How did you fall in love with sonic youth?
 

A little story:
A few years ago I was doing my homework and not listening to music. I opened windows media player to pop on some tunes and there was sonic youth staring at me. I clicked a button to stream their new album, and I didn't listen to anything else for a whole bunch of weeks. I bought the cd, listened to paper cup exit repeatedly, and slowly but surely every song on the album became my favorite for its own week. Except peace attack.

So yeah, sonic nurse did it to me. I guess a lot of you are going to be sickened by that but I don't fully understand why. Since then I have bought (in order) goo, washing machine, dirty, daydream nation (for my girlfriend but we share cds), made in USA, sister, and rather ripped. In the case of washing machine, sister, and rather ripped it's taken me about 12 listens to even like the album. And I love the albums now. It's nice to find a band that I can actually grow to love instead of get bored of.

A 12 year old me back in 1994 bought a cd called daydream nation and hated it. It wasn't nirvana enough for me. Of course I realise my error now, but I don't feel too bad about.

Anyway, I'd like to hear how other people heard sonic youth. Also, if anyone wants to rag on sonic nurse I'd like to hear why some people hate it. I can't think of a single song on it I hate. It's one of those albums that just sounds entirely complete and perfect to me.

Saw em on Letterman in 94 and I've been hooked ever since.

got a recording of daydream off a classmates elder brother in around 1988/89. went home, listened to it and was stung by the sonic by the time the mid section of silver rocket kicked in......

the next day i went out and bought daydream nation and sister and black celebration by depeche mode as far as i remember

oh yeah, i later went out and bought bleach by a band called nirvana cuz sonic youth were wearing a nirvana shirt on telly, i thought it was ok, i then went out and bought a sebadoh album cuz kurt was wearing a doh teeshirt, i loved it........ i take my record buying seriously!

I saw them in 1998 or 1999 in "Ровесник" magazine, here in Russia. There was an interesting article about SY's music and after reading it I've wanted to listen them. I bought "ATL" casette but there were no emotions after listening this record... I was just young boy at the age of ten so I just forgot about this band and have continued to listen pumpkins. But in 2004 I bought "Nurse" and really went into their music... Now they are my favourite band without any doubt. :D

I listen to what the All Music Guide gives 5/5 and albums hailed as classics. I go from there. I got into sonic youth because some guy on MXtabs forums said that "Siamese dream (my favourite album), goo and where you been? were his favourite albums" He reccomended me some sonic and i bought Dirty. It went from there.

My Dad used to play me Drunken Butterfly really loud when I was about four and say 'This is proper music!.' I would be like 'Turn it off! It's too loud and it's old man's music (I pretty much refused to like anything my Dad liked back then)!' But I carried the famous line of 'I love you, I love you, I love you... what's yr. name?' with me all the way up until High School, where I was singing it one day walking along with a friend in the hope that he'd be like 'What's that?' and I'd be like 'Oh, it's Sonic Youth. Have you not heard of them? I have! I am cooler than you (or words to that effect!)!'

So yeah, I was the cool kid name dropping all these cool obscure indie bands back then. But one day in the car a coupla years ago, my Dad was playing Sonic Nurse to me (loud again). It was Pattern Recognition first (of course), and I remember thinking about how much I liked the sorta laid back semi-improvised style to it (oh yeah, and all the fuzz feedback o' course!), so I inquired to my Dad into what it was. Hearing it was Sonic Youth I was like 'Tsch! It's shit then!'

But then, in the weeks to follow, I secretly listened to Dirty (the only Sonic Youth album we had in the house at the time), figuring that I should really give this band a go since I pretended to know loads about them so regularly at school. I fell in love with that album pretty instantly. I decided to admit to my Dad that, yeah, Sonic Youth were good and it wasn't just old man's music! So, I went down to my Dad's mate's house and browsed his extensive record collection for every Sonic Youth record I could find and borrowed the lot. In the weeks to follow I listend to them regularly on my mp3 player and in time fell in love with the band.

Sonic Youth are now my favourite band of all time...

Deeply.

my first boyfriend (and first love ) had been getting into them . he played daydream nation for me and i was crazy about it .

i bought dirty

It was 2001 and i was 13 and really into Nirvana and i read somewhere that Kurt Cobain had really like Sonic Youth. so went out and bought 'Screaming fields of sonic love', the first song was teenage riot, and i have loved them ever since.

