Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the band, while Steve Shelley (drums) followed a series of short-term drummers in 1985, rounding out the core line-up. Jim O'Rourke (guitar) was a member of the band from 1999 to 2005.

Sonic Youth
Bassist Kim Gordon and guitarist Thurston Moore in 2005
Background information
Also known asCiccone Youth
OriginNew York City, U.S.
Genres
Years active1981–2011
Labels
Websitesonicyouth.com
Past members

Sonic Youth emerged from the experimental no wave art and music scene in New York before evolving into a more conventional rock band and becoming a prominent member of the American noise rock scene. Sonic Youth have been praised for having "redefined what rock guitar could do"[1] using a wide variety of unorthodox guitar tunings and preparing guitars with objects like drum sticks and screwdrivers to alter the instruments' timbre. The band was a pivotal influence on the alternative and indie rock movements.

After gaining a large underground following and critical praise through releases with SST Records in the late 1980s, the band experienced mainstream success throughout the 1990s and 2000s after signing to major label DGC in 1990 and headlining the 1995 Lollapalooza festival. In 2011, Ranaldo announced that the band was "ending for a while" following the separation of married couple Gordon and Moore.[2] Thurston Moore updated and clarified the position in May 2014: "Sonic Youth is on hiatus. The band is a democracy of sorts, and as long as Kim and I are working out our situation, the band can't really function reasonably."[3] Gordon refers several times in her 2015 autobiography Girl in a Band to the band having "split up".

History

Formation and early history: 1977–1981

Shortly after guitarist Thurston Moore moved to New York City in early 1977, he formed a group, Room Tone, with his roommates, who later changed their name to the Coachmen.[4] After the breakup of the Coachmen, Moore began jamming with Stanton Miranda, whose band, CKM, featured Kim Gordon.[5] Moore and Gordon formed a band, appearing under names like Male Bonding and Red Milk and the Arcadians, before settling on Sonic Youth just before June 1981. The name came from combining the nickname of MC5's Fred "Sonic" Smith with "Youth" from reggae artist Big Youth. Gordon later recalled that "as soon as Thurston came up with the name Sonic Youth, a certain sound that was more of what we wanted to do came about."[6] The band played Noise Fest in June 1981 at New York's White Columns gallery, where Lee Ranaldo was playing as a member of Glenn Branca's electric guitar ensemble. Their performance impressed Moore, who described them as "the most ferocious guitar band that I had ever seen in my life",[5] and he invited Ranaldo to join the band. The new trio played three songs at the festival later in the week without a drummer. Each band member took turns playing the drums, until they met drummer Richard Edson.[7]

Early releases: 1982–1985

Branca signed Sonic Youth as the first act on his record label Neutral Records. In December 1981 the group recorded five songs in a studio in New York's Radio City Music Hall. The material was released as the Sonic Youth (EP) that, while largely ignored, was sent to a few key members of the US press, who gave it uniformly favorable reviews.[8] The album featured a relatively conventional post-punk style, in contrast to their later releases. After their first release, Edson quit the group for an acting career and was replaced by Bob Bert.

During their early days as part of the New York music scene, Sonic Youth formed a friendship with fellow New York noise rock band Swans. The bands came to share the same rehearsal space, and Sonic Youth embarked on its first tour, a two-week journey through the southern United States starting in November 1982, supporting Swans. During a second tour with Swans of the Midwest the following month, tensions ran high and Moore constantly criticized Bert's drumming, which he felt was not "in the pocket".[9] Bert was fired afterwards and replaced by Jim Sclavunos, who played drums on the band's first studio album, 1983's Confusion Is Sex, which featured a dramatically louder and more dissonant sound than their debut EP. Sonic Youth set up a two-week tour of Europe for the summer of 1983. Sclavunos, however, quit after only a few months. The group asked Bert to rejoin, and he agreed, on the condition that he would not be fired again after the tour's conclusion.[10] Bert went on to play on the band's Kill Yr Idols EP.

