Sonic Youth Gossip - View Single Post - How did you fall in love with sonic youth?

ni'k · 11.10.2006, 09:48 AM

i remember years and years ago in my grunge days, i downloaded a few SY songs, youth against facism and some of the other stuff from dirty. i can remember thinking it was the most simplistic, ridiculous stupid crap ever. my ears weren't able to compute the sonic complexities. years later, i think it was probably around 2003, i started reading pitchfork (back when it wasn't shit) and discovered the rich world of indie music that was totally ignored and disgraced by all the corporate shit journalism i was reading at the time. for a while i remember being in a really happy period of my life, reading pitchfork everyday, discovering it was OK to like all sorts of wierd and different music and you didnt have to have big heavy power chords and 30year old teen angst fretwankers in your ears all day. so as my interest in nirvana progressed, and as i started to branch out into the bands kurt would rave about, i became aware of sonic youth again. i remember searching everywhere but not being able to find any of their records. i read about how daydream nation was such a masterpiece and vowed to track down a copy. then one day the annual CD fair came to town, these guys would rent out a massive room in the town hall, next to the stage, and set up tables and tables of cheap CD's. I was in fucking bliss and scoured the place, picking up some REM, Smiths, Janes Addiction stuff. Then to my fucking delight I saw one guy had a torn up old cardboard box with about 10 SY CD's in it. I asked but he told me that DN had just been sold to someone else. I tried to return the other CD's I had just bought but was only able to return one of them. So I borrowed a few coins off a friend and bought Goo and Bad Moon Rising.

I remember getting home totally fucking pysched at this new band I was so excited to explore. I put in Goo and tried really hard to dig it but I just thought it was old dirty grunge and not very intelligent. Over time my ears grew and after much preserverance it all clicked and suddenly I was in fucking heaven. Bad Moon Rising freaked me out too fuck, one of my most favorite and treasured musical expieriances was first getting into that album. It was the most darkest fucked up shit ever, and I fell in love with the band.

After that I can remember download an mp3 of teenage riot one day. I listened to it a few times on repeat but it just sounded dull and I couldn't pick it apart. Then over the next few days in school suddenly this almighty fucking tune got into my head. I couldn't figure out were it was from, it just wrapped itself around my brain and wouldn't let go, and I thought fuck this is the greatest thing ever. So after a long time of searching I realised it was Teenage Riot. I spent an entire year in totally awe and love with that song. No matter what else I was listening to, I always had a mix with Teenage Riot on it. When I eventually tracked down DN, on holiday in Prague, some of my fondest memories of life were walking around this enchanting old city drifiting off into DN.

Sonic Youth brought me out of a musical dead end. They changed my preception of what music could be, they were a bridge from alternative music into high art. They constantly challenge me and I don't know if I'll ever find another band that could open me up to a whole new universe of art and music than they did. I'm fucking grateful everyday that they signed to a major label, even tho this is a practice i abhor. Because if they didn't I don't know what the hell I'd be listening to now. They taught me that you NEVER EVER have to get stale and you NEVER have any fucking excuse if you make a shit record because if you are willing there are always a million different roads to travel, a million different new things to try and a million different new things to get influenced by. I commend them for sticking constantly to their own visions, never comprimising, never making the same record twice and pioneering the spirit of experimentation, while retaining the ability to be accessible and classic. Despite so many fuckers bitching cos they never got a DN.2 SY just did their own thing, despite a lot of people never getting it, they continued.

So yeah, that's why I fell in love with Sonic Youth. Because even at approaching the age most rockstars are self parodying wiped out idiots, Thurston can write a song like Eyeliner. And also, they may have been on a major, but they are one of the most truly independant bands I know. They never ever made a song or a record because I want to hear it or because you want to hear it. They made the type of music they did because they wanted to.

11.10.2006, 09:48 AM	#13
ni'k invito al cielo Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 3,360	i remember years and years ago in my grunge days, i downloaded a few SY songs, youth against facism and some of the other stuff from dirty. i can remember thinking it was the most simplistic, ridiculous stupid crap ever. my ears weren't able to compute the sonic complexities. years later, i think it was probably around 2003, i started reading pitchfork (back when it wasn't shit) and discovered the rich world of indie music that was totally ignored and disgraced by all the corporate shit journalism i was reading at the time. for a while i remember being in a really happy period of my life, reading pitchfork everyday, discovering it was OK to like all sorts of wierd and different music and you didnt have to have big heavy power chords and 30year old teen angst fretwankers in your ears all day. so as my interest in nirvana progressed, and as i started to branch out into the bands kurt would rave about, i became aware of sonic youth again. i remember searching everywhere but not being able to find any of their records. i read about how daydream nation was such a masterpiece and vowed to track down a copy. then one day the annual CD fair came to town, these guys would rent out a massive room in the town hall, next to the stage, and set up tables and tables of cheap CD's. I was in fucking bliss and scoured the place, picking up some REM, Smiths, Janes Addiction stuff. Then to my fucking delight I saw one guy had a torn up old cardboard box with about 10 SY CD's in it. I asked but he told me that DN had just been sold to someone else. I tried to return the other CD's I had just bought but was only able to return one of them. So I borrowed a few coins off a friend and bought Goo and Bad Moon Rising. I remember getting home totally fucking pysched at this new band I was so excited to explore. I put in Goo and tried really hard to dig it but I just thought it was old dirty grunge and not very intelligent. Over time my ears grew and after much preserverance it all clicked and suddenly I was in fucking heaven. Bad Moon Rising freaked me out too fuck, one of my most favorite and treasured musical expieriances was first getting into that album. It was the most darkest fucked up shit ever, and I fell in love with the band. After that I can remember download an mp3 of teenage riot one day. I listened to it a few times on repeat but it just sounded dull and I couldn't pick it apart. Then over the next few days in school suddenly this almighty fucking tune got into my head. I couldn't figure out were it was from, it just wrapped itself around my brain and wouldn't let go, and I thought fuck this is the greatest thing ever. So after a long time of searching I realised it was Teenage Riot. I spent an entire year in totally awe and love with that song. No matter what else I was listening to, I always had a mix with Teenage Riot on it. When I eventually tracked down DN, on holiday in Prague, some of my fondest memories of life were walking around this enchanting old city drifiting off into DN. Sonic Youth brought me out of a musical dead end. They changed my preception of what music could be, they were a bridge from alternative music into high art. They constantly challenge me and I don't know if I'll ever find another band that could open me up to a whole new universe of art and music than they did. I'm fucking grateful everyday that they signed to a major label, even tho this is a practice i abhor. Because if they didn't I don't know what the hell I'd be listening to now. They taught me that you NEVER EVER have to get stale and you NEVER have any fucking excuse if you make a shit record because if you are willing there are always a million different roads to travel, a million different new things to try and a million different new things to get influenced by. I commend them for sticking constantly to their own visions, never comprimising, never making the same record twice and pioneering the spirit of experimentation, while retaining the ability to be accessible and classic. Despite so many fuckers bitching cos they never got a DN.2 SY just did their own thing, despite a lot of people never getting it, they continued. So yeah, that's why I fell in love with Sonic Youth. Because even at approaching the age most rockstars are self parodying wiped out idiots, Thurston can write a song like Eyeliner. And also, they may have been on a major, but they are one of the most truly independant bands I know. They never ever made a song or a record because I want to hear it or because you want to hear it. They made the type of music they did because they wanted to.
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