annoyed by the goodbye 20th cent. book
 

I've just recently finished this book, and found myself kind of annoyed by it.
Anyone else notice how the book portrayed everything as being unsatisfying or a failure in some capacity?
All I get from this book is that sonic youth is never satisfied with anything sonic youth does and that their whole career has been something of a failure...

I dnt know man. I saw it more that they just demand a lot from themselves. I personally loved the book. Thought it was better than CONFUSION IS NEXT and PSYCHIC CONFUSION.

Meh.. by the end of it it seemed likei t was rushing, not to mention that if you'd never listened to the band's music, you'd think everything they ever did or attmepted to do after daydream was garbage..

I agree that the end was rushed.

I thought it was a good book, I don't see it a book complaining about them being a failure. I see it more as the mainstream not being able to accept them, or "get them."

Even though i liked the book, I have to agree. I felt almost sorry for liking almost all SY releases. I mean, just to take one example, while Dirty certainly isn't my favourite record, it's also not the wanna-be-grunge, kim-starts-crying thing, the book says.

I think you are right on about the end feeling rushed. Earlier on the book went in depth between albums about tour antics and such, but towards the end it jumped from one album to the next rather quickly.
other than that i really liked the book, it gave me a lot of insight on the earlier days of the band. very good read over all

Dirty is really generic and half-hearted though.

ditto 100%

so...maybe a good ranking would put it above Confusion is Next and Psychic Confusion...? elipse crazy.
how about a recommendation for a fan, though? yay or nay?

s.

David Browne is obviously a fan of earlier SY. The end was a little forced and it made me feel like I shouldn't like Dirty. But I do. I think the point was that SY refuse to compromise their vision despite label pressure and an obvious desire to be successful. But to each is own, I liked the book.

yes. it's worth reading.

yay!

the end was rushed yes, and in the beginning it did go on a lot about how the yoof all grew up which creeped me out a little bit.

do we give these people no privacy?

all i want is a sonic youth book compiling all the cool stories of all the crazy noise shit thurston has done with his guitar at gigs. i think my favourite bit in the book was when it briefly mentioned in about a sentence how t once threw his guitar over a balcony and hoisted it back up again by its lead.

I thought Dirty was not that bad but maybe a little grungy now that I think about it. First Sonic Youth I bought and listened to.

i made the same observation. it even goes to a point where they actually quoted Lee saying how he only liked two-thirds of NYC G+F.

i think he was more enamored by the fact that they're still together than the fact that they made good music (besides of course ddn)

I just snagged this off Ebay and I'm not even sure why considering I have a stack of books that I still have to read.

Not to mention that I work at a library and am always bombarded with shit to read.

Dirty gets a bad rap.It might be too long....but theres some real gems on there. (Theresas Sound-World,Shoot,JC,Chapel Hill.....ect,,,)

Dirty changed my life.....for real.

dirty's dirty.