Sonic Youth found themselves well received in Europe, but the New York press largely ignored the local noise rock scene. Eventually, as the press began to take notice of the genre, Sonic Youth was grouped along with bands like Big Black, the Butthole Surfers and Pussy Galore under the "pigfucker" label by Village Voice editor Robert Christgau.[11] After a substandard September concert in New York, another critic from The Village Voice panned it. Gordon wrote a scornful letter to the newspaper, criticizing it for not supporting its local music scene, to which Christgau responded by saying they are not obligated to support them. Moore retaliated by renaming the song "Kill Yr Idols" to "I Killed Christgau With My Big Fucking Dick", before the two eventually sorted out their differences amicably.[12]

During another tour of Europe in 1984, Sonic Youth's disastrous London debut (where the band's equipment malfunctioned and Moore consequently destroyed the equipment onstage in frustration) actually resulted in rave reviews in Sounds and the NME. By the time they returned to New York, they were so popular they played shows practically every week.[13] That same year, Moore and Gordon were married, and Sonic Youth released Bad Moon Rising, a self-described "Americana" album that served as a reaction to the state of the nation at the time.[14] The album, recorded by Martin Bisi, was built around transitional pieces that Moore and Ranaldo had come up with in order to take up time onstage while the other guitarist was busy tuning his instrument;[13] as a result, there are almost no breaks between the songs on the record, which feature walls of feedback and pounding rhythms. Bad Moon Rising featured an appearance by Lydia Lunch on the album's single "Death Valley '69", inspired by the Charles Manson Family murders. In contrast to their abrasive, atonal material of the time, the band considered the song relatively conventional. Due to a falling-out with Branca over disputed royalty payments from their Neutral releases, they were signed to Homestead Records by Gerard Cosloy and by Blast First in the UK (which founder Paul Smith created simply so he could distribute the band's records in Europe).[15] While even the New York press ignored Bad Moon Rising upon its release, now viewing the band as too arty and pretentious, Sonic Youth was becoming quite critically acclaimed in the United Kingdom, where the new album had sold 5,000 copies in just six months.[16]

Claiming he was bored with playing Bad Moon Rising live in its entirety for over a year, Bert quit the group and was replaced by Steve Shelley, formerly of the punk group The Crucifucks. The band was so impressed with Shelley's drumming after seeing him play live they hired him without an audition.[17] Bert remained on good terms with the group; he and Shelley both appeared in the music video for "Death Valley '69", as Bert performed the drums on the song, but Shelley was the group's drummer when the video was made.

SST and Enigma: 1986–1989

Sonic Youth had a long fascination with influential indie label SST Records. Ranaldo said, "It was the first record company we were on that we really would have given anything to be on."[18] Sonic Youth eventually signed to the label in early 1986 and began recording EVOL with Martin Bisi in March of that year.

EVOL itself represented an evolution of sorts for the band: in addition to increasingly melodic material and the impact of new drummer Shelley's playing, the record also dealt with themes of celebrity, particularly with songs like "Madonna, Sean, and Me" (also known as "Expressway to Yr. Skull" and called "a classic" by Neil Young[19]) and "Marilyn Moore". Signing to SST catapulted the band on to a national stage, something that did not happen to their peers in the New York underground.[20] The mainstream music press subsequently began to take notice of the band. Robert Palmer of The New York Times declared that Sonic Youth was "making the most startlingly original guitar-based music since Jimi Hendrix" and even People praised EVOL as the "aural equivalent of a toxic waste dump."[21] EVOL is also notable for a guest appearance by bass guitarist Mike Watt, a friend whom the band coaxed to come to New York after he was deeply depressed by the death of his bandmate, D. Boon.

Around the same time, the band formed a side-project with Watt under the alias Ciccone Youth, which is a play on the names Sonic Youth and Ciccone, the birth surname of pop singer Madonna.[22] As Ciccone Youth, the band released one single and one studio album during its career before disbanding in 1988.[23] The single, "Into the Groove(y)", consisted of three tracks: "Into the Groove(y)" (a cover of Madonna's hit "Into the Groove", incorporating snippets of her recording) and the short "Tuff Titty Rap" on the A side (both performed by the Sonic Youth members), and "Burnin' Up" (performed by Watt with additional guitars by Greg Ginn) on the B side. The studio album,The Whitey Album, included the previously released three tracks as well as three cover songs by other artists: "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer (recorded in a karaoke booth), and "Burnin' Up" and "Into the Groove" by Madonna.

