JAW ON THE FLOOR: Starbucks to Release Sonic Youth Celebrity Compilation (WTF)

goodbye 20th century...

i caffeined i dream

uh

ysi?

table will ysi that bile right into your mouth, dude

Somehow that sums up what I've felt about SY for years.

Yo guys I heard they used an M.I.A. song in a commercial.

hey they were totally headed this way after dirty right? 'daydream nation' is a national recording registry pick! if i were 14 in a starbucks i'd totally buy ddn... after reading THIS:

223. Daydream Nation. Sonic Youth. (1988)

Pioneer members of New York City's clangorous early 1980s No Wave scene, Sonic Youth are renowned for a glorious form of noise-based chaos. Guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo had previously performed with Glenn Branca's large guitar ensembles, and their alternative guitar tunings and ringing harmonies attest to this apprenticeship. On Daydream Nation, their breakthrough album, the group's forays into outright noise always return to melodic songs that employ hypnotic arpeggios, driving punk rock rhythmic figures and furious gales of guitar-based noise. Bassist Kim Gordon's haunting vocals and edgy lyrics add additional depth to the numbers she sings.

sympathy for the strawberry > i dreamed i dream

ok I'm one of the last remaining "I hate it when good music gets used in commercials" fuxx and even I don't see what's the big deal about this

btw starbucks if u read this call my publisher, awesome thanks

"I Killed Tim Horton With My Grande Fucking Latte"

Is it actually called a "Sonic Youth Celebrity Compilation"? Cuz that probably appealed to their Karen Carpenter side.

is this really that surprising? doesn't anyone remember the GAP billboards with kim gordon? didn't thurston moore recently reveal that the source material for the songs on their last record was instrumental pieces he'd written for a series of bank commercials?

instrumental pieces he'd written for a series of bank commercials?

It starts at the top
Now it's deflating down
Works best when it's out
Gainin' interest around

Never mind it now
We can bring it back
It's total cash
And it's a natural fact
That I track the Dow

I don't see what's the big deal about this

People with crap taste in coffee buying a compilation? Hmm, come to think of it, I don't see the fussy either.

Come on, SY - don't you know the true path to hipness is via a Tim Horton's comp????? Tim Bits and a DDN to go, please!

Dunkin Donuts Nation

The idea that this should be thought of as jaw-dropping is kind of jaw-dropping. Call me when the Starbucks G.G. Allin compilation comes out.

I'm just disturbed at the idea of Grande latte swillers swaying their hips to a bossa nova version of Teenage Riot.

But lol elitist/rockist/corny indie fuxxor etc

it's the perfect soundtrack to the african teenage riot soldier bio they've been shilling.

i think the only reason it's so jaw-dropping to me is that...well, i haven't paid SY any attention since Sonic Nurse, so the fact that they'd be okay with doing something for Starbucks (right on paul mccartney's back, mind you) kind of made me go, "whuh?"

i love you, sonic youth.

this is more punk than punk then back to punk then past it again and then back to it.

pulling a slim moon that's actually FUNNY.

<i>this is more punk than punk then back to punk then past it again and then back to it.</i>

I love how SY has made fans think this is what's going on -- that it's some nod/wink Warholian punk thing, when in fact they've been marketing whores for years now. No diff than all the mindless commercials on television.

Sonic Youth is no different than all the mindless commercials on television?

I want to clarify that what I'm aghast at is the inevitably awful music this project is going to produce, not the concept of it being sold in a Starbucks. I didn't really get the hoopla about the new Macca album either.

What about those weird tuning? You don't hear that in all of television's mindless commercials.
X-post

Isn't this CD a compilation selected by different celebrity fans? Except for the one new song, hasn't the "inevitably awful music" already been produced?

<i>this is more punk than punk then back to punk then past it again and then back to it.</i>

I love how SY has made fans think this is what's going on -- that it's some nod/wink Warholian punk thing, when in fact they've been marketing whores for years now. No diff than all the mindless commercials on television.

-- QuantumNoise, Saturday, June 16, 2007 9:06 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

you are an idiot.

yeah, that's what it looks like, celebrity picks and one new tune:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/43669-starbucks-to-release-sonic-youth-celebrity-compilation (xpost)

I hope the new song is good! I like the idea of them doing a one-off song between albums that won't be some half-assed instrumental thing for an indie compilation. Also depending on what celebrities they ask, the song choice could be pretty interesting.

oh well fuck me then, bring it on starbuck youth

you are an idiot.

