Sonic Youth

Certain Songs #2343: Sonic Youth – “Expressway to Yr. Skull”

April 13, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: EVOL
Year: 1986

. . .

The final song on EVOL had three different titles. This kinda went along with fuckery where they listed the the songs on the back cover in a totally different order than they were actually on the record. And so, on that back cover, this song was listed as “Madonna, Sean and Me” and on the lyric sheet as “The Crucifixion of Sean Penn.”

A quick aside here: the Madonna/Sean Penn marriage clearly freaked up a lot of people — and not even the ones who paid their own money to sit thorough Shanghai Surprise — because beyond these references was also Lloyd Cole’s “Sean Penn Blues.”

Certain Songs #2342: Sonic Youth – “Starpower”

April 12, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: EVOL
Year: 1986

. . .

I’d been either ignoring or disliking Sonic Youth for four years when they came out with 1986’s EVOL, which confused the shit out of me because it suddenly had some songs that were, well, kinda sorta songs, I guess.

Prior to that, when I dropped the needle at KFSR looking for something to play from their 1982 self-titled debut, 1983’s Confusion is Sex or 1985’s Bad Moon Rising, it just all sounded like self-indulgent noise. Though I will admit Bad Moon Rising did have one of the greatest album covers ever. It just all reminded me of all of those other bands with fantastic names — I still think that. Blind Idiot God is the single greatest band name ever — and unlistenable music.

Certain Songs #64: Sonic Youth – “Skip Tracer”

January 1, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Washing Machine
Year: 1995

. . .

“HELLO, 2015!”

“HELLO … 20 …15!!!”

That’s what Lee Renaldo shouts at the end of this spoken-word piece with guitars, bass and drums near the end of Sonic Youth’s last universally acclaimed album. It’s not really about the future, but rather about seeing a band stumble through a live performance. But, to me, that “Hello, 2015” felt like a declaration of purpose.

Here’s what I wrote about it with my very first Pazz & Jop critics poll ballot in 1995:

“Hello 2015!” Lee Ranaldo screams, somewhat optimistically, near the end of this record, just before they launch us on a sparkling sailing voyage towards that very year.
It’s like, for the first time, they’ve really considered their place in our past and, more importantly, in their future. And they like what they see. And if they keep making records this strong and loose, they just might meet themselves on the other side.

In 1995, when Washing Machine came out, 2015 seemed an impossible distance away. Another century, another millennium, another universe. And yet, out of all of the bands active in 1995, I was sure that Sonic Youth was going to be one of the ones still standing here on New Years Day 2015 and shout back “Hello, 1995” as they did an All Tomorrows Parties set of Washing Machine in its entirety.

Meanwhile, 1995 still seems impossibly close, like if I turned around and walked around that corner over there, I’d be able to say hello to it. For much of 1995 I was living in Oakland and Rox was living in Hollywood, and – just like Ranaldo points out earlier in the song – LA was the most confusing place I’d ever been to.

Of course, little did I know 20 years ago that by the time 2015 rolled around, I’d have been living here for over 13 years, with that initial confusion (you drive SOUTH to get to the ocean?) long since dissipated.

So hello, 2015. Please be better.

“Skip Tracer”

23 Musical Moments to Die For

October 3, 2008 by Jim Connelly

You can talk about genres, artists, albums, or even songs, but sometimes what keeps us coming back to music is the discovery of the transcendent musical moment. For me, “the moment” is the part of the song that fully and utterly engages me; the reason that I keep coming back to it.

I’m not necessarily talking about hooks here, because the purpose of a hook is the draw you into a song. I’m really talking more about traps: the part of a song that that keeps you there.

The is the third in a series. The first one had 25, the second one has 24, this one has 23.

Every single moment I’ve listed below kills me single every time I hear it.

Oh, and this isn’t in any kind of order, despite the numbering.