On 1987's Sister, Sonic Youth continued refining their blend of pop song structures with uncompromising experimentalism. Another loose concept album, Sister is partly inspired by the life and works of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick (the "sister" of the title was Dick's fraternal twin, who died shortly after her birth, and whose memory haunted Dick his entire life).[24] Sister sold 60,000 copies and received very positive reviews, becoming the first Sonic Youth album to crack the Top 20 of the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll.

Despite the critical success, the band was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with SST due to concerns about payment and other administrative practices.[25] Sonic Youth decided to release their next record on Enigma Records, which was distributed by Capitol Records and partly owned by EMI. The 1988 double LP Daydream Nation was a critical success that earned Sonic Youth substantial acclaim. The album came in second on the Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll and topped the year-end album lists of the NME, CMJ and Melody Maker. In 2005, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.[26] The lead single from the album, "Teen Age Riot", was their first song receiving significant airplay in modern and college rock stations, reaching number 20 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks.[27] A number of prominent music periodicals including Rolling Stone hailed Daydream Nation as one of the best albums of the decade and named Sonic Youth as the "Hot Band" in its "Hot" issue.[28] Unfortunately, distribution problems arose and Daydream Nation was often difficult to find in stores. Moore considered Enigma a "cheap-jack Mafioso outfit" and the band began looking for a major label deal.[29]

Major label career and alternative icons: 1990–1999
Live in The Netherlands, 1991

In 1990, Sonic Youth released Goo, their first album for Geffen. The album featured the single "Kool Thing" on which Public Enemy's Chuck D made a guest appearance. "Kool Thing" was later featured in the Hal Hartley film Simple Men and the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and was made available as a paid download for the Rock Band video game. The record is considered much more accessible than their previous work[30] and became the band's best-selling record to date.

In 1992, the band released Dirty on the DGC label. Their influence as tastemakers continued with their discovery of acclaimed skateboard video director Spike Jonze, who they recruited for the video for "100%", which also featured skateboarder turned actor turned photographer Jason Lee. This song, along with the Gordon tune "JC", contains lyrical references to the murder of Joe Cole, a friend who worked with Black Flag as a roadie. The album features artwork by Los Angeles-based artist Mike Kelley.[31] "Dirty" features a guest appearance by Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi) playing guitar on the track "Youth Against Fascism".

In 1993, the band contributed the track "Burning Spear" to the AIDS benefit album No Alternative, produced by the Red Hot Organization.

In 1994, the band released Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star, their best-charting release in the United States (until 2009's The Eternal), which peaked at No. 34 on the Billboard 200.[32] The album was filled with low-key melodies and even produced a hit single, "Bull in the Heather". Moore and Gordon's daughter, Coco Hayley Moore, was born later in the year, and many of the songs from the album were never played live because there was never a full tour to support the album due to Gordon's pregnancy. In 1994, the band also released a cover of The Carpenters' 1971 hit "Superstar" for the tribute album If I Were a Carpenter; their version was played in the 1996 film The Frighteners and would later be featured in the 2007 film Juno.

The band headlined the 1995 Lollapalooza festival with alternative rock groups Hole and Pavement.[32] By that time, alternative rock had gained considerable mainstream attention, and the festival was parodied on The Simpsons 1996 episode "Homerpalooza", which featured voiceovers from the band. They also performed the final credits theme for that episode.

Gordon collaborated in Free Kitten, and started a clothing label X-Girl, based in Los Angeles. Ranaldo and Moore played with many experimental/noise musicians, including William Hooker, Nels Cline, Tom Surgal, Don Dietrich, Christian Marclay, DJ Spooky and Mission of Burma, among others. Shelley started up the Smells Like Records record label, as well as playing in backing bands for Chan Marshall (Cat Power) and Two Dollar Guitar. Thurston Moore also made several guest appearances on DJ Spooky's albums, which combined rock and hip hop.

