I had mentioned I was going to do a follow up to the Sonic Youth video because I had heard those riffs before in an entirely different context. Well, I've been mandela'd. I can hear an entirely different set of lyrics on top of those 2 main riffs at the beginning of the track but that song I have in my head doesn't appear to be real. My best guess is that somehow I heard this song and my brain filled it away under "Jack Off Jill" and even put it in the folder for a specific song's lyrics. But I listened to every song that JOJ has made and while there are plenty of kinda similar ideas (they were both punk adjacent bands, after all) there isn't a single 1:1 recreation of those riffs. Just human brains doing human brain things; misremembering stuff and all that jazz 🤣
No huge surprise to recognise a lot of different familiar components; Sonic Youth pretty much laid down the blueprint for alternative and indie rock in the late 80-ies. They couldn't afford decent guitars so they just tuned, fuzz pedalled and amped the living daylights out of them (or simply jam a drumstick beneath the strings) to make them sound more interesting/less crap. They would have to carry so many different specifically tuned guitars with them that it actually made their touring a nightmare. But it allowed them to get an impressive range of sounds and noise out of a rather narrow spectrum. Their sound had a huge influence on grunge, post punk, shoegaze (My Bloody Valentine), etc. They even had Nirvana opening for them shortly before the Nevermind album blew up.
@@claytonstrickland8336 from the most popular bands maybe, but there are many other bands that emerged about the same time as sonic youth and were pretty experimental but didn't get the recognition they deserved. Check out oxbow and swans, both pretty inspired by rock music and noisy stuff but very experimental.
Conversational, well "... the song was inspired by an interview bassist/singer Kim Gordon conducted with LL Cool J for Spin.[3][4] Although he is never mentioned by name, the song's lyrics contain several references to LL Cool J. Gordon's lyrics make reference to several of the rapper's works, including the single "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and the album Walking with a Panther. She also repeats the line "I don't think so", which appears in LL Cool J's "Going Back to Cali". Chuck D also contributed spoken vocals to the song. "wikipedia Something about Sonic Youth, in all this chaos, most things are there for a reason
This song was also in Guitar Hero 3 if that's ringing a bell for anyone, doesn't sound like the thing Bryan is talking about here though where the ideas were mixed up by a different band. But that's at least where I first heard it anyway. For the context around the lyrics, I've read that apparently this song was inspired by a weirdly tense interview Kim Gordon did with the rapper LL Cool J at some point. She was asking him all these big social/political/feminist type of questions (ie the line about "Are you gonna liberate us girls from white corporate oppression?) and he just wasn't connecting at all. This song is her reflecting on it in hindsight and basically laughing at herself, which is probably where you picked up on the sarcastic/satirical tone. I think the verses represent Kim asking questions to Kool Thing aka Cool J while the "I don't wanna, I don't think so" stuff in the chorus are his responses. Also the guest rapper here is none other than Chuck D from Public Enemy, he says "Fear of a female planet" in reference to the famous PE album "Fear of a Black Planet." And perhaps the presence of a well-known figure from hip-hop like Chuck D on this song is also a reference to LL Cool J. Chuck seems to be vibing a lot more with Kim's ideas though so maybe his lines represent how Kim wishes the interview had gone. Or maybe because most of his lines are so simple "Yeah, word up, tell it like it is...." it could be someone who's feigning agreement but isn't truly listening or connecting. Pretty sure Chuck D is considered a much more outspoken political rapper than LL Cool J as well (please correct me if I'm wrong, I don't know a whole lot about LL but Chuck/Public Enemy basically spearheaded hardcore political rap in the early days of hiphop) so maybe that plays into it too. So you have this ladies' man rapper responding "I don't wanna" during the interview but then she brings in this politically outspoken icon of early hiphop to vibe with her on the song and be all like "Yeah, word up, fear of a female planet! Make 'em feel FEAR!"
Wild context! Not only is it a unique thing to base a song on, but the conversational idea (an interview) is represented quite well in the music; something I picked up on but had now idea how to relate it to the lyrics.
