[toxic johnny]

Originally Posted by m^a(t)h

toxic johnny, just out of curiosity since we dont hear alot about their early shows, what was that show in 1985 like?

...well I became completely obsessed with them after seeing the ICA show (Where Kim famously fell offstage during Shaking Hell) and was lucky enough to go and see them a further 6 times that year... Including the amazing Blood on Brighton Beach event. (Check out some shots that I took in London in 1986... the mustang site credits it as 1985... but I'm pretty sure it was in 1986, although my memory is now a little hazy...http://sonicyouth.com/history/con-set.html...11/09/85 Ladbroke Grove, England, Bay 63.)
What can I say... they just completely blew my mind. It was the unique combination of savage invention and lyrical intensity that really got me, plus the fact that they were all such great and powerful individuals... each equally charismatic in their own way.... hell bent on pushing the music as far as it would go... breaking on through and rising triumphant on the other side. I returned again and again each time totally captivated by the onslaught. Also It's important to remember that at this time in the UK there was nothing on the musical stratosphere that remotely resembled this particular firestorm... it was like I was witnessing the invention of something so radical and so new it hurt. This is something that I carry around with me to this day and is, rightly or wrongly, a template that I hold up against any new band that I have seen ever since.

Anyway enough of the hyperbole.... when you sit down and seriously try to describe a major and important period in your life it inevitably ends up sounding crass and overstated... lets just say I was hooked.