After the last Sister tour wrapped up in October 1987, Sonic Youth did not perform live again until June 1988. Testing out a heap of new material prior to entering the studio, they booked a trio of back-to-back gigs at local venues, plus one out of towner. The first two nights were June 9th and 10th at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ. As a fan, all of these shows are entertaining in their own spectacular way - the royally regarded Daydream Nation material is decidedly unpolished and largely unfinished. The Hoboken sets begin with relatively stable renditions of "Candle" and "Silver Rocket", composed in new tunings, like most of these songs. Next was "Dinosaur (Wombats!)", which featured Thurston on vocals (but wouldn't when it was released as "Cross the Breeze") and "UBU/Mellencamp", instrumental the first night and wildly delivered in an early state by Lee thereafter (before he settled on final lyrics titled "Rain King"). Following future staple "Teen Age Riot" is the "trilogy" that will eventually end the album: "Huskeriffic" "Dream" and "ZZ". These June warm-up gigs are the only time the trilogy was played in full unbroken order until..well, we'll get there.

This was the set both nights in Hoboken, but the first night also had an encore. It began with a tape of Ciccone Youth beats being played while the band tuned, followed by a couple of false starts of "Total Trash" which dissolved into looping noise from Lee's new delay pedal, the Fender DGL-1 (a huge component of the band's sound for the next few years). They finally pull it together for a proper instrumental take of "Total Trash" that's rough and ragged and eventually falls apart naturally, concluding with some quick cassette manipulation of "Strawberry Fields Forever". You can hear this performance on the 2007 deluxe edition of Daydream Nation (as two separate tracks on disc 2 - "Totally Trashed" and "Total Trash"), and guess what - that's the only time they played the song! The next night they called it after "ZZ": "Goodnight Hobroken, there will be no encores!". A week later at a duo of Knitting Factory sets in NYC, they'd added "Hey Joni" and "Kissability" and promoted "Silver Rocket" to encore status. Another week later and they're playing everything they've got at a pair of CBGB gigs - except "Total Trash". The remaining Daydream Nation tracks, "Eric's Trip" and "The Sprawl", were debuted on the first night of the European tour in September, having finished the album over the summer.

Portions of these June gigs were released on a Forced Exposure 7" single, including "Silver Rocket", an instrumental version of "Eliminator Jr" rebranded as "Non-Metal Dude Wearing Metal Tee", and something called "You Pose You Lose" that always seemed like a curious novelty, a guitar squawking over a snare, then a burst of Beatles and a satisfied crowd. This is actually revealed to be the very end of the Hoboken rendition of "Total Trash", after it breaks down. Prior to the deluxe edition, a snippet of the mess that precedes "Total Trash" was released on the web-only Mix Tape #4, titled "Encore" - this features some material edited from the split between "Totally Trashed" and the song itself. Also, the "sdleiF yrrebwartS" clip has been backmasked to avoid any moptop litigation that Forced Exposure may have narrowly evaded.

The band toured Daydream Nation for the rest of the year and "Total Trash" is the only song that received no play (even "Rain King" made a few appearances). On April 1st, 1989, in Frankfurt, Thurston teases the opening riff and the band joins in, but it's abandoned for "Brother James". April Fools?

So, normally that would be it. Band writes new material, band records album, band tours with sets heavily focused on new material, band retires 90% of the material when the cycle begins again. Songs not favored during their own album's touring cycle are generally not revisited in the future. Except...when Sonic Youth killed the bulk of the Dirty material after March '93, they crafted a set containing new tunes that would make up half of Jet Set, and a variety of older tunes that had not been played in a while. I discussed it earlier (the infamous NO LEE?! tour), but it's one of their most interesting set lists. "Cotton Crown" "PCH" "Candle" "Stereo Sanctity" and "Secret Girl" had all been played extensively when they were fresh, but had been dormant for years. When they premiered this ambitious set on June 21st in New York, the encore consisted of a shaky take on new tune "Tokyo Eye", and the surprise resurrection of a song that never really got a chance: "Total Trash".

With no preamble, they launch right into it and deliver a relatively flawless version although it's radically truncated compared to the arguably bloated studio version, which clocks in at seven and a half minutes, the second longest track on the album. Most of that time is dedicated to an extensive freeform jam that is dripping with guitar overdubs - the live version approaches this section with a more succinct deconstruction, winding down to loose rhythms and ring modulator swoops before transitioning into the fractured final verse/chorus round. The first night's performance of the song lasts exactly five minutes, and closes the show. It's not played every night on the summer European tour, but it's always in the encore when they do play it (sometimes swapped so "Tokyo Eye" closes). On July 16th, 1993, "Tokyo Eye" is played for the final time - but not "Total Trash".