Interesting that you call the drum track "simplistic" - I remember thinking the same thing because the guitar is so dominant in the track, until I started to learn to play it on the drums and HOLY SHIT there are so many fantastic nuances and fun fills in this drum track. Easily the most varied and exciting rhythms in the Sonic Youth catalogue - it's punk rock-adjacent but still very technical.
Yup, could definitely have sounded simple or was just covered up by the aspects that screamed out to me instead (like the guitar and bass work). It happens all the time. Though now I know I should give it another go, keeping my ear on the drums.
One of the greatest shows I ever saw was Rock Against Reagan in 1983, featuring the Crucif*cks. The drummer was a very young (and even younger looking) Steve Shelley, and the singer was the incomparable Doc Dart. The drums made the band.
If you're interested in the discordant, atonal aspect of the music, you may find an interest in the music of Glenn Branca. His ensemble of guitarists included members of Sonic Youth, Swans, and Helmet - And this type of guitar came basically directly from Glenn Branca, but Sonic Youth adapted the style to fit more of a rock outfit. I'd recommend the album "The Ascension", you'll recognize immediately, "Oh, that's where they got those guitar ideas from" Also interesting to note, That high-frequency tone of the guitar comes largely from the Fender Jazzmaster pickups. I own a Jazzmaster and it has a very biting tone like that too, especially on the bridge pickup.
When I was 12 I took guitar lessons and the teacher said to bring in a song I wanted to learn and I brought in a sonic youth song and he was like “I can’t teach this to you. I don’t know what they’re doing”
Only 6 minutes into this video, bro, if you thought this was bonkers... this is the tip of the iceberg with sonic youth! Clearly, one of their more accessible songs since it was a video and one of their "hits." Go to one of their albums like "bad moon rising" for an experience! But that is a real jump into the deep end!
Yeah, this is one of the few quasi-hits Sonic Youth had. I vaguely remember hearing this on the radio back in the day, though I was very young at the time. The song itself is from their '90 album Goo, which was their followup to what most consider their masterpiece, Daydream Nation. I think I've said it before but SY is a band I have a ton of respect for given their originality and experimental bent, but like a lot of the arty punk bands that came from the tradition of The Velvet Underground I tend to find their ambition outstrips their talent, and to the extent that I like them is usually to the extent they wrote fun, catchy songs. This is one of those songs for me, so I definitely dig it.
I was really getting into Sonic Youth around 1990 when I was in High School. My dad at the same time was getting into Kronos Quartet. I declared I really didn't like Kronos, they were too noisy and too weird. A bit later I was at home listening to the Sonic Youth "Goo" album. Dad asked me who I was listening to and what I liked about them. I responded, "Oh they're doing this stuff that no one else is doing, playing with feedback and using a screwdiver to play the notes, it's really different from everything else." My dad replied. "And you don't like Kronos?" Some 30 years later I realize that the Kronos Quartet is absolutely amazing and not just that, the two groups were most likely extremely aware of each other and probably crossed paths a few times.
Sonic Youth is one of the best deep dive bands besides Ween, Primus, etc. I would call Sonic Youth Art-Alt. They have used about a dozen different tunings. They also where huge experimenters in feedback play. They hated people telling them what to be. They where The Godfather’s of grunge with Neil Young and partially the Melvins etc. Great band.
I knew about SY in the 80’s but didn’t get into them until the early 90’s. Very intriguing band. Art rock I guess. They tried to get a but mainstream but not sure it worked. Their sound was not mainstream enough. But I liked it.
The guitars pierce and maintain clarity because they were jazz masters on the bridge pickup. Those guitars are known to have an absurd amount of treble
Also this is what Genius says: "This song was inspired by a 1989 interview Kim Gordon conducted with LL Cool J for Spin Magazine, in which the two struggled to find much in common. During the bridge, Chuck D plays the part of LL Cool J, with Gordon satirizing her own attempts to connect with him about the counterculture she identifies with." And "Fear of a female planet" is obviously a nod to the Public Enemy album "Fear of a black planet" I think maybe it's Kim Gordon expressing her feelings toward the misogynistic nature of a lot of Hip-hop music and culture, you know, "What're you gonna do for me?"