I remember watching the video of "Little Trouble Girl" some time back in 1997 when I was hooked on Radiohead and bands like that. And I was like,: "Wow, that's weird. I better pick up the album."
So I did.

i remember years and years ago in my grunge days, i downloaded a few SY songs, youth against facism and some of the other stuff from dirty. i can remember thinking it was the most simplistic, ridiculous stupid crap ever. my ears weren't able to compute the sonic complexities. years later, i think it was probably around 2003, i started reading pitchfork (back when it wasn't shit) and discovered the rich world of indie music that was totally ignored and disgraced by all the corporate shit journalism i was reading at the time. for a while i remember being in a really happy period of my life, reading pitchfork everyday, discovering it was OK to like all sorts of wierd and different music and you didnt have to have big heavy power chords and 30year old teen angst fretwankers in your ears all day. so as my interest in nirvana progressed, and as i started to branch out into the bands kurt would rave about, i became aware of sonic youth again. i remember searching everywhere but not being able to find any of their records. i read about how daydream nation was such a masterpiece and vowed to track down a copy. then one day the annual CD fair came to town, these guys would rent out a massive room in the town hall, next to the stage, and set up tables and tables of cheap CD's. I was in fucking bliss and scoured the place, picking up some REM, Smiths, Janes Addiction stuff. Then to my fucking delight I saw one guy had a torn up old cardboard box with about 10 SY CD's in it. I asked but he told me that DN had just been sold to someone else. I tried to return the other CD's I had just bought but was only able to return one of them. So I borrowed a few coins off a friend and bought Goo and Bad Moon Rising.

I remember getting home totally fucking pysched at this new band I was so excited to explore. I put in Goo and tried really hard to dig it but I just thought it was old dirty grunge and not very intelligent. Over time my ears grew and after much preserverance it all clicked and suddenly I was in fucking heaven. Bad Moon Rising freaked me out too fuck, one of my most favorite and treasured musical expieriances was first getting into that album. It was the most darkest fucked up shit ever, and I fell in love with the band.

After that I can remember download an mp3 of teenage riot one day. I listened to it a few times on repeat but it just sounded dull and I couldn't pick it apart. Then over the next few days in school suddenly this almighty fucking tune got into my head. I couldn't figure out were it was from, it just wrapped itself around my brain and wouldn't let go, and I thought fuck this is the greatest thing ever. So after a long time of searching I realised it was Teenage Riot. I spent an entire year in totally awe and love with that song. No matter what else I was listening to, I always had a mix with Teenage Riot on it. When I eventually tracked down DN, on holiday in Prague, some of my fondest memories of life were walking around this enchanting old city drifiting off into DN.

Sonic Youth brought me out of a musical dead end. They changed my preception of what music could be, they were a bridge from alternative music into high art. They constantly challenge me and I don't know if I'll ever find another band that could open me up to a whole new universe of art and music than they did. I'm fucking grateful everyday that they signed to a major label, even tho this is a practice i abhor. Because if they didn't I don't know what the hell I'd be listening to now. They taught me that you NEVER EVER have to get stale and you NEVER have any fucking excuse if you make a shit record because if you are willing there are always a million different roads to travel, a million different new things to try and a million different new things to get influenced by. I commend them for sticking constantly to their own visions, never comprimising, never making the same record twice and pioneering the spirit of experimentation, while retaining the ability to be accessible and classic. Despite so many fuckers bitching cos they never got a DN.2 SY just did their own thing, despite a lot of people never getting it, they continued.

So yeah, that's why I fell in love with Sonic Youth. Because even at approaching the age most rockstars are self parodying wiped out idiots, Thurston can write a song like Eyeliner. And also, they may have been on a major, but they are one of the most truly independant bands I know. They never ever made a song or a record because I want to hear it or because you want to hear it. They made the type of music they did because they wanted to.

saw 100percent on mtv. i was a skater back then.
it made me buy dirty.

