I think its crazy that Crash (who I haven't seen around here in years) started this thread almost 4 years ago and its lasted this long. Of all of the thousands of threads that have come and gone through the years this one has endured. I love it that new members join and find this thread and reply to tell Crash how wrong he is as if he's still around. I guess it speaks to the awesomness of Sonic Youth and the ridiculousness of the original claim that leads posters to defend them.

I don't care for Sonic Youth. On Daydream Nation, Teen Age Riot really is the only song worth listening to. I realize that they were original and groundbreaking for their time, and I respect that, but they do nothing for me.

And like several of us have said, just because p4k jerks off to Daydream Nation doesn't make it their best album in their discog... they have many sounds and many many albums.

Well, sites and sources other than Pitchfork have held it on a pedastal.

But I will check out their other albums.

edited... this was trolling, I admit.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chamberk,

I'm really not a fan of Daydream. I think it's kinda boring.... but I love Sonic Youth.

quote:

I'm really not a fan of Daydream. I think it's kinda boring.... but I love Sonic Youth.

What albums of theirs do you love? Sorry, I'm finding it amazing that anyone can think Daydream Nation's boring (especially if you've listened to it in headphones), yet still enjoy the Youth. I'm not saying it's their best, but boring??

Interesting. I thought "Daydream Nation" was fantastic. I loved it on first listen and it only gets better with time. I'm definitely a Sonic Youth fan, however, I do agree that they are massively overrated lol. They are sort of a novelty band to some degree. Their lyrics consist of really bad high school poetry, and they may be so popular purely because they pioneered noise rock. But still "Daydream Nation", "Sister", and "Evol" can't help but absorb me. I thought their newest one, "Rather Ripped", was quite good, specifically "Reena", one of my favorite SY songs. Anyhow Sonic Youth are definitely overrated, but certainly not of all time, they were far too important for that. I can think of plenty of bands more overrated, Modest Mouse, to name one.

quote:

Originally posted by Drink Coca-Cola!:
I can think of plenty of bands more overrated, Modest Mouse, to name one.

Oh no you didn't!

This is the kind of thread I like. Not that I completely agree - I've heard plenty of nice little angular pop songs and interesting guitar playing from the Youth over the years. But I've kinda always hated Daydream Nation. I've revisited it so many times to attempt to figure out what it was I'd missed, with no luck. I also can't help wishing Kim Gordon the worst in life whenever she's on the mic. Brings to mind the most cringe-worthy and pretentious New York City Artist personalities. However, the INFLUENCE of DN can scarcely be denied. One of the finest moments in my humble music nerd career was predicting both the number one and number two albums on Pitchfork's best of the 80's list, sight unseen. I thought them to be somewhat cynical predictions, but there were Remain in Light and Daydream Nation at 2 and 1. So it stands to reason that although I might not like them, they do make sense. (I like Remain in Light)

Anyway, I applaud this dude for his boldness.

Overrated definitely, but probably not THE most overrated. I'd have to think for a while for a better example, though. Arrested Development isn't a band, but that fucking show's overratedness makes anything else in existence look like a forgotten treasure.

I love this thread, so I thought I'd revive it for the newest album from the most awesomely underrated band of the last 20+ years.

The Eternal is amazing. And while its understandably not as good as Daydream Nation or Sister, its right up there with the best of anything they've done since including Goo, Dirty, Washing Machine, Thousand Leaves, Murray St., Sonic Nurse, and Rather Ripped. Its noisy as hell, has plenty of lovely little feedback interludes, and just basically kicks ass which is pretty damn amazing for a band of 40-50 year olds.

I actually don't like the fact that it "kicks ass." It's noisy in the way that Dirty was, which has been done by them already. I wanted actual noise a la SY8 (or was it 9?) that was still within the band's range. You know, something more out there? Especially with that album cover, I was hoping for something mindblowing...maybe I was hoping for too much.

Well, they've done their more abstract, avant stuff on the SYR series. It makes sense to me that they release their proper "rock" songs on their full lengths. They are still trying to sell cd's for their new label, right?

