Line #64 Music/SonicYouth


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sy5.jpg]]
2
3	Sonic Youth was a legendary NoiseRock[=/=]AlternativeRock band known chiefly for their avant-garde tendencies and extensive use of prepared guitars, unorthodox tunings, heavy distortion, and feedback in their songs. They've been a significant influence on Alternative Rock in TheEighties, and were a key influence on Music/MyBloodyValentine and, by extension, the entire {{Shoegazing}} movement. Formed in 1981 in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, their final lineup was as follows:
4
5	* Thurston Moore - Guitar, vocals
6	* Lee Ranaldo - Guitar, vocals
7	* Kim Gordon - Bass, vocals, nowadays guitar
8	* Steve Shelley - Drums (1985-2011)
9	* [[Music/{{Pavement}} Mark Ibold]] - Bass (2006-2011)
10
11	Past members include:
12
13	* Creator/RichardEdson - Drums (1981-1982); left the band for an acting career, [[HeAlsoDid better known as]] Vito from ''Film/DoTheRightThing.''
14	* Bob Bert - Drums (1982-1983, 1983-1985);
15	* Jim Sclavunos - Drums (1983); played on the ''Confusion is Sex'' album
16	* Jim O'Rourke - Guitar, bass, synthesizer (2000-2005)
17	* Anne [=De=]Marinis - Keyboards (1981-1982); left before the band ever recorded anything, making her Sonic Youth's very own [[ThePeteBest Pete Best.]]
18
19	Thurston's explanation for the name is that it's a combination of Music/{{MC5}} guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith's nickname and the tendency of contemporary reggae acts to include "Youth" in their names (such as "Big Youth"). The "youth" part has kind of become bitterly ironic since Thurston, Kim, and Lee are in their sixties now, with Shelley and Ibold (the youngest members) not far behind.
20
21	Drawing on a wide variety of influences ranging from proto-punk acts like Music/TheStooges and the Music/VelvetUnderground and HardcorePunk to avant-garde musicians Music/GlennBranca, Rhys Chatham, and Music/JohnCage, Sonic Youth's early career was spent largely being a SensoryAbuse NoiseRock band and struggling with lack of recognition and cycling through a succession of drummers. Notably, the band sparred with music critic Robert Christgau over a dismissive review (renaming their song "Kill Yr Idols" to "I Killed Christgau with My Big Fucking Dick" in concert), had a disastrous debut in UsefulNotes/{{London}} ending in instrument destruction ([[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity which paradoxically got rave reviews]]) and released a mediocre debut suffering from horrible production, ''Confusion Is Sex,'' that hardcore fans love but everybody else tends to ignore. (Christgau and the band later reconciled, and he gave high ratings to many of their later albums, including an A+, his highest rating, to ''A Thousand Leaves''.)
22
23	Starting with 1984-1985, the band managed to sort out their career, finally obtaining a permanent drummer with Steve Shelley of The Crucifucks (whose hyperactive style fit the group very well indeed), getting {{Record Producer}}s with actual ears to work on their albums and toning down their extreme TrueArt-iness in favour of a middle ground between avant-garde noise and energetic Alternative Rock. With albums like ''Bad Moon Rising,'' ''EVOL,'' ''Sister,'' and its universally acclaimed double album ''Daydream Nation,'' the band refined its SignatureStyle, striking the perfect balance between arty, experimental Noise Rock and accessible, catchy Alternative Rock. Thurston and Kim also got married in this period and remained together until late 2011. However, not all was fun and games: The band suffered from distribution and payment issues from its indie record labels, Homestead, SST and Enigma -- Thurston had some particular choice words for Enigma, deriding it as a "cheap-jack Mafioso outfit" and trashing them over their difficulty in supplying ''Daydream Nation'' to stores.
