[SonicYouthsLion]

I just had to come here to register and share my thoughts about this band.

Sonic Youth has been my favorite band for about 8 years now... And they'll always be my favorite band.

I've heard all the great rock bands through the years... from the big 60s bands and 70s bands, to the 80s bands like the Cure, the Pixies, the Smiths... All through the 90s... Pavement, Pearl Jam, NIN, Tool, Soundgarden, My Bloody Valentine... From the mainstream bands, to the underground bands... Joy Division, Nirvana, Arcade Fire, Radiohead, Band of Horses, Slowdive, you name it....

I've heard so much music... So much more than most people. And I don't care if that's arrogant, because I know it's true.

And I've never heard a band like Sonic Youth before... It's like on one side is every band in history... And on the other side is Sonic Youth, in their own world... And it's unbelievable to me how many people miss out on this world, and don't even know it exists... It's unbelievable to me how Sonic Youth shirts aren't being worn by every other person I see....

To me, they've made the best music in history... They've made so many classic albums, and have written so many songs that are classic. It's been a musical journey for me to experience all their albums, and it's a journey that'll last forever, and will never be matched again. I've thought of writing letters to them to let them know how I feel, but I've never done it... Maybe one of them will read this though.

I just want Sonic Youth to know I love them... I love them profoundly, and deeply. They've changed my life... The type of person I am, how I feel about the world, and how I feel about music and listen to music. Words can't actually express how deeply I love their music... It'll be with me for the rest of my life, and I can't ever imagine my life without it. They've gotten me through so much, and I have so many memories with their albums.

For someone who's never heard Sonic Youth, or has never really gotten into their music... To me, that's like hearing someone has never experienced the sunshine. I just feel sad about it... I try to convey in words to people what they're missing... But they just don't seem to understand, and I know I can't express it well enough to make them understand.

I just had to come here and write all this... Maybe people here will understand. It's a place I can go to share my thoughts about it.

Sonic Youth, I love you... So, so much.

[dirty bunny]

I hope they read this as well. They're obviously the fave band of a lot of folks here

[noisereductions]

Welcome aboard.

[musicplatypus]

Originally Posted by SonicYouthsLion

And I've never heard a band like Sonic Youth before... It's like on one side is every band in history... And on the other side is Sonic Youth, in their own world... And it's unbelievable to me how many people miss out on this world, and don't even know it exists... It's unbelievable to me how Sonic Youth shirts aren't being worn by every other person I see....

I think a lot of this is the unfortunate labeling of them being "just noise." Some of their work is noisy, surely. It is, however, so much more than that. So many are in too much of a hurry in the world and/or lazy and need things to make sense at face value. Turn off your brain, and let the Sonic waves douse your mind and penetrate your soul . . .

[Toilet & Bowels]

That's impressive that you've heard all the great rock bands.

[Genteel Death]

Not enough love for Band of Horses on this website.

[Screaming Skull]

Originally Posted by Genteel Death

Not enough love for Band of Horses on this website.

The first Band of Horses record is an absolute classic. The second one is average at best. The rest are trash.

[sonikdeathmonkey]

Henry Rollins had a great quote one time, someone asked him why he was such a music snob and he said, "I can't forget what I know".

[SonikJesus]

I'll admit I only listen to sy once or twice a year for a few years now. part of that is because I listened to them SO much about a decade ago. another reason is because I'm constantly listening to new stuff searching for my new favorite thing. though after all these years, I still consider sy my favorite band by far. no other band has consistently amazed me. I remember when I was first getting into them, they were like a drug. every album I got I loved. still to this day I've never found another band as good. they kind of ruined music for me. I was spoiled early on. I still find artists that I very much like, but its only songs or albums.never is it everything they've done. I pretty much honestly like everything sy has done.

[greenlight]

Originally Posted by SonikJesus

I'll admit I only listen to sy once or twice a year for a few years now. part of that is because I listened to them SO much about a decade ago. another reason is because I'm constantly listening to new stuff searching for my new favorite thing. though after all these years, I still consider sy my favorite band by far. no other band has consistently amazed me. I remember when I was first getting into them, they were like a drug. every album I got I loved. still to this day I've never found another band as good. they kind of ruined music for me. I was spoiled early on. I still find artists that I very much like, but its only songs or albums.never is it everything they've done. I pretty much honestly like everything sy has done.

this, this.

nice post

[Severian]

Originally Posted by greenlight

this, this.

nice post

Indeed.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by musicplatypus

I think a lot of this is the unfortunate labeling of them being "just noise." Some of their work is noisy, surely. It is, however, so much more than that. So many are in too much of a hurry in the world and/or lazy and need things to make sense at face value. Turn off your brain, and let the Sonic waves douse your mind and penetrate your soul . . .

