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Hailing from New York City in the early 80’s, Sonic Youth was part of the experimental no
wave art and music scene before changing into a more conventional rock band and becoming
prominent members of the American noise rock scene.
Author David Browne best described the no-wave scene as a time when and i quote "art, music,
illustration — all were in the process of being torn down, reassembled, and combined
with other media."
Sonic Youths classic lineup was made up of vocalist and guitarists, Kim Gordon, Thurston
Moore, bassist Lee Ranaldo, and drummer Steve Shelley, and they were credited with doing
things with guitar that hadn’t really been done before.
That included — creating sounds with strangely tuned guitars, using feedback and placing
objects on or between between the strings such as drum sticks and power drills.
Author Michael Azzerad who has written extensively about America’s indie underground rock scene
said the following of sonic youth’s sound: Sonic Youth could only afford cheap guitars,
and cheap guitars sounded like cheap guitars.
But with weird tunings or something jammed under a particular fret, those humble instruments
could sound rather amazing – bang a drum stick on a cheap Japanese Stratocaster copy
in the right tuning, crank the amplifier to within an inch of its life and it will sound
like church bells
Sonic Youth would be a huge influence on the alternative rock acts who followed in their
footsteps most notably Nirvana who claimed even after the release of their juggernaut
album Nevermind that they wanted to be like Sonic Youth.
The band would be one of the most popular yet staunchly independent bands throughout
the 80’s in the United States.
They spent a good chunk of the decade releasing albums on independent labels with their streak
ending after the release of 1988’s Daydream Nation.
The album received universal acclaim from critics, but it was met with modest sales.
And the band was disappointed with how the their record label Enigma was treating them.
The label was suffering from distribution and financial issues, so Sonic Youth would
leave them the following year and signed with DGC records, which was owned by Geffen Records.
Their first release with Geffen 1990’s Goo, would be their biggest album of their career
up until that point.
The record would net the band their first appearance on the billboard 200 charts with
it selling in excess of 100,000 units and yielded the hit song Kool Thing.
The album proved that Sonic Youth they didn’t have to sacrifice their experimental sound,
while at the same time being radio friendly The band’s follow up album Dirty, released
in 1992 was put out during the height of grunge’s popularity.
The band would work with Nirvana producer butch vig and mixer andy wallace, both of
whom wanted to condense down the band’s songs and focus heavily on the guitar sounds.
And due to nirvana’s success with nevermind, Geffen records heavily promoted the album
and it would chart within the top 100 albums in the US and go gold selling over half a
million units.
The band would once again work with Producer Butch Vig on their follow up album 1994’s
Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star.
The album would prove to be one of the band’s highest charting records of their career peaking
in the top 40 in America.
but the record was more subdued and quieter featuring some throwbacks to their indie label
days.
The same year Gordon and Moore welcomed their first child and the tour to support the album
wasn’t as strenuous as their previous records due to Gordon’s pregnancy.
By 1995 the band would headline lollapalooza and following that appearance the band took
some time apart while it’s members pursued other musical projects.
And between 1995 and 2007 the band would release a series of albums for Geffen records while
also starting to release more experimental and instrumental records under their own label.
The band would release their first and final album on Matador records in 2009 titled The
Eternal.
Two years later the band would announce their break up in October of 2011 shocking their
fans.
Kim Gordon’s and Thurston Moore would announce in a band statement that the pair had separated
after 27 years of marriage.
The band still had dates though in south america planned later in the year which they were
still committed to playing with their final show taking place on november 14, 2011 at
the swu music and arts festival in brazil.
The week following the performance, bassist Lee Ranaldo would state in an interview that
Sonic Youth would be and i quote “ending for a while”
The band's label Matador also explained that plans for the band remained "uncertain", despite
previously hinting that they would record new material later in the year.
Kim Gordon recalled the band’s last show together saying in her 2015 memoir Girl in
a Band : When we came out onstage for our last show,
the night was all about the boys.
Thurston double-slapped our bass guitarist on the shoulder and loped across the stage,
followed by Lee Ranaldo, our guitarist, and then Steve Shelley, our drummer.
I found that gesture so phony, so childish, such a fantasy.
Thurston has many acquaintances, but with the few male friends he had he never spoke
of anything personal, and he’s never been the shoulder-slapping type.
It was a gesture that called out, I’m back.
I’m free.
I’m solo.
Thurston and I had exchanged maybe fifteen words all week.
After twenty-seven years of marriage, things had fallen apart between us she'd say.
So you're maybe wondering ,why did their marriage fall apart?
Well, It would come out that Moore cheated on his wife with a woman named Eva Prinz,
who was a book editor he had worked with for years.
He would end up moving to London with her.
Gordon was candid about the affair in her 2015 memoir in slow motion, a pattern of lies,
ultimatums, and phoney promises, followed by emails and texts that almost felt designed
to be stumbled on, so as to force me to make a decision that he was too much of a coward
to face.
I was furious.
It wasn’t just the responsibility he was refusing to take; it was the person he had
turned me into: his mother.”
What made things worse was that Kim knew Eva and as someone being the blunt as she was,
she is even discussed her in interviews telling Billboard magazine
Frankly, I was quite restrained and undetailed referring to her book.
I just hit a nerve because this woman Thurston's with is a toxic borderline.
To have that out in the world as a role model: It's f---ed up.
I didn't just hate her.
If you met her, you would understand she'd say
And Moore would talk to Collide magazine where he defended himself claiming despite the dissolution
of his marriage he didn’t want sonic youth to end saying I find it really strange that
I get demonized for the break-up of Sonic Youth when I myself had no intention of breaking
up the band; that was a real surprise to me," he'd say.
He would also be candid about his shortcoming in an interview in 2014 with the fly stating
their marriage and i quote “ended in a kind of normal way – midlife crisis, starstruck
woman.”
He would go on to say I’ll always have that experience of sadness that a separation brings,
especially one that was as important, not just to me, but everybody around us.
There have been some fall-outs, but that’s to be expected.
It’s pretty heavy “I’ve had some life issues, In your 40s
and 50s, things can change in ways that upset the order of things that have been established
over 25 years-plus of marriage.
It’s really distressing.
You have to work through it, it’s very personal and I don’t really talk about it so much.”
It’s been 9 years since the band’s breakup and it’s members have pursued other musical
projects but what have the band members said about a reunion?
Well it seems unlikely anything will happen as Gordon’s 2015 memoir states several times
that the band is done for good and in 2013 Ranaldo has stated that people should let
the band rest in peace.
Despite the ugly nature of their breakup the band’s business relationship still seems
to be working as they have put out live releases and new merchandise.
So that does it for today's video.
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roll true stories.
Take care.
.
(Courtesy Dey Street Books.)
We could have canceled the tour, but we’d signed a contract.
Performing live is how bands make a living, and we all had families and bills to pay,
and in my and Thurston’s case, college tuition for our daughter Coco to think about.
At the same time, I wasn’t sure how good it looked to be playing these gigs.
I didn’t want people to assume that whatever stuff had gone down between Thurston and me,
I was playing a supportive, stand-by-your-man role.
I wasn’t.
And outside of our immediate circle no one really knew what had happened.
Before flying to South America, Sonic Youth rehearsed for a week at a studio in New York.
Somehow I made it through, with the help of a Xanax, the first time I’d ever taken one
during the day.
Instead of staying at our apartment, which now felt tainted to me, the others agreed