Sonic Youth Lyrics

Sonic Youth Info:

From:
New York City, United States

Genres:
Alternative rock, post-punk, noise rock, experimental rock, lo-fi, indie rock, no wave

Years active:
1981-2011

Associated acts:
Ciccone Youth

Name Origin:
From combining the names of MC5 guitarist, Fred "Sonic" Smith with the word 'Youth' which was in ubiquitous use among reggae artists at the time.

Past members:
Kim Gordon -
vocals, bass guitar, guitar (1981-2011)

Thurston Moore -
vocals, guitar (1981-2011)

Lee Ranaldo -
guitar, vocals (1981-2011)

Steve Shelley -
drums (1985-2011)

Anne DeMarinis -
keyboards (1981-1982)

Richard Edson -
drums (1981-1982)

Bob Bert -
drums (1982, 1983-1985)

Jim Sclavunos -
drums (1982-1983)

Jim O'Rourke -
bass, guitars, synthesizer (1999-2005)

Mark Ibold -
bass guitar, guitar (2006-2011)


Sonic Youth Quotes:
A lot of people have pointed that out. To us, all of the albums have melody and they have pop songs in them, it’s just that sometimes, they’re done in a different way. People say, “Oh, you’re writing songs this time.” We consider the material the last couple records in the format of songs and pop music structure, but our definition of what a pop song could be is maybe wider than some people’s. Some people really compare it to DN, which is fine, but we don’t really think about that when we’re making the record. We’re just in the moment and doing what we’re doing.
Steve Shelley

I think Jim is probably too self-conscious to contribute a vocal. I think we tried to get him on a backing vocal and it was very difficult. He’s very careful not to overstep what he considers his boundaries in the group, so he’s very sensitive about that. I think it would be some time before he felt comfortable about contributing a vocal.
Steve Shelley

The deal with Enigma at that time was a one-off I think, so it wasn't like we left them; we just sort of didn't do another record with them. We started going around and meeting all the labels — it's what you do when you're going to sign — and they take you out to dinner, and we initially flew out to California because we had some pretty close ties with some people at A&M, and we really thought we were going to sign with A&M. But it while we were out there, this guy from Geffen really wants us to come by. And we really liked Geffen a lot, and at the time it was the last independent major label.
Steve Shelley

We've always been kind of involved enough in the business of making records and how it all operates; we've always been interested in it, so maybe we know more about that stuff as a group then your average musician does.
Ranaldo

I think we've always felt we could do more with the Internet. I mean we've got a pretty intense website, but there are certainly tons more things we could do with that. We have a lot of free mp3's on our site and videos and things like that, but there are definitely artists who've embraced it and are leading the way into that next chapter and what's going to happen to music and the Internet.
Steve Shelley