what about 'non-influences' or negative inspirators?
Like Pat Boone and other great fakes

No Swans, Mars, DNA, Velocity Girls etc...?

They've covered a Beatles song (maybe more than one, I'm not a SY scholar like some here), which is more than you can say about most of the other artists on the list and mentioned in this thread.

A bit surprised no free jazz people mentioned, like Ornette Coleman or Sun Ra. Or Zappa, Neil Young, etc... But you could make another "ten influences" list that would be just as valid as that one.

[quote=Tokolosh]4) Igor Stravinsky: Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite Of Spring" caused riots when it was first performed. These days you can't even get enough people to attend a classical music performance to get a decent fist-fight started. Boy, how times change. Sonic Youth have used enough mind-numbing feedback and played enough shows where they seem to be baiting their audience into some sort of violent freakout. But their fans are usually too schooled to fall for such things. I don't have the actual numbers in front of me, but I'd wager that SY have the most "Fans with Graduate Degrees from Bard College" than anyone this side of Steely Dan.

3) The Velvet Underground: While the Velvet Underground will always be seen as one of the first "alternative" groups in rock n' roll--that is, a band that sold no records in its time but went on to become a major influence on others--they were really an incredibly diverse band that played all types of music but always slightly out of step with the times. That and initial bad luck ensured them a permanent cult legacy. Sure, everyone figures Sonic Youth memorized "Sister Ray," but they certainly also could appreciate "Who Loves The Sun." Even tough guys get tired of hitting themselves on the head with a hammer, after all.


thats funny, if anybody remembers the doc, PUT THE BLOOD IN THE MUSIC, sy is talking to john cale, and he says something along the lines of "well if you really wanted to you could say the first rock 'n" roll ever was stravinsky's rites of spring when it all breaks down into pure rhythm" and thurston sorta goes like "yea..um...we wouldnt really say that." its funny.

so that stravinsky influence seems a little weird, but i suppose it doesn't have to be concious. the television, ramones, and other stuff people mentioned seems a much more obvious choice.

interesting read, thanks!

I have a book published in 1999 called "Listen to This!", in which musicians recommend their favorite artists and recordings. Thurston was interviewed for it, and he hits on a lot of these same bands (including Beatles, VU and Stooges) and some other stuff too, including lots of poppy records.
Full list:
The Kingsmen - "Louie, Louie" and "Haunted Castle"
The Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request
The Beatles - The Beatles and Abbey Road
Grand Funk Railroad - s/t
Alice Cooper - Killer
The Stooges - everything
Can - Ege Bamyasi
Amon Duul, II - Phallus Dei
Velvet Underground - everything
Saccharine Trust - Pagan Icons
The Minutemen - Paranoid Time
Meat Puppets - s/t, Up on the Sun
Black Flag - Damaged
Redd Kross - Born Innocent
Various artists - Flex Your Head
Dinosaur Jr. - Dinosaur, You're Living All Over Me

++

I agree with a lot of this list, but it's stupid to leave out this band. Oh yeah, and what about Yoko Ono?

Also, this : "Sonic Youth have never recorded a song as immediate as 'Kick Out the Jams,' but then again no one else has either." is such a stupid sentence.

I've always heard tinges of Television and Velvet Underground throughout

^^^ I agree w/ the Nirvana thing. I think "they" probably influenced Nirvana more than they know, but it came full circle. They probably let a little of Nirvana's vibe soak in touring w/ them in '91. I don't think they approached their instruments differently but I think "Dirty" came together on the heel of Nirvana's influence. They did some things w/ songs they hadn't like "Nic Fit" and not to mention brought in Neverminds producer to record.

That's not saying anything bad though, Kurt was such an impressionable guy, I think there's a little of him in everyone who witnessed him. Not a bad thing. And for what it's worth, they've evolved beyond all of that anyway, and at every step of the way were far more creative than Nirvana, then and now.

Swell Maps, Pastels (for the "lo-fi" sound).

The 10 bands quoted in the first post are bands they said they appreciate, I guess, I can't hear any important influence.
edit: but I can clearly hear the VU influence in The Coachmen.

Duuuuuuuuuude, that shit is deeeeeep yo! Good analogy! That was a very icky time. And again, like you said, in no way where they ever not pioneers at every step of the way.... but the overall vibe of theirs and others (heavily molded by Nirvana), is noticeable. In short, it WAS a little grungier.