24
25	Sick of being jerked around by distribution deficient indie labels, Sonic Youth jumped ship and signed on to Creator/GeffenRecords' sublabel DGC in 1990. Their first album for Geffen DGC, ''Goo'', represented a concentrated blast of alt-rock noise, and accordingly sold better than previous albums and spawned the band's biggest hit: "Kool Thing." In the same year, Kim's staunch support persuaded Geffen to also bring on board devoted Sonic Youth fans Music/{{Nirvana}}, making them indirectly responsible for the popularisation of {{Grunge}} in TheNineties. Nirvana and Sonic Youth quickly became friends too (Sonic Youth's ''Whores Moaning'' EP was a blatant ShoutOut to Nirvana's ''Hormoaning,'' and its cover showed one of Music/KurtCobain's toys). Their follow-up, ''Dirty,'' was produced by Butch Vig and engineered by Andy Wallace (the guys behind ''Music/{{Nevermind\|Album}}'') and also proved to be a decent success.
26
27	Many fans predictably whined ItsPopularNowItSucks after Sonic Youth went to a major label and gradually began abandoning the band in droves. This didn't initially affect their popularity much, as the band managed to pump out more successful albums and underwent a stylistic evolution starting with ''Washing Machine,'' abandoning their PunkRock roots and indulging more freely in [[EpicRocking long]] noise jams. Kim also began playing guitar more often and eventually abandoned the bass entirely. They also found enough free time to release experimental records on their SYR label and collaborate with experimental noise musicians such as John Cage, Music/YokoOno, Steve Reich, Christian Marclay, and Mission of Burma.
28
29	Sonic Youth hit a ''huge'' speedbump when all of their instruments, amps, and gear were stolen on July 4, 1999 during their tour and their new album ''NYC Ghosts & Flowers'' quickly got a massive panning due to its self-indulgent jamming and pretentious, humourless, {{Narm}}y lyrics. However, they managed to recover quickly through the addition of new member Jim O'Rourke and releasing ''Murray Street,'' which was roundly hailed as a return to form. Most of their material since has been more accessible and melodic, with the avant-garde freakouts reserved for the SYR releases. Ever since, they've recovered their stolen gear, lost O'Rourke in 2005, recruited former Music/{{Pavement}} bassist Mark Ibold in 2006 and left Geffen in 2008, moving to indie label Matador Records. In 2011, Moore and Gordon divorced, and the band went on hiatus shortly afterward.
30	----
31
32	!! Discography:
33
34	* 1982 - ''Sonic Youth'' EP
35	* 1983 - ''Confusion Is Sex'' (Bundled together with the ''Kill Yr Idols'' EP on re-release by Geffen)
36	* 1985 - ''Bad Moon Rising''
37	* 1986 - ''EVOL''
38	* 1987 - ''Music/{{Sister}}''
39	* 1987 - ''Master-Dik'' EP
40	* 1988 - ''Music/DaydreamNation'' (Double album, considered their masterpiece)
41	* 1988 - ''The Whitey Album'' (released as Ciccone Youth, a parody of pop and alternative rap with tongue in cheek covers of "Into the Groove" by Music/{{Madonna}} and "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer)
42	* 1990 - ''Goo'' (First album released on a major label)
43	* 1992 - ''Dirty''
44	* 1993 - ''Whores Moaning'' EP (An attempt to out-{{Pun}} Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Hormoaning'')
45	* 1994 - ''Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star''
46	* 1994 - ''TV Shit'' (Recorded with Yamatsuka Eye)
47	* 1995 - ''Washing Machine''
48	* 1995 - ''Screaming Fields of Sonic Love'' (Compilation of material up to ''Daydream Nation'')
49	* 1995 - ''Made in USA'' (Soundtrack recorded in 1986, released in 1995)
50	* 1998 - ''A Thousand Leaves''
51	* 1998 - ''Silver Session for Jason Knuth'' EP (Its name is a tribute to a ''Sonic Youth'' fan who committed suicide)
52	* 2000 - ''NYC Ghosts & Flowers''
53	* 2002 - ''Murray Street''
54	* 2002 - ''In the Fishtank 9'' EP (Recorded with Music/TheEx)
55	* 2004 - ''Sonic Nurse''
56	* 2006 - ''Rather Ripped''
57	* 2006 - ''The Destroyed Room: B-sides and Rarities'' (Compilation)
58	* 2009 - ''The Eternal'' (First album after returning to an indie label)
59
60	Sonic Youth Recordings series:
61
62	* 1997 - ''[=SYR1=]: Anagrama''
63	* 1997 - ''[=SYR2=]: Slaapkamers Met Slagroom''
64	* 1998 - ''[=SYR3=]: Invito Al Ĉielo''
65	* 1999 - ''[=SYR4=]: Goodbye 20th Century'' (Double album of covers)
66	* 2000 - ''[=SYR5=]''
67	* 2005 - ''[=SYR6=]: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui'' (Live recording)
68	* 2008 - ''[=SYR7=]: J'accuse Ted Hughes''
69	* 2008 - ''[=SYR8=]: Andre Sider Af Sonic Youth'' (Live recording from the Roskilde festival with Music/{{Merzbow}})
70	* 2011 - ''[=SYR9=]: Simon Werner a Disparu'' (Soundtrack for the French film ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Simon Werner a Disparu]]'')
71
72	In 2011, the band announced they were taking an indefinite hiatus following the divorce of [[CreatorCouple Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon.]]