Well I've always been into music (my eariliest memory is being sat in front of the stereo with headphones on) So even before my teen years I had a record collection bigger than most 40 year olds have. I spent most my youth (7-12) in stage musicals and sat in my room trying to write songs on my battered guitar (even though I couldn't really play) my music tastes being so young were really straightforward 60's and 70's pop, Michael Jackson, BeeGees (lol) and showtunes. When I got to 13-14 I totally lost all contact with music (and spent the days watching television and doing fuck all). I started getting into music again casually when I was 15 (the usual Ozzy, Bon Jovi records lol). One day I was watching that Simpson's episode 'Homerpalloza' (that one where Homer goes on tour with the festival's freakshow). I instantly went and downloaded all the bands that were on that show (The Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Cypress Hill all except for Sonic Youth) because I thought they looked cool. When I heard 'Zero' by the Pumpkins I fell instantly in love. I then downloaded their greatest hits record. Listening to that record was the most important musical/cultural moment of my life. It opened my mind to everything music could be. I immediately began playing the guitar and writing songs again and whoreously listening to every band/style of music I could get my hands on, sucking everything in, spending most of my time reading interviews, album reviews and music mags of all kinds trying to find new bands. One band's name kept coming up again and again...Sonic Youth (that band with the cool name and the cool candle poster in the 'Suicide Notes' record in 'The Simpsons'). So i downloaded 'The Diamond Sea' (without the feedback end) I loved the song so much I went and bought 'Washing Machine'. Well it wasn't what I was expecting! I had never heard so much rubbish in all my life. I stuck by it though and began to quite enjoy it (i now adore it). Then in my attempts to find another Diamiond Sea I bought 'Dirty' (plus it was produced by Butch Vig! Simiese Dream Baby!) needless to say it did the trick.

What really made me fall in love with the band's music was 'Teenage Riot' and the band's 80's output. I found an instant soundtrack to my life in 'Daydream Nation', I'd always wanted to live inside a Richard Linklater film and walking through the modern british (barrett home) suburbs where I had just moved, at night with DDN in my ears dreaming of girls, booze and creating havok was the closest thing to it. I began to lecture my friends that Daydream Nation was the greatest album i'd ever heard....of course they didn't get it. I later took to sneaking 'Invito Al Cielo' and 'Bad Moon Rising' onto the car stereo while we on our way to band practice, dispite their fingers in ears reaction to the music (and utter confusion when I presented a song in which I did beat poetry over the music as opposed to singing...a practice I later gave up as I realised I was not Lee Randalo and sucked at it). It must have had some impact as extended Noise jams soon became a frequant way to end a song.

To quote Gerard Cosloy "Sonic Youth's role as loudmouths/fans made almost as much impact on me as their own music". Sonic Youth opened me up to a whole world of Indie rock that collided with 'high art'. I began getting to modern classical/experimental music like John Cage and Steve Reich. I began taking an interest in the art world again and searching everywhere for films by Dave Markey, Harmony Korine, Richard Kern (and all the others SY associated with or gave lip service to) 'till eventually I didn't need Sonic Youth record covers, videos, interviews anymore. The most important thing Sonic Youth continues to do is open kids up to a whole world you hear nothing about when you turn on your TV or Radio. They have shown that even at this late stage it's still possible to rewrite to rulebook.

I accidentally downloaded Little Jammy Thing one time... Loved the hell out of it, listened to it at least every day for like, a month. Then the computer got fucked up, and I forgot about that little jammy thing. By that time, I was waaaay into Nirvana, and was reading alot about Sonic Youth, ("Hey, it's that jammy thing band!") and went out and bought Goo, without even hearing anything by them, save for LJT. Since then, the love affair has blossomed, and that Jammy Thing band has become my favourite band of all time.

I don't have a really long story I'm afraid. My exboyfriend loved Sonic Youth and I hated him so I hated them. Then another exboyfriend loved Sonic Youth and I loved him so I loved them. Then I actually bothered listening to their songs and found that it's pretty awesome music to have on when it's pissing it down with rain and the sun is setting.

I heard Mote. It was all love from then on..

what an introduction!

i got sonic nurse as a gift, it was awesome, but i didnt really get into them at that time, so i went out and bought goo, uncle told me it was great,and i loved them since

nice to read yr. stories.

it was in the university. somebody put goo into tape player and i was hooked straight away. then i've started to borrow/buy other albums and i'll tell you i love them. i saw 100% video way b4 i heard goo, i liked video and music, but wasn't really exploring sy, i think i wasn't in music at that time, well i liked metal at that time.