If you play guitar I hardily recommend not looking up guitar tabs for Sonic Youth songs. They have a ludicrous number of different tunings and guitars used sometimes for only single songs in their catalogue, with a lot of extended techniques like using screwdrivers. But yeah, the sounds they got out of their guitars are legendary. Later records are a lot more overtly "pretty" and often used a three or four guitar setup (they added a third guitarist, and Kim sometimes plays guitar instead of bass) with lots of overlapping melodies, but they rarely abandon the idea of using guitars in really innovative ways.
The lyrics are about putting the expectation bar too high when it comes to your 'heroes'. Kim Gordon wrote it after conducting an interview to LL Cool J, who she was a fan of. The interview did not go has she expected, LL Cool J answers were vague and unintresting and that let Kim very disappointed. That's why she gets the 'yeah' and 'right up' answers when she makes those too demanding and unrealistic questions; 'are gonna you liberate us girls from male white corporate oppression?'
Sonic youth are amazing just blow your mind beautiful noise guitars that sound like screaming elephants and dinosaurs they were incredible live thurston moOre and lee R. gods of experimental sounds.
Usually on sonic youth albums you have different tracks fronted by different members. So Kim songs tend to have more sort of chanting/rhyming and more feminist themes. Thurston Moore songs are kinda laid back rockers, and Lee usually has at least one or two tracks that focus more on his poetic style of lyrics which I always love. I remember every time a new album came out you would kind of anticipate those kind of things.
they're all about texture.. this song is meant to conjure up images of giant 1 ton weights flying back and forward over whoever the girl's chewing out (Kim Gordon chewing out LL Kool Jay)
I'm going to be honest here. For a composer you certainly miss a lot of the 20C minimalism references in their tuning and song structures, and not to forget those who straddled the more compositional with the orchestral (Branca, Chatham, Riley, Young, etc.), with whom they were contemporaries and friends. That's to say nothing about their collaboration with perhaps one of the most important MCs in wave 2 of east coast political hiphop…
Good call that the guitars are screaming or wailing. With sonic youth maybe more so than any other band i feel like they've brought their guitars to life- breathing, screaming, wailing, roaring... wait until you get to the songs where their guitars are roaring! Your video is a year old now so maybe you've already listened to more sonic youth.
I know this adds nothing to the convo, yet I must say that the "rocker chick" I looked up to the most was Kim Gordon. She wasn´t a junkie , she wasn´t a whore, she didn´t bow down to posers like Courtney L. To see them play at a show was one of the hugest experiences I ever had.
I reckon Sonic Youth is the most GenX band you could name and not be embarrassed by. Slacker fastidiousness at its finest, if not as poppy as the Pixies.
@@CriticalReactions This is very good stuff, I'm looking forward to binging your past content. I think "Slowly Growing Deaf (Song For Beethoven)" would intrigue you
@@CriticalReactions you're welcome? Seriously though, that was a great vid, even if some of the lyrical references you weren't aware of. If you're doing early 90's stuff you should definitely check out Jane's Addiction, and not just "Jane Says"
Bonkers. I'm a huge SY fan. 3 of them write and sing. She (Kim Gordon) is my fav, I find her very intense. Of the hudreds of concerts I've seen, I put SY up top with Neil Young & Crazy Horse, and Ramones
makes sense cause of theme of course but least interesting track imo on this amazing album. yet, Kim is legend. try to tune to Sonic Youth and that's when you realize their genius and originality. frustrating to tune by ear that's for sure ha
I'm gonna make a pinned comment about it, but long story short -- I must have heard Kool Thing sometime in my life but filed it away in my head under another band.
