth?

A: As always, the unexpected. I can imagine their music getting even more avant and experimental as they grow older. But then, they could surprise us all. One of their friends told me she thought Thurston could write a traditional, monster-riff rock song whenever he wanted—but that he just didn’t want to. So who knows—maybe that type of song will come out one day and surprise us all.

Click here to preorder.

Radical Adults Lick God-Head Style

excerpt from
The Empty Page: Fiction inspired by Sonic Youth
By Peter Wild



It takes five seconds, brothers and sisters.

One…

Alfie Vedder became untethered shortly after stepping out of the Highland-green Ford Mustang parked askance, motor running, on
Warren and Forest.

Two…

He looked up once at the nearest street light, which wasn’t a street light any more given that it’d been smashed out in the riots,
and he shook his head, even as he fumbled in his pocket for the Zippo.

Three…

He retrieved the bottle from the interior of the car, his partner Tuck saying Getonwithit from the shadows on the driver’s side,
sparked up the lighter and lit the rag shoved like a gag in the bottle’s neck.

Four…

Rag lit, he stepped and he jogged and he stepped and he jogged and he grunted and he hurled the flaming bottle across the street,
a glorious clumsy parabola that he didn’t stay to watch, too busy was he climbing back into the Mustang, sense drowned out in the
engine roar.

Five…

The bottle struck the window of the Detroit office of the Committee to End the War in Vietnam, bottle and window shattering as one, the petrol igniting with the whoomph of a shaggy, jowly dog, the office lit, momentarily, as if it was daytime, only for the sudden lick and tickle of flame to dispel any such misconception.

Four…

He steps and he jogs, his head and his shoulders moving backwards even as he jerks forwards, building momentum, ready
to throw but not yet, one more step and one more jog and still one more step and still one more jog – but then, there he was,
left behind like a shoe sucked up in the mud, his socked foot still moving forward even as he remained behind.

And there he stood, if he could be said to stand, rooted in the middle of Warren and Forest, untethered in the heart of Detroit,
sometime approximately tennish, on this, the 31st of December in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-eight.

You can read the rest of this story in The Empty Page: Fiction inspired by Sonic Youth, published by Serpent's Tail in the UK 29 May.

Thanks a lot Moshe for posting this. Looks like I'll have to go to the bookstore soon.

Moshe that's great interview! thanks very much. can't wait for a book.

*edit*

how the hell you spread reputation?

haha i could just imagine the headline review for that album. Sonic Youth stay Saucy in their old age.

hahaha

that fiction ispired by SY book reminds me of that daft punk music video. and i'm totally buying these when they come out, thanks indeed moshe, i had forgotten about them.

"...the decision to drop Lee’s “Genetic” from “Dirty” resulted in a tense inter-band showdown, the biggest internal crisis of their career (according to Thurston)."

I remember hearing about this before, actually. In fact, there was some speculation that a clause was introduced limiting the amount of Lee songs that could be contributed to a Sonic Youth LP. Probably exaggeration, but will be interested to read more about this.

I always figured "Wish Fulfillment" was about Thurston (well that's a lie, I didn't always figure, but after Lee introduced it at the last date on the Pearl Jam tour in '00 as being as song he "wrote to a dear friend of mine at a time when we weren't seeing eye to eye about things", I reconsidered the lyrics). Anyone agree/laughably disagree? Hell, maybe it's in the book...

Totally agreed.

*waits for book to confirm/deny/ignore suspicions*

Thank you very much Moshe!

hey can someone torrent these books for me so I don't have to buy them.

Buy them, or wait five years when you can find them for cheaper price.

Why should I pay for books? I deserve them for free like I do music.

There's something mentioned about it in that Confusion is Next book... briefly. Something about Thurston saying SY had always been more of a Thurston/Kim vocal thing and them eventually agreeing on Lee not having more than 1-2 songs per album. Can't remember if that clause thing was mentioned in there, but I remember that speculation too. Anyway, I'll be interested to read more about it.





Hurray for Steve.

Why didn't he put his foot down with Rather Ripped?

Maybe he tried...

