Sonic Youth - Screaming Fields Of Sonic Love poll

impossible poll

voted "expressway" b/c i never once get bored hearing it

Expressway, I think.

"Teenage Riot" has the best video though.

what a collection. voted "Brother James"

voted "Shadow of a Doubt" because I want it to get at least one vote

Did they actually make four Ciccone Youth vids?

the first two CY songs here are on the CD compilation, the other two are (very low-budget) videos on the VHS comp

i should be clear that this poll is meant to be best song and not best video or even necessarily taking into account the versions featured on the VHS

Schizophrenia

the addicted to love vid is just kim dancing in front a green screen right? vaguely remember it.

I remember the "Addicted To Love" vid. It's pretty funny.

I remember when this came out. The Sister choices are super weird.

there is just no way to come up with a "real" vote here, too many undeniable choices. among these, aar:

"Into the Groove(y)"
"Eric's Trip"
"Kotton Krown"
"Expressway to Yr. Skull"
"Death Valley '69"
"Halloween"
"Brother James"
"I Dreamed I Dream"
"Silver Rocket"
"Macbeth"
"Schizophrenia"

voting "i dreamed i dream" cuz it's beautiful and got shortchanged in the lee songs poll.

if "hyperstation" were here, i might have gone for that.

pretty cool tracklistin on this comp, though i've never owned it ... maybe predictable, but i'd probably have to vote for schizophrenia.

haven't heard a lot of these in a long time. also didn't realize I may like Evol the best because "Starpower" "Shadow of a Doubt" and esp "Expressway" really stand out in my mind

This is pretty hard plus some of my fave Evol/Sister tracks aren't on, voting "Starpower" or maybe "Xpressway", gritting teeth and shutting eyes thru discussion of inferior later tracks.

Evol is very hit and miss where the good songs kind of prop up the rest, more than most of their best albums imo

Could not disagree more. EVOL is brilliant front to back for me.

Except for stupid "Bubblegum" on the stupid CD.

no "bubblegum" on the LP yay

been listening to some of the earlier SY tracks now. "I Dreamed A Dream" is great. also "Brother James" and the stuff from Bad Moon Rising. After many years of fandom and progession to a kind of immunity to SY, this early atonal, ambient stuff is really striking a chord

Light the way, candle

Love "Making the Nature Scene" from the first couple, also "Dreamed a Dream" yeah

Confusion is a very underrated record. The self-titled EP not so much. I should pull out the Sonic Death tapes. I haven't listened to those in like 15 years, but I remember loving them as teen.

Voted "Silver Rocket." May be the only one. Which is fine.

"Cross the Breeze"
"Green Light
"Tom Violence"
"Beauty Lies in the Eye"

"Cotton Crown"
"Expressway to Yr Skull"
"Rain King"
"Schizophrenia"
"Death to Our Friends"
"Star Power"
"Death Valley '69"
"Total Trash"

(admittedly I need to go listen to Confusion & BMR some more...)

(I like Flower lots too)

"Shadow of A Doubt" is so sexy and understated and dark, defs my favorite SY song, and the song that got me into them.

yeah, i love the way a lot of the best stuff on evol (and BMR to some extent) points forward to this bruised, nightmarish and sex-sodden alternate universe sonic youth that never came to be. there's a strikingly feminine quality to songs like "shadow of a doubt" that's inseparable from their passive, inward-turned violence. can't think of much other music that scratches the same itch. bardo pond sometimes?

ha my first thought was "A Girl In Trouble (Is A Temporary Thing)" tho that is 1000x smoother.

interesting that both "Shadow of A Doubt" and the lyrics "met a stranger on a train" reference Hitchcock films. "Shadow of A Doubt" is definitely one of their best songs...understated but with such an extremity of feeling lurking beneath

I was just listening to the Stooges "I'm Not Right" yesterday and thinking about how great the cut-up version on BMR is. Of the many SY missed opportunities, the one I'm saddest about is that they didn't pursue the between song segue thing a bit more.

At loud volume in the car, I'll still go w/Death Valley '69, even if it is basically Evol Jr. At regular volume, or on computer speakers or an iPod or any of the other horrible ways we listen to music now, probably I Dreamed I Dream.