This track is Riot Grrl meets MC. I think it’s more sarcastic than satirical. She’s doing the woke feminist overt-sexuality sarcastic thing in reaction to the sexual politics of late 80s hip hop. I guess it’s basically just calling out the sexism and using Chuck D as a bonafide to avoid accusations of racism (though not, I think, unfairly or cynically).
I never made one because I had nothing to add. I ended up making a community post illustrating that I had concocted the entire thing in my head. My best guess is that somewhere, somehow I heard this song before and filed it away in my brain is a different band. But i listened to every song, every riff from that other band and the ideas in Kool Thing aren't present at all.
Speaking 20mins about the song you just heard for the first time is impressive 😄 i heard you say you'd need a 2nd or 3rd listen. Maybe you could've fit those listenings within the 30min video, just saying 😉
I love sonic youth but I'd say this is a weaker track. Check out schizophrenia, pacific coast highway, washing machine, the diamond sea, Theresa's sound world, skip tracer, I dreamed I dream, hey joni, brother James and so many more.
This song is one of the few written about women’s role model, and women’s harassment on every subject, treated like dolls in an aspect. Like ‘’chicks”. Hint: Kim goes: “ I don’t wanna, I don’t think so”
how can you talk about this song if you know nothing at all about sonic youth, public enemy, and ll cool j? this is a really simple, straight-forward kim gordon sy song if you have even half a clue.
There really is. It's a joy to discover stuff that I don't have the experience or knowledge to properly comprehend. That's where other people come into the picture, it's why relationships is so important. Your world ends at the horizon of the last person in your life, make sure that horizon is very, very far from you. When it comes to tracks like these I look towards the comment section, towards people of all walks of life, to help me understand. It's really amazing what people can do together.
@@CriticalReactions I think spending more time listening to the band would help it make sense to you. I mostly listen to jazz also. I am surprised I got through my first SY album myself, except piercing guitar keeps me interested. I consider the way the guitars go so far off the path and then come back perfectly to be the genius of the band.
I had mentioned I was going to do a follow up to the Sonic Youth video because I had heard those riffs before in an entirely different context. Well, I've been mandela'd. I can hear an entirely different set of lyrics on top of those 2 main riffs at the beginning of the track but that song I have in my head doesn't appear to be real. My best guess is that somehow I heard this song and my brain filled it away under "Jack Off Jill" and even put it in the folder for a specific song's lyrics. But I listened to every song that JOJ has made and while there are plenty of kinda similar ideas (they were both punk adjacent bands, after all) there isn't a single 1:1 recreation of those riffs. Just human brains doing human brain things; misremembering stuff and all that jazz 🤣
never heard Jack Off Jill before, just listened to the first 30 seconds of 'My Cat' and i can totally get what you mean here.
Nice to see Sonic Youth can still melt minds like they used too.
Sonic youth was one of the bands that got me into more experimental/noisy music, so they will always have a really special place in my heart.
I don't need to watch a 35 minute video to understand how incredible Sonic Youth are.
No huge surprise to recognise a lot of different familiar components; Sonic Youth pretty much laid down the blueprint for alternative and indie rock in the late 80-ies. They couldn't afford decent guitars so they just tuned, fuzz pedalled and amped the living daylights out of them (or simply jam a drumstick beneath the strings) to make them sound more interesting/less crap. They would have to carry so many different specifically tuned guitars with them that it actually made their touring a nightmare. But it allowed them to get an impressive range of sounds and noise out of a rather narrow spectrum. Their sound had a huge influence on grunge, post punk, shoegaze (My Bloody Valentine), etc. They even had Nirvana opening for them shortly before the Nevermind album blew up.
Perhaps the most underated band of the last half century.
@@claytonstrickland8336 from the most popular bands maybe, but there are many other bands that emerged about the same time as sonic youth and were pretty experimental but didn't get the recognition they deserved.
Check out oxbow and swans, both pretty inspired by rock music and noisy stuff but very experimental.
The Hip-Hop 'dude' is no less than Mister Chuck D from Public Enemy, probably the most important rap group in history!!
