As they redefined what noise meant within rock & roll -- and what success meant for a band with
experimental roots -- Sonic Youth became one of the most influential, and popular, acts to emerge from the American underground. Their inventive use of alternate tunings, dissonance, and feedback, which they combined with the intensity of hardcore punk and the performance art aesthetic of New York's avant-garde, created a new sonic landscape with an impact that lasted for decades.
While 1983's Confusion Is Sex reflected the height of no wave's harsh yet hypnotic influence on their
music, Sonic Youth soon added more structure and melody without sacrificing any of their edge. Their trio of independent late-'80s records -- 1986's EVOL, 1987's Sister, and 1988's Daydream Nation -- became touchstones for a generation of indie rockers, thanks to their volatile mix of experiments and accessibility.
The band's growing popularity led them to sign to a major label, and with 1990's Goo and 1992's Dirty,
Sonic Youth courted mainstream success (most of their albums from the '90s onward charted within the Top 100 of the Billboard 200) while maintaining their reputation as innovators and tastemakers.
Later in the '90s, creative restlessness led them to make more challenging major-label albums like
1995's Washing Machine and to release overtly experimental works on their own SYR imprint. In the decade that followed, Sonic Youth continued to balance the different sides of their music in ways that felt true to their legacy; from 2002's introspective Murray St. to 2009's hard-hitting swan song The Eternal, they remained a band who always forged their own path.
SONIC YOUTH - DAYDREAM NATION 1988
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Sonic Youth made a major step forward with 1987's Sister, their first album where the songs were as
strong as the group's visionary approach and they rocked with the force and authority they'd clearly sought since the beginning. If 1988's Daydream Nation didn't make as decisive a leap in terms of theory or style, as far as execution was concerned, it was Sonic Youth's first unqualified masterpiece, a triumph that made them one of the most respected bands in indie rock.
Initially released as a two-LP set, the sheer scope of Daydream Nation was ambitious, but the longer tracks worked to Sonic Youth's advantage, allowing them the space to lay down solid melodic
structures and then use them as a framework for extended jams (thankfully, the band made splendid use of their wanderlust without wearing out their welcome). Sonic Youth were playing at the top of their game on the Daydream Nation sessions; the guitar interplay between Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo was stronger and more intuitive than before, and bassist Kim Gordon and drummer Steve Shelley had grown into a powerful rhythm section that cut an impressive groove, giving the band a greater freedom to explore the space around them without getting lost.
Sonic Youth were not simply tighter on Daydream Nation, they were making better and more satisfying use of their arsenal of alternate tunings and bent but elemental song structures, and the final product
fused their love of creatively applied noise and the sound of the electric guitar with song structures that merged elements of punk, prog, boogie, and psychedelia. The journey from the trippy joy of "Teenage Riot" to the hot-rodded choogle of "Eliminator Jr." was a bracing, glorious experience, and Daydream Nation confirmed their status as one of America's best and most original alternative rock bands, and one that had a shot at a future outside the underground -- a pleasant surprise given the alienating air of their earliest work.
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
Label: Geffen Records – B0008992-02
Series: Deluxe Edition
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Compilation, Deluxe Edition, Remastered Jun 12, 2007
Country: US
Released: 1988
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Noise
DISC 1. THE ORIGINAL ALBUM (RELEASED 1988)
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01. Teen Age Riot 6:58
02. Silver Rocket 3:47
03. The Sprawl 7:42
04. 'Cross The Breeze 7:00
05. Eric's Trip 3:48
06. Total Trash 7:33
07. Hey Joni 4:23
08. Providence 2:41
09. Candle 4:59
10. Rain King 4:39
11. Kissability 3:07
Trilogy:
12. A) The Wonder 4:15
13. B) Hyperstation 7:12
14. Z) Eliminator Jr. 2:38
BONUS DEMO TRACK
15. Eric's Trip (Home Demo) (Recorded By – LR) 2:27
MP3 @ 320 Size: 174 MB
Flac Size: 390 MB
DISC 2. LIVE DAYDREAM
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01. The Sprawl 8:27
02. 'Cross The Breeze 5:54
03. Hey Joni 3:38
04. Silver Rocket 4:19
05. Kissability 2:19
06. Eric's Trip 3:05
07. Candle (Recorded By – Aadam Jacobs) 5:04
08. The Wonder 4:02
09. Hyperstation 6:14
10. Eliminator Jr. 2:29
11. Providence 1:47
12. Teen Age Riot 4:37
13. Rain King 4:06
14. Totally Trashed 1:57
15. Total Trash 5:18
Cover Songs
16. Within You Without You (Written-By – George Harrison) 4:58
17. Touch Me I'm Sick (Written-By – Peters, McLaughlin, Lukin, Turner) 2:33
18. Computer Age (Written-By – Neil Young) 5:12
19. Electricity (Written-By – Don Van Vliet, Herb Bermann) 2:46
MP3 @ 320 Size: 186 MB
Flac Size: 532 MB
SONIC YOUTH - DIRTY 1992
When DGC Records signed Nirvana in 1991, one of DGC's A&R reps expressed the opinion that, with
plenty of touring and the right promotion, the new act might sell as well as its labelmate and touring partner Sonic Youth. The surprise success of Nevermind upended previous commercial expectations for Sonic Youth (among other established alternative rock bands), and when Dirty was released in 1992, it was seen by many as the band's big move toward the grunge market.