73	----
74
75	!! "Confusion is Tropes:"
76
77	* AlbumTitleDrop: ''Daydream Nation'''s title comes from the line "Daydreaming days in a daydream nation", from the "Hyperstation" section of the suite which closes the recording, "Trilogy".
78	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: "Unmade Bed".
79	* AlliterativeTitle: ''Rather Ripped''.
80	* AuthorAppeal:
81	** Kim likes writing songs about Karen Carpenter, re-framing her as a feminist icon who was a victim of oppressive patriarchal figures. The band's obsession with the Carpenters was one of the reasons for the critical revaluation of the duo during the 80's and 90's.
82	** Lee and beat poetry.
83	%%* BangingPotsAndPans: Referenced in "Youth Against Fascism".
84	%%* CanonDisContinuity: ''Sonic Youth'', and ''Confusion Is Sex'' and ''NYC Ghosts & Flowers'' are this as well.
85	%%** That said, each has at least one SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome; "The Burning Spear" and "Shaking Hell", in particular are classic Sonic Youth. Even ''NYC Ghosts & Flowers'' has the unbelievably sad title song.
86	* CaptainObvious: During the chorus of "Total Trash", Thurston finds it necessary to point out that "it's a natural fact that I'm not no cow".
87	* CarefulWithThatAxe: "Death Valley '69".
88	** ''MIIIIIIIIILDREEEEEEEED PIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERCE!''
89	* ConceptAlbum: ''Sister'' is actually a loose ConceptAlbum inspired by the works of Creator/PhilipKDick. ''Daydream Nation'' maybe isn't ''quite'' a concept album, but several of its songs allude to the works of Creator/WilliamGibson, especially ''Literature/{{Neuromancer}}'' ("The Sprawl" even has one in its title).
90	* CoverVersion: "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by Music/TheStooges, "Bubblegum" by Kim Fowley, "Hot Wire My Heart" by Crime, "Nic Fit" by The Untouchables, "Into the Groove" by Madonna, "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer, "Within You Without You" for a [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] tribute album, "Electricity" for a Music/CaptainBeefheart tribute album, "Superstar" for a Music/{{Carpenters}} tribute album, "Touch Me I'm Sick" for a split single with Music/{{Mudhoney}} and the entire ''[=SYR4=]'' album.
91	** TheCoverChangesTheMeaning: "Superstar".
92	* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: The artwork to ''Sister'' was a series of photo collages, which included a copyrighted picture of a 12-year-old girl taken by photographer Richard Avedon and a picture of the Cinderella Castle from Creator/{{Disney}}'s [[Ride/WaltDisneyWorld The Magic Kingdom]]. Thus the front and back covers have big black bars over the offending pictures. One reissue at least replaced the black bar on the back with something more subtle -- A conveniently placed bar code that only partially covers up the Cinderella Castle photo.
93	* CulturalCrossReference: The school level in ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'' has a list of teachers which says "K. Gordon, T. Moore, L. Ranaldo, S. Shelley". ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' expands on Gordon's relation to the main characters -- sadly, it's a completely different character with a similar name. Also, the name of the main character Renton Thurston from ''Anime/EurekaSeven'' is a combination of Renton from ''Literature/{{Trainspotting}}'' and Thurston Moore.
