Sonic Youth - the end? Thurston and Kim split...

[runcible]

Could be that days are numbered for NY's elder noiseniks as apparently Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore - one of the coolest couple in rock - have split up after being married for 27 years. Good luck to both of them - always struck me as being really good people...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15325039

[stevelee101]

So Kim's back on the market....... heh heh heh........

[scratch]

well.. she´s eight years younger than debbie harry

got to see them half a dozen times at least (if they really are quitting.. a good divorce shouldn´t stop the sonic elders, but who knows?)

I haven´t even got the last two sonic youth albums

[shalloboi]

this is pretty shocking and sad news. they'd been married almost 30 years, i think (it's pretty crazy that sonic youth have been around for that long to begin with- that first ep came out around '82 right?). i wonder what happened...
the last sonic youth record i bought was 'rather ripped.' i think i've seen them four times since 1998... 'demolished thoughts' is one of my favorite records of this year- so gorgeous.

[angelsighs]

I would imagine that that this is the end. the info does say the future is uncertain after these tour dates.
weird, they seemed such a solid couple

on a selfish level I'm kind of gutted I never got to see them live

[scratch]

I hope they do like my fellow swedes in abba.. two couples who got divorced but kept the band together for years.
they should try to be like abba in that regard I want a sonicyouth record by ppl in their sixties.

I only have the first 14-15 (does the whitey album count?) albums but I will buy the last two and any new one if you stay together..

[bunnyben]

i was always disapointed by 'daydream nation'. i had recently got into spz and they were recomemended as a simialr type of band and i thought 'daydream nation must be an amazing expereince- lost in clouds whilst walking to uni' nope- t'was just dull. then again maybe after spz they can't compare- it was like listening to television just after discovering the velvets- it was like velvet-lite, the cotton underground maybe i should revist 'daydream...'? saying that i like the album with goo on

[angelsighs]

steady on Ben...I wouldn't say that Sonic Youth sound like Spz.. nor that Television sound like the Velvets.. just that anyone with good taste would probably like all/most of them. they are all different.

the only velvets album better than Marquee Moon is Nico, IMHO. how that could sound like velvets-lite is mindboggling.

also, Daydream Nation is not the best SY album in my opinion, nor a suitable place for a beginner.

[runcible]

i was always disapointed by 'daydream nation'.

I saw them on that tour purely because Dinosaur Jr were supporting and I was prepared to leave before Sonic Youth's set - I'd never heard a note by them. I was persuaded to stay by a friend and practically had my hair ripped off such was the intensity of the onslaught. They were quite magnificent. I saw them again for the next few years and they were always fantastic.

Daydream Nation is the album I go back to and it never fails to please and amaze me. It also has one of THE great opening album tracks in Teenage Riot. I'd say a revisit is in order Ben. The climax of the Trilogy track when it mellows out and is then blown to pieces by Kim Gordon's closing piece sends shivers down my spine.

[bunnyben]

excellent, i'll try to find copies of both to relisten to then, thanks

[angelsighs]

with Sonic Youth you can't really go wrong with anything from Evol to Dirty- that's a purple patch of about 5/6 years. that was their peak. I will say, though, playing devils advocate that although their sound is original in itself, they are a bit samey. once they established it they were more about exploring the nuances within that sound then any great left turns.

having said that I've been getting into later Sonic Youth recently and they had a second wind in the 2000s- guitars generally got cleaner and more ringing (sounding like Television, funnily enough) but still with occasional noisy bits. Sonic Nurse and Murray Street are really good, and Rather Ripped is a very enjoyable attempt at relatively tight/commercial songs (imagine The Strokes with an avant garde side)

Television wise you could get me talking about them all day, but let me just say for now that Marquee Moon is an utter classic.

[nickh]

Sad news really.

I bought Daydream Nation on the day Rough Trade in Covent Garden opened. Sonic Youth were in-store signing copies of their records and were a charming bunch. Steve Shelley was a bit quiet but the other three were extremely accommodating and likeable folks unlike some of the other surly buggers I met down there (I’m looking at you Dinosaur Jr). I still have that signed record to this day.

I was at that show at The Astoria (the Monday night) with Dinosaur Jr, Dinosaur were great but Sonic Youth blew my head off. There seemed a real violence in their music which I really dug. Got to see them a couple of times after that, at the National with Mudhoney and Reading Festival in 91 (maybe). I lost interest with their next couple of records which to me seemed like pale imitations of Daydream Nation but the NY trilogy of Daydream, Sister and Evol are as said above a real purple patch. Bad Moon Rising I like too.