I'm going to copy something in here that I posted in a different thread a long while ago:

Definitely it's the youth's Daydream Nation. I know, I know- cliché, but it did everything for me.

I was about twelve or thirteen, and my parents had just broke up. Being at that particular age in which life already feels hard enough, the emotional baggage I had to drag around with me got me down.

On the advice of The Simpsons, I intended to check out Sonic Youth. I need some music that I could hold onto at the time. So I went to a record store and bought two SY records, Dirty and Daydream Nation. I didn't listen to them until later that night, when I went to my mother's new flat (she had moved out because she caused the breakup). My room there was cold, bare, and was lit too harshly by the big light. It had a huge mirror on one wall, no curtains, and a shitty foldout bed. I pulled in a small stereo and stuck on Daydream Nation. I sat on the bed and pressed 'play' as the room's atmosphere started to get me down.

Teen Age Riot, as if from nowhere, floated into the room with a ghostly riff. Spirit desire. We will fall. Spirit desire. We will fall- and then the riff floated back outside with its vocal friends. I felt really sad. But Teen Age Riot was not over, no- it had just began. Just like my life.

The instruments all announced their presence one by one- Thurston's guitar, Kim's bass, Steve's drums, and finally Lee's guitar, as the song exploded energetically. Thurston began to sing. Immediately I felt like I had a friend in the room. His voice was so indifferent to everything- like he'd seen it all before a million times and it had come to nothing. "Everybody's talking 'bout the stormy weather, but what's a man to do but work out whether it's true?". Thurston guided me through the situation calmly, his wisdom sprawling through the song until the end.

I sat and reflected through Silver Rocket. It was just a bit of background listening at that time. Then The Sprawl started. The guitar danced in, and Kim began to tell me what was up. Another friend had come in. "I grew up in a shotgun row, sliding down the hill, out front were the big machines- steel, and rusty now I guess" she chatted, her childhood just a memory now, and though so much had happened, she was fine. She sang me to a thoughtful doze, as the song deconstructed and fell apart.

Much like Silver Rocket, 'Cross The Breeze was a song for background listening as I thought away. I sat with my ghostly sonic friends in the cold room, staring at my reflection in the mirror. Things aren't so bad, they tell me. Achoo... brancafest.. Lee whispered. What? "I can't see anything at all! All I see is me." - I nodded in agreement. I couldn't see anything past myself at that moment. I had another friend. Eric's Trip might as well have been Danny's Trip.

Thurston told me the whole thing was just Total Trash- and I believed him. I was open for any suggestions. The cold harsh room had just disppeared now- I was transported to that NYC street corner as depicted in the CD photo. Lee told me to put it all behind me. These times are such a mess. So just pick up the past and say 'yes'. KICK IT! Hey Joni..

By now I was convinced that Sonic Youth were the shit and nothing else I'd heard before was worth listening to. Rain pattered onto the window and I looked outside. It was nighttt. Providence faded in rather unnoticably- Mike Watt left me dreamscape messages about some shit as Thurston played piano in a distant room. The album was just blowing my mind. It was my new best friend.

There it was again, a guitar announcement- Candle. Thurston was back. I didn't know what the fuck he was singing about but it all made sense. Cocker on the rock? Man. I was just going with whatever he said because SY was all that mattered at that point. Lee got me a bit apprehensive with Rain King, but Kim reassured me I had Kissability.

The Trilogy played out very well. Whatever had happened, the city was still a Wonder town. I was feeling a little sleepy as Hyperstation kicked in. This album was pretty demanding. I fell out of sleep and hit the floor when it all kicked off and Eliminator Jr. came on. The rhythm was kicking and the drums were thumping and the sonix just keep playing, and, and..

snap. Daydream Nation was gone, and the only sound left was the whir as the CD span round to the beginning.

I was motherfucking hooked on Sonic Youth. I went out and got all their records, scoured biographies and sought thousands of pictures of them. Through that time though, I discovered everything else I listen to today (other than SY of course): Dinosaur Jr, Cat Power, Nirvana, Black Flag, The Ramones, The Stooges, The Beach Boys, Sun Ra, fucking BECK. Sonic Youth had enough sophistication in their music to keep me open minded to all avenues of genre- Jazz, rock, punk, [tasteful] pop. Musically, I was BORN! Daydream Nation entered me into another world, in which I live in right now.

