Flashback Friday: Sonic Youth

When you look up “hip indie music” in the dictionary, Sonic Youth’s band picture is shown. Their bizarre/catchy song Bull In The Heather off of the Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star album released May 3, 1994 is the focus of today’s Flashback Friday.

The album this track appears on was my first Sonic Youth album, and even then I only had a marginal understanding of the music. I was just starting to get into alternative and independent music, and I felt so.. hip listening to them. Kinda like the kids that listened to Dinosaur Jr., I felt by knowing who Sonic Youth even was added cool points to me. Ahh the simplicity of the teenage years.

From their Last.fm Bio:

Initially inspired by the experimentation of Glenn Branca and The Velvet Underground and the heavy garage rock of The Stooges, they are known for using a variety of unorthodox guitar tunings, and for applying screwdrivers, drumsticks or other preparations to guitars to alter the instruments timbre.

Members of the band have released books of poetry and prose (a beatnik influence is evident in both their writing and lyrics), produced, written and performed in films (such as “1991: The Year Punk Broke”, “Perfect Partner”, “(this is known as) the blues scale” and “last days”). They have staged shows of visual art, and curated the All Tomorrows Parties music festival. They’ve even appeared in and performed a version of the theme song for “The Simpsons”.

In addition to their 21 albums as Sonic Youth there is much material recorded and performed with other artists, solo albums, and side-projects. It can be said that Sonic Youth are an artistic collective just as much as they are a traditional rock/pop band.

Big plus to Thurston Moore himself for uploading their videos to YouTube. Enjoy!