[Skuj]

Fuck.

I'm 56.

I know Kim and Thurston and Lee and Steve are doing things. Wonderful. Good for them. They have a life.

But fuck, for so many years, I waited, not very long, and there it was....the new Sonic Youth album!!

5 albums in the 80s.

5 albums in the 90s.

5 albums in the 00s.

Countless "other" albums.....Whitey, SNR, etc etc.

30. Fuckin. Years.

And now it is over.

It's fucking over, Man.

We were spoiled for so long. Thanks for 30 wonderful years, ...but do understand that I wanted more!!! So much more!! It wasn't supposed to end like that.

Fuck!!

In this thread you get to cry about no further SNY.

Celebrate the 30 years and 15 "main" albums, and cry a bit.

And fuck you if you don't recognize my pain.

[Sucklechimp]

I love you man! I am 20 years your junior (yet still feel old as fuck). It really sucks because I can find virtually nobody in my circle of friends that appreciates SY. Every time I mention the band people nod in agreement, because of course they've heard of them but they have absolutely no clue. It's just like the VU -- everyone has heard of them but no one really knows what it's all about.

In a way I feel like I've been left behind; all my friends are into just other shit. Even if they like weird music they still seem averse to SY on some level. But every single time I listen to SY regardless of what album it is I still hear something new. They are endlessly fascinating to me, and I just wish my other friends could understand where I'm coming from.

SY really reminds me of the Grateful Dead if the Grateful Dead were influenced by punk rock. I watch a lot of the SY concerts on Youtube and am always blown away by their soundscapes. I really like 1997-2001 era when they just got really fucking weird and out there. It's really some psychedelic yet aggressive shit that not a lot of people appreciate, I guess.

I definitely feel like something is missing. I have accepted the fact that nothing lasts forever and 30 years was an incredibly long time. I just know that they could have kept on going, and I always wonder about what it would have sounded like!

Anyways, I love you and it's nice to know someone else loves this band as much as I do.

[tasteinmen]

Funnily I've been listening to all their albums in chronological order this week and really enjoying it.
I'm 32 years old and discovered the band late 2006, I fell in with Evol in summer 2007 and the rest was history, I loved that they were still recording / releasing new music as I discovered their back catalogue, and I saw them live twice on the Eternal tour. I didn't think that would be the end of the band, I looked up to them so much.

[becuz]

I completely understand and feel the same. I also understand and accept the reasons why they are not continuing as an active band, and support each of their solo endeavors. But there is definitely a magical combination that existed in their collectivity that is not replicable. That's not to say they're not each capable of doing great things individually and with others, because they certainly are and have been. I truly do applaud each of them for moving on with new experiences...they richly deserve that. But I still do feel the loss of the unit. That thing that makes some bands so unique and special is really something intangible and impossible to define. Their work resonated so much with me that it's equally difficult to understand why some people cannot connect with their music at all. I've often thought, probably out of naivety, that people who weren't into Sonic Youth simply hadn't given their music enough of a chance to soak in. Or maybe the connection that fans feel so strongly is really just some sort of complex fantasy with a kick-ass soundtrack. But even if it is, it's been worth it completely and I wouldn't trade it for anything!


I remember the last time I saw them live (but not knowing it was the last time), thinking how awesome and powerful and meaningful it was seeing Kim front and center as always, proudly looking her age. I always loved seeing her there in between Lee and Thurston, at once commanding and powerful while at the same time self-effacing and vulnerable. Their age was never something I ever thought much about, despite the fact that they even alluded to it in their band name! I didn't even think much about the male/female dynamic of the band very often. But at this show, I did think about it. And I thought, wow, there's something even more powerful about a woman at 60 with a guitar, center stage, playing with a group of equally talented, slightly younger men who consider her their equal and that she deserves to be front and center. There's just something very specific that exists in that particular dynamic that I haven't seen in any other band. And there's something so powerful about having that rich history behind them, and as a fan you feel part of that history. There's really no better way to describe the void that their split has left other than to compare it to mourning a loss. That's exactly what it feels like. And you never fully get over the death of someone or something that has meant a lot to you, you just learn how to accept it and hopefully search for other beautiful experiences to enjoy. Fortunately with music, the art is eternal. Even if we don't get to relive the live shows (which is the most difficult part because their live shows were magical), we still get to experience the records and connect with them as a unit in that way. I try to flip it around and remind myself of the fact that this group of people spent 30 years fully devoted to creating the experience that meant so much to us. That's a very long time for a group of people to spend in a creative partnership and be so highly devoted to it...so really, we've been extremely fortunate. When I think of it that way, I definitely feel a strong sense of gratitude.


https://youtu.be/zAAckGSe8-E

[Skuj]

It's been nearly 10 years since The Eternal, right? Surely we are overdue for some kind of retrospective/archival/unreleased treasures kind of thing?

[Sucklechimp]

Originally Posted by Skuj

It's been nearly 10 years since The Eternal, right? Surely we are overdue for some kind of retrospective/archival/unreleased treasures kind of thing?

That's the thing I keep wondering about. I remember Lee after the "hiatus" saying something like even if they never got back together there is still so much in the vaults left to release. The fact that we haven't heard anything is weird. You know that they have a ton of amazing unreleased stuff. I was always hoping for a VU album type of thing where they had an album ready to go but it never made it because the label thought it was trash. Or a collection of songs that for whatever reason never made it to an album. I know it's out there!

I really want an unreleased collection that sounds like a cohesive record, just like VU does. I still consider Loaded the fifth album even though it wasn't.

[sonikdeathmonkey]

Sonic/Life Brother, Sonic/Life...

[Peterpuff]

I feel ya, man...

[potpizza]

For me it's not really missing but the sadness of having missed Sonic Youth completely. I'm 16 turning 17, I had every chance to get into them earlier in life as I grew up with rock music. I unfortunately missed out on everything, I only got into them in 2016, far too late in my opinion

[noisereductions]

I feel you. Same thing, spoiled by annual releases and ephemera. I wish we'd get at least archival releases more regularly these days. Smart Bar and Spinhead were amazing. We need more.

[dasx]

I feel the same. It's nine years since The Eternal came out and after it there's been released only Smart Bar live album and Spinhead Sessions from the archives.

I would love to see them together again but if that's not gonna happen it would be really nice to get several interesting releases from the archives.

I found Sonic Youth quite late (in 1998, loaned DDN from local library) but they're music has been the soundtrack of my life since.

[greenlight]

9 years since Eternal already? wow...

[_slavo_]

Time flies fast.

[frades]

as for me I don't especially cry for no more SY album but I cry that the sonic youth utkonos concert archive closed

[rappard]

Originally Posted by frades

as for me I don't especially cry for no more SY album but I cry that the sonic youth utkonos concert archive closed

Working on its reincarnation right now.

[sonikdeathmonkey]

Knowing I'll never see them "live" again is truly disheartening... sad

[tesla69]

mollie young poon killed the band