Sonic Youth are a band who I sometimes have mixed feelings about but there's little doubt that back in 1988 they were heading upwards with a furious punk rock/ art rock energy melding noise and tunes. In October 1988 they released Daydream Nation, a double album opus recorded in July and August of '88, a record that somehow caught the U.S. punk zeitgeist, building on the bands from a decade earlier who laid the foundations- Husker Du, Minutemen, The Replacements, Black Flag et al. Daydream Nation led Sonic Youth to Geffen and their 1990 album Goo and their experience and advice led Nirvana to the same major label.
The 2007 re- issue of Daydream Nation came with a second CD, live versions of every song on the album recorded as they toured in 1988 and 1989. The songs on the album are a band on a songwriting hot streak, alternate tunings and tight playing fused with melodies and a careering confidence- driving drums, squealing guitars, feedback and distortion, drawled vocals, Sonic Youth giving it their NY punk/ art all while touring venues in the USA and Europe.
Hey Joni (Live at Paradiso, Amsterdam, 1989)
Silver Rocket (Live at Noise Now Festival, Dusseldorf, 1989)
Candle (Live at Cabaret Metro, Chicago, 1988)
Teenage Riot (Live at Paradiso, Amsterdam, 1989)
Total Trash (Live at Maxwell's, Hoboken, New Jersey, 1988)
In 1996 they pitched up at Rockpalast in Germany, the world by that point a different place in punk rock terms and Sonic Youth terms. Sometimes they could play gigs and be so obtuse that it seemed a little pointless. I remember reading a review of them flying to the UK for a single gig at All Tomorrow's Parties (or somewhere similar, one of those festivals) where a usually sympathetic reviewer described them tuning up for an hour and concluded that he couldn't work out why they'd bothered to cross the Atlantic to do this. But here, they do a good job, songs, noise, focus, the 'hits' (Teenage Riot, Bull In The Heather, Sugar Kane).
6 comments:
Love that version if Teebage Riot. Great piece. Swc.
Teenage Riot obviously...I have no idea what teebage riots are. Swc.
Great post, Adam! I got to see SY in summer of '92 for the Dirty tour and they were outstanding. Set featured a fair bit of that album, Goo, and DN. Opening act were a bunch of local teebagers nobody knew called Pavement, followed by Mudhoney (joined on stage by Kurdt Cobain). It was Thurston who stole the show that night, walking into the crowd and asking random folks 3 questions: How old are you? How did you get here? How much money do you have on you? Only 31 years ago...
for those who like a bit of live SY, Doom and Gloom from the Tomb are running an extensive list of live shows in chronological order.
Never had any mixed feelings about SY, there's always something there that is a perfect fit for any moment/feeling/emotion! Favourite moment though was seeing them live in La Spezia, Italy in 2005 just before sadly returning to England after three and half years living in Italy. It's taken years to find any reference to the gig which was literally them playing to a crowd of 200ish in a random park in a random town just outside the Cinque Terra. Finally found proof that it actually took place and that it wasn't a personal recommendation in my mind! 😆 https://youtu.be/dq7doTw3csk
That's really good anon, thank you.
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