As if bound by some sort of decennial curse, the band randomly reinstated "Total Trash" for two nights only in June 2003. Ten years later, almost to the day, on the 16th in Louisville, KY and on the 20th in Columbus, OH. Now, 2003 was an odd year - literally - and generally these year's tours yielded a little more set list experimentation. Indeed in 2003 songs like "Catholic Block" "Kill Yr Idols" "Expressway" and "Sugar Kane" resurfaced after a while, and they introduced numerous new songs like super rarity "1234", current single "Mariah Carey..." and future Nurse finale "Peace Attack", which was also premiered in Louisville. With Jim on board in full jam band mode, they actually do play the song for its full seven and a half minutes, and it's kinda fuckin' awesome! I have no idea why they only did it twice, or why they even thought to do it all. I'd argue that in 1993 they were working on the Daydream Nation reissue for DGC and the album may have been fresh on their minds, but in 2003 I'd guess someone just suggested it and they gave it a shot. I know around this time they were using the Song Database to help decide which older tunes to revisit, and many that got rehearsed didn't actually make it in front of a live audience. Still, the idea that the song was virtually ignored in 1988 and suddenly popped up for a brief moment in 1993 and again in 2003 is curious to me, and since they disbanded in 2011 we'll never know if the ritual would continue in 2013.

Okaaay, that's stupid, cuz we all know what happened in 2007 - the aforementioned deluxe reissue of Daydream Nation was augmented by twenty-four complete performances of the album beginning in June (!) and finishing in February 2008. Many of the songs hadn't been played in years, and entered regular rotation during non-Daydream shows. However, "Total Trash" was played only when obligated, along with "Rain King" and "Kissability" (and "Providence", I suppose). It was finally laid to rest on February 23rd, 2008 in Perth, Australia, though it was forever immortalized in Lance Bangs' Daydream Nation concert film, as well as the corresponding Glasgow release on bandcamp. This version, which features the band playing as a quartet again, is pretty damn good too.

It was never a personal favorite on Daydream Nation, perhaps a bit too long and one too many guitar overdubs, but I like hearing how they interpreted the song at all these junctures. Its performance history is probably more erratic than any other song in the Sonic Youth catalog, performed a known total of 39 times (second only to "Rain King" for least played song on Daydream, and otherwise it's not even close!). Despite this rarity, you can purchase its first performance as well as one from 19 years later (yet there's no official live version of "Becuz"!). Not total trash after all.

The existing tab for this song was from December 7th, 1995! David Tweet was kind enough to submit Thurston's part to Michael McCullough (aka Moik) who ran one of the earliest SY sites on the internet, evol.org (shoutout SYR3!). It worked for me 25 years ago but I figured I'd clean it up and add Lee's part - I based this more on the clean 2-guitar separation of the Glasgow 2007 version rather than picking apart all of the overdubs on the record. I updated my tab of the bassline a little bit too. Please let me know if you have any comments/corrections!

A SECTION			00:00-00:13

Thurston:

D#----------------------------------
D#----------------------------------
D----0-0-2-0-2-4--0--0-2-0-2-4-4-4--
D----0-0-2-0-2-4--0--0-2-0-2-4-4-4--   w/ slight palm mute
G----0-0-0-0-0-0--0--0-0-0-0-0-0-0--
G----0-0-0-0-0-0--0--0-0-0-0-0-0-0--

There are so many overdubs on this song, I'm not sure if Lee is playing the same riff
as Thurston or just doing big open chords:

G---(0)---
G---(0)---
D----0----
D----0----
G----0----   do a big slide into the B section
G----0----

Kim:

G----------------------------------
D----5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5---
A----------------------------------
E----------------------------------

B SECTION			00:13-00:26

Thurston:

D#-------------------------------
D#-------------------------------
D----2--4-2-4-2-0-2--2-2-2-2b-0--
D----2--4-2-4-2-0-2--2-2-2-2b-0--   w/ slight palm mute
G----2--2-2-2-2---0--0-0-0-------
G----2--2-2-2-2---0--0-0-0-------

Likewise, Lee can basically duplicate Thurston's parts on this song, but there's
also tracks of droning power chords:

G--------------------------------
G--------------------------------
D----2------------0--------2b-0--   instead of the last lick, you can just slide
D----2------------0--------2b-0--                               randomly up the neck...
G----2------2br---0--------------
G----2------2br---0--------------

Kim:

G------------------------------------
D-------------------5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5--
A------------------------------------
E----5-5\7--5\7/5-------------------- 

C SECTION			00:26-00:42

Thurston:

D#---------------------------------------------------------------
D#---------------------------------------------------------------
D----5-5-7-5-7-9--5--5-7-5-7-9-0---5-5-7-5-7-9--5--5-9-9-7-5-0---   play twice
D----5-5-7-5-7-9--5--5-7-5-7-9-0---5-5-7-5-7-9--5--5-9-9-7-5-0---
G----5-5-5-5------0--0-0-0---------5-5-5-5------0--0-------------
G----5-5-5-5------0--0-0-0---------5-5-5-5------0--0-------------

D#-------------------------------
D#-------------------------------
D----7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-----5brb--
D----7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-----5brb--
G----7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-----------
G----7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-----------

Lee:

G---------------------
G---------------------
D----5------------0---  harmonics or "crazy slides" here
D----5------------0---
G----5--7-5-7-5---0---
G----5--7-5-7-5---0---

I don't really hear Lee playing along with Thurston's melody riffage in 
this part, although he definitely has a counterpart on the Glasgow version:

G-----------------0----\4-2^0-0----------------0----\7--5/4-0--
G-----------------0----\4-2^0-0----------------0----\7--5/4-0--
D----5-5-7-5-7\9--0---------------5-5-7-5-7\9--0---------------   play twice
D----5-5-7-5-7\9--0---------------5-5-7-5-7\9--0---------------
G----5------------0---------------5------------0---------------
G----5------------0---------------5------------0---------------

D#---7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7\-----------
D#---7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7\-----------   on the record he does a slow slide back
D----7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7\-----------      then hits a big open chord to go into the A section
D----7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7\-----------
G----7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7\-----------   in Glasgow he plays the same lick as Thurston
G----7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7\-----------

Kim:

G----12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12-12--
D--------------------------------------------------
A--------------------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------------------

At the end, do a loooong slide up the fretboard on the low E string, ending at the 15th fret.
Optional slide backwards from 15th fret:

G------------------
D------------------
A------------------
E---\\\\\\\\\15/---

A SECTION			00:43-00:49

B SECTION			00:49-01:02

C SECTION			01:03-01:19

A SECTION			01:19-01:26

B SECTION			01:26-01:39

C SECTION			01:40-01:56

D SECTION			01:56-02:22

Thurston:

D#----------------------------
D#----------------------------
D-----------------------------
D-----------------------------
G----0--0--0-0--0---0-0-0-0--- 
G----0--0--0-0--0---0-0-0-0--- etc attack open G

Lee:

G-----------------------------
G-----------------------------
D-----------------------------
D-----------------------------
G----0--0--0-0--0---0-0-0-0--- 
G----0--0--0-0--0---0-0-0-0--- etc attack open G // play all strings if you want

There's also a lot of tracks of guitars just playing random craziness up the neck.

Kim's bass solo:

G-----------------------------------------------
D--17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17- etc
A-----------------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------------

G-----------------------------------------------
D--17--15--17-15--------------------------------
A------------------17--15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15--
E-----------------------------------------------

G-----------------------------------------------
D--17--15--17-15--------------------------------
A------------------15-15-17-15--15-15-15-15-15--
E-----------------------------------------------

G-----------------------------------------------
D--15--17--15-17--------------------------------
A------------------15-17-15--15-15-15-15-15-15--
E-----------------------------------------------

G-----------------------------------------------
D--17--15--17-15--------------------------------
A------------------17--15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15--
E-----------------------------------------------

G-----------------------------------------------
D------------------17---------------------------
A--17--15--17-15-------15-15-15-15-15-15-15-15--
E-----------------------------------------------

G-------------------------------------
D------------------17-----------------
A--17--15--17-15-------15----15-15-\--
E-------------------------------------

C SECTION			02:22-02:39

E SECTION			02:39-06:00

Thurston starts playing the regular A riff but begins twisting it with the addition
of the D# strings:

D#---0-0-2-0-2-4--0--0-2-0-2-4-4-4--
D#---0-0-2-0-2-4--0--0-2-0-2-4-4-4--
D----0-0-2-0-2-4--0--0-2-0-2-4-4-4--
D----0-0-2-0-2-4--0--0-2-0-2-4-4-4--  
G----0-0-0-0-0-0--0--0-0-0-0-0-0-0--
G----0-0-0-0-0-0--0--0-0-0-0-0-0-0--

Eventually he goes up an octave:

D#---12-12-14-12-14-16--12--12-14-12-14-16-16-16--
D#---12-12-14-12-14-16--12--12-14-12-14-16-16-16--
D----12-12-14-12-14-16--12--12-14-12-14-16-16-16--
D----12-12-14-12-14-16--12--12-14-12-14-16-16-16--
G----0--------------------------------------------
G----0--------------------------------------------

This is essentially all he does during the midsection, though I'm sure at least 
one of the "noise" tracks is him.

Lee begins by playing big open G chords, eventually throwing random bent 
squealing high notes in as Thurston fucks his riff up more and more. 
There are many tracks of Lee just being Lee, lots of slides, pick scrape/string noise, 
delay action, open droning chords, etc. There's really nothing worth tabbing specifically.

Kim holds down a G chord:

G----7----             ---12---
D----5----  or even:   ---12---
A---------             ---10---
E---------             --------

Around 4 minutes in she turns her wah on, then some distortion. After some ugly skronky G notes,
she goes back to some regular G notes. Then back to the wah/fuzz.

Around 5 minutes in she starts playing the open A string w/ wah. This continues until they drift
back into the A section.

A SECTION			06:00-06:15

B SECTION			06:15-06:30

C SECTION			06:30-07:33

As the noise section winds down, Thurston starts playing the main A section riff again.
Lee returns w/ his big open chords, and Kim/Steve lock into their rhythm.
But everything is a little bit sloppy, laid back, and there are dinosaur guitars still droning 
in the background...B and C are played lazy too, and the song ends with one last bass moo
and forty fuckin' seconds of feedback! They really squeezed this one dry...


text + tab by Chris Lawrence

special thanks to David S. Tweet '95