From Sonic Youth's earliest days, Gordon had occasionally played guitar with the group. Around the time of Washing Machine and A Thousand Leaves, she began playing guitar more frequently, resulting in a three-guitar and drums lineup. These songs were something of a shift for the group's sound, and would lead to the introduction of a fifth member a few years later.

The Washing Machine album began a shift in the band away from their punk roots, seeing them working with longer jam sections. Two tracks showed the new approach in full force: the title track "Washing Machine" is just under 10 minutes long, and "The Diamond Sea" is over 19 minutes long.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the band began releasing a series of highly experimental records on their own Hoboken, New Jersey-based label SYR. The music was mostly instrumental and improvised, and the album and track titles and even the liner notes and credits were in different languages: SYR1 was in French, SYR2 in Dutch, SYR3 in Esperanto, SYR5 in Japanese, SYR6 in Lithuanian, SYR7 in Arpitan and SYR8 in Danish. SYR3 was the first to feature Jim O'Rourke, who went on to become an official band member. Tracks from the SYR releases featured in their live sets in 1998, particularly "Anagrama" from SYR1, and tracks from SYR2 formed the basis of two tracks from A Thousand Leaves.

Released in 1998, A Thousand Leaves has a dreamy, semi-improvised feel, and features extended jam sections on tracks such as "Wildflower Soul" and "Female Mechanic Now on Duty". The album also features two Ranaldo-led numbers, "Hoarfrost" and "Karen Koltrane". The only single to be released from this album, "Sunday", was accompanied by a video directed by Harmony Korine and starring Macaulay Culkin.

SYR4 was subtitled "Goodbye, 20th Century" and featured works by avant-garde classical composers such as John Cage, Yoko Ono, Steve Reich, and Christian Wolff played by Sonic Youth along with several collaborators from the modern avant-garde music scene such as Christian Marclay, William Winant, Wharton Tiers, Takehisa Kosugi and others. The album received mixed reviews, but some critics praised the group's efforts at popularizing and reinterpreting the composers' works.

Later DGC period: 2000–2006

On July 4, 1999, Sonic Youth's instruments, amps and gear were stolen in the middle of the night while on tour in Orange County, California, with almost 30 guitars and basses were stolen (see initial post on Usenet). Forced to start from scratch with new instruments, they recorded NYC Ghosts & Flowers and opened for Pearl Jam during the east coast leg of their 2000 tour. They later recovered 8 guitars, basses, amps and other gear over next 12 years.

In 2001, Sonic Youth collaborated with French avant-garde singer and poet Brigitte Fontaine on Fontaine's album Kékéland.

When the September 11, 2001 attacks occurred, several members of the band were blocks away; Jim at their NYC studio (Echo Canyon on Murray Street) and Ranaldo and his wife Leah nearby at home. After the attacks, they curated the first U.S. outing of the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival in L.A. The festival was originally scheduled for October, but it was delayed until March the following year due to the attacks.

In the summer of 2002, Murray Street was released; many critics heralded a "return to form for SY", seemingly revitalized by the addition of Jim O'Rourke, who became a full member during this period, playing bass guitar, guitar and occasionally synthesizer. It was during this period that the band were filmed for Scott Crary's documentary Kill Your Idols, depicting Sonic Youth as a key influence upon the post-punk revival then happening in New York. This was followed in 2004 by the release of Sonic Nurse, an album similar in sound and approach to its immediate predecessor that also received positive reviews. "Pattern Recognition", a song named after the 2003 William Gibson novel, finds the band once again using Gibson's work for inspiration. The band also showed their pop culture commentary and sense of humor with the track "Mariah Carey and the Arthur Doyle Hand Cream", a faster-tempo song sung by Gordon, which spoofed Carey's life, including her short-lived relationship with rapper Eminem, which originally appeared on a 2003 split 7" with Erase Errata (on the album cover, the reference to "Mariah Carey" in the title was replaced by "Kim Gordon"[33] due to potential copyright issues.)[34] Sonic Nurse had decent sales, in part due to performances on TV talk shows including Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The band was also slated to perform in 2004's Lollapalooza tour along with acts such as Pixies and The Flaming Lips, but the concert was canceled due to lackluster ticket sales. When the band toured later that year, they played extensively from their 1980s catalog.

