Let's Be Honest: Sonic Youth Are Really Boring

By Nicholas Pell Thu., Jan. 24 2013 at 4:00 AM

Sonic "Youth"

In the annals of rock there are many bands that people pretend to like, bands with fandoms consisting entirely of people desperately wanting to appear interesting by proxy. Royal Trux is a good example, as are Ween. Basically any Burzum fan who isn't a corpse paint-wearing, basement-dwelling Nazi from the hinter regions of Norway fits neatly in this category. King among bands that no one actually likes, however, is Sonic Youth.

I remember the first time I heard Sonic Youth. I was about 13 and somehow acquired a copy of the tape on SST that runs backward on one side and forward on another. I know, right? How creative. After about 10 minutes of atonal moaning and swirling noise, I went back to my Black Flag and Black Sabbath records. How pedestrian of me, right?

But back to Sonic Youth: Snooze time. I'll grant that their first sellout effort, 1990's Goo isn't bad. Not so with the follow up, 1992's Dirty, such a naked attempt at commercial success that Entertainment Weekly named it album of the year. The next album, Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star is mostly noteworthy for igniting puberty in teenage alt rockers via a video featuring Bikini Kill's Kathleen Hanna bouncing around in an approximation of irreverence.

But 1994 only happens once and while Sonic Youth might be boring as hell, they're also very shrewd. In 1995, the band cashed out while the cashing was good. Screaming Fields of Sonic Love recapped the band's 1982-1988 catalog, revisiting their penchant for doing things backwards. Made in USA unearthed material recorded in 1986 that was probably best left earthed. Washing Machine followed, with a cover featuring the infamous Sonic Youth washing machine shirts so popular among the high school football players and husky boys in bucket hats who populated 1995's Lollapalooza, which the band headlined.

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iwfi

Fuck you (author).

is00

F you Nic. You got what you wanted - attention. What an unsophisticated baby. I guess bringing the Feelies out to open recently makes them even more boring for you? Bitterness is the refuge of the tone-deaf and untalented.

paintingfancy

I feel there are much more deserving targets of this criticism than Sonic Youth. Is this writer 15?

foodlover51

3 Like

Sadly, this article is more pretentious than Sonic Youth "is".

eric818

2 Like

Are writers for the LA Weekly just long forgotten frustrated musicians?

radioheadfan1732

No one has any attention spans anymore. Part of the beauty of Sonic Youth is there ability to jam for long periods at a time. Now a days people just want verse, chorus, verse, chorus. I think you should go listen to Nirvana.

crixlee

2 Like

Is slamming bands from the 90s what LA Weekly counts as relevant news these days?

Sad that your publication has gone from really interesting to bullshit linkbait articles in order to piss people off and share it via social media; which I WILL NOT DO.

Y'all have gone WAY downhill since Erin Broadley left.

dontshootthemessenge

@crixlee just a detail: Sonic Youth made their best work in the mid 80s.....

gratznic

2 Like

@crixlee Slamming things gets the website hits! Their most popular articles are slam articles. It's unfortunate - and in this case (ironically) super boring - but it isn't going away any time soon.

michael.disciullo

2 Like

@gratznic @crixlee gratznic, you have cracked the code. Controversy = hits, and hits = advertising, which is the only way free weeklies stay afloat. If you took out slam articles and advertisements for probably-slave prostitutes, there would be no LA Weekly.

riffking13

2 Like

I'm not gonna say that you don't have a good point cause you do, but I just think you're bitter because as a writer for L.A. weekly, your magazine covers a lot of popular boring ass hipster bands that just wish they were Sonic Youth. Though Sonic Youth were anything but boring circa late 80's to like 94

ChrisC8

They're boring: so what? That's like criticizing Charlie Chaplin because he hasn't made a good movie in years. Daydream Nation is one of the greatest records ever, and Bad Moon Rising and Sister aren't far behind.