I remember the first time I heard "Quest For The Cup". Actually, I don't remember. It was late April 1994, I was 11 years old and up late in my new bedroom, having just moved for the first time in my life. I was listening (as always) to 107.7 The End, a Seattle radio station that came in crystal clear on the Canadian island where I grew up. My favorite band for the past few years, Nirvana, had suddenly come to an end, and I was glued to the radio and Much Music (our version of MTV) for anything that excited my ear. And there was a LOT. Whether it's age-based nostalgia or indeed a legitimate magical musical era, I can name more records that came out in 1994 that affected me than probably any other year. Everything just aligned.

I'd read about Sonic Youth in various Nirvana books, but never caught a video or song on the radio. That would change on that April night, when the DJ announced that he'd be playing a couple of songs from the forthcoming Sonic Youth album, whose name was too overwhelming to remember. Even though he said he'd play two tracks, "Androgynous Mind" and "Quest For The Cup" (probably just starting side 2 of a promo cassette), my tiny brain was so overloaded by the weird noise and increasingly intense repetition of "Androgynous Mind" that I don't even remember processing "Quest For The Cup". I may not have realized they had another singer. In any case, I discovered my new favorite band that night, and when "Bull in the Heather" hit rotation very soon after that, I was fully captivated by this strange music that sounded nothing like what I was listening to.

In the pre-internet days (for me), I looked for information on things that interested me anywhere I could. Magazines were critical, not that I could afford many. Luckily, there was a free Canadian music mag called Impact in the mid-90s, and they ran a Sonic Youth cover story in June 1994. I was hoping to quote a little bit from this article, which interviews Lee and Kim, since they discuss "Quest For The Cup", particularly the Lisa Carver dedication. Unfortunately, the detached pages I dug up are missing the second half of the article where this is addressed. I remember how much I liked reading the deeper insight into the songs - and I'm not even sure I had the album yet!

25 years ago, I decided I was going to start a Sonic Youth website. There were a couple of fan pages that had some SY guitar tabs, but I was an eager teen spending a lot of time figuring out songs and learning extremely basic HTML. My ear was never fantastic but I tried, and one of the first things I assembled for my new site was a complete Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star tab "book". A full txt document with all 14 songs tabbed in a row, everyone's parts. It was ambitious, and looking back there are some serious errors (some of which were my own fault, some based on info that would soon become obsolete as I did more research into the band's tunings). Unfortunately, these lousy tabs have been sitting there for two and a half decades, and "Quest For The Cup" is one of them. Not that I think anyone is sitting around wondering how to play "Quest For The Cup", let alone wanting to bore themselves with my childhood memories, but I think Jet Set was the introductory album for a lot of SY fans and there's something special about that memory to me.

"Quest For The Cup" was never played live, the sad fate of many of the Jet Set tunes. It revolves around two Kim guitar riffs, like "Bone" (our "bonus" track this week), both dry bluesy numbers compared to her fuzzier, more abrasive guitar playing on Dirty. She slightly modified the tuning she used on Dirty - from DEGDBB to BEGDBB, and used this for all of her parts on Jet Set and Washing Machine. As I mentioned in the "Junkie's Promise" tab, check the tuning tutorial for instructions on achieving her very low, weird tuning.

The opening chapter of original Sonic Youth biography Confusion is Next by Alec Foege (1994) begins in the studio while the band is recording, if not composing "Quest For The Cup". He arrived on the final day of basic tracking, and refers to the song as "unfinished", suggesting Kim has titled it on the spot. He also suggests that Thurston is asleep on the couch while Kim and Steve run through the riffs (and Butch Vig wonders if the opening chords fly too close to Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love"). Later the band reconvene for proper recording of the basic tracks, now working on Kim's other guitar song, "Bone".

Now, Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star is one of those extremely rare albums that actually includes a photo from the recording session in the liner. Though it's a bit fuzzy, there is a bit of detail to discern. For one, Kim is playing her Les Paul Special, not bass (which is on the stool behind her), so I've always imagined that they were recording either "Quest For The Cup" or "Bone" in this image. Thurston is playing his red Jazzmaster, and Lee has one of his brown Telecasters. Since "Bone" did enter the Washing Machine tour set list rotation, we know that Thurston used EGDGED and Lee used F#F#F#F#EB. Lee always seemed to use a Travis Bean, but obviously they could use anything they wanted in a recording environment. Thurston's red Jazzmaster was indeed in EGDGED during that era.

In the fifth issue of the band's old Sonic Death newsletter/fanzine they printed a blurb about the recording of the forthcoming album, and included more pictures from the same session. One is extremely similar to the one in the album's sleeve, except that if you look closely Lee is playing a Travis Bean! So theoretically, this could be "Bone" and the one in the album's liner could be "Quest For The Cup", which plants a Tele in Lee's hands. Except...

