Sonic Youth - "Youth Against Fascism"

I don't answer to Poxy Fule, if that's what you intended, Calvin.

songs are supposed to be good.

there is some very stiff competition on the album, so this song can seem a little dull in comparison. my five star songs are purr, chapel hill, sugar kane, and wish fulfillment (one of lee's strongest compositions).

This is definitely the most embarrassing SY song ever.

HAHAHAHA GENIUS OMG -- THEY'RE ACTUALLY REALLY OLD!!!!!!!!

Thurston was on the recent bbc4 Sun Ra documentary looking about 25.

i love the sound of that story about mackaye's feedback - it's not in the sleevenotes tho (i think) i just skimmed them again.

TM (Thurston); IM (Ian); Jim (O'Rourke); Uncredited = interviewer
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Ian, how did you end up playing on Dirty? (1992 SY record)

IM: It's a good story actually. It's fucked up man. I was in New York and eating at a restaurant called Spring Street Natural and I called Thurston just to say "Hi," and there was a message on his machine saying that they were in the studio. I think you left the number too.

TM: Yeah.

IM: I was at the restaurant and I had just ordered. I called on a pay phone, the studio was half a block away, and Thurston said to just come down. I ran down and went in and those guys were all there and we're talking-- my food was coming, so I had to go. They just said, "Oh we want you to play on something." I don't do that, but all those people were hanging out and saying it would be great. I'm just not a player like that; it would not occur to me to play a lick on something. I go in the room and-- who was doing the record?

TM: Butch, I think. Was it Butch?

IM: The first thing I had to do was find a guitar I could play, which is of course is impossible, because they're all tuned bizarrely. I picked up the only SG because I can recognize it as a guitar. I plugged it in, put on the headphones and I was really nervous. First off I don't know what to play, I don't know how to play because it was such a weird tuning, and my dinner is going to be ready in two minutes!

(everyone laughs)

IM: So they run the tape and I'm standing in front of the speaker and I'm trying to find something, anything. So I just played some feedback. We do it once, Butch comes in to check the mic. I told him that I thought I had an idea and to turn me up in the headphones, and Thurston walks in and was like, "That was great!" Ok, cool, I said goodbye, walked out and went back to have my dinner. I never went back. Six months later we're on tour in Europe, and every interviewer is asking me about my collaboration with Sonic Youth. I had no idea it was on the record. I didn't hear the song until two months later. When I first heard it I couldn't even figure out what I played on it.

TM: The nature of the song is just this repetitive bass/drum thing and the guitars are just squalling. That was the thing, just turn your amp on and do whatever it is will sound happening.

IM: It was one pass. I love that kind of thing frankly. For me when Thurston came in and said "perfect." It was great, I put the guitar down said "Great to see you guys." I walk out and all the people hanging out were like, "Yeah, you were really great." Cool, that was perfect for me.

TM: I think the thing about "Youth Against Facism" was that it was inspired by a lot of people like Ian who were protesting the Gulf War. There was no real correlation there but that was really circumstantial.

IM: I made my dinner too.

TM: On that same record we did a cover of "Nic Fit" by the Untouchables. The same thing happened to me. I always wanted to do a cover like that and I showed the band how to do it. It's really easy. Nobody in the band had ever heard the song, so we did it in one take and to guide them through it I threw down the vocals but I didn't know what the words were. It was one of those things where people thought it was great but I wanted to go back and find out the words from Alec [Ian's brother]. They wouldn't let me do it though. I wrote my own lyrics. To me it was an anti-smoking song. It boils down to problems of the fucking world and how people deal with each other. It exemplified it in that way. I don't know if that was the intention of the song.

IM: In terms of high school it did, because the world was that small. It was an issue, kids smoked, and--

TM: It was a disrespect of space.

IM: It was a symbol of status. When you were fifteen, the kid that smoked kind of made you feel like an asshole. Like this guy (pointing to Jim O'rourke who just walked on the bus).

