Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation, 1988
Speaking of distortion, feedback, crashing guitars, punk drumming and catchy riffs, we haven’t even gone beyond track one. Sonic Youth were starting to make a name for themselves in the underground music scene of the 80’s for their distinctive tuning methods and unique sound but Daydream Nation is what broke them to the masses.
Feeling dissatisfied with Reagan-era politics the rising hostility of New York, Sonic Youth set out to make their most ambitious album to date. To the untrained ear, this album is pretty fierce, it is 70 minutes that grabs you and won’t let you go until the final note slams through the stereo. I find it hard to listen to tracks out of order, which means you can only listen to it as it was intended. I know what you’re thinking: who listens to albums from beginning to end anymore? Try it sometime. You don’t read a book out of order, why shouldn’t that rule apply to albums?
‘Teen Age Riot’ is the easiest Sonic Youth song to latch on to and opens this album. From there we move to ‘Silver Rocket’ and the ride just begins. As you get deeper into the tracks the noise gets stranger. This is a band that put rubber bands and drumsticks in the guitars to achieve some of these sounds.
While you listen to this record focus on the candle. All the crashing around and that candle don’t flicker, or does it? Parts of this album are mocking prog-rock and Zeppelin style rock: the 4 symbols, funny Germanic writing on the back even the trilogy of songs at the end. You should just buy this but I’ll recommend: ‘Candle’, ‘Rain King’, ‘Eric’s Trip’ and ‘Kissability’. Out of order, they sound strange, so buy the album and hold on.
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