I still miss Sonic Youth. I didn't love all of their albums equally, but they never felt like they lost their way or their vision. Classic stuff.
Conversational, well "... the song was inspired by an interview bassist/singer Kim Gordon conducted with LL Cool J for Spin.[3][4] Although he is never mentioned by name, the song's lyrics contain several references to LL Cool J. Gordon's lyrics make reference to several of the rapper's works, including the single "I Can't Live Without My Radio" and the album Walking with a Panther. She also repeats the line "I don't think so", which appears in LL Cool J's "Going Back to Cali". Chuck D also contributed spoken vocals to the song. "wikipedia
Something about Sonic Youth, in all this chaos, most things are there for a reason
When I heard this for the first time in 1990, I knew good things were in store for music.
This album was recorded over 30 years ago and many bands have been influenced by them so that's why it sounds familiar.
Rush and Sonic Youth are my favorite bands. What a dichotomy. The male vocalist is Chuck D, form Public Enemy.
One of history's few perfect bands. And a wonderful song.
This song was also in Guitar Hero 3 if that's ringing a bell for anyone, doesn't sound like the thing Bryan is talking about here though where the ideas were mixed up by a different band. But that's at least where I first heard it anyway.
For the context around the lyrics, I've read that apparently this song was inspired by a weirdly tense interview Kim Gordon did with the rapper LL Cool J at some point. She was asking him all these big social/political/feminist type of questions (ie the line about "Are you gonna liberate us girls from white corporate oppression?) and he just wasn't connecting at all. This song is her reflecting on it in hindsight and basically laughing at herself, which is probably where you picked up on the sarcastic/satirical tone. I think the verses represent Kim asking questions to Kool Thing aka Cool J while the "I don't wanna, I don't think so" stuff in the chorus are his responses.
Also the guest rapper here is none other than Chuck D from Public Enemy, he says "Fear of a female planet" in reference to the famous PE album "Fear of a Black Planet." And perhaps the presence of a well-known figure from hip-hop like Chuck D on this song is also a reference to LL Cool J. Chuck seems to be vibing a lot more with Kim's ideas though so maybe his lines represent how Kim wishes the interview had gone. Or maybe because most of his lines are so simple "Yeah, word up, tell it like it is...." it could be someone who's feigning agreement but isn't truly listening or connecting. Pretty sure Chuck D is considered a much more outspoken political rapper than LL Cool J as well (please correct me if I'm wrong, I don't know a whole lot about LL but Chuck/Public Enemy basically spearheaded hardcore political rap in the early days of hiphop) so maybe that plays into it too. So you have this ladies' man rapper responding "I don't wanna" during the interview but then she brings in this politically outspoken icon of early hiphop to vibe with her on the song and be all like "Yeah, word up, fear of a female planet! Make 'em feel FEAR!"
Wild context! Not only is it a unique thing to base a song on, but the conversational idea (an interview) is represented quite well in the music; something I picked up on but had now idea how to relate it to the lyrics.
“I don’t think so” is also the line from his song “Going back to Cali”
Happen to be wearing a Sonic Youth T-shirt as I saw this drop 👌👌👌
Interesting that you call the drum track "simplistic" - I remember thinking the same thing because the guitar is so dominant in the track, until I started to learn to play it on the drums and HOLY SHIT there are so many fantastic nuances and fun fills in this drum track. Easily the most varied and exciting rhythms in the Sonic Youth catalogue - it's punk rock-adjacent but still very technical.
Yup, could definitely have sounded simple or was just covered up by the aspects that screamed out to me instead (like the guitar and bass work). It happens all the time. Though now I know I should give it another go, keeping my ear on the drums.
Steve Shelley is one of the truly interesting rock drummers. Check out Cross the Breeze
One of the greatest shows I ever saw was Rock Against Reagan in 1983, featuring the Crucif*cks. The drummer was a very young (and even younger looking) Steve Shelley, and the singer was the incomparable Doc Dart. The drums made the band.
@@jkf9167 Great guitar and bass work, also, on the Crucifucks albums.