I always thought Flower wz Evol Jr. (EVOL wz the alternate name for Flower on the Walls Have Ears album)

yeah, i love the way a lot of the best stuff on evol (and BMR to some extent) points forward to this bruised, nightmarish and sex-sodden alternate universe sonic youth that never came to be. there's a strikingly feminine quality to songs like "shadow of a doubt" that's inseparable from their passive, inward-turned violence. can't think of much other music that scratches the same itch. bardo pond sometimes?

this is ^otm & explains why it's my favorite album of theirs far better than I ever could. Sund4r somewhere refers to this album being an intimate "gender-fuck" and that's pretty otm too. And I really love that it applies to both the four 'pop' songs (Tom Violence, Star Power, Green Light, Expressway)(four of the best songs Thurston ever wrote) as well as all of the outlier 'filler' (not really) tracks like Shadow, and ITK 19, and Secret Girls, and even Death to Our Friends. The album has just this pervasive aura about it, which is why I always have the time of day for Secret Girls--not the case for, like, Providence. Just seems like the most cohesive, most sincere, most intimate thing that Sonic Youth has ever done, and it's easily one of the 20 best records I've ever heard...

yeah see i adore "Shadow" and "Expressway," and "Kingdom" and "Death" are really cool, but "Tom Violence" and "Green Light" are just kinda dullsville for me.

i would've honestly never guessed that you liked SY until this poll, al ¯\(°_o)/¯

(I love DV 69, and it seems to me the hardest rocking SY song until Cross the Breeze, but it sounds much more like the Stooges ca. Fun House than anything on EVOL. That riff is just huge: Da-Da-DUH!, Da-da-da-da-DUH!)

i have literally started at least a half dozen other Sonic Youth threads before this one, including one a week or two back

^yeah 80% of the SY threads that have been spotted on New Answers in the last, say, three months have been started by ship.

Green Light is the first song I fell in love with on EVOL...it's all about the bass, I guess? (<-def. the case w/ Tom V)

GL just sounds like the most improbable pop song in existence.

It's not my favorite, but "Death Valley '69" is the most frightening SY tune. Just the bass alone...

I don't know how to choose here, don't think i want to even. There's a great version of star power on the mixtape up on their site atm though, kinda made me fall in love with it all over again.

i have literally started at least a half dozen other Sonic Youth threads before this one, including one a week or two back

― some dude, Tuesday, February 1, 2011 9:13 AM (23 minutes ago)

^yeah 80% of the SY threads that have been spotted on New Answers in the last, say, three months have been started by ship.

― lol at the witch trials (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, February 1, 2011 9:16 AM (20 minutes ago)

ahhh man i'm not too perceptive these days

Expressway. Would have been hard if either "I'm Insane" or "I Love Her All The Time" were on here.

Voted for "Starpower" in the end as the archetypal "SY Go Pop" song. The way the riff emerges clunking and wheezing from the chaos of the middle 8 as the song finds itself again was amazing to me at the time. Evol definitely had this otherworldly beauty thing down pat, it was magical and mysterious in ways that they stopped being, later.

I don't know how to choose here, don't think i want to even. There's a great version of star power on the mixtape up on their site atm though, kinda made me fall in love with it all over again.

― sonderangerbot, Tuesday, February 1, 2011 10:35 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

oh yeah i've been meaning to check that mixtape out. is it the acoustic version they did a couple years back?

Sonic Youth 80s LPs in order for me:

EVOL
Sister (marred by the Crime cover... but otherwise neck and neck)
Daydream (starting to try to be a little too REM at this point and "Rain King" is really pretty awful... probably the last moment where someone could claim they were the best band in the world with a straight face.)
Confusion (as good as they got on LP pre-EVOL imo made all the better by the Kill Yr Idols EP on the CD version though)
Bad Moon (songs/production/drumming just not as good as their other records--also improved on CD by inclusion of Flower/Halloween)

what's wrong with Rain King?

lol "too REM" does that have any basis in reality

yeah waht

gonna vote for "Schizophrenia" since that's kind of my default canonical best SY song ever pick, and i kinda wanna see it beat "Teenage Riot" or "Expressway" or whatever in this poll

my top 10 would be like: Schizophrenia, Shadow Of A Doubt, Eric's Trip, Beauty Lies, Brother James, Halloween, Silver Rocket, Expressway, Teenage Riot, I Dreamed I Dream

My top ten. This is pretty close to my real top ten actually except I might swap in a Sister track or two and maybe "World Looks Red".