Which doesn't make a lot of sense if you actually listen to the album; while Butch Vig's clean but full-
bodied production certainly gave Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo's guitars greater punch and presence than they had in the past, and many of the songs move in the increasingly tuneful direction the band had been traveling with Daydream Nation and Goo, most of Dirty is good bit more jagged and purposefully discordant than its immediate precursors, lacking the same hallucinatory grace as Daydream Nation or the hard rock sheen of Goo.
If anything, Dirty finds Sonic Youth revisiting the territory the band mapped out on Sister -- merging
the propulsive structures of rock (both punk and otherwise) with the gorgeous chaos of their approach to the electric guitar -- and it shows how much better they'd gotten at it in the past five years, from the curiously beautiful "Wish Fulfillment" and "Theresa's Sound World" to the brutal "Drunken Butterfly" and "Purr."
Dirty was also Sonic Youth's most overtly political album, railing against the abuses of the
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Reagan/Bush era on "Youth Against Fascism," "Swimsuit Issue," and "Chapel Hill," a surprising move from a band so often in love with cryptic irony. Heard today, Dirty doesn't sound like a masterpiece (like Daydream Nation) or a gesture toward the mainstream audience (like Goo) -- it just sounds like a damn good rock album, and on those terms it ranks with Sonic Youth's best work.
Sonic Youth – Dirty
Label: Geffen Records – 493 410-2
Series: Deluxe Edition 2003
Format: CD, Album, Reissue CD All Media, Remastered, Deluxe Edition
Country: UK
Released: 1992
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock
DISC 1. THE ORIGINAL ALBUM (RELEASED 07/21/92)
01. 100% 2:29
02. Swimsuit Issue 2:59
03. Theresa's Sound World 5:29
04. Drunken Butterfly 3:04
05. Shoot 5:17
06. Wish Fulfillment 3:27
07. Sugar Kane 5:58
08. Orange Rolls, Angels Spit 4:19
09. Youth Against Fascism (Guitar – Ian MacKaye) 3:56
10. Nic Fit 0:59
11. On The Strip 5:42
12. Chapel Hill 4:48
13. JC 4:03
14. Purr 4:21
15. Créme Brulee 2:36
THE B-SIDES
16. Stalker 3:00
17. Genetic 3:35
18. Hendrix Necro 2:49
19. The Destroyed Room 3:21
MP3 @ 320 Size: 169 MB
Flac Size: 521 MB
DISC 2. ADDITIONAL B-SIDES
01. Is It My Body (Mixed By – Conrad Uno, Jack Endino) 2:52
02. Personality Crisis (Mixed By – Wharton Tiers) 3:40
03. The End Of The End Of The Ugly 4:18
04. Tamra 8:34
REHEARSAL RECORDINGS
05. Little Jammy Thing 2:20
06. Lite Damage 5:21
07. Dreamfinger 7:41
08. Barracuda 4:22
09. New White Kross 1:29
10. Guido 3:49
11. Stalker 3:36
12. Moonface 4:44
13. Poet In The Pit 2:40
14. Theoretical Chaos 3:08
15. Youth Against Fascism 5:03
16. Wish Fulfillment 3:51
MP3 @ 320 Size: 159 MB
Flac Size: 410 MB