-- andi, Saturday, June 16, 2007 9:30 PM

Putting aside the fact that QuantumNoise is picking on you, do you think he's wrong?

I drink drip coffee only, black, a lot of it, and Starbucks is above average.

I like the idea of them doing a one-off song between albums that won't be some half-assed instrumental thing for an indie compilation.

covers aside, I can't think of a time SY has ever used their whole ass for a comp track.

Thurston's "oh yeah we gotta get around to that" tone doesn't promise much either.

She knows how to make foam for me
She know how to make foam
Starbucks-power, Starbucks-power, Starbucks-power
Over Me

you are an idiot.

-- andi, Saturday, June 16, 2007 9:30 PM

Putting aside the fact that QuantumNoise is picking on you, do you think he's wrong?

-- BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, June 16, 2007 9:41 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

yes! very much so!
really. i haven't played sy in years, but shit like this just reminds me why i kind of love 'em. it's just a laugh. get it or don't (which is fine, if you don't). just don't laugh at someone for laughing.

Or, with record/CD stores closing with alarming regularity, SY might just be exploring another possible venue for selling their product.

And I can't blame any band for that.

Or, with record/CD stores closing with alarming regularity, SY might just be exploring another possible venue for selling their product.

I wonder if they've heard of the internet.

I'm sure they have.

You're suggesting that bands looking for alternatives limit themselves to Internet retailers?

i wonder if they've heard of making a living for years now, off of what they've been doing.

i've always wondered if the sonic youth apologists (contorting themselves into explaining how all these commercial endeavors are, um, "punk") are the same people who think a band like the Who are hopeless corporate sellouts for doing essentially the same things.

She knows how to make foam for me
She know how to make foam
Starbucks-power, Starbucks-power, Starbucks-power
Over Me

-- dlp9001, Saturday, June 16, 2007 11:35 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

Please stop it.

http://www.moviesoundscentral.com/sounds/vanilla_sky/cum.wav

What was jaw-dropping to me was just that Starbucks would have seen enough commercial potential to be interested in doing this.

Sundar making the only sense on this thread so far.

Maybe the fact that the cover art's meaning is even debatable is a good sign as to its effectiveness. "All great art provokes either extremely positive or extremely negative reactions, lots of controversy, different interpretations," etc. etc.

Jesus Christ there is so much projecting going on in this thread. I love the basic assumption that anyone stepping foot in a Starbucks is automatically a mouthbreathing retard.

Don't worry about that silly;)

Is it more that there's still a kind of disconnect between being on tv/radio/mall and associated with a corporate behemoth? Like a lot of the rhetoric is about taking over or doing well, on own terms - rather than being tied up with a corporate company (disregarding that hooking up with a corporate might actually *be* someone doing it on their terms!)

I think the art is kind of functional with a little tongue in cheekness about it. Depends who was responsible for the design itself, it would be good to ask them!

Depends who was responsible for the design itself

highly OTM ^

What's wrong with a band selling at Starbucks? How is that any different from selling at, say, Target? Or at Best Buy? How is that different from licensing a song to a commercial? Or a movie? Do you really care if a band wants to expand its fanbase a bit? Is "artistic" "integrity" that strict, that bands cannot market their music through popular avenues like the Starbucks record racks?

Watch this film -- narrated by Thurston Moore -- and ask those questions again.

Isn't the basic assumption not that stepping in Starbucks is for dumb people. but that buying starbucks branded media is for dumb people

I think thats a bit sad tho, i hope we aren't criticizing people for their choice of media consumption!

http://thumbnail.search.aolcdn.com/vsthumb5/tn/90/F9/90F9D88153DADCF277DEEE.jpg

I wonder what people would think of a Starbucks branded Charles Mingus CD?

If i was in Starbucks i would probably buy one. I might buy the sonic youth one too if i was stopping off for coffee in a town somewhere and didnt have any music in the car

What is that picture Jeff?

f i was stopping off for coffee in a town somewhere and didnt have any music in the car

haha yeah. we've got a reggae comp from there because of this reason basically. damn impulse buy!

Lots of people buy stuff for this reason! Ive bought stuff I already had when ive been on a roadtrip

If you took the writing away from the starbucks cd it looks like a Bowery Electric cd

I imagine that the band thinks that an audience that would get upset or be insufficiently discerning about departures from purity on the part of their entertainers ultimately has some stifling impact on artistic creativity.