If you're interested in the discordant, atonal aspect of the music, you may find an interest in the music of Glenn Branca. His ensemble of guitarists included members of Sonic Youth, Swans, and Helmet - And this type of guitar came basically directly from Glenn Branca, but Sonic Youth adapted the style to fit more of a rock outfit. I'd recommend the album "The Ascension", you'll recognize immediately, "Oh, that's where they got those guitar ideas from"
Also interesting to note, That high-frequency tone of the guitar comes largely from the Fender Jazzmaster pickups. I own a Jazzmaster and it has a very biting tone like that too, especially on the bridge pickup.
Saw these guys live a few times from small shows to music Festival arenas. Wall of sound. Incredible to be a part of. The 90s were great
When I was 12 I took guitar lessons and the teacher said to bring in a song I wanted to learn and I brought in a sonic youth song and he was like “I can’t teach this to you. I don’t know what they’re doing”
Kim Gordon (and the guitarist Thurston Moore as well) have very good solo albums
Lee Ranaldo as well. They really do put their own flair on the songs they each front so you get more of that on the solo albums.
Only 6 minutes into this video, bro, if you thought this was bonkers... this is the tip of the iceberg with sonic youth! Clearly, one of their more accessible songs since it was a video and one of their "hits." Go to one of their albums like "bad moon rising" for an experience! But that is a real jump into the deep end!
sonic youth, sonic life, sonic death, sonic eternity
You know it!
Yeah, this is one of the few quasi-hits Sonic Youth had. I vaguely remember hearing this on the radio back in the day, though I was very young at the time. The song itself is from their '90 album Goo, which was their followup to what most consider their masterpiece, Daydream Nation. I think I've said it before but SY is a band I have a ton of respect for given their originality and experimental bent, but like a lot of the arty punk bands that came from the tradition of The Velvet Underground I tend to find their ambition outstrips their talent, and to the extent that I like them is usually to the extent they wrote fun, catchy songs. This is one of those songs for me, so I definitely dig it.
Their ability is just fine. Their music outstripped the music audience.
This. Very talented band. Very cutting edge.
Sonic Youth confusing a composer is the universe in balance lol. thanks for checking out this classic 👍 kudos
the cycle of things
Sonic Youth is great. Thurston Moore has always done a lot of interesting projects as well.
I was really getting into Sonic Youth around 1990 when I was in High School. My dad at the same time was getting into Kronos Quartet. I declared I really didn't like Kronos, they were too noisy and too weird.
A bit later I was at home listening to the Sonic Youth "Goo" album. Dad asked me who I was listening to and what I liked about them. I responded, "Oh they're doing this stuff that no one else is doing, playing with feedback and using a screwdiver to play the notes, it's really different from everything else."
My dad replied. "And you don't like Kronos?"
Some 30 years later I realize that the Kronos Quartet is absolutely amazing and not just that, the two groups were most likely extremely aware of each other and probably crossed paths a few times.
Was looking forward to this. I mentioned in the last SY reaction you did that I would like to check out more of their works.
Sonic Youth is one of the best deep dive bands besides Ween, Primus, etc. I would call Sonic Youth Art-Alt. They have used about a dozen different tunings. They also where huge experimenters in feedback play. They hated people telling them what to be. They where The Godfather’s of grunge with Neil Young and partially the Melvins etc. Great band.
I knew about SY in the 80’s but didn’t get into them until the early 90’s. Very intriguing band. Art rock I guess. They tried to get a but mainstream but not sure it worked. Their sound was not mainstream enough. But I liked it.
The guitars pierce and maintain clarity because they were jazz masters on the bridge pickup. Those guitars are known to have an absurd amount of treble
Sonic Youth got Nirvana signed to Geffen.
What a strange coinkydink, I just listened to this song after 15 years of not hearing it, 4 days ago and now I found this..
