The profit-taking EP Death Valley '69, a compilation of previous EP's plus Bad Moon Rising's closer, was hastily released. Drummer Bert then was replaced by Steve Shelley, who became a member for the long-haul.
Bad Moon Rising's raves in the alternative press stirred up some serious interest in the band, and offers started coming in, even from a few major labels. The band went with famed indie label SST, and released EVOL in 1986. If Bad Moon Rising was a step forward towards subversive listenability, EVOL was the great leap forward. Full of honest-to-goodness excellent songs, particularly the concert staple "Expressway To Yr. Soul" and "Shadow Of A Doubt" which effectively utilizes everything in the band's growing arsenal: a Kim Gordon spoken intro, heavy reverb, staccato rhythm, an unsettling groove, an explosion of noise, and assorted atmospherics. This album got them played on college radio, and captures their transformation into real musicians in all its sonic glory.
Another re-packaged EP, Starpower followed, as did an offbeat film soundtrack, Made In USA. Then came Sister (1987), as much of a progression as EVOL had been. Instead of creating songs from noise, here the band (songwriting credits are listed as Sonic Youth) turns the noise into texture; their guitars are still tuned bizarrely, but at last the tunings seemed fully justified; instead of attempting to alienate listeners, the warm, in-control sound lured them in. The lyrics are a variety of compelling vignettes, slices of life on the brink of disaster, life on the edge of death. Listening became a pleasure more than a chore. It's still challenging music; aggressive and ugly in all the right places, and some surprising places, too. The leadoff cut "Shizophrenia" captures all this perfectly, with a real pop construction, descending into noise and chaos in time for the chorus. With Sister, the band, which had always been unique, found itself at the forefront of the indie movement.
A couple of more EP projects followed; Master-Dik Beat on the Brat, a hodgepodge featuring a Ramones cover, an interview snippet, and assorted studio experiments. A side project attributed to Ciccone Youth, The Whitey Album was a boho nose-thumb at pop culture.
Article comments
1 - The Theory
nice write up. Sonic Youth has been one of my favorites for a while... though I tend to drift more toward 90s material... the material SY fans tend to scoff at, like Experimental Jet Set... whereas I cannot really enjoy listening to "Daydream Nation"
2 - beben
i from indonesia. i verylike song from sonic youth. grunge never die
3 - Diamond Sea
Well written, though NYC Ghosts & Flowers and Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star are both great albums imo and i don't consider them a failure.
I was a bit sceptical about their new 2006 album, Rather Ripped, but after listening to it lots of times i tend to like it a lot too !