Additional guitarist Jim O'Rourke with the band in concert in 2005

On October 6, 2005, LA CityBeat reported that some of the gear stolen in 1999 was surprisingly recovered and that it might be used for recording of the next album, then tentatively titled Sonic Life.[35] The report also said that Jim O'Rourke might be leaving the band soon; his departure was confirmed by Lee Ranaldo in an interview with Pitchfork Media. In May 2006, the group announced on their website that ex-Pavement member Mark Ibold would play bass for the band on their upcoming tour.

Rather Ripped was released in Europe on June 5, 2006 and in the USA on June 13, 2006. Compared to previous Sonic Youth recordings, the album features many short, conventionally-structured, melodic songs and fewer feedback-fuelled left-field improvisations (the band's avant-garde tendencies nowadays have been largely exorcised through SYR releases and solo outings rather than band albums). Later that summer, Sonic Youth played the 2006 Bonnaroo Festival, as well as Lollapalooza, promoting the album. In December, Rolling Stone made it their number three Album of the Year 2006.

The band released The Destroyed Room: B-Sides and Rarities in December 2006. It features tracks previously available only on vinyl, limited-release compilations, B-sides to international singles, and some material that had never before been released. This marked the band's final Geffen release.[36]

Independent agents and signing to Matador: 2007–2011

In April 2007, the band became one of the earlier big-name rock bands to play China when they were brought on a China tour by Beijing and Shanghai based company Split Works.[37]

In 2008, the band independently re-released Master=Dik for the first time on CD, exclusively at their online store. They also released two more editions to the SYR series, SYR7: J'Accuse Ted Hughes and SYR8: Andre Sider Af Sonic Youth. SYR7 was released on April 22, and SYR8 was released July 28. On June 10, they also released a compilation album on Starbucks Music, called Hits Are for Squares. The first fifteen tracks were selected by other celebrities, and track sixteen, "Slow Revolution", is a new recording by Sonic Youth.

On August 30, 2008, the band premiered two new songs at the final McCarren Park Pool show. Thurston Moore stated that in November the band would start recording a new studio album. The band did not continue their contract with Geffen, being discontented at the way Geffen handled their last four or five albums.[38] On September 8, it was confirmed by Matador's Matablog that Sonic Youth would release its sixteenth album (titled The Eternal) in spring 2009, on Matador Records.[39] In December, it was also announced that the group had recently collaborated with John Paul Jones (of Led Zeppelin fame) on a piece that served as the soundtrack for a new Merce Cunningham Dance Company piece. This work was performed by the company on April 16–19, 2009, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in celebration of Cunningham's 90th birthday.[40] On February 12, 2009 the band revealed the cover art for The Eternal via their website and blog. The album, produced by John Agnello, was released on June 9.[41] With the release, Matador Records also offered an exclusive live LP only available to those who preordered the album. The band scored and composed the soundtrack of the French thriller-drama Simon Werner a Disparu, which premiered in May, 2010 as part of the Cannes International Film Festival.[42] The soundtrack has been released in 2011 as SYR9: Simon Werner a Disparu, the latest edition of the SYR series.

Disbandment: 2011–present

On October 14, 2011, Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore announced, through a statement by Matador, that they had separated after 27 years of marriage.[43] Matador also explained that plans for the band remained "uncertain", despite previously hinting that they would record new material later in the year.[44]

Sonic Youth performed their final concert on November 14, 2011 at the SWU Music & Arts Festival in Itu, São Paulo, Brazil.[45][46]

In an interview on November 28, 2011, Lee Ranaldo said that Sonic Youth are "ending for a while". "I'm feeling optimistic about the future no matter what happens at this point", Ranaldo said. "It was a pretty good tour overall. I mean, there was a little bit of tiptoeing around and some different situations with the travelling – you know, they're not sharing a room any more or anything like that [...] It remains to be seen at this point what happens. I think they are certainly the last shows for a while and I guess I'd just leave it at that." Ranaldo also suggested there are no plans for Sonic Youth to record new material. "There's tons and tons of archival projects and things like that still going on," he said. "I'm just happy right now to let the future take its course."[2]