Haha, that is true.

But look at something like Murray Street and Washing Machine. I think they have a little bit of commercial appeal, but are both excellent records that do more than their share of dipping their toes in the abstract and wild.

I guess I just don't want a regular rock record from them. Rather Ripped was a pleasant surprise, but this one just seems too status quo for them. I might need more time with it.

I see your point. When I saw the album closer "Massage the History" was 9:43 long, I too was excited for an epic "Diamond Sea" type feedback finale, which its not. You're right, perhaps knocking out hour's worth of rock songs with some feedback and noisy guitars can seem like it comes easy for them.

But I'm taking the opinion that I love their sound. And when I press play on track 1 and listen through it, I just thoroughly enjoy this album. What they do is great to me personally and if they keep releasing albums like this I'll be happy.

I agree with joymonger on this one.

I get the feeling it's an album that was meant to play to the base. Y'know, hardcore Sonic Youth fans, many of whom were pissed off at the "clean" sound and lack of dissonance on Rather Ripped. I think it purposely goes for that classic SY sound, and is full of Sonic Youth-isms. Plus, it appeases those fans who have been bitching Sonic Youth should get back to teh rawk for more than a decade.

Now, of course being a huge Sonic Youth fan, them going for a classic sound is going to have some appeal for me. I like their variety of noise pop/rock, which is why I've been a fan. But it's novelty wears off. And The Eternal sounds like a band trying to...recapture something, or just going through the motions.

It's a decent album, but one I don't see myself listening to that much. I've heard all this from the band before, and don't have a whole of interest in listening to an older band essentially doing a re-take on an earlier sound.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Portable Joystick,

These days, I find the band member's more experimental leanings to be much more kick ass. Their SYR releases, Original Silence, etc. I'd like to see them release a Sonic Youth LP with material like that. And I know that they won't, because they want to sell records and whatnot, but it would be really fucking cool if they did.

quote:

Originally posted by Portable Joystick:
These days, I find the band member's more experimental leanings to be much more kick ass. Their SYR releases, Original Silence, etc. I'd like to see them release a Sonic Youth LP with material like that. And I know that they won't, because they want to sell records and whatnot, but it would be really fucking cool if they did.

Which is why SY should eat shit and die. Web Sheriff, really?

I hate this topic name because it's just wrong... Anyone heard of the Doors?

Back on topic, though, "The Eternal" is my favorite SY of this decade, even though it's nothing really new. "Anti-Orgasm" is the noisiest thing they've made in at least a decade, and it's so tightly constructed that it would sit easily amongst other Sonic Youth favorites like "Schizophrenia," "Dirty Boots," "Eric's Trip," and "The Sprawl." Hell, the song even has this chunky riff that sounds near metallic.

The vocal interplay on this album is probably the freshest thing they've done in a while. Rather then the his and hers verse/chorus structure, the vocals just kind of blend into one another unlike much else in their discography.

Also, the band perfected that classic-rock vibe they have cited since "Murray Street."

Say what you will about Sonic Youth, but they've always maintained their artistic integrity. They never allowed Geffen Records to influence their sound, they retained artistic and proprietary control over their recordings, they helped land Nirvana a record deal with Geffen, and they were on the Simpsons... eh? So they cash in a couple times here and there, but after 25 years we're lucky they're even releasing anything at all, let alone albums that rival their past glory. Even though they're a bit of an institution at this point, and people will buy pretty much anything they do, they still explore different aspects of their sound to different degrees rather than capitalize on homogeneous records every few years. Hell, I'd call this their most "experimental" album of SONGS [not drones and them banging on walls with spoons] in years. It's just that the songs feel a lot more controlled now, as would happen with any band after a quarter-century. The punks got good at their instruments.

If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Glass, I believe that Matador employed this Web Sheriff service/whatever you want to call it. Matador is pretty harsh with illegal downloading. But who's really going to get upset when a record is harder to find a month before it comes out? They've got to protect what's theirs.