I haven't heard about any such clause about how many songs Lee can contribute. But I know Lee had a big problem with them not including Genetic on Dirty. If I remember correctly, in the Confusion Is Next book, it's stated that Lee almost left the band over this. I guess they got in a huge argument about it, and it almost destoyed the group. Crazy.

Well, if anything it makes one fucking hell of a b-side, but yeah, "Genetic" is definitely album-worthy. I still wanna know why they cut the intro off on the reissue. Is that in the book?

i just preordered the new sy book using my target card.

I will wait so I can go with my BF, and he will say ugh I hate SY.

Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth
By David Browne
In a doting introduction to his subject, biographer David Browne—a music critic for Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times—says he's never felt less hip than he did when he first met the members of Sonic Youth 15 years ago. The band's ability to avoid the usual music-industry clichés of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll is what Brown claims inspired him to write this book.
Da Capo, 416 pp., $25 (June)

http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/...440761,15.html

£8.99
Paperback Original

5 June 2008


Why Sonic Youth? J Robert Lennon says it's cos Sonic Youth rip it apart. Katherine Dunn says it's because they operate in the foggy world between the real and the surreal. Steven Sherrill reckons that they've just got it figured out, man. You know? Mary Gaitskill says that Sonic Youth caught her, years ago, when she was falling. Catherine O'Flynn just wanted to catch some of the nihilistic, elemental, caustic, isolated flavour of their music. Emily Maguire was once in love with chaos. For Tom McCarthy it's gunpowder and dreams of a black panther.


Contributors: Hiag Akmakjian, Christopher Coake, Katherine Dunn, Mary Gaitskill, Rebecca Godfrey, Laird Hunt, Shelley Jackson, Samuel Ligon, Emily Maguire, Tom McCarthy, Scott Mebus, Eileen Myles, Catherine O’Flynn, Emily Carter Roiphe, Kevin Sampsell, Steve Sherrill, Matt Thorne, Rachel Trezise, Jess Walter, Peter Wild.

Peter Wild is the co-author of Before the Rain (Flax Books) and the editor of The Flash (an anthology of flash fiction published by Social Disease). His journalism and fiction have appeared in The Guardian, The Big Issue, Nude, City Life, 3AM magazine and Litro. He lives in Manchester.

The first collection in this series, Perverted by Language: Fiction inspired by The Fall was published in 2007 and an anthology based on the songs of The Smiths will follow next year.

 

I got the mail today, oh boy...

damn, that looks huge!

422 pages, my good man.

McNally Robinson is a bookstore on Prince St in NYC. Check out who they have visiting July....

Friday, July 11, 7:00 PM
David Browne, author of Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth
Thurston Moore, author of No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York 1976-1980
Music biographer David Browne (author of Dream Brother) and legendary indie rocker Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth read and discuss their new books about music, history, and New York culture.

http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/news/...i?news07108m01

David Browne, Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth (Da Capo): The former Entertainment Weekly music editor’s Dream Brother: The Lives & Music of Jeff & Tim Buckley, published in 2002, was a superb rock bio that juxtaposed the ironic connections between father and son while managing to bring the music of both to life. He’s done a similarly excellent job in his latest effort, a wonderful evocation of the ’80s no wave, downtown standard-bearers and their uneasy alliance with the major label system. That post-punk period in New York has been chronicled in several recent tomes, most notably Mark Masters’ No Wave, Alec Foege’s Confusion is Next: The Sonic Youth Story, Simon Reynolds’ Rip It Up and Start It Again, David Nobakht’s Suicide: No Compromise and the upcoming look back at the era by Byron Coley with SY’s own Thurston Moore. Browne’s book brings out how the avant-garde group’s hip credibility intersected for a brief moment with the commercial explosion of grunge, leading to some Spinal Tap moments at their label, Geffen, and the ongoing frustration of sympathetic execs like Mark Kates, Ray Farrell, Robin Sloane and John Rosenfelder against the backdrop of a rapidly changing music biz. One inside highlight: how attorney Richard Grabel managed to renegotiate the band’s deal significantly upwards for helping attract Nirvana to the label, despite never having released an album that sold more than 300k. In the end, Sonic Youth stubbornly managed to carve out a place for itself, even if never reaching the heights of success of the fellow artists who were drawn to them like moths to a flame over the years, including cult directors Spike Jonze, Todd Haynes, Phil Morrison, Sofia Coppola and Harmony Korine, performers Chloe Sevigny, Keanu Reeves and Richard Edson, not to mention their early support of both Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. It’s an effective remembrance of times past that seem to have taken place a lot longer than just 17 years ago, when The Year Punk Broke promised a wholesale revolution in the rock world that never quite came to pass. It does offer an interesting lesson to would-be bands on how to infiltrate the industry establishment without compromising your artistic ideals if you want any kind of credibility, though it’s admittedly no formula for superstardom. But in a world where celebrity is becoming almost as devalued as music, it remains an invaluable message.