"Expressway to Yr. Skull"
"Shadow of a Doubt"
"Schizophrenia"
"Halloween"
"Death Valley '69"
"Silver Rocket"
"Inhuman"
"Eric's Trip"
"Brother James"
"Flower"

Just don't know where to start with this poll.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Massive archive of SY boots, rarities, side projects etc here:
http://www.freewebs.com/sonikyouth/

Yeah, I change my mind every time I open this thread, and thus have been shutting up and waiting for something to knock me out.

Pretty sure that I have to go "Expressway" or "Schizophrenia", but I could vote for others and feel good about it, i.e.:

Brother James
Silver Rocket
Making the Nature Scene
Shadow of a Doubt
D.V. '69, though think that the recorded version often sounds more muted than it should

Might have voted for "Hey Joni" if it had been on the list.
Gonna vote one way or the other by the end of the day.
Gotta say that "Expressway" or "Schizophrenia" get old for me, truly a marvel.

love these results. did this not get a 'results are in' bump for some reason? what the hell, ilx system?

ah cool, didn't see the results were in!

good showing for "shadow of a doubt," didn't expect it to come in that high. you gotta figure "schizophrenia" (which i'm not knocking, it's fantastic) won in part b/c it's not splitting votes with other great trax from its parents album, i.e. it's a lone highlight on that record. as opposed to say, "star power," "shadow" and "expressway" all vying for top honors on EVOL, or the multitude of daydream nation stuff in the top ten.

from its parent album*

oops

"Schizophrenia" is definitely the only big 'single'/consensus pick from Sister but it's pretty ridic to call it the lone highlight of the album.

It is the lone highlight that's on this comp though.

eh "Beauty Lies" is one of my faves

It's maybe the fifth or sixth best song that record. "Kotton Krown" might be seventh.

I just made those numbers up, but I do like "Stereo Sanctity", "White Cross" and "Tuff Gnarl" more than either of those two tracks. Admittedly probably slightly less than "Schizophrenia" on most days, but still.

jyp

Glad I threw my vote at "Expressway", as it rules and "Schizophrenia" won anyway. Definitely glad to see "Shadow of a Doubt" score high as well, such a great song.

jyp?

jesus, you people

ok...here's hoping that doesn't catch on as the next overused ilx acronym expression.

Agree with Alex in SF about "Schizophrenia"'s placing on Sister except it's def below "Kotton Krown" too. Continue to be mystified by "Teenage Riot" love, happy for "Shadow of a Doubt" to be there

Not sure this is the best place to post this, but the new SYR record "Simon Werner A Disparu" is streaming, and I am really digging it. A fair amount of piano and, of course, some really nice guitar playing. Hard to place specifically as being focussed on any one "part" of their chronology. I am certainly biased, but really, to my ears there is a lot to like here.

Check it out

This is really good, thx for the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vbhi0O5qtg&feature=player_embedded#at=23
trailer just works as a cool sonic youth video. sdtk sounds great!

Yeah, it really does! For anyone casually checking in (i.e., not going to listen to the link), it is all instrumental, but perhaps edited/overdubbed/composed to the point where stuff sounds reasonably to the point. Stuff still goes lots of places and remains expansive, though. Lots of 3-guitar moments, but all the pieces are short save the last one, which is awesome! I don't know, gets me excited for a new record, that's for sure, but this just may do. Will be buying sometime in the not too distant future.

yeah, kind of funny -- at this point i'd almost rather hear SY do this kind of thing than even attempt any conventional songwriting rock band stuff. as this soundtrack shows, they're experts at mood music these days.

yeah i kind of checked out of keeping up w/ the SYRs a while ago but the tracks from this new one that i heard on the SY.com streaming mixtape sounded so good that i'm totally psyched for this record

Yeah, or I guess the mix they achieve at times on the stretch from "Washing Machine" through "Murray St.", where they integrate some of the same moments. I would love to see them meld this kind of thing (i.e., the SYR approach) to the longer-form songwriting and maybe even the segues-style of "Bad Moon Rising".

If I was in the band that is what I would be pushing for at least (hah!). I would really go for seeing them try that live at least, maybe even ditching setlists and trying to wing it, though of course that would require them being able to move amongst guitars at will (necessitating a whole lot of seguing too I guess). Possible logistical nightmare.

