Daydream Nation Deluxe... give it a rest already!!

that these new reissues are ridiculously overpriced

Daydream Nation was Sonic Youth's sixth album, their first double LP, and their last for an indie label...

Pitchfork has a review up as of yesterday.

I can find no internet evidence of Alonzo Tusk(e), the brave soul who allegedly held up a sign expressing his hatred for the Beatles, then just arriving in the US. But may I join him in spirit in this thread in expressing my utter disappointment that this, of all Sonic Youth albums, gets a 10 on a website that I rarely read.

Utter garbage aside from Total Trash...the album that brought them the audience they probably deserved, and which marked the end of their meaningful contributions to the world of music. At least Thurston had the good sense, back in the day, to note that Bug was a much better record.

lol, I've just downloaded it.

\m/ Ima gonna rock it all weekend. (While I'm partying.)

you party?

fucking yep.

Meanwhile I'll be rockin' out to the Grifters' "Daydream Riot." The words "Daydream" and "Riot" sigh with relief that, at least in this case, they're not associated with crap.

my utter disappointment that this, of all Sonic Youth albums, gets a 10 on a website that I rarely read

<i>I don't expect to hear too many complaints about the rating above. Daydream Nation is a great uniter: You'd be hard pressed to find many fans of indie rock who don't have some love for this record. That's partly because this record is great, sure-- that's one boring reason-- but it's also because this record is one of a handful that helped shape the notion of what American indie rock can potentially mean. It's almost a tautology: Indie fans love Daydream Nation because loving stuff like Daydream Nation is part of how we define what indie fans are.
</i>

Stupid new formatting.

Stupid pitchfork.

this record is one of a handful that helped shape the notion of what American indie rock can potentially mean.

I'm sorry but that's romantic tripe.

(Sorry, I didn't know how else to phrase that.)

Yeah, dlp, I remember what I wrote, I just find it funny how did the thing random bloggers do where they're all like "I'm profoundly disappointed in this! Not that I like, care about or read the website or anything."

Tim, I don't see why there needs to be anything romantic about that statement (or at least the way it was phrased pre-editing): all it's saying is that the current idea of an "indie" audience seemed to spark off around that moment, and I think stuff like Dinosaur Jr and this SY album (and the Pixies) set a lot of the tone for what that would look like, how it would work, and what it would include. (Mostly I think it was a matter of creating something that had appeal both for a punk audience and a "college rock" one.)

(I think the original phrasing was "what American indie rock would even mean" -- i.e., a lot of the definition of it proceeds from stuff like this.)

but "indie rock" over the course of its history seems to me to be much more of a vast thing - tons of records, tons of different styles. a long time with continuous evolution. as far as its audience goes, i honestly don't know why a record like daydream nation particularly sticks out as significant for how it, as you say, "shaped it" (presumably in its current state or in its state since 1988 or whenever) in some way.

i like cupcakes!

Next, you guys are gonna be saying, "And then this little band from Stockton came along and the tone was set!"

lol joek

That's part of what I'm interested in with this one, Tim -- even narrow definitions of "indie" rock encompass a lot of different stuff. How did those different strains wind up under one umbrella, sharing a lot of common audience? And something about these late-80s records, Daydream Nation among them, sticks out as some kind of gathering point -- for instance, like I was saying, a moment where punk and "college" audiences fuse together a bit more, with certain music appealing strongly to both. (Not saying this was entirely new -- Husker Du seemed to have a similar effect -- but I get the sense that it kinda cements around here.)

Haha I dunno, if Pavement had been releasing Pavement shit in 1988, there wouldn't have been nearly as much of an audience waiting for it as just a few years later, would there? I feel like there should be some single band you can use to map out this stuff resolving itself, but the closest I can come up with is Unrest weird tangle through hardcore and "college" and dreamy 90s stuff.

Maybe I'm a little older. As you say, Husker Du had the same effect, but then so did the Replacements and R.E.M. and any number of other bands, really. I'm not sure how 1988 was crucial in creating an audience that wasn't already there.

Yeah indie-rock was a just a rebrand of "college rock".

hey, how does the deluxe edition sound?

"loud"

lol.

"Haha I dunno, if Pavement had been releasing Pavement shit in 1988, there wouldn't have been nearly as much of an audience waiting for it as just a few years later, would there?"

Pavement? Yes. Nirvana? Probably not.

REM skewed a lot more "college," the Replacements' wide appeal seems based on being a pretty trad rock band, and high-art / avant-garde pretentions seemed pretty marginal for a lot of the US 80s -- I singled out Husker Du because what they were doing is kinda similar to the change in those albums around 88, where people are really pushing the guitars to get woozy and dreamy, grand and ambitious, etc. That thinky / epic / "high art" notion seems like the main part SY popularized that echoed down through a lot of bands. (Though yeah, at this point, the mainstream of pop-type indie is totally equivalent to 80s college rock.)

What's possibly more interesting is that SY were clearly operating with this notion in mind, and some level of self-consciousness about it -- hence writing "Teen Age Riot" about Mascis and whatnot.

Ha, actually I feel like these days the audience is segregating back out into the punk/college split, where there's this return of that tension -- you know, people listening to noise or Boris or Pissed Jeans and ragging on the people who like Arcade Fire.

I think I still have my Daydream Nation tour tshirt somewhere. hmm.

I saw them at the Kardomah on that tour - one of the best shows I've ever seen.

They do not want the kids every ten years to not realize how much credit they need to get. Because every ten years, new kids. Sonic Youth are wise beyond their years. And educating 30 years worth of kids now with the sonics of youth. If it weren't for them, kids of today probably wouldn't have mp3s.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j171/mdanielwalter/animal_expression.gif

touche

Bad Moon Rising
EVOL
Sister
Daydream Nation
Goo
Dirty

I like all the stuff that came before Bad Moon Rising, and tons of stuff after Dirty, but that's a nice string of six.

I think the reissues are nice for people buying for the first time.

lol wtf is that squirrel? Me-slash-Austin Powers?

i'll wait and pick it off ebay in a month or 2.
never buy these things when they first come out, tis silly.

Tonight, I am seeing SY perform Daydream Nation in it's entirety. No surprises in the setlist then.

there's always the encores

get there in time for the scientists!!

Oh yes, I will be there Blood Red River.

there 'for'

they're still doing this? it was pretty good when I saw it last year

yeah i saw one of the roundhouse nights in camden and it was absolutely storming.

they completely destroyed 'teenage riot' (in the best possible way).

a potential drawback of this is that when they finally finish this daydream tour they'll never want to include any of these songs in a set again.

I hope they do an Evol/Sister tour next and then quit

(ok, make that a Bad Moon Rising/Evol/Sister tour)

with the 2nd half of NYC Ghosts & Flowers thrown in for good measure...

I'd go see them play some warshing machine jammers.

The painting on the cover is going on sale if anyone wants it:
Painting that adorned classic album to be sold

Genius. Even Providence. :)

30 mins of Rather Ripped choonz and similar noodling followed.

Are there really nostalgic 40something SY fans out there w/ millions of quids to blow on a G. Richter painting? (i wld rather own one of his Baader-Meinhof pics...)

I'm still wishing the sound would have been better for them at last year's Pitchfork Fest.

I've been wanting to hear their cover of "Computer Age" again.