I am reading it now. There is alot of interetesting anecdotes about the band...


*******
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Spoiler Alert








I found the follwoing things interesting. How the band dealt with early supporters & the independent labels. How much their condo cost.
How they seemed to downplay their role with Nirvana after their demise.
That there was firecrackers on some albums. How some of the early dummers felt and left. Its not all pretty but at least it is not a glossed over read. The whole thing is very open into early personal lives families and such. So, fans will not dissapoint.

Thinking about it today it is difficult to produce such a body of work such as Panasonic Youth. There seems to be for the tough decisions made all around to remain focused on that goal....

I'm really curious about genetic.

Genetic is the best B side of all time. I espcially like the saw...

any othere link then amazon, where to order it online?

http://www.salon.com/ent/critics_pic...8/05/24/may24/





"Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth" by David Browne
During their 27-year career, noise rockers Sonic Youth sculpted post-punk into alternative rock, using tools like feedback, controlled chaos and primal rhythm. Few bands could approximate their imaginative song structure, screwy guitar tunings or earsplitting volume -- perhaps only Royal Trux and Dinosaur Jr. count as direct descendants. But the Youth's art world sensibility set the ultracool, ironic pace for the alternative nation, and leaders Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon lured Nirvana and Beck to the minor major label DGC, securing mainstream success for their protégés, though never quite themselves. If "Goodbye 20th Century," David Browne's rollicking, epic biography of the band, which hits stores Monday, lacks lurid tales of drugged-out rock-star misbehavior, it's not the author's fault. Despite their wild, experimental anti-aesthetic, the group has lived shockingly normal lives. Moore was nicknamed Opie as a kid and married the Warholishly detached Gordon when they were in their early 20s. New York scared Lee Ranaldo so much at first that he ditched his apartment and ran back upstate. Steve Shelley was embarrassed to tell his parents that he played in a band called the Crucifucks. Faced with such straitlaced bourgeois bohemians, Browne cannily opts to tell, in a crisp, novelistic style, the compelling story of the cultural tornado of galleries, rock clubs and unique personalities (Lydia Lunch, Kurt Cobain and Chloë Sevigny, to name a few) Sonic Youth swirled around in, the band's ongoing fight to maintain the purity of their vision, and above all, their shared passion for new ideas and sounds. -- James Hannaham

UPCOMING OTHER MUSIC IN-STORE EVENTS

THURSTON MOORE & BYRON COLEY: SATURDAY, JUNE 14 @ 6:30PM - 8PM
A reading/signing/release party with Thurston Moore and Byron Coley, celebrating the publication of their great new no wave primer "No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York 1976-1980." Let's call this one the after-party for the Teenage Jesus & the Jerks/Information reunion gigs at the Knitting Factory the night before... quite a weekend!

OTHER MUSIC: 15 East 4th Street NYC
Free admission / Limited capacity

David Browne will be reading and signing , "Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth," next Thursday, June 5, in Brooklyn.

Where: Book Court
Address: 163 Court St., Brooklyn, 718-875-3677
Time: 7 p.m.

