Part 1: The Early Years & Kill Yr. Idols

Rock bands come in all types and forms, and those that achieve artistic greatness can be thought of in several ways. There are those artists who have short but glorious peaks, such as the Velvet Underground (1965-70), Creedence Clearwater Revival (1967-70), and punk bands such as the Sex Pistols (1976-77), Wire (1977-79), and the Minutemen (1980-85); as compared those who last for many years or even a decade or more with a track record of sustained excellence, such as the Beatles (1962-70) and the Rolling Stones (1962-72). Another perspective is to recognize the objective differences between those bands who achieve commercial success and those that don’t, and know what those differences mean. Captain Beefheart (1965-82) is one example of a sustained artist that falls into the “commercial failure” category. Sonic Youth (1981-1994) is another.

These are only two sets of criteria, but they provide a good basis to examine artists of different genres more objectively. It needs to be understood that these four corners only give a framework for evaluation. Every artist occupies their own niche along these two axes, and it is up to the fans and critics to discuss and attempt to locate an artist’s rightful coordinate position. This retrospective, in two parts, is an attempt to comprehensively summarize, and give perspective to Sonic Youth’s correct place in rock history, with the understanding that the best artists are the ones who achieve sustained greatness, with brilliant peaks, commercially OR non-commercially. Up to this point in time, and mostly due to their lack of commercial success, Sonic Youth has been largely been ignored and not given their respect for being one of the greatest bands in rock music history.

The first question to be considered is, why is commercial success not important in an overall artist assessment? The answer is: if the band’s message is too far ahead of its time, and the band is not willing to compromise artistically, then it will not achieve commercial success. This is simply due to the corporate set-up of the music industry and institutionalized payola. Just because Sonic Youth never sold many records in their prime, doesn’t mean they weren’t significant; they simply were never given a chance at an audience on radio or anywhere else. Sonic Youth and thousands of other bands, who represented a 1980’s genre called underground/alternative/college, were systematically shut out of mainstream media, venues, and distribution. It wasn’t until the grunge movement of the early 1990’s, that industry gatekeepers allowed “Alternative” artists to break through. By that time, Sonic Youth was the unquestioned leader of this style among their peers, a style they had helped define for over a decade.

Sonic Youth formed in New York City, in 1981. The band is guitarist Thurston Moore, their leader; Kim Gordon, his wife by 1984, on bass; and Lee Ranaldo on guitar. They all take turns singing. Their early period runs through the albums discussed below, and ends with their transitional album, Bad Moon Rising (1985). After Bad Moon, drummer Bob Bert left the band for good, and Steve Shelley was brought in by Thurston Moore, thus leaving art noise behind to become a rock band. This began their classic period from 1986-1994; where Sonic Youth made some of the greatest rock albums, and likely the greatest double album, of the post-punk LP era.

The band’s early style is defined by a clanging cacophony of guitar tones with a creative use of noise and decibel volume. The drumming styles of Richard Edson and Bob Bert are a sparse mix of punk, primitive African beats, and art school. Edson drums on their debut Sonic Youth EP, released on art-noise guru Glenn Branca’s, Neutral label in 1982. To say that no one understands this record 30 years later, is sadly not much of an overstatement. It begins with two simultaneous bass pedal/cymbal hits from Edson, spaced five seconds apart. Then a clanging ringing noise fades in, and grows louder, as Edson’s primitive beat continues. Then a kick/snare beat signals a change to a de-tuned frenzy from guitarist Thurston Moore; he is beating the strings with a drumstick, while using another drumstick under the strings to create a floating bridge, thus dramatically changing their length. Bass player Kim Gordon establishes the 3-note riff that never varies, except in nuance. All of a sudden a violent-windstorm noise comes out of one speaker, as if the vinyl record had picked up too much dust on the stylus needle, and was causing distortion. It is Lee Ranaldo running a drill press through a guitar pedal. Thurston Moore wails:

I’m not afraid to say I’m scared
In my bed, I’m deep in prayer
I trust the speed, I love the fear
The music called
The Burning Spear

After this, the music suddenly collapses. The guitars change again, and everything is ringing between Moore and Ranaldo. Kim Gordon finally picks up the riff again, and the song thrashes upon itself to the end. For the uninitiated, Burning Spear is the legendary Jamaican reggae artist, whose 1970’s records are every bit as influential as Bob Marley’s best albums. He was famous for creating intensely hypnotic rhythms, then wailing charged political messages, such as; “Do you remember the days of slavery?!”, and “No one remember, old Marcus Garvey”, and “Don’t you know? Social Living is the best.” This is Sonic Youth’s starting point, lyrically.