In Confusion is Next Alec mentions that "a quick in-studio photo session" takes place - yes! This was actually my theory, that perhaps the photographer visited at the same time as Alec, and therefore was witnessing "Quest" or "Bone", though I had no real foundation for that. But apparently there was indeed a photo session on that final day, score one for wild imaginations. Except...the full excerpt: "...a quick in-studio photo session turns into an impromptu twenty-minute improvisation..." "...Lee even switches guitars midway to explore some spur of the moment idea..." Sooo...the photos could have been taken at any point during those songs, or a jam session where Lee switched instruments anyway. Back to square one!

Truthfully, while I'm confident that Kim and Thurston's tunings for both "Quest" and "Bone" are the same (BEGDBB and EGDGED), I'm not as sure of Lee's for "Quest", which is why "Bone" is a bonus (I'm still trying to link the next week's tab to the previous week by one tuning). So much of his part is just based on slide noise with lots of delay, but the verses seem to have an E root. Aside from one moment where I might hear a low D, which I will ignore, I suspect it's most likely he used EEBBEF#.

"Bone" was first performed at the only full-length concert SY did in 1994, on December 2nd in NYC. After this, it made the occasional appearance on the Washing Machine tour, before being shelved for good. Lyrically it was inspired by Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out Of Carolina.

"Quest For The Cup" features a spoken sample - "All your dreams will come true. All my dreams came true, but...Now, I have a bunch of other dreams...It's gonna be hot." - I'm not positive who this is (for some reason I've always assumed it was Lisa Carver), but it's worth noting that this song is the only track not included in the batch of Jet Set rough mixes that leaked in the early 2000s. Every other song (aside from the acoustic material) is present, with slight mix differences or alternate vocals - indeed "Bone" has an earlier vocal - but "Quest For The Cup" is absent. The tape could have been made prior to the song being recorded on that last day, or for some reason the song just didn't make the leak. Who knows! On the leaked mix of "Sweet Shine", it's preceded by two answering machine messages that were not used on the album, but indicate that the band was experimenting with spoken samples on this record (see also the CD bonus track!).

My original tab for "Quest For The Cup" had wrong tunings for both Thurston and Lee, and opened with the dubious warning "Okay, I never really double checked this song, so it might not be right." I had Kim's tuning slightly off, based on a Guitar Player misprint, and this carried over to "Bone" as well. My tab for Lee's part on "Bone" was relatively solid, but I barely tried to work out Thurston's verse riffs (which to be fair, are quite buried). I hope the following tabs are a bit of an improvement! Please let me know if you have any corrections.  

A SECTION				00:00-00:40

Kim plays the main riff: 

B--------------------
B---3--x-3--x-3--5---
D---3--x-3--x-3--5---
G---3--x-3--x-3--5---
E--------------------
B--------------------

Thurston picks the highest note and slides backwards:

D-----------21/------------
E--------------------------
G--------------------------	
D--------------------------
G--------------------------
E--------------------------

Lee's part:

Lee has some heavy delay going and it sounds like he's attacking the strings with a slide, 
over the pickups, while the low E strings are left ringing out. He's probably not picking,
just pushing it against the strings, and pushing the strings into the pickup.


B SECTION				00:40-01:40
	
Kim:

B------------9-9-9---7-7--7-7--7-7--7--
B------------9-9-9---7-7--7-7--7-7--7--
D--12--9--9--9-9-9---------------------
G--12--9--9--9-9-9---------------------
E---0--0--0--0-0-0---------------------
B--------------------------------------

Thurston plays:

D----------21--------0--0---0--0---0--0---0--0--
E----------19--------9--9---9--9---9--9---9--9--
G--------------------x--x---x--x---x--x---x--x--
D-------------------11-11--11-11--11-11--11-11--
G-------------------11-11--11-11--11-11--11-11--
E--0-----------------0--0---0--0---0--0---0--0--

Lee's part:

F#--------
E---------
B---------
B----7br--  hold the bend, then return
E----0----
E---------


C SECTION					01:40-02:30

Kim holds the last note of her main riff, then ends on a single note:

B---7-7--7-7--7-7--7-7--         ---5---
B---7-7--7-7--7-7--7-7-- x 4	 ---5---
D-----------------------         -------
G-----------------------         -------
E-----------------------         -------
B-----------------------         -------

Thurston adds the F note to the chord, then ends on open strings:

D----0--0---0--0---0--0---0--0--      -----
E----9--9---9--9---9--9---9--9--      --0--
G---10-10--10-10--10-10--10-10--  x 4 --0--
D---11-11--11-11--11-11--11-11--      --x--
G---11-11--11-11--11-11--11-11--      --x--
E----0--0---0--0---0--0---0--0--      --0--

Lee 's part:

Lee turns that wild delay back on and this time he runs the slide backwards from near the bridge 
down the neck, over the fretboard while slowly picking out descending notes. It's not too hard
to approximate (and I don't feel like working it out note for note!).