Sonic Youth Say “Goodbye 20th Century” In New Biography, Plus Photos

5/29/08, 3:05 pm EST



• Click here for exclusive archival photos of Sonic Youth, as featured in Goodbye 20th Century

For almost 30 years, Sonic Youth has been one of the most influential and innovative bands in the rock topography. The band’s story is fully being told in the much-deserved biography, Goodbye 20th Century (Da Capo). Author David Browne, who has followed the band since Bad Moon Rising appeared on his desk as a promo in 1985 and interviewed the group on several occasions, said Sonic Youth was open to being the subject of a biography. “They said, ‘Sure, whenever you want to talk to us, let us know,’” recalls Browne. Browne not only talks to all four members of SY at length, but many of the artists, musicians and actors whose careers were fostered by the band as well. “The interesting thing about the Sonic Youth story to me, outside of their music and career, is that they’re probably one of the most influential bands in rock history but not in the normal way you measure influence,” says Browne. “Their influence is in that you can make this weird music and make a career and sustain yourself, but also in the way you see the impact of the people they’ve brought along.” That includes former collaborators like director Spike Jonze, artists Raymond Pettibone and Richard Prince and actress Chloe Sevigny. They also mentored artists like Nirvana and Beck. “Most of these people were not known to anybody until Sonic Youth ushered them into the mainstream. Their footprints are just as much in their music as it is in their legacy in bringing this alternative arts world with them,” Browne says.
As for the Sonic Youth story, Browne starts at the beginning, when the band had two female vocalists and a keyboardist, through the formative Bad Moon Rising/Sister days, the impact of Daydream Nation, the tumultuous Experimental Jet-Set years, the Jim O’Rourke era to the recasting of Moore and Gordon as rocker parents. “Their family life and their music life seem to co-exist in a funny but natural way. In the kitchen, they have Coco’s soccer schedule taped up on the wall next to an Iggy & the Stooges calendar. There’s a constant juxtaposition,” Browne remembers. As for the book’s title, taken from one of the band’s obscure avant-garde EPs, Browne feels the band “were the start of a real paradigm shift in rock in the early Eighties when they said ‘Our building blocks aren’t going to be what everyone says they should be: blues, country, R&B, folk. We’re starting from ground zero. If you want to go on stage and plug a drill into a wah-wah pedal and scream into the microphone for 10 minutes, that’s a song.’ So I feel the title of the book summed up their approach to their art.”
[Photo: Stefano Giovannini]

http://www.exclaim.ca:80/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=122&csid2=8 44&fid1=31670

Sonic Youth Say Goodbye 20th Century In New Book
5/30/2008 By Brock Thiessen

After nearly 30 years in rock, Sonic Youth are getting some much-deserved biography treatment via Goodbye 20th Century, a book based on the life and times of the influential experimental pioneers.

Author David Browne’s new book, which came out earlier this week on Da Capo, paints a detailed portrait of the iconic N.Y. band through extensive research, interviews with the band and their various collaborators, such as Spike Jonze, Glenn Branca, Lydia Lunch and Sofia Coppola. It also starts from the very beginnings of Sonic Youth’s career to modern day, covering everything from the band’s start with two female vocalists and a keyboard player to impact of Daydream Nation to their years as alterna-rock superstars to the Jim O’Rourke era and becoming rock’n’roll’s elder statesmen.

“The interesting thing about the Sonic Youth story to me, outside of their music and career, is that they’re probably one of the most influential bands in rock history but not in the normal way you measure influence,” Browne recently told Rolling Stone. “Their influence is in that you can make this weird music and make a career and sustain yourself, but also in the way you see the impact of the people they’ve brought along.”

Interestingly enough, Goodbye 20th Century also explores Sonic Youth’s mentoring of other once-obscure artists, mostly notably Nirvana and Beck. “Most of these people were not known to anybody until Sonic Youth ushered them into the mainstream,” Browne says. “Their footprints are just as much in their music as it is in their legacy in bringing this alternative arts world with them.”

For many fans, they will recognise the book’s title, Goodbye 20th Century, as one of the band’s avant-garde session EPs. For Browne, he said he feels Sonic Youth “were the start of a real paradigm shift in rock in the early ’80s when they said ‘Our building blocks aren’t going to be what everyone says they should be: blues, country, R&B, folk. We’re starting from ground zero. If you want to go on stage and plug a drill into a wah-wah pedal and scream into the microphone for 10 minutes, that’s a song.’ So I feel the title of the book summed up their approach to their art.”