TM: I'm responsible for Jim's smoking.

JIM O'ROURKE: Thurston gave me my first cigarette.

TM: It's weird because I'm so anti-smoking. I don't smoke at all.

I've seen you smoke.

TM: That was when I was a smoker.

hahahahahaha uh no.

the only good songs on "dirty" are "theresa's sound world" and "wish fulfillment." the best song from that session, "genetic," wound up as a b-side to "100%," the other lousy single from this mediocre record.

Original of "Nic Fit" kills, yes.

I don't know where I heard that, but it stuck in my head. It's been a long time since I listened to 'Dirty' and even longer since I listened to 'Flex Your Head'.

(and i regularly stand up for nyc ghosts and flowers and EJTNS)

dirty's tricky because most of the really interesting stuff gets all lost in the more poppy/straightforward aspects of the record. theres a lot of amazing textures and interesting interplay there, but its easy to never notice.

or ray of today's body

hstencil is righton about thurstons hard core dreams.i flipped through his terrible mixtape book while killing time in barnes and nobel once and he talks about stopping and buying 7 inches every week and basicly driving kim nuts.

do they have stores here?

she had some issues...(xpost)

has anyone tried these cardboard speakers?

(Thought Kim sings "Nic Fit?")

nah, man, Siamese Dream is da slayer.

contentment's all one can ask for.

-- Steve Shasta (steveshast...), November 9th, 2006 6:01 PM. (Steve Shasta)

i stopped here too but picked up again at washing machine

i like a few songs on dirty ("jc" is totally underrated and "sugar kane" is a great generic sy pop song) but yeah this is where they really lost the plot.

*puts on dirty again*

I wanted it to be some kind of lame, "ironic" pisstake, like Tuff Titty Rap, but it felt so damn serious. The pretend stupid wound up seeming really, really REAL STUPID. First few times I heard it, the song actually kinda made me blush with embarassment. The rest of the record is okay, neither as good or as bad as some folks say, and I've come to where I can just embrace Youth Against Fascism for what it is (a fun, pseudo-punk anthem) without worrying about it. Still, as with so many long-time fans, this was where I stopped caring.

"theresa's sound world" and "wish fulfillment" are the only quality songs on dirty? Weird, couldn't disagree with you more on that. They're both good. And yes, Genetic is fantastic, we knew it then and know it now (ahh, cd singles in 92). But On the Strip has one of the best noise sections SY ever recorded. JC is beautiful shifting blue-black elegiac noise throughout. Swimsuit Issue and Shoot: gorgeous and twisted. All aforementioned leave Genetic sounding the like straight pop that it is (no complaint there, incidentally). Even Sugar Kane has great noise, and the drum-stick-to-the-strings of 100% . . . Dirty was a monster of a listening experience the day that it was released, and time intervening has not diminshed its charms, the record is practically mythological to me today, and i saw it performed live, front row, chi-town, you were probably there . . .

As for all of this talk about production . . . who recorded and who mixed, big big big difference there, as anyone who produced/played/recorded guitar-and-drums in the studio pre-software knows . . . ted nicely may have recorded pony express, but andy wallace so clearly and indelibly mixed it . . .

I think I just like naivete, even if it's fake naivete.

I'm sure Kim Gordon knows just how dopey a line like "Dreams of going to the Grammys / Till you poked me with your whammy" is. Maybe I shouldn't say fake naivete but willful naivete.

If I have a point, I've totally forgotten what it was.

Dirty:
"Wish Fulfillment" (one of Lee's best, high praise indeed)
>
"Orange Rolls, Angel Spit" (no one else loves it, I don't care)
>
"Theresa's Sound-World" (pretty good)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
a bunch of dull, horribly produced crap, "Youth Against Fascism" definitely included. I don't even like "Genetic."

With the two or so halfway decent songs from EJSTNS, it would've made a good EP. But Washing Machine, now that's quality Sonic Youth.