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 | Sonic YouthRather Ripped2006 Geffen 
 Review by: Aubin See others by this writer ![[staff]](/images/icons/staffsticker.gif){kind=icon}
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Published on July 4th 2006
The trouble with Sonic Youth, if there is one, is that they are a rock critic's band; their albums are awash with allusions to obscure art-punk and odd art forms, their sound is noisy and difficult, and their songs are delivered with the self-aware reflection of kids with too many records, and yet despite that, they've delivered a succession of progressive, confounding and remarkable albums; from the twin classics Goo and Daydream Nation to their ironic tribute to radio rock on Murray Street, they've maintained an air of quirky cool for nearly 25 years.
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"i seem to remember them getting another big surge in popularity around the time i was getting out of high school and going into my freshman year of college in '95, which would have been while grunge was still fairly big." "People that still wear flannel and love movies like Singles, Empire Records < i> & Reality Bites are stoked." It seems SY have been putting out mostly "decent" records since Goo and this is no exception. Not particular good, not particularly bad just... Sonic Youth. It's their job. sonic youth? more like sonic old I can't get into Daydream Nation, but I like this record "besides wearing flannel clothing and having long greasy hair and talking about clerks and reality bites" As Do I.... But...I only have one. Oh my god. May a cow vomit on all your houses. Nah, semicolons have their uses. WIthout them, some sentences would read like how a robot talks; you dont always need that full stop. Everyone seems to have a different use for the damn things though, and Mr. Aubin decided to use em to create the king of all run-on sentences. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college. I haven't liked a Sonic Youth record since Washing Machine. Does that make me a douchebag? sonic youth are punk fucking rock. simply put..more punk rock than any other band ever mentioned on this lame-o site. sonic youth for fucking life! long live mother fucking sonic youth! My god Aubin! Two semicolons in one paragraph-long sentence? Are you afraid of periods? I don't really think of grunge guys when I think of Sonic Youth. Their music definitely goes a lot deeper than that movement- I mean, their first album came out in 83 or something. Their big hit song "Kool Thing" sounds like a slow, bluesy punk song, with none of the annoying vocal work or boring guitar parts that trademarked grunge. Oh yeah, and I found out when I was listening to the Crime CD that they completely ripped off the riff from "Piss On Your Dog" for that song. Even if lots of "guys in flannel" are "stoked," I think lots of more people with decent taste in music are. Sonic Youth, though not a great band to me, are still really cool and have their great moments. Their music doesn't really confine itself to one crowd. Just to add my two cents, Sonic Youth were considered a "grunge" band at the time the trend was popular. To the general public who hadn't heard of Sonic Youth before that period, they were very much a grunge band. I don't consider Sonic Youth to be a grunge band, but I also don't even consider Nirvana to be a grunge band because I can't stand the term. And sickboi makes a good point about The Year Punk Broke. If you had seen it, you would quit bitching about Sonic Youth being called a grunge band. i think you largely nailed that one in the first line of your question. when they were here a couple years ago it was the same crowd that i saw at the 2 NIN shows i've seen in the past year and also at a few other shows of bands who were big around that time period. "plus if you have ever seen sonic youth live, their crowd largely is living in the early 90's still. therefore sickboi's joke makes perfect sense." Skolar - to everyone yapping about sonic youth being big before the grunge explosion, i seem to remember them getting another big surge in popularity around the time i was getting out of high school and going into my freshman year of college in '95, which would have been while grunge was still fairly big. plus if you have ever seen sonic youth live, their crowd largely is living in the early 90's still. therefore sickboi's joke makes perfect sense. way to steal your jokes from buddyhead. I obviously ripped off Buddyhead...I do it all the time... "People that still wear flannel and love movies like Singles, Empire Records < i> & Reality Bites are stoked." slackmfr: sickboi's comment was a buddyhead reference... Sickboi is near-sighted and obviously stupid. Sonic Youth has been around much longer than the grunge era. I guess being ignorant you wouldn't know that. Sickboi is near-sighted and obviously stupid. Sonic Youth has been around much longer than the grunge era. I guess being ignorant you wouldn't know that. it's got nothing on many previous releases like dirty, washing machine and i'm even almost tempted to say murray street is more enjoyable... People that still wear flannel I was at the store 3 days ago to buy American V and I saw this. I was about to buy it but I thought I should listen to it before. But judging by all the great reviews and what I heard of the record, I'll buy it. Yeah, definately cool to see that the breeders are alive and well! Wait.... People that still wear flannel and love movies like Singles, Empire Records < i> & Reality Bites are stoked. A few thoughts: Never been huge into sonic youth, but I like what I've hear (this, Goo, and daydream nation). This is pretty good. "Tracks like “Do You Believe in Rapture?” and “Lights Out” are designed to have you staring at your shoes." Incinerate is so good. I really liked this review, Aubin. But you'll never live down confusing Kim Gordon with Kim Deal. There goes your music geek cred! I liked this review. I was so hoping this would be an Aubin review. Great review, I agree with almost all of it EXCEPT: Deal? "Jams Run Free" is the best song on the album, I think. After seeing them play it live, it stands out even more. This is one of my favorites so far this year. In a funny way, when a lot of people including myself were expecting a return to all out noise after sonic nurse, they turn around and went even poppier. But great songs regardless, especially Kim's whose I felt were her strongest in awhile. Lee comes through again with Rats. I pretty much agree with everything said in the review..."Incinerate" is one of the highlights of the album for me, though... All the little somethings that made SY awesome just weren't here. Or I guess to counter the review, not geeky enough and certainly not ripped enough "instead the band layering the bursts of noise over Deal's chorus. " another album for indie scenesters to say they like even though they really dont to make girls with scarves think theyre cool. |