Yep. Hah. Well said.

I had a roommate in college who I talked to a ton about music because we had really similar taste. We were talking SY once — talking about why their music was deemed so inaccessible by so many, when to us it felt epic and beautiful and very easy to love, and he said, "I've always considered Sonic Youth to be, at its core, really just an amazing and elemental pop band in the tradition of the Beatles."

I'd never thought of it this way at the time, and surely there's a lot about SY's music that is decidedly anti-pop, but it made sense right away, and I think it's true. Not "pop" in the stylistic sense, but "pop" in the cultural sense. Four distinct personalities (at least, usually it was four), making collaborative music with four different but perfectly complimentary visions and styles.
If you put on Sonic Youth and just let the music wash over you, you find that beneath the fuzz and the feedback and the squall, there's almost always an extremely listenable and lovable foundation of grooves and melodies, shifting and changing, tweaking the musical status quo and layering it ideas and sounds previously unheard of.
There's so much simple, dynamic beauty in SY's music. "Kotton Krown" is a lovely little love song. "Teen Age Riot" is an epic, fist-pumpkins anthem. "Hey Joni" is an exercise in warped pop dynamics, "Total Trash" is a deeply melodic pop number enshrouded in noise.... "Shadow of a Doubt" is an eerie ballad that just happens to have all traditional elements stripped away and laid bare... "Eliminator Jr." is a kickass rock song. And on and on. These are all songs that could have passed for hits had SY simply taken the easy road to pop songwriting, but instead they deconstructed and reinvented, just like the Beatles did.

They might be the most listenable band I've ever heard. And certainly, they are to me and my punkish, often counterculture-leaning sensibilities what the Beatles were to my father's generation. The ideal. The ultimate. The perfect storm.

I think the world would be a better and happier place if people would just shut the fuck up and put Daydream Nation on their headphones and learn why it's so goddamn great. Same goes for pretty much every other album. Sonic Youth is for lovers.

[Toilet & Bowels]

Originally Posted by sonikdeathmonkey

Henry Rollins had a great quote one time, someone asked him why he was such a music snob and he said, "I can't forget what I know".

What the fuck is a music snob anyway?

[noisereductions]

Originally Posted by Toilet & Bowels

What the fuck is a music snob anyway?

about 75% of this forum, hay-o!


Going back to sonik's post - hell yeah. Although I actually do still listen to SY quite often... at least once a month, though often far more - his experience getting into the band echoes my own. I'd track down each album, and then explore it and fall in love deeper each time. Sonic Youth to me wasn't just getting into a new band, it almost felt like getting into a new genre. Or learning a new language.

Perhaps a big part of it has to do with the order in which I acquired their discography. My first SY release was actually the Dirty Boots EP with all those live tracks. Then I borrowed a copy of Screaming Fields, so was exposed to a bunch of the 80's stuff. Then I found a copy of Made In USA locally, and had no idea what it was. So I was listening to this weird instrumental sndtrk a ton not realizing that it wasn't really a proper album y'know?

I slowly started picking up SY albums as I'd stumble upon them in the wild. This was the late 90's. So mostly I'd have to get lucky and find a used CD. But because of the time, the few albums that would get stocked new were the new releases. This meant that more of what I was experiencing from the band early in my listening was pretty weird. Like Goodbye 20th Century was one I got pretty early because it was "their new album" at the time, and it was actually in stock locally. I also picked up NYCG&F and SYR5 right when they came out as well.

So yeah, to me this band was just this whole new musical universe. Just hearing these juxtapositions in their catalog as I was first getting into them really did something to me. I still love NYCG&F/SYR5 as a back-to-back listen by the way. Although almost two decades later I still struggle to sit through SYR4 haha.

Sonic Love <3

[sonikdeathmonkey]

Originally Posted by Toilet & Bowels

What the fuck is a music snob anyway?

Someone asked Louis Armstrong one time what "Jazz" music was, and he replied " some people have a mind to knowin, and if they don't, you can't really tell 'em". Same thing applies.

[evollove]

Originally Posted by Severian

there's almost always an extremely listenable and lovable foundation of grooves and melodies

Not to diss the other writers, but Thurston is a shockingly underrated melody maker. His vocal lines go through my head all the time.

[Genteel Death]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

about 75% of this forum, hay-o!

Please care to name the 75% of this forum that is so snobbish about music taste. There aren't that many people actively posting on here about music so it should be an easy task.

[noisereductions]

the "hay-o" indicated a joke. Would have been cool if you commented on like, the way longer part of my post that wasn't a joke.

[Genteel Death]

You review people's lack of laughter at your jokes?

[noisereductions]

No. I just thought it would be fun to talk about SY.