In November 2013, Ranaldo said in response to the question of a possible reunion, "I fear not. Everybody is busy with their own projects, besides that Thurston and Kim aren't getting along together very well since their split. I think you can put a cross behind Sonic Youth, same as you can put it behind the names Mike Kelley and Lou Reed. Let them all rest in peace."[47] In her 2015 autobiography Girl in a Band, Gordon refers several times to the band having "split up" for good.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Sonic Youth among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[48]

Musical style and influences

Sonic Youth is considered a pioneering band in the noise rock and alternative rock genres.[1] Their music has also been labelled experimental rock, indie rock and post-punk.[1]

Alternative tunings

Sonic Youth's sound relied heavily on the use of alternative tunings. Scordatura on stringed instruments has been used for centuries and alternative guitar tunings had been used for decades in blues music, and to a limited degree in rock music (such as with Lou Reed's Ostrich guitar on The Velvet Underground & Nico). Azerrad writes that early in their career,

[Sonic Youth] could only afford cheap guitars, and cheap guitars sounded like cheap guitars. But with weird tunings or something jammed under a particular fret, those humble instruments could sound rather amazing – bang a drum stick on a cheap Japanese Stratocaster copy in the right tuning, crank the amplifier to within an inch of its life and it will sound like church bells.[49]

The tunings were painstakingly developed by Moore and Ranaldo during the band's rehearsals; Moore once reported that the odd tunings were an attempt to introduce new sounds: "When you're playing in standard tuning all the time [...] things sound pretty standard."[49] Rather than re-tune for every song, Sonic Youth generally used a particular guitar for one or two songs, and would take dozens of instruments on tour. This would be the source of much trouble for the band, as live performances of many songs relied on specific guitars that have been uniquely prepared or otherwise altered for those exact songs.

Influences

Moore said that they were heavily influenced by the Velvet Underground.[50] Besides The Stooges, Branca, Patti Smith, Wire,[51] Public Image Ltd and French avant-gardist Brigitte Fontaine, another influence was 1980s-era hardcore punk; after seeing Minor Threat perform in May 1982, Moore declared them "the greatest live band I have ever seen".[52] He also saw The Faith performing in 1981 and had a strong admiration towards their only two records, a split LP with fellow Washington, D.C. hardcore band Void and the EP Subject to Change.[53] While recognizing that their own music was very different from hardcore, Moore and Gordon, especially, were impressed by hardcore's speed and intensity, and by the nationwide network of musicians and fans. "It was great", said Moore, "the whole thing with slam dancing and stage diving, that was far more exciting than pogoing and spitting. [...] I thought hardcore was very musical and very radical."[54]

Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo expressed on numerous occasions their admiration for the music of Joni Mitchell, such as this quote by Thurston Moore: "Joni Mitchell! I've used elements of her songwriting and guitar playing, and no one would ever know about it."[55] Additionally, as with Sonic Youth, Joni Mitchell has always used a number of alternative tunings. The band named a song after her, "Hey Joni".

Members of the band have also maintained relationships with other avant-garde artists from other genres and even other media, drawing influence from the work of John Cage and Henry Cowell. For a 1988 John Peel Session, Sonic Youth covered three songs by The Fall and "Victoria" by The Kinks, also covered by The Fall. Sonic Youth has featured album art by several well-known avant-garde visual artists, such as Mike Kelley, Tony Oursler and Gerhard Richter, whose paintings from his "Candles" series was used as artwork on Daydream Nation.

Musical instruments

Sonic Youth's sound was generated by their vast collection of unique and exclusive instruments; from guitars altered to meet the needs of the unique tunings employed to effects and amps designed to around their whims, Sonic Youth used a wide array of custom instruments in creating their sound.

Members

Final lineup

Former members

Timeline

Discography
Main article: Sonic Youth discography
Studio albums
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Bibliography
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