94	* CoolBigSis: Kim was a big sister figure of sorts to Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, whom she helped get signed to DGC.
95	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Their self-titled debut EP has much less of the guitar noise you'd expect from them; it's also the only Sonic Youth release where most songs are in standard tuning. Furthermore, before Steve Shelley joined on ''[=EVOL=]'', their sound was much closer to their no wave influences.
96	* EpicRocking: From their main album releases, we have:
97	** ''Bad Moon Rising'': "I Love Her All the Time" (7:27)
98	** ''EVOL'': "Expressway to Yr. Skull" (7:19)
99	** ''Daydream Nation'': "Teen Age Riot" (6:57), "The Sprawl" (7:42), "'Cross the Breeze" (7:00), "Total Trash" (7:33), "Trilogy" (14:02)
100	** ''Goo'': "Tunic (Song for Karen)" (6:22), "Mote" (7:37), "Titanium Exposé" (6:27)
101	** ''Washing Machine'': "Washing Machine" (9:33), "The Diamond Sea" (19:35, making it their longest track on any of their studio albums, though it was edited down from an even longer '''25:50''' version, which is available as a BSide of its eponymous single. [It was also edited down to a much more regular length of 5:15 for the A-side.])
102	** ''A Thousand Leaves'': "Female Mechanic Now on Duty" (7:43), "Wildflower Soul" (11:05), "Hits of Sunshine (for Creator/AllenGinsberg)" (11:05), "Karen Koltrane" (9:20), "Snare, Girl" (6:38), "Heather Angel" (6:09)
103	** ''NYC Ghosts & Flowers'': "Free City Rhymes" (7:32), "NYC Ghosts & Flowers" (7:52)
104	** ''Murray Street'': "Disconnection Notice" (6:24), "Rain on Tin" (7:56), "Karen Revisited" (11:10), "Sympathy for the Strawberry" (9:06), "Sweet Sauce" (7:34; Japanese bonus track)
105	** ''Sonic Nurse'': "Pattern Recognition" (6:33), "The Dripping Dream" (7:46), "Stones" (7:06), "I Love You Golden Blue" (7:03), "Peace Attack" (6:10)
106	** ''Rather Ripped'': "Turquoise Boy" (6:14), "Pink Stream" (6:57)
107	** ''The Eternal'': "Anti-Orgasm" (6:08), "Antenna" (6:13), "Massage the History" (9:43)
108	** And that's not including a bunch of other long songs on their [=EPs=], B-sides, SYR series, live releases, bonus tracks, and so on. Evidently, different band members had different opinions about brevity versus [[IncrediblyLamePun sprawl]]; some members evidently tended to favour concision, while Moore has commented, "If I was the leader [of Sonic Youth] as much as everyone says I am, every song would be 20 minutes long." Also, as seen in the lists above, some albums have a lot more of this than others; some didn't have a single track break the six-minute mark, while others (''Daydream Nation'', ''A Thousand Leaves'', ''Murray Street'', ''Sonic Nurse'') have around half their songs qualify or sometimes even more.
109	* UsefulNotes/EsperantoTheUniversalLanguage: Used on ''Invito al Cielo''.
110	* FemaleRockersPlayBass: Kim was the only woman in the band, and one of the better-known female bassists out there. She eventually switched to guitar, though, but contributed a lot to the band's sound and vocals as the bassist.
111	* GreatestHitsAlbum: ''Hits Are For Squares'' is unusual for a few reasons: For one it was released by Starbucks to be sold at their coffee shops; for another, since, as the title implies, they don't really have "hits", all the songs were hand-selected by well-known fans like [[Music/PearlJam Eddie Vedder]] and Creator/DiabloCody. It also contains an exclusive track, "Slow Revolution".
112	* GriefSong: Gordon and Moore respectively wrote "JC" and "100%" about friend and roadie Joe Cole after his never-solved murder.
113	* HappilyMarried: Thurston and Kim ([[http://pitchfork.com/news/44318-kim-gordon-thurston-moore-separate/ well, until 2011, anyway]]), Lee and his wife Leah.
114	* HugeGuyTinyGirl: The 6'6" Moore is a foot taller than Kim.
