rank washing mahine songs
 

1 diamond sea (lp version)
2 becuz
3 washing machine
4 saucer-like
5 unwind
6 no queen blues
7 little trouble girl
8 skip tracer
9 panty lies
10 junkie's promise

01 The Diamond Sea
02 No Queen Blues
03 Saucer-Like
04 Becuz
05 Skip Tracer
06 Unwind
07 Little Trouble Girl
08 Junkies Promise
09 Washing Machine
10 Panty Lies (I never listen this track)

In this case not agree... 'The Diamond Sea' isn't for me one of the best 'jam-based' songs in their career, kinda boring... though it's a good ending track, I always skip 'little trouble girl' (sorry what's that... doesn't fit); I don't understand why 'junkie's promise' is so down, it rocks, my favourite one anyway is 'washing machine', a great psych-trip tune.

01. Unwind (an all-time favorite in general)
02. Saucer-Like
03. Skip Tracer
04. Washing Machine
05. Panty Lies
06. Untitled
07. Little Trouble Girl
08. Becuz
09. The Diamond Sea
10. No Queen Blues
11. Junkie's Promise

This was surprisingly tough for me. I absolutely adore this album.

impossible, as this would be one of my fav., if not the fav. album. every track is so damn good.

there is only one track I don't have to and that is Little Trouble Girl. I would always skip it.

great album.

1. The Diamond Sea
2. Skip Tracer
3. Becuz / Untitled
4. No Queen Blues
5. Junkie's Promise
6. Unwind
7. Saucer-Like
8. Little Trouble Girl
9. Washing Machine
10. Panty Lies

"The Diamond Sea" is arguably my favorite Sonic Youth song so it was a no-brainer to put that one first. Most of what I love about it is Thurston's lyrics and voice. It is true they had better "jam-based" songs in their career, but "The Diamond Sea" contains some of the best lyrics that Thurston has ever written, in my opinion.

I put "Becuz" and "Untitled" together because "Untitled" is technically a section of "Becuz" (as at least some of you might know) that their record label made the band shorten so the first track on the album was more "accessible." I think it's a complete travesty that that had to happen, but "Becuz" is by far my favorite Kim song on Washing Machine anyway.

1. unwind
2. becuz + becuz coda
3. saucer-like
4. the diamond sea
5. skip tracer
6. panty lies
7. washing machine
8. little trouble girl
9. no queen blues
10. junkie's promise

holy shiet this is tough

1. diamond sea.
2. washing machine
3. becuz
4. saucer-like
5. little trouble girl
6. skip tracer
7. unwind
8. junkie's promise
9. panty lies.
10. no queen blues

Surely you're right but english is not my first language and obviously I don't pay attention to that like you could do, anyway I'm pretty sure SY was not a 'lyric' band, their music can be 'understood' by itself (indeed in some eras they played songs live with no lyrics, prior to the complete production etc...)

'Washing Machine' rocks but 'A Thousand Leaves' was their peak for me in the 90's (and forgetting the 'grunge' scene for defining their music, they never were a 'grunge' band)

to see Junkie's Promise and No Queen Blues on the bottom of your lists is just not fair. NQB?!

With music in general I am very much a lyrics person. I think Thurston, Lee and Kim each have their own very unique way with words, and that is one of my favorite aspects about the band. I think that Sonic Youth was a lyric band in various ways. Thurston originally came to New York to be a poet anyway. Lee is more of a singer/songwriter type. Kim brought something very different lyrically to the band, because she wrote some great lyrics most of the time and her approach was unconventional.

I agree that A Thousand Leaves is better than Washing Machine, and obviously they were almost completely separate from the "grunge scene" (with the exception being that they toured with a lot of the "grunge" bands). I think their best work of the 90's is Goo and Dirty, but I greatly appreciate A Thousand Leaves.


I agree. I love No Queen Blues and Junkie's Promise (especially the former). I am partial to Thurston's songs no matter the context of the Sonic Youth era and/or album in question.

1. Diamond Sea
2. Saucer-Like
3. Unwind
4. Skip Tracer
5. Washing Machine
6. No Queen Blues
7. Junkie´s Promise
8. Little Trouble Girl
9. Panty Lies
10. Becuz

These all songs are just absolutely great! This is those full perfect albums, just like EVOL & ATL. Becuz is final in my list just because I didn´t at first like it, I thought they´ve continued not so good experimental-album direction. But when Junkie came, I thought "Oh yes, this album is something different than experimental!"

BTW Bowie guitarist Carlos Alomar has said SY members braindead. Well he seem to be sucker all the way, and this comment was also bitterness, when Bowie asked SY play with him in his 50th birthday party, but not Alomar.

1 skip tracer
2 becuz
3 diamond sea
4 panty lies
5 unwind
6 saucer-like
7 washing machine
8 little trouble girl
9 no queen blues
10 junkie's promise

I don't get how panty lies gets such a bad rep. It's a very unique song, even for SY standards.

I honestly don't dislike any of these songs at all, such a consistent record and outside of that top three the rankings are pretty arbitrary...

the music part of panty lies is really great. i think most people have a hard time w kim's delivery, which i did for years. i appreciate the song now, but it's certainly a grower.