And I'm loving the world I live in.

Without Daydream Nation, music probably wouldn't have been as important to me as it is these days. I would have never picked up an instrument or joined a band. Music is my world, thanks to this album.

TOYMACHINE
Jump off a building!

ED T'S part

on 2002 i was into bands like vomito negro, à;GRUMH... and eventually started to listen to throbbing gristle. then one guy said "if you like noise you should try to listen to sonic youth... download murray street", and i did, and the reaction after listening without much atention was, "oh, boring rock stuff, i don't like it" (even if i already like some rock bands).
some time later one girlfriend sent me a cd with lots of mp3s, and there was a thousand leaves, murray street and nurse. still it didn't work, listened without atention, and... "boring rock stuff".
soon after i started to give more atention to the "boring rock stuff", like placebo, and i was feeling that i wanted something more.. more... more better.
one day the same girl of the cd, then ex-girlfriend, e-mailed me Sunday. i remember of listening to it on the bed, enjoying some lazyness, and it was OH FUCK THAT'S IT!!!
next day i told another girl "oh, i was listening to a sonic youth song yesterday and OH FUCK THAT'S IT!!", and she sent me the 100% video. in the following weeks, every morning, after waking up to go to the university, i listened to sunday and watched the video at least three times. i download some albuns, first sister, then confusion is sex, and the first ep (and, later, every single one), and remembered of the cd that the ex-girlfriend had sent to me, and when i was already obsessed, i was at a friend's house and he played teen age riot. this song have that kind of magic, and i became more obsessed.
one year ago when they came to brazil i was convinced that they are my favourite band, and, well, they are.
now i'm trying to collect the vinyls and stuff.

jsut heard it playing here and there and i was like. what the fuck i need this

I think I saw SY mentioned in an article that also mentioned The Jesus and Mary Chain. I liked JAMC, the name Sonic Youth stuck in my head, I saw and bought either Halloween or DV69 (I can't remember which came first). My bank account hasn't been the same since.

almost 15 yrs ago i smoked a joint with friends and they put on evol

in 91-92 i had heard bits of goo and wasn't so impressed, later as dirty was coming out and sy was on the mtv here and there and i was impressed with how they didn't seem to care about mtv or anything like that, plus the nirvana connection, so i checked out dirty, and i just didn't get it still, fast forward to the beginning of college, hanging out at someone's casa and they was playing the 1991 vhs and damn, it just all made sense to me finally!

Saw em on Letterman in 94 and been a fan ever since.

i hated them when i first bought their album daydream nation and listened to them.
iwas searching for records and some people on the internet recommanded that album. that's why i bought it. anyway i throw it away . dust covered record. daydreamnation was it.

someday i just picked it up again and listened to it while walking down the street . the sunlight was shoooting and 'daydream nation' was plyed.
u know the first song is teenage riot. the noise and rhythm and vocal ... something got me hooked . i went behind the wall and started to dance!!
i don't know if somebody saw it~ kkkk

then i bought dirty, sister, goo and so on ..

Confusion is Sex/Kill yr. Idols. It hit all the right buttons and scared my lamer friends. Really. One kid listened to "Shaking Hell" and really believed these cats had sold their souls to Satan.

To this day, it's probably my favorite SY album.

I read this Nirvana book, and it kept mentioning this fucking weird band called Sonic Youth. I went on Amazon, and everybody kept saying Daydream Nation was their best album. I bought it, and I thought it was the biggest piece of shit I had ever heard in my life. About 4 months after that, I gave it another chance, and I've loved them ever since.

There will be no topping Danny's story. But here's mine!

