Titus writes:
You
hear it said often that so and so band “have a cult following” – this
is true in many cases, but certainly none more so than in the case of
Sonic Youth, who performed for thirty years from 1981, and since their
break up in 2011, have resisted all calls and attempts to reform. Their
fans were very loyal to them and the band became one of America’s and
New York’s finest.
They
were founded by Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass,
vocals, guitar), and Lee Ronaldo (guitar, vocals) and these three
remained as a unit for the entire thirty years of the band’s
existence.The group employed various drummers, and they collectively
became a very important part of the U.S. noise rock scene. One
journalist praised them for “redefining what rock guitar can do”, and
indeed they used some very unorthodox guitar tunings to create their
own distinctive sound, such as deploying screwdrivers and drumsticks.
Over their long career, Sonic Youth recorded for various labels, but
had their biggest success after signing to David Geffen’s DGC label in
1990.
I’m
becoming famous (or is it infamous?) at telling you stuff that
apparently not a lot of people know, so do you know how the band got its
name? No? Well I’ll tell you.......the name came from combining the
nickname of MC5’s Fred “Sonic” Smith with reggae artist Big
Youth.......hence Sonic Youth. Following this, the band seemed to
always have their own unique Sonic Youth sound, and even a media giant
like ‘The New York Times’ reported that Sonic Youth were “making the
most startlingly original guitar based music since Jimi Hendrix”.
Praise indeed, and even more praise was bestowed upon them after Neil
Young heard the EVOL album, and called it “a classic”. A number of
influential periodicals such as ‘Rolling Stone’ named their LP ‘Daydream
Nation’ as one of the best from the eighties decade. The decade also
saw Thurston Moore & Kim Gordon get married in 1984, and ten years
later they had a daughter Coco Hayley Gordon Moore.
In
October 2011, Thurston & Kim announced that their 27 year marriage
was over, following Thurston’s affair with art book Director Eva
Prinz, and the band’s label Matador said that Sonic Youth’s future was
“uncertain”.
In that November, Lee Ronaldo stated that the band would be
“ending for a while”. It did end, and as I said earlier all attempts
at a reunion have been resisted. I have Kim’s book entitled “Girl in a
Band” and she is adamant that despite 15 studio albums, 4 compilation
albums, 46 music videos, 8 EP’s, and 21 Singles...... the split was
“for good”.
The track I have requested lex to play is from the ‘Goo’
album, and is their most successful single ‘Kool Thing’.