Sorry, that was in response to tylerw

yeah there's kind of a tension between how ostensibly freeform and experimental the band is, and how regimented and ritualized they are about so many aspects of their music -- a lot of it's kind of necessity, like their setlists are probably so static from one show to the next in a tour in part because every song has a different tuning on a different guitar etc. they're just not in a technical position to go "hey let's bust out an oldie we haven't played in a few years."

i still think their vocal-orienting songwriting is worthwhile but it is great to hear them just tear loose on instrumentals sometimes. there are some albums (A Thousand Leaves and NYC Ghosts in particular) where the instrumentals they were playing live sounded so complete and natural that adding vocals in some cases kind of was to the detriment of the material.

yeah that makes sense -- i still dig their more straight-up vocal stuff, but mainly i just want to revel in their "sound," which this sdtk is perfect for. i haven't kept up too much with all the SYR things, but one I did hear and like was the brakhage live improv disc.

the brakhage one is great, it's also a bit soundtrack-y but really intense at times. gonna listen to it now.

Yeah, they would have some serious work to do in respects to doing a "freewheeling" set, and perhaps it would be somewhat impossible. Would be great to see though if they ever figured out how to do it.

I would definitely go for a live set/album where they went for long stretches without singing and just pushed the instrumental sections some. I would ideally want to see them expand some of their songs that have built-in oportunities for improv as opposed to just seeing them do full-on improv though, or if newly composed stuff had structured as well as places to launch off. Still have a dream of seeing "Theresa's Sound World" live and imagine that the instrumental breaks in that song could go various places, but maybe not. Just wonderin to myself ... It's the kind of band I would like to be in.

tylerw, SYRs 1 and 2 both have some really good revelling in sound moments, particularly "Anagrama" from SYR 1 and "Slaapkamers Met Slagroom" on SYR 2.

One thing I really love that I have not heard in a long time is "Elegy for All the Dead Rock Stars" off of T.Moore's Psychic Hearts. Wish I had that right now actually.

oh i love that one

That record is worth it for that song alone in my opinion. I remember very distinctly listening to that record for the first time. I was getting really impatient and cranky cause it just wasn't what I was expecting, or wanted, at the time. Then "Elegy ..." came on and I was like "ahh, right, I do love Thurston". I grew to like the record fine, but really it is all about that track for me.

yeah i've got the first syr 1 and a couple others, just haven't been vigilant about em all.
and i agree with the praise for "elegy" -- even better while stoned.

Hah, certainly when I got that record I would perhaps have been indulging, which may have added to the impatience and crankiness waiting for the cool instrumental breaks to happen. College.

yeah i don't really do that stuff anymore, but "elegy" was always a good one to have handy back in the day ... my brother had it on vinyl.

you guys & your listening to Sonic Youth in college with your college friends. Both times I went to four-year institutions I never met anyone even remotely interested in listening to Sonic Youth...I remember trying to turn one of the big stoners in my frat at my first college onto MBV--played "To Here Knows When" for him--and it didn't stick at all.

Hah, me neither. I bet Elegy is just a side of a record, so easy to consider as a separate entity that way. Probably sounds really good on vinyl too. Maybe I'll pick it up at some point.

yeah it was side 3 of psychic hearts, and side 4 was just weird etchings.

Dude, don't think I was in a room with a bunch of people digging on SY. I was alone in my dorm room wondering why all the guys into Phish and the Allman Bros. and likeminded bands weren't all over that shit. I tried to convert people for a while, then just gave up. After college I moved out of the Northeast and to a town that had a good radio station, and that helped too.

people were pretty into sonic youth at my school, tho the experiences mentioned above weren't there.

Hmmm, sounds good. I bet they pressed a bunch of copies that never really sold either, I can probably find a copy in good shape some day. I am lazy though, no collector of any kind really.

Man, keep posting late. I had a small handful of friends with open minds, we all turned each other on to various things, but I was definitely the "Sonic Youth Guy".

yeah it was side 3 of psychic hearts, and side 4 was just weird etchings.

― tylerw, Thursday, February 10, 2011 2:20 PM (3 minutes ago)

by Rita Ackermann

same person who did the cover art, right?

total challops, but for as far as 20 minute 1995 Moore/Shelley epics, I take "Elegy" over "Diamond Sea

xp yes

Another "Elegy" related story: Whenever a musician I admired or respected died, I would open my radio with this song. Of course, the title and feel are pretty perfect for this kind of send-off, and of course it was long, so it would give me some quality record-sifting and cueing time as well. As I almost always picked records in real-time (no setlists) it was a cool way to kinda create and get in a mood, as well as build up the stack of course.