February 2004
I'd been planning on buying on a Sonic Youth record after seeing Daydream Nation is Kurt Cobain's journals. So, one weekend day my Dad drove me to Best Buy. I seen Daydream Nation on the shelf looking at me. Picked it up along with Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited.
On the way back home I put on the Bob Dylan album, I was much more eager to hear it because I already knew a couple of the songs.
When I got dropped off I came inside and put Daydream Nation on the DVD player and called my Girlfreind at the time on the phone.
While chatting away for almost all of the album I liked it right away. I just liked how the songs didn't end at 3:00. They didn't need to. And it was best that they didn't.
Over the next couple of weeks I was playing the album non-stop. Including the time I had 100 degree temperature. I just remember laying in the bed delerious while The Sprawl was playing. Pure bliss.
After playing this cd over and over again for about a month I decided I needed more stuff by Sonic Youth. So, I came on old blue and made thread for people to suggest my next album to buy. I took someone's advice and got Sister. I didn't like it at first, but it's sense grew on me. And it rules.
I slowly completed my Sonic collection and the rest is history.

i guess it was 2004 when i got a copy of daydream nation and sister from someone who recommended it.
in these days i used to do the dishes after diner. with a little separate kitchen containing its own cd-player i decided to give it a go. every evening in the week.
it took me a while, but i like it. afterwards i changed daydream nation for sister which i liked much better.
then i got dirty, but i didn't really like it at first, so i put it away. then i got to murray street and sonic nurse. these albums where mindblowing to me.
afterwards i completed my collection of sonic albums after sister. i still don't have evol/bmr of sy. just too less money.

few years back, in gatwick airport awaiting flight to germany for school trip.
i had a bunch of euros as emercency money for the trip, but i was (am) an irresponsible fucking kid so i thought i'd blow it in the HMV. i was browsing, looking for sonic youth because i'd seen their name on a guy's t shirt once before. this guy played in a band and knew all the cool bands and was much, much cooler than i could ever have hoped to achieve. we're talking different levels here. (or so it seemed to me)
in my hand, walking down the aisles i already had found The Fall live at witch trials and a record by The Cocteau Twins. my eye caught hold of Dirty, it was the cheapest one there, so i thought, fuck it, why not, this might be cool.
i was not expecting the sonic heaven that emerged from my headphones into my virginal earlobes at that moment when i slammed the disk into my walkman. wandering around gatwick airport departure lounge, feeling a new sort of crazy punk rock rebellion inside myself, evoked by this music. fuck! if this band could make an album w/ screeching feedback (i know now that this was their cleanest release to date) then man, i didn't need to go back to my school party! fuck em!!!
eventually the album shrieked it's last dying squeals as the teachers were whipped up into a frenzy searching for me. i wondered up, picked up my bags and got on the plane. never been the same since!!
life was changed!
phew!

I was listening to the radio in '84, a big Zeppelin, Rush, Yes fan (age 18) at the time, and got bored and started flipping the dial around. I hit the tail end of "She's in a Bad Mood" on KCMU (the once god-like Seattle college station that went to shit and then became KEXP). The dj came on and it was this totally spaced out chick and when she said "That was "She's in a Bad Mood" by Sonic Youth..." I instantly realized that everything I knew about rock music to that point was wrong. There was more power and crazy artiness in the few seconds I heard of that tune than in all the heavy metal and art rock albums in my whole pathetic collection. I never turned back.

Ummm, I randomly ordered Daydream Nation with the points from my Air miles card.

Went on a date with Kim, got her drunk and went back to her place. Things started getting frisky in her living room. Next thing you know, Thurston appears from behind a bookcase wearing a bunny costume. Then, Lee comes downstairs riding Steve bareback. Before I knew what was happening, the five of us were getting it on. I knew it was something special when I woke up the next morning with our five bodies intertwined and I didn't feel the slightest bit awkward. We've been in love ever since.

No, wait a minute, that wasn't Sonic Youth. Wrong band! No, with Sonic Youth, it was all about the music.

In the early 2000's I saw Linklater's criminally underappreciated SubUrbia and "Sunday" infected me. I bought the (out-of-print) soundtrack and listened to that song 1000 times.

Shorly thereafter Assayas' demonlover caused a minor stir at Cannes and I copped the SY-dominaterd soundtrack. This music was decidedly not rock and roll, but it beckoned in the way that only their stuff can.

A month later I got Nurse on a total whim (the cover looked cool) and it pulled me into a vortex of unmitigated sonic hysteria from which I have yet to fully recover.

The only two major SY releases which I haven't devoured are EVOL & BMR. My hands-down favorite for now, though, is the monochromatic NYC Ghosts & Flowers.

2 words: Teenage Riot