Do more sonic youth they were so good live so try some good live footage
Also this is what Genius says:
"This song was inspired by a 1989 interview Kim Gordon conducted with LL Cool J for Spin Magazine, in which the two struggled to find much in common. During the bridge, Chuck D plays the part of LL Cool J, with Gordon satirizing her own attempts to connect with him about the counterculture she identifies with."
And "Fear of a female planet" is obviously a nod to the Public Enemy album "Fear of a black planet"
I think maybe it's Kim Gordon expressing her feelings toward the misogynistic nature of a lot of Hip-hop music and culture, you know, "What're you gonna do for me?"
If you play guitar I hardily recommend not looking up guitar tabs for Sonic Youth songs. They have a ludicrous number of different tunings and guitars used sometimes for only single songs in their catalogue, with a lot of extended techniques like using screwdrivers. But yeah, the sounds they got out of their guitars are legendary. Later records are a lot more overtly "pretty" and often used a three or four guitar setup (they added a third guitarist, and Kim sometimes plays guitar instead of bass) with lots of overlapping melodies, but they rarely abandon the idea of using guitars in really innovative ways.
The lyrics are about putting the expectation bar too high when it comes to your 'heroes'. Kim Gordon wrote it after conducting an interview to LL Cool J, who she was a fan of. The interview did not go has she expected, LL Cool J answers were vague and unintresting and that let Kim very disappointed. That's why she gets the 'yeah' and 'right up' answers when she makes those too demanding and unrealistic questions; 'are gonna you liberate us girls from male white corporate oppression?'
Yessir, that SOLO!
Kool Thing is MORE than KOOL‼️👍🏽👍🏻👍🏼⚡⚡⚡💥
Sonic youth are amazing just blow your mind beautiful noise guitars that sound like screaming elephants and dinosaurs they were incredible live thurston moOre and lee R. gods of experimental sounds.
Usually on sonic youth albums you have different tracks fronted by different members. So Kim songs tend to have more sort of chanting/rhyming and more feminist themes. Thurston Moore songs are kinda laid back rockers, and Lee usually has at least one or two tracks that focus more on his poetic style of lyrics which I always love. I remember every time a new album came out you would kind of anticipate those kind of things.
they're all about texture.. this song is meant to conjure up images of giant 1 ton weights flying back and forward over whoever the girl's chewing out (Kim Gordon chewing out LL Kool Jay)
I'm going to be honest here. For a composer you certainly miss a lot of the 20C minimalism references in their tuning and song structures, and not to forget those who straddled the more compositional with the orchestral (Branca, Chatham, Riley, Young, etc.), with whom they were contemporaries and friends. That's to say nothing about their collaboration with perhaps one of the most important MCs in wave 2 of east coast political hiphop…
The fear of a female planet lyric is a play on the seminal PE album title Fear of a black planet
Good call that the guitars are screaming or wailing. With sonic youth maybe more so than any other band i feel like they've brought their guitars to life- breathing, screaming, wailing, roaring... wait until you get to the songs where their guitars are roaring! Your video is a year old now so maybe you've already listened to more sonic youth.
I know this adds nothing to the convo, yet I must say that the "rocker chick" I looked up to the most was Kim Gordon. She wasn´t a junkie , she wasn´t a whore, she didn´t bow down to posers like Courtney L. To see them play at a show was one of the hugest experiences I ever had.
My favorite Sonic Youth song is "Winner's Blues."
Some absolutely priceless facial expressions!
Definitely Alt-rock
Hot take I know but Kool thing doesn't hold a candle to better songs from them.
It's an average Sonic Youth tune. Which means it's merely great.
It is an accessible doorway to the deeper cuts
I reckon Sonic Youth is the most GenX band you could name and not be embarrassed by. Slacker fastidiousness at its finest, if not as poppy as the Pixies.
OK, where's your reaction to a Mr Bungle track? lol, very fun video
I've done Carousel and Retrovertigo. That's certainly an interesting band, to say the least.
@@CriticalReactions This is very good stuff, I'm looking forward to binging your past content. I think "Slowly Growing Deaf (Song For Beethoven)" would intrigue you
Bam Margera is doing song reactions and analysis now? Cool.
