Years active: 1981 - 2011
Key Albums: Daydream Nation (1988), Goo (1990), Dirty (1992)
New York noise rockers Sonic Youth loomed large over the fringes of society. Made up of four (sometimes five) of the most musically daring indie figures, the band treated their instruments like industrial tools and commanded their voices like bully pulpits. Their uniquely tuned guitars inspired Nirvana and the Pixies to roam outside their six-string comfort zones.
And their politically minded lyrics addressed female oppression, transgender visibility, rape and obscure art. Dual leaders and married couple Thurston Moore (guitar) and Kim Gordon (bass) were the royals of alt rock. Until 2011, when infidelity brought the kingdom crashing down.
Sonic Origins
A punk pilgrimage brought the lanky Thurston Moore to New York City from Connecticut in 1977. Soaking up the “no-wave” scene, he befriended firebrand Lydia Lunch and jammed with various musicians. A collaborator introduced him to Californian Kim Gordon, and the two began dating and performing together. They christened their project Sonic Youth, after MC5’s Fred “Sonic” Smith and reggae artist Big Youth, according to Michael Azzerad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life. They enlisted Glenn Branca guitarist Lee Ranaldo and a revolving door of drummers: Richard Edson, Bob Bert, Jim Sclavunos, Bert again and ultimately Steve Shelley in 1985.
Sonic Youth’s acclaim spread slowly, with their 1983 debut album, Confusion Is Sex, frankly confusing many in the music biz.
It had more in common with Dadaism than with dirty rock ‘n’ roll. But as time wore on and their catalog grew, so did the buzz around the artsy foursome. Bad Moon Rising (1985) enraptured lovers of the macabre with its narration on Charles Manson and other American horror stories. EVOL was an obvious cornerstone for Kurt Cobain, Black Francis and other alternative contemporaries. This was where Sonic Youth really morphed into the indie deities they are now hailed as.
Sister (1987) was a landmark in college rock. Moore came into his own as a vocalist, and Shelley evolved into one of the most essential rhythmic backbones. Slant deemed Sister “the last great punk album of the Reagan era, and the first great pop album to emerge from the American underground.” Songs like “Beauty Lies in the Eye” deftly combined Jesus and Mary Chain reverb and melancholia with Gordon’s sexy, smart pout. These once-weird New Yorkers were winning over the mainstream.
The following year, America turned into a Daydream Nation. Sonic Youth’s double album wowed the masses with its restrained solemnity. Lead single “Teen Age Riot” was a defining moment in the band’s career, a frenzied jolt that capitalized on the joy and pain of adolescence. Daydream Nation was such a turning point that it was added to the Library of Congress in the aughts.
The Goo-ey, Dirty '90s
The gelatinous Goo came out in 1990, marking their foray into the majors. Geffen offshoot DGC released the record, and timely single “Kool Thing” gave Sonic Youth hip-hop cred with a cameo by Chuck D of Public Enemy. The song was allegedly about a beef between Gordon and rapper LL Cool J.
The band became associated with the grunge movement while touring with at-the-time underground acts Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., and Babes in Toyland. This titanic orgy was captured in the film 1991: The Year Punk Broke, which aided in Nirvana’s rocketing to the top of the charts.
In pairing with Nirvana producer Butch Vig, Sonic Youth were able to polish their basement sound without sacrificing their palatable sludge. First with 1992’s Dirty, they addressed the dirty business of keeping things mum in the capital. “I believe Anita Hill,” Moore stated in “Youth Against Fascism,” a screed against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. With singles such as the growler “100%,” Sonic Youth hit on something novel— these were art-house songs that people could sing along to.
The trend continued with 1994’s Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star. It was a soup du jour of riot-grrrl (“Self-Obsessed and Sexxee”), gender-queer fluidity (“Androgynous Mind”) and contemplation (“Winner’s Blues”). The Gordon-led acid test of “Bull in the Heather” even cracked the top 20 Modern Rock Tracks chart. Following that feat was 1995’s Washing Machine, which featured their longest song to date, “The Diamond Sea.” This behemoth appears frequently in top 10 Sonic Youth tracks lists, adding an immensity to their usually insular sound. It was around this time that Gordon gave birth to her daughter with Moore, Coco.
The Youth closed out the ’90s with the hippiesque A Thousand Leaves. Its sole single, “Sunday,” had visual accompaniment directed by Harmony Korine (Spring Breakers) and starred Macaulay Culkin. The album itself was a rhythmic ribbon of beat poetry, exemplified by “Hits of Sunshine (For Allen Ginsberg).” Critics disagreed on A Thousand Leaves, with rock guru Robert Christgau giving it an A+ and the A.V. Club eviscerating it for its jam-band tendencies.
New Millennium, New Gear
Upon entering the 21st century, Sonic Youth were given a rude awakening: Prior to recording 2000’s NYC Ghosts & Flowers,thieves stole their tour truck containing all their instruments. The aural adventurers had to start from scratch, digging up guitars and drums they hadn’t used since the 1980s. The resulting album sounded like Lou Reed sharing a blunt with Frank Zappa. NYC is also notable for welcoming occasional fifth member Jim O’Rourke into the lineup. (He didn’t officially join until 2002, but he did contribute some guitar parts on this album.)
Murray Street came next in 2002, to the relief of less avant-garde fans. Songs like “The Empty Page” were more straightforward and played well to audiences at Coachella and other festivals. To get normalcy out of their system, the band minus Gordon collaborated with the Ex and Instant Composers Pool on In the Fishtank 9, a freeform hodgepodge.
Putting a bandage on any bloodletting of casual admirers, they released the true-to-form Sonic Nurse in 2004. Awash in the influences of author William Gibson and painter Richard Prince (who designed the cover), Sonic Nurse universally pleased. Filter, among others, dubbed it “a gorgeous, bona fide gem.” Twinkling with harmonics and clever palm muting, many considered the record their best since Daydream Nation.
Ripped Up
The metallic, serpentine Rather Ripped arrived in 2006, seeing the departure of O’Rourke from the lineup. The songs felt more neatly packaged, such as the jumpy “Incinerate” and the post-punk “What a Waste.” (The Moore-Gordon family appeared in an episode of Gilmore Girls playing the latter.) Pearl Jam swept Sonic Youth up to open their tour, a repeat of their 2000 outing— except this time the grunge-loving audiences reveled in SY’s more accessible songs.
The group signed to Matador in 2007, and for the next two years, they put out limited-edition vinyl in the SYR series and a Starbucks exclusive called Hits Are for Squares. Sonic Youth’s final album, The Eternal, saw the light of day in June 2009. It was the highest-charting record of theirs in the United States, topping out at number 18 on the Billboard 200.
It was a bittersweet accomplishment. After the Youth toured on the album through 2010 and into 2011, Gordon and Moore split up. It was later revealed (especially detailed in the bassist’s 2015 book, Girl in a Band) that Moore cheated on her with an assistant.
Post-Sonic Youth, Gordon formed art-rock duo Body/Head. Moore and Ranaldo continue to release solo albums, and the former additionally performs in Chelsea Light Moving. Shelley is a road warrior, most recently handling drums for Sun Kil Moon.