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Sonic Youth

I remember it quite well, it was 1990, I'm thirteen years old, obsessed with strange music already back then. I remember watching the alternative show on Quebec's french version of MTV; they would usually play late at night and show the latest videos of more "underground" bands. I had no idea who these groups were but I remember liking them, I was trying to break away from only listening to heavy metal (the "cool" kids at my school did not listen to metal, they listened to Jane's Addiction, The Cure or The Smiths). The video for Kool Thing comes on. I didn't pay much attention at first; strange guitar riffs, deadpan female vocals and a hiphop-ish bridge section, but the chorus with it's wailing atonal guitars really spoke to me. It would take the bassline from 100% to convince me to start buying their albums however and I've been a fan ever since. There was something very rebellious about using specially tuned guitars and atonal riffs, especially for an impressionable kid like me. "These guys don't give a shit! They play what they want!" How could you not love it? Messy, sludgy and a healthy dose of slacker imagery (I bet they hate that!); it was enough to have a whole generation of blasé teenagers identifying themselves to them.

It might be argued however that this imagery only came once they signed to the bigger Geffen label, a marketing gimmick to try and cash in on the lazy look (remember, Sonic Youth became really big at approximately the same time as slacker-gods Nirvana sales went through the roof). Earlier Sonic Youth was much harsher and experimental, with roots in noise and no-wave. Although the difference is noticeable, I love both sides of this eighties/nineties Sonic Youth. What I don't like is the fact that they seem to deny their brush with commercial success. It is this period that made many teenagers turn their head around and realize there are people "like" them that succeed. The imagery might have played a potential role in this, but it was the music which really spoke to all these kids, I myself included. I remember listening to the cassettes in my first car on the way to school, religiously almost, until the tapes would become brittle and break.

The group have now "returned" to their roots, playing more experimental music, having Jim O'Rourke become a member. But to me, everything after Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star sounds formulaic with little change from one album to the other, the cool vibe is all but gone and these youths have now become adults. Only on the most recent album do they seem to embrace their pop sensibilities once again. One thing which makes me look up to them even more is Thurston Moore's label Ecstatic Peace. The man obviously has great taste in music and is responsible for helping out many amazing underground bands getting the exposure they need. Fursaxa, My Cat Is An Alien and No-Neck Blues Band are just a few examples of the artists which have become Ecstatic!

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