115	* IncrediblyLamePun: ''Master-Dik'', ''Whores Moaning'', ''The Whitey Album'').
116	** Actually, "dik" is the Dutch word for fat; most of the ''Master=Dik'' EP was recorded for radio in Amsterdam. Which makes the song/album title a very weird BilingualBonus.
117	* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: In their early years, they were sometimes billed as Fucking Youth.
118	* InTheStyleOf: "Eliminator Jr." tries to sound like Music/ZZTop.
119	* LastNoteNightmare: "Becuz Coda".
120	** On some level, "The Diamond Sea", which begins as one of the band's prettiest songs and slowly devolves into an epic-length noise jam. Terrifying for the uninitiated.
121	** The transition in "Freezer Burn/I Wanna Be Yr Dog".
122	** "Mildred Pierce" does this towards the end, where all of the instruments spiral out of control and a distorted voice screams the title repeatedly.
123	* LiteraryAllusionTitle: "[[Literature/SprawlTrilogy The Sprawl]]" and "[[Literature/PatternRecognition Pattern Recognition]]" are Creator/WilliamGibson references (and they have several other references to him). "Rain King" may be one to Creator/SaulBellow's novel ''Literature/HendersonTheRainKing'' (which also inspired Music/CountingCrows' otherwise unrelated song of the same title). ''Sister'' is named in honor of Creator/PhilipKDick's fraternal twin, who died shortly after her birth; her death haunted Dick for his whole life. "Mildred Pierce" is one to, well, ''Literature/MildredPierce''. The bonus track "Literature/WhereTheRedFernGrows" (included on a reissue of their self-titled EP). And so on.
124	* LongestSongGoesLast: Frequently. Just from their core studio discography:
125	** ''Sonic Youth'': "The Good and the Bad" (7:55)
126	** ''Kill Yr Idols'': "Early American" (6:07)
127	** ''EVOL'': "Expressway to Yr Skull" (7:19); averted on CD and cassette versions which add the bonus track "Bubblegum", however.
128	** ''Daydream Nation'': "Trilogy" (14:02)
129	** ''Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star'': "Sweet Shine" (7:50). DoubleSubverted, as the running time includes a HiddenTrack starting at 6:25 after a minute of silence, but even then, "Sweet Shine" is still the longest song on the album at 5:25.
130	** ''Washing Machine'': "The Diamond Sea" (19:35)
131	** ''The Eternal'': "Massage the History" (9:43)
132	* LongRunnerLineUp: Their four-piece line-up of Thurston, Kim, Lee and Steve lasted fifteen years, from 1985 to 2000. After that, they gained Jim O'Rourke and later Mark Ibold, but kept their four "core" members.
133	* LoudnessWar: Their later material got hit with this somewhat. ''Rather Ripped'' and ''The Eternal'' are the worst about it among their main albums, each being [=DR6=] and clipping pretty badly. Some reissues have problems with this as well.
134	* MinimalisticCoverArt: Most famously, ''Daydream Nation'' features just the painting ''Kerze'' (''Candle'') by German artist Gerhard Richter, plus the band's name and the album title. Some of the other album covers (e.g., ''Sister''[='s=]) are not at ''all'' minimalistic, though.
135	* MundaneMadeAwesome: "Take a walk in the park? SHIT YEAH!" from "Eliminator Jr."
136	* NewSoundAlbum: ''Bad Moon Rising'', ''EVOL'', ''Goo'', ''Washing Machine'', ''Murray Street''.
137	** They changed their sound somewhat on each of those, but none is an extremely radical departure- more a case of a each representing a subtle refinement and slight reshuffling of their sound rather than a full-out, abrupt change.