I think it might be that they are doing what they want to do;)

It kinda looks like a scene from one of their videos. You know, the high school romancey one, or was that Dinosaur Jr?

that is JAWSUS

roadtrip impulse buys are the best

I got this on a road trip

http://www.amazon.com/Wheels-Tears-Kay-Adams/dp/B0002B16EG

Its very good. Better than Sonic Youth and Starbucks:P

Watch this film -- narrated by Thurston Moore -- and ask those questions again.

I've seen it. Here's a quote from the film that, basically, sums up what it's about:

"But even though music is the popular medium -- it's the people's medium -- it really isn't the people's medium in our society today. It's the property of four or five companies who have inordinate control over what sort of music gets produced and what sort of music doesn't, and that made it much more difficult for it to be the people's medium, and this is the problem we face. This is the crisis we face." -- Robert McChesney, University of Illinois

So tell me, how is that applicable to SY choosing to sell a hits compilation at Starbucks? Are they being forced to do so? Is the record company exercising its control over what gets produced in this case? Because if I recall, this was SY's decision to go forward with this compilation. Thurston seems excited about it in the interviews I've read. I don't think it's a good example of "the people's medium" being stifled or silenced. It's just a new way of marketing SY's music to more people.

I was going to ask the same question but hadn't seen the film, so I would have been talking out of my ass. Thanks, stephen!

I don't have a problem with them making their music available as broadly as possible. More power to them! But the cover looks to me like a slam on the people they're selling to, which is just a bummer. Like they're condescending by making their works available to power-coffee drinkers instead of whatever more authentic audience they envision for themselves. And yeah I'm projecting here, but that's what it looks like to me.

Hang on, is that Michelle Williams the actress or Michelle Williams the singer?

(I kind of agree with dad a.)

Again: It's all in how it's interpreted. Which is the beauty of it, to me.

the cover looks to me like a slam on the people they're selling to, which is just a bummer

does that guy look like the people you see in a Starbucks store? clearly, he is a 'corporate' guy. some people regard Starbucks as a purveyor of 'corporate' coffee.

the cover says, "look at us, we're selling out!"

I'm going to love it when it's revealed that the "cover" is actually a quick Photoshop done by a Pitchfork news staffer.

that would be v v disappointing

I think they simultaneously like the idea of selling their music in Starbucks, because it will reach a lot of people and they'll make a little money, and also realize the ridiculousness of it, and that they'll catch shit for it. But they've been around long enough and have nothing to prove so they don't really care. So they're making fun of themselves and their fans with that cover also, but hopefully everyone involved is in on the joke and can have a chuckle. It's not an either/or kind of situation. And I think lots of people who go to Starbucks, even heavy users, realize there is something a little comical about the whole Starbucks experience. Hence the number of comedians who have made jokes about there being a Starbucks on every corner.

^^real talk

On the back cover of his first major label solo LP, Thurston Moore was wearing a Ralph Lauren Polo pinpoint Yarmouth oxford dress shirt.[2]

who cares?

Ben Weasel to thread

(full disclosure: i own both the Psychic Hearts LP and a similar Ralph Lauren Polo dress shirt.)

JAW ON THE FLOOR

~~jaw on the floor lookin boy~~

yes deej, we noticed, thanks for continuing to point it out

ts: repeating lol thread title vs. tedious debate about 'sellouts' and starbux

horrible, awful, gay, jaw, on, the, floor

aaaaaaaaaanyway who gives a shit if they are selling via starbucks, let them get money they deserve it

and if youre all up in arms psychoanalyzing the cover you need to take a step back for a sec

Why are you two douchebags posting on this thread if you don't care so much again?

cuz i thought the shock and horror in the op was lol
ill leave it be now tho, be cool

Ben Weasel to thread

genuine lols! I wrote to MRR arguing with that letter of his!

But I like talking about the cover!

Reading the Weasel scribe is the gem of owner the Master Dik 12"

owning

Hello, just popped in to say: the funniest comment so far has to be

"What do you mean, Starbucks make above average coffee, didn't you see the survey/test panel results?"

I take it they never got round to recording that 'special' track for this, anyroad.

um, they did. It's the last track on the CD.

oh yeah.

My only objection is that the CDs Starbucks sell aren't exactly 'discount', even though they look cheap.

HI I AM CORPORATE DRONE I NEBER HERD OF SONIC YOUTH WATS DAT IS IT CLASSIC GENIUS LIKE RAY CHARLES OOH PRETTY PICSHURE

cracked me up

I am excited to buy this. At the Starbucks I stopped at tonight for a delicious iced latte, they had a Doors greatest hits CD and a James Brown greatest hits CD for sale by the register.