MMW: Sonic Youth

Sunday, February 16th, 2014 // Blogs,MMW

Sonic Youth, one of the few no-wave bands to break into anything even resembling mainstream culture, has done a lot more than simply cover “Superstar” by the Carpenters. Starting in 1981 with noisy guitars and chanted vocals, over the years they have incorporated elements of hardcore, drone, free-jazz, and more traditional rock, though they’ve retained the same sense of independence and strangeness throughout. Bass player, Kim Gordon, and guitarist, Thurston Moore, got married in 1984 which was super cute. Sonic Youth uses alternate tunings, bringing 20+ guitars to each show, to play such killer songs as “Xpressway to Yr Skull”, “Pipeline/Kill Time”, “New Hampshire”. Despite their idiosyncratic methods, Sonic Youth managed to stay on Geffen Records for around 18 years before leaving for Matador in 2008. After breaking up in 2011, due to issues in the marriage between Thurston and Kim, the members of Sonic Youth still have some pretty cool bands that you should check out: Lee Ranaldo & the Dust, Body/Head, Chelsea Light Moving (now just called Thurston Moore), and Spectre Folk.