30 Best/10 Worst
 

I have some more reading to do, but NICE JOB! Entertaining and fun, for sure. Your "worst" list is nearly spot on (at least 90% accurate, IMO).

If memory serves, "Self-Obsessed and Sexxee" is the very first appearance of Thurston's self-aware "cool" voice and vocal delivery. It has appeared in at least half-a-dozen songs since ("Junkie's Promise" and "Sleepin' Around" to name a few). Thurston's at his best when he lets it rip a-la "Silver Rocket", but I prefer his "Dirty Boots" cool to his "Self-Obsessed and Sexxee" cool any day of the week...

Great stuff, Jenn! But as I mentioned before, I'm not sure how StreamXSonik Subway got off the hook and escaped the -10!

I love how you identify specific sections of Cotton Crown and Star Power by time. Those are two of the most magical SY moments ever. The third just might be that transition in Cross the Breeze shortly before the vocal begins.

ah, i can't find the worst songs list anywhere there! care to help me out find it?

just scroll down on this page

i dont agree with this list, but nice article anyways!

links dont work for me!

i read bits of it through facebook but had intended to revisit and read them properly later.
interesting stuff although i remember Small Flowers was in your worst 10! that song is brilliant!
!!!

i don't agree with the best list (way too much kim), but the worst list is pretty spot on. I only disagree with peace attack's inclusion. The jam in that song is pretty stellar

yeah, same here. Peace Attack is one of my favouritess off Sonic Nurse. other than that, the worst songs list is spot on.

Peace Attack is one of the worst Sonic Youth songs by a long mile. I was totally deceived by the golden blue stream on this site before the album was out, and that was the first song I played off Sonic Nurse when I got the record. I knew it was over the minute it started playing. Standards, people. Please.

Don't know what that list is for and for who, but I disagree about many points, especially in the worst list, I didn't care that much for the praise list. The worst SY song ever is Panty Lies.

Panty lies is a great song.

Panty Lies is awesome!

One of the great things about SY is that there's probably not much concensus among fans as to the best songs. So many great songs and different styles to choose from. For example, I like The Diamond Sea very much, but not nearly as much as a lot of you do. Same with Rain on Tin. Neither song would make my top 10. With a band like Pink Floyd, on the other hand, I'd bet that most of their true fans would put Echoes among their top 10 Floyd songs (and they would be correct, but that's a separate discussion).

Maybe that's why when you see SY live, there's not a single song that they feel obligated to play. Whereas a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert without Freebird or Sweet Home Alabama would be unthinkable.

The list is for whoever wants it, mil_pl.

What it is for, is simply a writer decompressing. When the more demanding material I'm working on (fiction, namely, I've completed one novel and am working on another) I like to do lists/reviews like this. It relaxes me, 'cause it's far less stressful than creating my own universes.

I meant if the list is for newbies or people who heard some sonic music, but I see what you mean Jenn, it's kinda relaxing :)

Really? No more panty lie, aye aye aye! I'm like always skipping this one during Washing Machine.

I think ther are song much worse than panty lies. I dig it.

i like the way the song moves, the drums, the awkward motorik of the track, combined with the way Kim shouts out the lyrics. it's very unique.

Yes. The "ee, ah, oh, ah" vocal at the end is very strange and even somewhat unnerving. It's the kind of thing a passerby would hear and think "What the fuck are you listening to?" I love it.

Interesting read and perspective, everyone has their own opinions... my views on number of the songs vary over time...there are of course a number that remain great and stay as favorites and others that are not very good to me.

don't really agree with most of the worst list... i must say that my friend goo is pretty unlistenable for me, even as a song filled w/ humor. panty lies musically is great, the lyrics and vocal delivery bring it down. alot of rather ripped is the same way for me, where alot of the lyrics are not doing it for me... i can't think of much that bothers me in their pre-dgc era, its all quite stellar.

yeah, my friend goo sucks pretty bad
i cant really listen to Kool Thing without cringeing
either. the lyrics really let it down, as does Chuck D's cameo

decided to do a similar list, one a day til the end of the month, with accompanying live vids where applicable

check the tumblr at 8pm EST every night

http://pantophobiaisatrick.tumblr.com/

here are the runners up

40. New Hampshire
39. Skink
38. Radical Adults Lick Godhead Style
37. Malibu Gas Station
36. NYC Ghosts & Flowers
35. Female Machine Now On Duty
34. Candle
33. Saucer Like
32. Shaking Hell
31. I Dreamed I Dream

and here is Jenn's tumblr since her old blog went down, with her amazing write up and her top 30

http://jennthebenn.tumblr.com/

sorry jenn, small flowers crack concrete is awesome. I saw em play it live in memphis for the syr show with the film of NYC subway playing behind them and it was magical.

Agree on some, disagree on others. Though it would be helpful if you included the list in the topic. It's possible that some people here did not receive the link to it. It's even possible that... (bear with me) someone might not have facebook or tumblr.

I know, right? Like lol omg

but you don't need to have a tumblr to look at tumblr...

Apparently I've been drinking.

I see a working link in the first post.
And in Jenn's signature too.
We're in Sonic Gossip section.
Which means stuff i supposed to be related to sy.
A click to check the content isn't much hard work.
That said, it could have been better "advertised", I get what you mean.

The initial post linked my blog, which is now offline. I started a Tumblr to salvage the list. I was neglectful in adding said link.

Any replies to this post are futile...this forum is officially a part of my past.

WTF are you talking about you adhd nerd?!?! ;) It's right there!

Geeez take yr aderral! :) :)

Well, let me "futily" (?) add that I don't even know how tumblr works, but what Severin meant is probably just that a thread title like "30 best/ 10 worst sy songs" could have been more self-explanatory for people who are not keen on investigating for themselves.

As for the rest, unless you're planning on having chabib delete all your "traces" on here, I guess people will have more than a few interesting things to discuss about the stuff you posted on here, even in a future with no jennthebenn "active" in this big ol' blue. (I can't write in foreing languages today, but that's a compliment).

I swear when I looked before- oh yeah, my aderral.
Really I didn't see anything but a blank post before.

Why you going Jenn ?

she is focusing on her writing right now

Someone, please.. give me something to like about Early American. After several, countless listens.. I have yet to find anything I like about it. Love SY though!

You might like these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuRYoBEOMHI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7JncJYxN8E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vhm9BgdB2I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LOEHMthbcs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaaJWaP2AHA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qivHgBUBgcc

and of course this an hour clip from Sonic Death:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMZpcNpOD7U

If you like Secret Girl, then you will also like the Made in Usa-album.

Clearly Junkie's Promise is the song to skip on Washing Machine; I can do without the post-Cobain heroin drama on an otherwise stellar Sonic platter, overall one of my favorites. Hopefully the vinyl reissues come on spin cycle colored vinyl.

Sidebar: Obviously cover bands are trite sad circuses, but I always thought it would be fun to do a Floyd cover band exclusively focused on their pre-Dark Side material, second set culminating in Echoes. Book gigs exclusively in natural/ancient ampitheaters.
End sidebar.

No, in Junkie´s Promise I understood when first time listening waschine machine this album is something really different than experimental. Still really like Junkie. Anyway I don´t skip any songs in any album even I don´t of course also like all the songs in some albums.

You can ask me into that project (I could try to play anything else but not keyboards). I could also be Syd who play only one chord :)