We're Not Who You Think We Are
Album: Dirty
Year: 1991
. . .
I mean, I guess that I could have picked the songs on Dirty that weren’t full of sadness and/or anger, but here we are.
At the very end of 1991, just as Nevermind was beginning to conquer the world, Henry Rollins and his roommate and friend Joe Cole were coming home from a Hole concert at the Whisky-A-Go-Go were accosted by armed men outside of their apartment in Venice Beach, CA.
Album: Dirty
Year: 1991
. . .
One of the earliest songs written for Dirty, the Thurston Moore sung “Chapel Hill” was actually debuted during the 1991 The Year That Punk Broke shows, and like several songs on the album, it was based on a real incident.
And it’s also a thematic link between yesterday’s song, “Youth Against Fascism,” in that it’s an overtly political song, name-dropping one of the most evil politicians who ever lived — Jesse Helms — and tomorrow’s song, “JC” in that’s it’s about an unsolved murder.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2360: Sonic Youth – “Chapel Hill”
Album: Dirty
Year: 1992
. . .
One of the reasons Dirty is my favorite Sonic Youth album is that it was their most overtly political album. After all, in 1992, we were entering our 12th year of conservative misrule, and even though all of the political hardcore songs decrying the corruption and war and scandals that were natural outgrowths of that misrule hadn’t made any kind of difference, it didn’t mean that people would stop trying. Thus, “Youth Against Fascism,” a title that might have seemed a bit much in 1992, resonates even harder 30 years later.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2359: Sonic Youth – “Youth Against Fascism”
Album: Dirty
Year: 1992
. . .
Look, I know it was always a fools errand to hope that a band as experimental as Sonic Youth would ever fully break through to the mainstream, even in the wake of Nirvana. That said, I was a fool pushing 30 in 1992, and at the time I thought that “Sugar Kane” could have been that song. I mean, it felt like anything could happen!!
I mean, yeah, you’d have to chop a couple of minutes out of the instrumental section in the middle, but the verses & choruses of “Sugar Kane” are as pure pop as Sonic Youth were ever going to get. And I mean that as a compliment, as “Sugar Kane” is probably my second favorite Sonic Youth song — after “Tunic (Song For Karen)” of course — give or take a “Teen Age Riot,” or “Skip Tracer” of course.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2358: Sonic Youth – “Sugar Kane”
Album: Dirty
Year: 1992
. . .
A lot happened between the the 1990 release of Goo and the 1992 release of Dirty. And I mean a lot a lot. First off, they toured with Neil Young, a long time hero of both Steve Shelley and Lee Ranaldo. This was the first time Sonic Youth opened for someone of Neil’s stature, and it was during the tour for Ragged Glory, perhaps the noisiest album Neil ever made.
And while Neil’s crew gave the band problems at first, to the point where they wanted to leave the tour, Neil — who apparently loved “Expressway to Yr. Skull” — and helped them out.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2357: Sonic Youth – “Teresa’s Sound-World”