After a pause where a woman (Lisa Carver?) talks about dreams (I really wish I could find the complete 
Impact magazine interview - I don't know if they specify who the voice sampled on the song is, 
but I do distinctly remember the track being discussed), they repeat the final nasty chord section 
and that's it!

text + tab by Chris Lawrence

A SECTION				00:00-00:50

Kim plays the main riff: 

B-------------
B-------------
D-------------
G-------------
E-------------
B---0-\5-7----

Thurston's part:

Thurston seems to randomly attack the open strings, then quickly mutes them.
In live versions, he would move random "skronk" chords up the neck for this part,
but the album really seems like just the one aggressive open string blast to me.
Let me know if you feel otherwise...!

Lee's part:

Lee runs a random skronk chord shape up and down the neck as well, with really fast, 
furious trem picking the whole time.


B SECTION				00:50-01:55
	
Kim:

B---0-5-5-0---0-5-5-0---     this is the main riff, which she plays loosely as always
B---0-5-5-0---0-5-5-0---         the notes on the D string are not always played
D---0-5-5-0---0-5-5-0---
G-----------------------
E-----------------------
B-----------------------

Thurston plays:

D------------------------------------------4-------------------
E-----------------------------------------------------------7--
G--4\9--9/4----4--4\9--9/7----7--4\9--9/4----4--4\9--9/7-------
D------------4--------------7-----------------------------7----
G--4\9--9/4-------4\9--9/7-------4\9--9/4-------4\9--9/7-------
E--------------------------------------------------------------

He repeats a simile of this progression, with different notes played at the
4th and 7th frets at the end of each slide. For live versions, he seemed to
settle into this recurring theme:

D-------9/4--                                          --4\9--9/4--
E------------                                          ------------
G--4\9-------   which could theoretically extend to:   --4\9--9/4--
D------------                                          ------------
G------------                                          --4\9--9/4--
E------------                                          ------------

At the very end of this section, he begins playing the "skronk" chord attacks
like the intro, before the band moves back into the A section.

Lee uses some light analog delay for his part. I will add timestamps:

  0:56
B----------------0-------------------5--5\7---8--7---8---10-\12--
E----------------------------------------------------------------
F#------------3----------3--0------------------------------------
F#---------------------------------------------------------------
F#-------5-------------------------------------------------------
F#----3----------------------------------------------------------

  1:10
B---8--7-----------------------------------------0----------------
E-----------------------------------------------------------------
F#--------------------------------------------3------3--0---------
F#---------------3--3\5-------------------------------------------
F#---------------------------------------5------------------------
F#-----------------------------------0h3--------------------------


  1:25                                                      
B------------------------0---------5--5\7---8-7---------
E-------------------------------------------------------
F#--1--0------------------------------------------------
F#--------------------3---------------------------------
F#----------------5-------------------------------------
F#--------------3---------------------------------------

  1:41                                                                
B---------------------------------------------
E---------------------------------------------
F#--3---3\5-----0---0h1/2------1-----3----0---
F#--------------------------------------------
F#--------------------------------------------
F#--------------------------------------------


A SECTION				01:55-02:40

This follows the same format as the opening section, but Lee is improvising different
tornado chords and Thurston's skronk assaults are at random places.

B SECTION				02:40-03:43
	
Kim and Thurston's parts are essentially the same as the first "verse".

Lee's part:

   2:50
B-----------------0----1-0----3-0----
E------------------------------------
F#-------------3---------------------
F#-----------------------------------
F#-------5---------------------------
F#----3------------------------------

   2:57
B---10--8--7-----8--10----8--7----8--7-----------------5--5\7---
E--------------------------------------------5--5\7-------------
F#--------------------------------------------------------------
F#--------------------------------------------------------------
F#--------------------------------------------------------------
F#--------------------------------------------------------------

   3:09                                                     3:22
B---8--7----8--10---8--7----8--7-------5--7---8--7------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F#--------------------------------------------------------------------------2b--
F#----------------------------------------------------------------0-------------
F#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F#------------------------------------------------------------3\5---------------

   3:30
B---5--7---8-7---8--10--12-----10--7--8-7---10-12-------8--7-------
E------------------------------------------------------------------
F#-----------------------------------------------------------------
F#-----------------------------------------------------------------
F#-----------------------------------------------------------------
F#-----------------------------------------------------------------


C SECTION				03:43-03:58
	
Kim:

B---0-5-5-0-----0-5-5-0-----0-5-5-0---
B---0-5-5-0-----0-5-5-0-----0-5-5-0---
D---0-5-5-0-----0-5-5-0-----0-5-5-0---
G---0-5-5-0-----0-5-5-0-----0-5-5-0---
E-------------------------------------
B-------------------------------------

Thurston plays:

D---------0-----------------------*7*--------    * notes are harmonics
E--------------------------------------------
G------------------------*7*-----------------
D---------------------*7*---------------0----
G--------------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------------

Lee's part:

B---------------------------------7--
E------------------------------------
F#-----------------------------------
F#-----------------------------------
F#-----------------------------------
F#-----------------------------------

text + tab by Chris Lawrence

special thanks to Riley Ponce for Kim's part on "Bone"