Bob Biter

I would like to tap the collective knowledge of the entire TFP board in order to help a friend of mine who is looking for good Sonic Youth tunes or ideally entire albums. Since I'm not too familiar with their work, please tell me which albums he should listen to or which songs are absolutely essential for any Sonic Youth fan to know.

I thank you.

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anleja

Sonic Youth is awesome. Since they've been around so long, they've amassed quite a catalogue of music. They are always evolving and changing their sound.

They used to be on indie labels until they signed to Geffen in I think the early 90s. That means anything before that is rougher sounding, not so polished, more experimental, while anything after "Goo" (their Geffen debut) is more, uh, radio friendly.

All of their albums are great, but I think their best album before they signed to Geffen is "Daydream Nation." Especially the song "Silver Rocket." I love blasting that song.

As far as they newer stuff, I've read only very good things about "Murray Street" but haven't heard it. Murray street refers to the name of the street their studio is on, which happens to be the street where on of the 9/11 plane engines landed.

In my opinion, here is my ranking of newer Sonic Youth albums:

1)Dirty
2)Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
3)Washing Machine
4)a thousand leaves
5)Goo

Also, they have an album called "Screaming Fields of Sonic Love" which is sort of a best-of album of their pre-Geffen days, that would probably not be a bad idea to check out.

lordjeebus

Oh man I love Sonic Youth.

Your friend must own Daydream Nation. This is mandatory.

Besides that, my favorite is A Thousand Leaves.

They're all good in my opinion except NYC Ghosts & Flowers (I think it's terrible) and Experimental Jet Set, Trash, & No Star (which is just okay).

The older (pre-DN) albums are less accessible, as are SYR recordings.

mrbuck12000

if you are gonna start with daydream nation, you might as well jump back a little more and get Sister. You really should experience them from the beginning. the most recent one Murray street is really good as well. they played a show recenly on PBS...
http://www.pbs.org/wttw/soundstage/wilsoy/bio.htm
pretty fucking great, plus Wilco is my favorite band as well.

Mr b

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Jadey

I have always loved their cover of "Superstar" by the Carpenters.

Tophat665

I really like the one that sounds like cats being fried.

Actually, I have the Sister LP. It's pretty good if one is in the mood for unadulterated dissonance.

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Mantus

Not their biggest fan but I enjoyed

- Washing Machine (Diamond Sea is my favorite song of theirs)
- Dirty

Bob Biter

Thanks for all the great input! I'll tell my friend to check out Sister, Daydream Nation, Dirty, Murray Street and A Thousand Leaves.

Like me, he prefers indie bands, so I guess he'll be more interested in the stuff they made before signing onto a major label. Also, he has a pathological hatred of "Best of" and "Greatest Hits" albums. He's one of those guys that like to buy ALL the music of a specific group they like, then make their own "Best of" mix. He's special that way.

Once again, thanks for the help and comments!

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PeaceFrog

EVOL is awesome, Goo is also very good.

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monkeydriven

I'm a huge Sonic Youth fan, My favorite Sonic album, and one of the top 10 albums of all time for me is 'Sister'. 'Evol', 'Goo', 'Confusion is Sex', and 'Washing Machine' are also great. There is a great new remastered version of 'Dirty' out also. The only album to avoid is 'NYC ghosts and flowers'...it is their weakest outing. 'Bad Moon Rising' is another classic.

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:::OshnSoul:::

I had those all recorded for me, but it's been so long since I have listened to them- I still like them a lot. I liked 1, 2 & 5 the best...

notaneel

Evol
Dirty
Daydream Nation
Bad Moon Rising

genius

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asterjolly

i have a strong attachement to 'Karen Revisited' off Murray Street.

crackpot

If I may add... Daydream Nation oughta be listened to as a whole album, in my opinion. All together now!