138	*** For more detail, ''Bad Moon Rising'' toned back the no wave elements and incorporated more elements of their live shows, such as [[FadingIntoTheNextSong the songs being segued via the band tuning their instruments]]. ''EVOL'' showed the band going for much more straightforward NoiseRock with a bit more of a PostPunk bent to it, as well as beat poetry-inspired lyrics and vocals making more of an appearance than before. ''Goo'' then shuffled things again to a {{Main/Grunge}}-tinged AlternativeRock, while retaining a good portion of the NoiseRock elements of their late-80s era. ''Washing Machine'' is easily the biggest shift of their career outside of them leaving much of no wave behind, as while ''Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star'' hinted at the direction, it was a much sudden swerve when ''Washing Machine'' took many of the more melodic, straightforward alternative elements of the previous albums and replaced them with PostRock-inspiration, a higher focus on atmosphere, EpicRocking aplenty, and an even greater focus on poetic lyrics, with follow-ups ''[[LighterAndSofter A Thous]][[{{SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel}} and Leaves]]'' and ''[[DarkerAndEdgier NYC Ghosts]] [[NightmareFuel & Flowers]]'' taking the influence in two radically different directions, [[BrokenBase with mixed results]]. This set of albums also features Kim debuting a much more [[PerishingAltRockVoice strained vocal style]], which would stick around until the band's final album. ''Murray Street'' is another sudden swerve, this time to more straight-forward AlternativeRock, with a higher focus on melody and much more emotionally charged lyrics, while retaining elements of their previous styles, such as EpicRocking, [[NoiseRock feedback as an instrument]], and long improvised jams.
139	* NonAppearingTitle: Occurs occasionally, though most of their songs avert it. "Pacific Coast Highway" is a good case of a track that plays it straight.
140	* NoTitle: The ninth track of ''Washing Machine'' is officially untitled -- the back cover track-listing doesn't even ''include'' a track 9, going straight from 8 to 10. It's usually referred to as "Becuz Coda", due to being a reprise of (and the originally intended ending to) the album's opening track, "Becuz".
141	* NonindicativeName: They are called Sonic Youth even though many band members are in their mid to late fifties. ([[CaptainObvious This wasn't the case]] [[LongRunner earlier in their existence, though]].)
142	* OneWomanSong: "Reena", "Helen Lundeberg", "Marilyn Moore", "Mary Christ", "Sugar Kane".
143	* PerishingAltRockVoice: Every. Single. Song.
144	** Maybe on later albums. Not so much their earlier albums.
145	* PissTakeRap: "Master-Dik" and "Into the Groovey".
146	* PrecisionFStrike: Lampshaded in "The Sprawl."
147	-->''Does this sound simple? Fuck you!\
148	Are you for sale? Does "Fuck you" sound simple enough?''
149	* PunBasedTitle: Quite a few. Perhaps most famously, "Hey Joni" double as a ShoutOut to the {{blues}} standard "Hey Joe" (best known in Music/JimiHendrix' version from ''Music/AreYouExperienced'') and Canadian singer-songwriter Music/JoniMitchell.
150	* PunctuatedForEmphasis: The final lyrics of "Pipeline/Kill Time" are an almost-whispered "We. Should. Kill. Time." Given how often it's repeated, it could also qualify as BrokenRecord and MadnessMantra.
151	* RapidFireNo: The chorus of "No Queen Blues".
152	* RockMeAsmodeus: Averted. See "Satan Is Boring".
153	* SanitySlippageSong: "Schizophrenia" is about ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. It is partially inspired by the life and writings of Creator/PhilipKDick, whose own twin sister died when they were very young due to an allergy to their mother's milk. However, Kim Gordon's older brother, Keller, whom she "[[https://web.archive.org/web/20150908121415/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/kim-gordon-on-divorce-art-and-life-after-sonic-youth-20150226?page=2 [grew] up in awe of]]", eventually developed a case of paranoid schizophrenia that required him to live under supervised care, which inspired a lot of RealitySubtext of the song: "This person who you lived with for so long is suddenly someone else," Gordon [[https://web.archive.org/web/20210122093050/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/06/03/next-stage said]].
154	* SelfTitledAlbum
155	* ShoutOut: Frequent in their songs, both in titles and lyrics -- "Hey Joni", "Marilyn Moore", "Expressway to Yr. Skull"'s alternate title "Madonna, Sean and Me", "Master-Dik", "Teenage Riot" (a humorous jab at J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr's reputation for laziness), "Tunic (Song for Karen)", "My Friend Goo", "Hits of Sunshine (for Allen Ginsberg)", "Karen Koltrane", "Mariah Carey and the Arthur Doyle Hand Cream" (it had its title changed to "Kim Gordon and..." for legal purposes), "New Hampshire" (the Steve and Joe mentioned are the guys from Music/{{Aerosmith}}), "Leaky Lifeboat (for Gregory Corso)", "Thunderclap (for Bobby Pyn)", "Eliminator Jr" (meant as a nod to Music/ZZTop's ''Eliminator'' and Music/DinosaurJr).