Panty Lies has never been my favourite on Washing Machine. But anyway it´s great song, lot better than for example Hot Wire, Eric´s Trip, Kool Thing.

Junkie's Promise for me...
I got into SY with EJST&NS. I started getting into a few of the back catalog albums throughout the next year. WM was my first "new" SY album. To me, Thurston's past songs were always lyrically very abstract and fun, but Junkie's Promise was too serious. I just thought the rhymes were also really cheesy and simple. It felt stock and too "try-hard." Plus, the whole idea of "was this about Kurt or not about Kurt" mystique turned me off on it. I love the song itself, just think the lyrics are total shit.

Pantie Lies...
(I have said this before on these forums) But I always felt Panties Lies was the PERFECT musically thematic counterpart to Androgynous Mind, which had become one of my favorite songs on EJST&NS. Felt this from the very first listen and have always, always had a soft spot for it as well. Has some great Lee playing on it, imo.

I would agree that her delivery is a problem, but the lyrics to that song are also garbage in my opinion.

I only enjoy the "Shoo-pahs."

Very fair.

edit: And totally odd and contradictory that this argument does not hold for Pantie Lies like it does for Junkie's Promise for me. I guess I just saw this falling more in line with what I knew of "Kim songs" at the time, opposed to JP and past "Thurston songs."

Despite that I do like Junkie's Promise I can also understand that. Thurston has written much, much better lyrics before and after Junkie's Promise. I think what I appreciate the most about that song is his vocal because it is very different from his usual vocal-style. I like that he sings certain parts of it more aggressively, and in this song I can actually overlook the lyrical content on its own for that reason.

Whereas Panty Lies is just a typical Kim song. Nothing stands out about it (except maybe the music), and therefore it is harder for me to look past the lyrics and her delivery of them.

it never occurred to me this song could be about cobain. there were a lot of people on the junk back then.

1. Diamond Sea
2. Washing Machine
3. Becuz
4. Little Trouble Girl
5. Junkie's Promise
6. Becuz Coda
7. Skip Tracer
8. Unwind
9. Saucer-Like
10. No Queen Blues
11. Panty Lies

Lizard Person V&

Junkies promise lyrics are spot on for realism. Unfortunatley the song itself kinda sucks like the rest of the album. My junk mate bless his fekin soul I suspect bought the album for this song only to realise the live daydream songs were better. Kims tuning is the best ting garn on 'ere

This is tough. "The Diamond Sea" is obviously one of Sonic Youth's crowning achievements, but I'm not always up for the 18 min. version! Sometimes I have to admit I go with the radio edit. So that makes it a bit difficult. "Skip Tracer" is a fucking triumph.

1. Skip Tracer
2. The Diamond Sea
3. Becuz / Becuz coda (y'all forgot the coda... work's on its own as an arrangement.)
4. Unwind
5. Washing Machine
6. Saucer-like
7. Little Trouble Girl
8. No Queen Blues
9. Junkie's Promise
10. Panty Lines

I actually like all of these songs. I go back and forth between "Unwind" and "Saucer-Like"... they're like two sides of the same coin, and while I tend to prefer Tracks with Lee on vocals, "Unwind" has that killer second half. Tension and dissonance and a build-up more ominous than that of "Saucer-Like."

I see a lot of folks have issues with "Junkie's Promise" and "Panty Lines," but I like both tracks. Junkie's is one of the heaviest Sonic Youth songs. You can hear a bit of Melvins in that crunching guitar. It defies pop songcraft and melody and sounds ugly as sin but it's also very full and has a great climax.

"Panty Lines" is obviously not a classic, but I don't skip over it. There's a lot about it to love. But then I also like Arthur Doyle Hand Cream, so... maybe I'm just fucked up?

Bottom line about Washbg Machine though: it's great (great) but I disagree with the common belief that it represents a return to form for the band. I actually prefer Goo and A Thousand Leaves over it in terms of the band's '90s output. I don't think they needed any "saving" or "rebranding" after EJST&NS. I fucking LOVE that album. Who among us hasn't had "Bull in the Heather" and "Sweet Shine" stuck in our heads for the past 20 years?

Dudes/dudettes:

This is fun. Let's rank more albums' songs!

I agree you today, but when EJST&NS came, it was really big disappointment to me. I even thought I may not buy any SY album anymore. And I felt when I listened Washing Machine first time I got one of my favourite bands back. Even I now love also EJST&NS, it´s not in my top four SY albums. Also I have always loved GOO, but prefer Washing much more. It´s just so introverted album and I just love introverted music!

I am not claiming EJST&NS is some kind of hit album, one reason why I began to respect it later is that I understood how they wanted to do very non-hit album after Dirty. Kind of destroying their possible success in rokbuziness.

Being a kid that did not get into SY until EJST&NS, I am always intrigued to hear people's perceptions of this time period for SY from the already existing fanbase. In retrospect, I can certainly see where this was an odd time.

For me, my first live SY experience was Lollapalooza, shortly before Washing Machine was even released. Only about a year or so of really getting into the,. So experiencing songs from this album live before knowing them, coupled with my overall euphoria just solidified this album's placement as a favorite in my history.