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Originally Posted by This Is Not Here
I'm not necessarily decided on this, but its something I've been wondering about for some time. There are a few tracks of pre-DDN Sonic Youth which have always struck me to be quite 'satanic', namely "Satan is Boring":
"SATAN FLIRTS - IM PREPARED
ITS NOTHING TO CONQUER - THE FIGHT IS GOOD
YOUR FLESH HAS A LIMIT OF TOO MANY YEARS
ITS A SHOCK ABSORBER OF YOUR STINGING TEARS"
and, particularly Protect Me You:
"PROTECT ME DEMONS
THAT COME AT NIGHT
I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY SAY
THEIR WHISPERING
SENDS THE NIGHT AIR AWAY
AND MAKES ME FORGET
I HOPE THEY COME
AGAIN AND AGAIN"
What do you guys think? I do think theres probably a better case for labelling early SY as just 'nihilistic' (Death Too Our Friends, Society is a Hole, Confusion is Next). A Black Metal connisuer freind has always told me what satanism and nihilism are as good as the same thing, so maybe that explains some of this content, I dunno...
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That is such a backwards misinterpretation. C'mon the song is called "Satan is
Boring"! It's as anti-satanic a song as a group could write. In interviews at the time they were talking about how stupid it is for people to do evil things in the name of a non-entity. If you can find me a Satanist (either Anton LaVey goofball or dark "majick" goofball) who will call Satan boring, I'll find you a cheerleader who doesn't like football.
If the title of the song didn't make it obvious enough that this was about how the imagery of Satanism is dorky and a stain on much of rock music and popular culture, perhaps the last line where Thurston says, "That's the real promise, you'll never burn" would indicate that Sonic Youth are humanists into radical ideas like thinking for yourself and science.
The point of "Satan is Boring" is that Satanism is bullshit. It was pretty bold of an underground band to take that stance, but maybe not if people can't even get it.