156	** Some of them are pretty subtle. It'll probably be obvious just from its title that "The Sprawl" is a shout-out to Creator/WilliamGibson if you've read his early novels, but if you haven't, the title seems generic enough not to be a reference to anything. The song also uses text from the novel ''The Stars at Noon'' by Creator/DenisJohnson in its first verse. Similarly, people familiar with Creator/PhilipKDick may grok his influence on ''Sister'' almost immediately, but almost everyone else will think it just has weird lyrics.
157	** "Tom Violence" is a tribute to Tom Verlaine of Music/{{Television}}. It's worth noting that Verlaine's stage name, the title of the song, and the title of Verlaine's most famous band can all be abbreviated as "TV". (Verlaine's real name is the far more mundane Thomas Miller; he took his stage name from the French symbolist poet Paul Verlaine.)
158	** "Film/ShadowOfADoubt" is not merely a reference to a film by Creator/AlfredHitchcock, but it also serves as a WholePlotReference to another of his films, ''Film/StrangersOnATrain'', which it references almost by name in its very first line.
159	** "Secret Girl" contains the line "I'm the boy that can enjoy invisibility," which is an almost verbatim quote from Creator/JamesJoyce's ''Literature/{{Ulysses}}'' (1922).
160	** "Expressway to Yr. Skull" is named after a 1968 funk/R&B album by the Buddy Miles Express. It also contains a reference to Junior Parker's blues song "Mystery Train" (1953), perhaps most famous in Music/ElvisPresley's 1955 cover version.
161	* SomethingBlues: "Winner's Blues" and "No Queen Blues".
162	* SpokenWordInMusic: "Providence", a song where the only vocals are a message [[Music/TheMinutemen Mike Watt]] left on Thurston Moore's answering machine.
163	* StepUpToTheMic: Lee sings noticeably fewer songs than Thurston and Kim, usually only singing lead vocals on one or two songs per album.
164	* StylisticSuck: the cover of "Addicted To Love" from ''The Whitey Album'' is just Kim singing over a pre-recorded karaoke version of the song. For the official music video, Kim simply went to a "video booth" at a Macy's, paid 20 dollars, and mimed the lyrics over ChromaKey StockFootage backdrops of soldiers and helicopters.
165	* SubduedSection: Particularly common in their longer songs, and the wide dynamic shifts of their songs became a major trait of their style, especially starting with ''Daydream Nation''.
166	* SurprisinglyGentleSong: ''Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star'' opens with "Winner's Blues," a solo acoustic song by Thurston.
167	* TakeThat: "Youth Against Fascism" is 3 and a half minutes of Thurston insulting UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush (''Yeah, the president sucks/He's a war pig fuck/His shit's out of luck'' etc. etc.), "Kim Gordon and the Arthur Doyle Hand Cream" lampoons Music/MariahCarey, "Peace Attack" is a mellower but still pretty ripshit pissed indictment of UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush. "I Killed Christgau With My Big Fucking Dick" is self-explanatory.
168	** "Youth Against Fascism" is more of a TakeThat to political rock songs that were so prevalent at the time with most of the bands not even knowing what they're protesting.
169	*** Those not recognizing it as a piss take: either they didn't pay attention to the refrain, or over-applied [[WildMassGuessing WMG]] to make it mean whatever they hoped it meant. Self-explanatory, though:
170	--> It's the song I hate \
171	It's the song I hate
172	** Thurston still sneaks in an actual TakeThat:
173	--> I believe Anita Hill\
174	The judge'll rot in hell
175	** "Swimsuit Issue" is one to [[CasanovaWannabe a rather loathsome former Geffen employee]]; "The Ineffable Me" is similar in subject.
176	** "Kool Thing" was a TakeThat directed at ''Music/LLCoolJ'' (of all people), apparently prompted by an interview Kim Gordon had with him.