I've heard quite a few of these but Bam is a new one for sure 🤣
@@CriticalReactions you're welcome? Seriously though, that was a great vid, even if some of the lyrical references you weren't aware of. If you're doing early 90's stuff you should definitely check out Jane's Addiction, and not just "Jane Says"
Bonkers. I'm a huge SY fan. 3 of them write and sing. She (Kim Gordon) is my fav, I find her very intense. Of the hudreds of concerts I've seen, I put SY up top with Neil Young & Crazy Horse, and Ramones
It's a primal experience
makes sense cause of theme of course but least interesting track imo on this amazing album. yet, Kim is legend. try to tune to Sonic Youth and that's when you realize their genius and originality. frustrating to tune by ear that's for sure ha
where’s that promissed video?
I'm gonna make a pinned comment about it, but long story short -- I must have heard Kool Thing sometime in my life but filed it away in my head under another band.
Sonic Youth certainly isn't for everyone. But, I dig some of their songs.
This track is Riot Grrl meets MC. I think it’s more sarcastic than satirical. She’s doing the woke feminist overt-sexuality sarcastic thing in reaction to the sexual politics of late 80s hip hop. I guess it’s basically just calling out the sexism and using Chuck D as a bonafide to avoid accusations of racism (though not, I think, unfairly or cynically).
If you’re from Tha Bronx, this bands name is pronounced ‘Sonic Yute’
😁
Hahaha! You are funny. That caught me by surprise and made me laugh out loud.
Probably another sonic youth song where they follow this similar formula
Sonic youth kicks ass
Where's the addendum? :)
I never made one because I had nothing to add. I ended up making a community post illustrating that I had concocted the entire thing in my head. My best guess is that somewhere, somehow I heard this song before and filed it away in my brain is a different band. But i listened to every song, every riff from that other band and the ideas in Kool Thing aren't present at all.
Speaking 20mins about the song you just heard for the first time is impressive 😄 i heard you say you'd need a 2nd or 3rd listen. Maybe you could've fit those listenings within the 30min video, just saying 😉
Lol… This guy needs people to give him requests to listen to new music. Bonkers
I love sonic youth but I'd say this is a weaker track. Check out schizophrenia, pacific coast highway, washing machine, the diamond sea, Theresa's sound world, skip tracer, I dreamed I dream, hey joni, brother James and so many more.
I think you would do better commenting on the Eurovision Song Contest. More your style (just a tip).
oh snap you called Chuck D a random hip hop vocalist 😅
Even hearing the name I don't know who that person is. I had to look 'em up 😄
This song is one of the few written about women’s role model, and women’s harassment on every subject, treated like dolls in an aspect. Like ‘’chicks”.
Hint: Kim goes: “ I don’t wanna, I don’t think so”
this whole video is yuge derp. jeezus.
how can you talk about this song if you know nothing at all about sonic youth, public enemy, and ll cool j? this is a really simple, straight-forward kim gordon sy song if you have even half a clue.
I don't understand this Music. Lol. Wake up, there's a lot in this world i'm sure you don't understand
There really is. It's a joy to discover stuff that I don't have the experience or knowledge to properly comprehend. That's where other people come into the picture, it's why relationships is so important. Your world ends at the horizon of the last person in your life, make sure that horizon is very, very far from you. When it comes to tracks like these I look towards the comment section, towards people of all walks of life, to help me understand. It's really amazing what people can do together.
@@CriticalReactions I think spending more time listening to the band would help it make sense to you. I mostly listen to jazz also. I am surprised I got through my first SY album myself, except piercing guitar keeps me interested. I consider the way the guitars go so far off the path and then come back perfectly to be the genius of the band.
Yeah, they don't tune their instruments... no thanks...
Oh, they tune. Just not to standard
some sy songs all three instruments are tuned to different tunings
jfc you people are thick
They tune their instruments very carefully my dear, believe me
@@luciodellaporta7201 Yeah, you aren't a musician...