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| From the ashes of the punk revolution of the 1970's comes an underground sensation that would conquer the newly created world of alternative rock, Sonic Youth, concievably the most successfull underground band ever. The band gave new meaning to the term of "alternative" and "noise rock" in the 1980's. Thier experimental guitar work and fasination with alternate tunnings would defy a mainstream public that was hung up on 80's hair metal. |
| At the same time, alternative rock bands in the "sleeping giant" of Seatle Washington, such as Nirvana were going mainstream. Thanks to the advice and assitance from Sonic Youth, Kurt Cobain was able to secure a deal with the same record company (Geffen) while still maintaining creative control. |
| The band's three primary members, Thurston Moore (Guitar), Lee Ranoldo (Guitar), and Kim Gordon (Bass, Guitar), formed in Manhattan, New York in 1981. The post-punk revolution had begun to surface there after the year punk rock died in 1978 / 79 / 80 (depending on your point of view). After helping to form the "Noise Festival," where the band made it's live debut, Sonic Youth created their debut album "Confusion Is Sex" (1983). -- See Artist Direct.com Initial attempts to land the band an indie-record deal with Doublevision failed. The band did convince one of the owners of the lable to create a new lable that would release SY records. Their next record - "Bad Moon Rising" (1985) - would be the defining record where the band would mix their distortion sound with the melody of pop-song structure. Following the release of that record the band replaced their existing drummer with Steve Shelley who is still present to this day. The band was recieving critical aclaim from underground magazines for "Bad Moon Rising" and was offered several record deals. After signing with STT records the band would release "EVOL" which would elevate them to college radio status. Their next record "Sister" would bring even more success to the band, making them even more popular, even in magazines like Rolling Stone. The bands greatest success however would come with thier breakthru record - "Daydream Nation" - considered by many to be an underground masterpiece. It is considered by some to be one of the greatest records in the last two decades. The record is thought to be a true insight into human emotion. Poor distribution from the lable however soiled the moment and convinced the band to move to major lable Geffen Records in 1990. With Sonic Youth being the most reputable underground band in the world signing to a major label, they unintentionally opened the door for other bands to do the same. They were able to prove that independent credibility was possible with their 1990 album "Goo". -- See Yahoo |
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The bands next record "Dirty" (1992) was apropriatly titled since it began to display a more grunge rock oriented Sonic Youth. The record was produced by the same man who produced Nirvana's landmark album Nevermind the year before, Butch Vig. This record along with the Lollapallooza tour in 1993, would elevate them to the level of Alternative rock leaders. Soon however the Alt-rock powerhouse of Seattle would begin to fade and with it Sonic Youth's popularity. One by one the early 90's alternative bands were being replaced by similar (but hardly equal) radio friendly bands. Nirvana was replaced by Silverchair, Alice In Chains by Godsmack, Soundgarden by Bush, and Pearl Jam by Stone Temple Pilots. Sonic Youth began to disolve back into the underground after thier next record "Experimental Jet Set: Trash and No Star" failed to achieve much success. |
| Since then Sonic Youth has continued to release moderatly successful albums (comercially anyway) and added thier producer Jim O'Rourke as a full time member. They are currently on Tour for thier new release "Murry Street" -- See www.sonicyouth.com |
| Cool Downloads (click to visit download page) Sonic Youth - Kool Thing (27 sec) An example of one of their harder rocking songs, off of their major label debut "Goo." Definatly worth a listen if you like early 90's hard rock, but havn't gotten into Sonic Youth yet! Click the link above to visit the download page. |