177	** For those who were wondering, Robert Christgau and Thurston Moore have since sorted out their differences and made up. Christgau even gave ''A Thousand Leaves'' an A+, his highest rating.
178	** Then there's their "cover" of Music/YokoOno's "Voice Piece for Soprano", which is just the newborn Coco Gordon-Moore mewling for a few seconds. This could also be considered AffectionateParody; Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore would later collaborate with Yoko Ono on the album ''Yokokimthurston'', and Moore called one of his solo songs "Ono Soul" as a ShoutOut.
179	* TitledAfterTheSong: ''Bad Moon Rising'' is named after a Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival song, of all things.
180	* TwoFirstNames: Kim Gordon and Steve Shelley. Lee Ranaldo arguably applies, as the given name is pronounced the same, but spelled "Renaldo".
181	* ViewersAreGeniuses: Their work may qualify in many cases. Their lyrics often read like WordSaladLyrics to the uninitiated, but many of these cases are actually subtle literary references that will simply ''look'' like word salad to readers unfamiliar with the works in question. Their music also often qualifies between the unusual compositional techniques, inaccessible and often abrasive songwriting and arrangements, musical vocabulary inspired by works often well off an average rock fan's radar, and so on.
182	* VocalTagTeam: With a few exceptions, whoever wrote the lyrics sings the song, giving the band three different lead singers. Thurston and Kim tend to sing somewhat more songs than Lee, but he still gets at least one or two songs on most of their albums (or, on ''Daydream Nation'', three - it is a double album, though).
183	* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: Gibby Haynes of the Music/ButtholeSurfers loved to mock Thurston for this, saying at one point "Did you have an actual mom?". Thurston and Kim also may possibly qualify, since they named their daughter Coco Hayley Gordon Moore.
184	* AWildRapperAppears: Parodied in "Kool Thing", with [[Music/PublicEnemy Chuck D]] showing up just to deliver some deliberately vague, meaningless hip-hop cliches ("Tell it like it is... Yeah, word up!") The [[https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/music/staying-koolsonic-youth-survives-a-major-label-6412020 inspiration]] was Kim interviewing Music/LLCoolJ and being frustrated with his macho attitude and her own inability to connect with him.
185	* WordSaladLyrics: Especially prominent on songs where Lee sings, with lines like "He's a steel drum wedding ring Pontiac doorknob ten" and "She's a beautiful mental jukebox -- a sailboat explosion/A snap of electric whip crack."
186	** Self-awarely parodied in Lee's "Skip Tracer".
187	--->the guitar guy played real good feedback and super sounding riffs\
188	with his mild mannered look on, yeah he was truly hip\
189	the girl started out in red patent leather\
190	very "I'm in a band" with knee pads\
191	we watch her fall over and lay down\
192	shouting the poetic truths of high school journal keepers\
193	row house row house pass through, let the city rise up\
194	twister, dust buster, hospital bed, I'll see you see you see you on the highway
195	** Despite this, some examples that seem like this are actually examples of ViewersAreGeniuses (or GeniusBonus), as the band is fond of placing references to obscure literature in their lyrics. See ShoutOut and LiteraryAllusionTitle, among others, above.
196	* XtremeKoolLetterz: Some of their song titles, such as "Tuff Gnarl", "Kotton Krown", "White Kross", and "Kool Thing".
197	** Also, the band (and their fans) have an idiosyncratic habit of always writing "yr" instead of "your".
198	* {{Yandere}}: "Pacific Coast Highway" is an almost textbook example:
199	--> Come on, get in the car\
200	Let's go for a ride somewhere\
201	I won't hurt you\
202	[[FalseReassurance As much as you hurt me]]
203	** Though it should be noted the song is (probably intentionally) written in such a way as to be textually ambiguous - "I want to take your breath away" could mean she just wants mind-blowing sex with the addressee of the song, or it could be a threat to literally suffocate them. Similarly, "You make me feel so crazy" could be a figurative statement of how infatuated she is, or it could be meant [[AxCrazy literally]]. Most of the lines in the song can be interpreted in two different ways -- but we should note Gordon is desperately screaming them over one of the most ominous backing tracks on ''Sister''.

Context Music / SonicYouth