[spzretent]

[quote="angelsighs"]

the only velvets album better than Marquee Moon is Nico, IMHO. quote]

I'll take the third VU album over Nico by quite some distance. And they are both better than Marquee Moon imnsho.
But isn't this kind of like splitting hairs?

[Kurious Oranj]

i was always disapointed by 'daydream nation'. i had recently got into spz and they were recomemended as a simialr type of band and i thought 'daydream nation must be an amazing expereince- lost in clouds whilst walking to uni' nope- t'was just dull. then again maybe after spz they can't compare- it was like listening to television just after discovering the velvets- it was like velvet-lite, the cotton underground maybe i should revist 'daydream...'? saying that i like the album with goo on

jesus dude

[angelsighs]

I'll take the third VU album over Nico by quite some distance. And they are both better than Marquee Moon imnsho.
But isn't this kind of like splitting hairs?

the third album is actually my least favourite like a long way!!
haha have a feeling this could go round in circles

[niamhm]

I'll take the third VU album over Nico by quite some distance. And they are both better than Marquee Moon imnsho.
But isn't this kind of like splitting hairs?

the third album is actually my least favourite like a long way!!
haha have a feeling this could go round in circles

I`ll take any Velvets album over Marquee Moon thanx very much ,imo, oh and Daydream Nation ? very good ,give it another shot.

[spzretent]

the third album is actually my least favourite like a long way!!
haha have a feeling this could go round in circles

Yep! We can agree to disagree.

[jadams501]

I know nothing about Sonic Youth except that I that I liked their Dylan cover or two on the "I'm Not There" soundtrack.

What would be the best album to start with?

[Laz69]

Dirty was their big album back at the height of the "grunge" scene. Very accessible and has some fantastic songs, but didn't quite maintain the noisier side of them that a lot of the earlier albums did. Going back to their earlier albums, Daydream Nation, Sister and Goo are probably my fav trio of theirs, but they have so many releases that there is always something new to explore. I had a bootleg LP called "Hold The Tiger" and it was fantastic. I also kinda enjoyed the Ciccone Youth album (or "Whitey" album as its sometimes called). Not the easiest of listens, but still intruiging nonetheless.

Washing Machine was a good album as some of the more recent affairs, Murray Street, Sunday and Rather Ripped. Sonic Nurse lacked somewhat for me, so i rarely listen to that.

There is a compilation album out there, "Screaming Fields of Sonic Love", that has a good selection of the earlier material which would probablty be a good place to start with... you can pick it up on Amazon for less than a £1...

[sunray]

How about Kim to replace Mani in the Primals?

Love Sonic Youth, first saw them in August '91 with Nirvana as support just before all the hullaballoo kicked off. SY were fantastic, Nirvana were ok; i got a bit bored of Kurt and co. after four songs. Also saw them supporting the Chemical Brothers Plus a few festival appearances, then lastly two years ago when they toured The Eternal. Fantastic gig, played all but one song of, what was then, their latest album and it was a contender for gig of the year.

I remember trudging through the mud at Glasto '98 to see them on the Pyramid stage and then Bob Dylan walking on. It turned out they had switched slots so i'd just missed SY Lasted one song of Dylan and buggered off to the Dance tent.

If i had to pick favourite albums it'd be Bad Moon Rising, Sister & Daydream Nation from the 1980s. Dirty and A Thousand Leaves (vastly overlooked album. Seriously, check it out.) from the 1990s and then Murray Street and The Eternal in the 2000s.

[johnnyboy]

This is a real shame. 27+ years of marriage and then it's all over. At least I know I'm not the only one going through it all. If Kim & Thurston can split then what hope for the rest of us!

As for the music: I've not bought anythingby them since Dirty but still like to keep an eye on what they're up to. Fav album(s)? That'd be Sister, Goo, Evol and Daydream Nation. Screaming Fields is a great comp, well worth picking up if you're a newbie to their sound.

Only saw them a couple of times. Brixton on the Goo tour, which was stunning, and Reading roughly the same era. Seem to recall Thurston playing Higher Than The Sun thru a small tape deck then adding loads of squall over the top of it.