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| Sonic Youth Blue with Orange Puppet Head Mens T-Shirt |
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About this item
Sonic Youth is the avatar of noisy, underground guitar rock. After making the transition from uncompromising avant-rockers in the early '80s to indie guitar-pop trailblazers by decade's end, the group became the alternative-music world's brightest beacon. In the '90s Sonic Youth's sound continued to influence younger bands, the most famous evidence being in the grungy, sometimes discordant riffs of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” And if Nirvana’s mainstream success briefly suggested crossover potential for Sonic Youth, the band’s weakness for wild experimentation never waned.
In the late ’70s Thurston Moore, raised in Bethel, Connecticut, and Lee Ranaldo, of New York’s Long Island, hit Manhattan just in time for the end of punk rock and its avant-garde cousin, no wave. The two met while performing with downtown guitar-orchestra composer Glenn Branca, whose extended works featured several guitars playing highly textured, dissonant music. In 1981 Moore formed Sonic Youth with bassist/art-school graduate Kim Gordon (who would marry Moore) and drummer Richard Edson (who later pursued acting and starred in such films as Stranger Than Paradise and Do the Right Thing). Ranaldo joined before their second gig. The band went through several drummers before locking in with Steve Shelley in 1986.
Sonic Youth’s first recordings, released on Branca’s Neutral label, mainly consisted of feedback and ringing harmonics, with Gordon or Moore intoning about death, urban decay, and other dreary, no-wave-inspired topics. Moore and Ranaldo became known for propping up a dozen or so guitars behind the band during performances, each tuned unconventionally and some containing objects such as screwdrivers and drumsticks jammed between the strings and fretboards.
With 1985’s Bad Moon Rising, Sonic Youth hit on a direction that incorporated swirling, Branca-style guitar textures into more traditional pop-based song structures. Critical responses were generally positive, and major labels began knocking at the band’s door. But Sonic Youth held out for three more full-length indie-label albums, including the double-length classic Daydream Nation, while perfecting its art-pop recipe. (In the meantime they did a tongue-in-cheek tribute to Madonna under the pseudonym Ciccone Youth.) In 1990 the group’s major-label debut, Goo (#96), cemented Sonic Youth’s stature in the music world and led to an arena tour opening for Neil Young. The move was incongruous but not altogether inappropriate, since both acts worshipped feedback and distortion. (It was also consistent with Sonic Youth’s ironic sense of humor.) By the release of Dirty (#83, 1992), the former avant-noisemakers were being hailed as the messiahs of modern rock; even Vanity Fair profiled Gordon and anointed her the “godmother...of alternative rock.” In 1994 Sonic Youth released their most popular LP to date, Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star, which peaked on the U.S. album charts at #34 (and #10 in the U.K.). Later that year, Gordon and Moore had a daughter.
In 1995 Sonic Youth headlined the Lollapalooza Tour, but endured a nightly insult of seeing large numbers of fans leave immediately following the set by support act Hole and celebrity frontwoman Courtney Love. But the tour financed the creation of Sonic Youth’s Manhattan studio-workshop. The band earned strong reviews for 1995’s Washing Machine (#58). By now, Gordon had largely abandoned the bass for guitar. Band members were also exploring a variety of solo projects. Gordon joined Julie Cafritz (of Pussy Galore) in Free Kitten, and Moore released the Psychic Hearts album on Geffen in 1995.
Sonic Youth never left the underground, even as it explored more traditional pop structures in the ’90s. While remaining on Geffen, in 1997 the band established its own SYR label for a series of experimental and mostly instrumental releases, with tracks stretching beyond 20 minutes. Sonic Youth could appear as animated characters on The Simpsons and yet step back into the avant-garde for an acclaimed 1997 performance at New York’s Lincoln Center, soon followed by the expansive 74-minute A Thousand Leaves album. With 1999’s two-disc Goodbye 20th Century, the band explored other forms of avant-garde music, tackling compositions by the likes of John Cage and Steve Reich. That same year, a vanload of the band’s hot-rodded, one-of-a-kind guitars was stolen at a Southern California tour stop. Sonic Youth had to start again from scratch, which only forced the band into still-further explorations on NYC Ghosts & Flowers in 2000.
In 2002, the band released Murray Street after Jim O’Rourke became a full-time member. 2004’s Sonic Nurse found the band continuing to entertain their post modern muse, giving special treatment to Mariah Carey’s life and all that remains bizarre in popular culture. However Rather Ripped, released in June 2006, reveals a relatively tamer noise, with emphasis on Moore’s lyrical guitar pop and songwriting. In October 2005, some of Sonic Youth’s stolen musical equipment was finally discovered and returned.
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