The next song is “I Dreamed, I Dream”, in which Kim Gordon sings. It is always important with Sonic Youth to identify who is singing, because there are three vocalists, each with their own distinctive voice and style. The only other notable rock band with this distinction, is not coincidently the Beatles. Gordon often whisper-talks her singing, a technique used to create intimacy, in order to lure the listener into their sonic mayhem. Her bass is mixed into the background here, and the song builds with Moore and Ranaldo’s guitars, reaching its climax as Kim Gordon repeats, “Working Youth, Fucking Youth…” Lee Ranaldo, with his distinctive tenor voice, moans in the background. More than any other band, it becomes all-too-easy to lose the beat, even though the drummer is right on time. The rhythmic pounding on the guitar strings creates a hypnotic beat and overtones of its own.

“She is not Alone” is the last track on side one. Primitive drumming and bass riffing with guitar noise and minimalist vocals are reoccurring themes for Sonic Youth, and the influence of No Wave makes itself apparent. No Wave was a U.S. (primarily New York) punk off-shoot in the late 1970’s. It’s ethos disdained melodies, even notes from a guitar. The idea instead, was to mangle, mutilate, or randomly play the guitar; anything except falling into a riff or melody pattern, which was considered a corporate classic-rock tendency-trap.

These are the song’s lyrics, sung by Thurston Moore.

She is not alone
She is not alone today
She is not alone
She is not alone today
She is not alone
She is not alone today
She is not alone
She is not alone
To-day

Reading these lyrics in print would seem to beg the question, “Is this a joke?” Upon listening to every differently phrased line, certain ideas about words being able to express more than one idea, their ability to influence and deceive, and the medium being the message; start to come through to the careful listener. These ideas are revolutionary charged, and as much a challenge as the music itself.

In 1982, Edson left the band and he was replaced with Bob Bert. Sonic Youth incessantly toured in the tiniest and grimiest clubs across the US, and then released Confusion is Sex (1983). The guitar noise ante is upped even more on this record, with heavy feedback and guitar drones drifting around; out of which peek cryptic lyrics and explosive vocal violence. Kim Gordon howls her version of the Stooges “Now I Wanna be Your Dog.” Her bass alternates between riffs that tone, and riffs that heave. In “Shaking Hell”, she describes a sexual encounter:

She’s finally discovered she’s a…
He told her so
She’s finally discovered she’s a…
He told her so
She’s a…
She’s a…
She’s a…
Come closer and I’ll tell you
Come closer and I’ll tell you
Come closer and I’ll..
Take off your dress
Take off your dress
I’ll take off your dress
I’ll shake off your flesh
I’ll shake off your flesh
Turn around
Turn around…

Thurston’s “Inhuman” is as close to straight punk as the record gets. It is the desperate song of an outsider, discarded and forgotten by society; a complete inhuman. Many of the early electronica bands from the 1990’s would take their inspiration from early Sonic Youth records, particularly Confusion is Sex. Electronica music is in many ways doing electronically, what Sonic Youth first did with their musical instruments and minimalist lyrics. Moby and the Prodigy are good introductory examples of Sonic Youth’s influence on this genre.

Confusion is Sex has its flaws, and it makes no attempt to cover them up. On “Making the Nature Scene”, Kim Gordon sings. She is tense and chokes early at “…order in details”, then immediately relaxes and sings her best for the rest of the song. Any major-label producer would have demanded the vocals be re-recorded, or at least punched in, at the choke point. Sonic Youth looked at it as honesty in performance to keep her original singing, despite its obvious flaw. Such was the uncompromising nature of Sonic Youth, when it came to their art.

In 1988, Sonic Youth released on their Ecstatic Peace label, a CD-only album of their early live performances, titled Sonic Death-Early Sonic 1981-83. It covers the period discussed above. Early Sonic is a series of songs and experimental noise pieces that are among the most difficult live-recorded art-rock performances ever. The are only two tracks on the CD, side one and side two. The running time is over 68 minutes. There are locked in riffs that mesmerize, until an abrupt change in everything violently jars the listener back to normal senses, leading him or her to wonder, “What is this I’m listening to?” Experimental sounds from Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo fade in and out as songs are bled into and out of each other. On the few occasions where everything stops, very small audiences respond with different degrees of stunned silence, stunned applause, and finally a few loud claps with shouts of encouragement and appreciation.

At one point during Early Sonic, Moore and Ranaldo scream into their microphones while the guitars build to a crescendo; then twist and thrash. Sonic Youth then launches into “Kill Yr. Idols”, a key extra track from their early period, now available on the compact disc version of Confusion is Sex. The idea of killing your idols, is a core band value. Simply stated; don’t worship anything or anybody, because the moment you deify something, you are submitting to it. As far as the one who is being worshiped is concerned, Sonic Youth always made it a point to encourage and reward active listening, as opposed to rock-star hero-worship, and mindless fanatical applause.