By: Eric Mulligan
In many ways, the twentieth-century portion of Sonic Youth’s discography can be viewed as a gradual journey toward the mainstream. This was not a static destination, as the steadily growing popularity of the alternative music movement in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s continually redefined radio-friendliness and moved rock fandom’s listening interests ever closer to Sonic Youth’s sound.
When Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, and Steve Shelley finally released the Butch Vig produced, grunge-influenced “Dirty” in 1992, it meant less that they had arrived at a quantifiably mainstream sound and more that the dual trajectories of Sonic Youth’s music and commercially successful music had veered close enough to each other to intersect at last.
That veering – at least Sonic Youth’s part of it – was a gradual process, occurring in bits and pieces over their voyage from art-rock obscurity to alt-rock renown. Though their self-titled debut EP has a rather sparse sound that owed much to post-punk, the band’s subsequent releases displayed the noise-rock tendencies that would come to define them.
Unorthodox as many of these recordings are, they all contain at least a suggestion of “popular” music, islands of conventional song structure and hummable melody in a sea of alternate tunings, bizarrely manipulated instruments and roaring distortion. With each new release, those hints of the mainstream became more prominent, and the steps Sonic Youth took toward normalcy on each album grew larger and larger as the eighties drew to a close. This culminated in their largest leap toward mainstream success: the turn-of-the-decade release of “Goo” on June 26, 1990.
The band’s 1988 double LP “Daydream Nation”, generally considered to be their best album, has been portrayed as the main force that helped disparate eighties underground rock disciplines coalesce into the unified front known as alternative or indie rock, set the stage for “Goo” in a number of ways.
Musically, it boasts a much more even blend of noise-rock experimentation and punk-inspired rock than was present on previous Sonic Youth albums. This lent “Daydream Nation” a greater sense of cohesion and structure. Taking the album’s uncharacteristically radio-friendly single “Teen Age Riot” into consideration and seeing as “Daydream Nation” also impressed critics and flirted with commercial success.
Sonic Youth was able to sign their first major label recording contract soon after its release. Displeased with their former label, the band signed to Geffen Records’ newly-minted subsidiary label DGC in 1989, and began working on a new album. The result was “Goo”, released 30 years ago this month.
Much of “Daydream Nation”’s appeal comes from its length. Because it was a double album, Sonic Youth was able to bookend each track’s hard-rocking core with their signature brand of flowing and inventive instrumentals.
Although “Goo” certainly employs that same general blend of rock ‘n noise, its statements are more succinct given its shorter runtime. For instance, the song “Total Trash” has a length of over seven and half minutes, a period of time which sees a heavy, driving intro devolve into a dissonant cacophony around the three-minute mark that is not resolved until around the six-minute mark. Many of the lengthier cuts from this album follow a similar pattern.
The songs on “Goo”, however, cannot temporally afford to continue that trend, with the possible exception of “Mote.” The segments of noise function more as interesting aural diversions than full-fledged musical statements. In some ways, “Goo” is a distillation of “Daydream Nation”’s successful formula: an abridgement of its underground-tested, critic-approved rock ‘n noise stew repackaged for general consumption.
With that being said, “Goo” is in no way “Daydream Nation” Lite. It represents a significant step forward for Sonic Youth in many different aspects. Musically, the album sounds like a rock record with no-wave influences; some of the band’s previous releases stray closer to being no-wave records with rock influences.
One reason for this is “Goo”’s sound is comprised more of honest-to-goodness chords and riffs and less of distorted howls and dissonant chimes. Another factor is the relationship between Sonic Youth’s rhythm section and guitar players. In most rock music, the rhythm section and guitars work together and complement each other; this is more or less the way things are on “Goo”, even considering Kim Gordon’s unusually melodic bass playing.
Earlier Sonic Youth albums do not always have this cohesion. On releases like “Evo”, “Sister” and even “Daydream Nation”, the rhythm section occasionally sounds like it is merely providing a neutral backdrop for Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo’s unfettered musical shenanigans. “Goo” sees the band playing much more as a unit, providing a blueprint for alt-rock newcomers like Nirvana, whose 1991 smash hit album “Nevermind.”
A final reason for the album’s advancement in sound is the change in production. Initially, Sonic Youth was working with Nick Sansano, producer of “Daydream Nation”. However, the band grew concerned with Sansano’s vision for the album. Eventually, veteran producer Ron Saint Germain was hired to arrange the album’s final mixes, allowing him the opportunity to imprint his sensibilities onto the album’s overall sound.
The lyrics of “Goo” represent an evolution as well, covering more topical and pop culture-oriented subjects than those of previous Sonic Youth albums. The Kim Gordon-written piece “Kool Thing”, features guest vocals from Chuck D of Public Enemy while satirizing some of Gordon’s own countercultural beliefs. Another Gordon song, “Tunic (Song for Karen)”, concerns the deceased Karen Carpenter of The Carpenters and her struggles with anorexia. These tracks were much more topical than many Sonic Youth songs.
Though fans and critics alike view “Goo” as Sonic Youth’s final push into the mainstream and one of the albums that heralded the massive surge in popularity of grunge and indie rock, I sometimes find it difficult to view it as anything other than just another good Sonic Youth album.
The album is an admirable concession to mainstream rock ‘n roll because Sonic Youth didn’t really have to change anything about themselves to make it. It is undeniably brimming with Sonic Youth-fulness; the vocals are unpolished, the drums are savage and steady, and the guitars sound tortured, primal, and dissonant. The band’s artsy, somewhat self-righteous swagger seems to permeate this album just as much as their underground EPs and their mid-eighties albums for famed independent label SST.
With the release of “Goo”, Sonic Youth’s years of envelope-pushing were at last rewarded with a degree of mainstream acceptance. They finally had an album the general public wanted to listen to. It wasn’t because the band had the general public in mind when they made it, but because what they wanted to make and what the public wanted to hear ended up being one and the same. A Kool Thing, indeed.
Eric Mulligan can be reached at [email protected].