Light On Dark Water

Sonic Youth: Teenage Riot

Weekend Music

I thought I remembered reading that Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon were married, so I checked, and they are. Moore is the one singing. Gordon is the one in the dress. This is one of the more accessible Sonic Youth songs from their earlier years. 

Then:


 

Almost twenty years later:


 

There’s something sort of weird about people in their forties singing teenage anthems and doing the stage moves that they did when they were young (not to mention calling yourselves Sonic Youth).

Forties? No, make that fifties. I just looked up Thurston Moore on Wikipedia and according to his bio he’s only ten years younger than I am–which makes him 52. Well, I think I’ll go play my guitar now.

Maclin Horton

7 responses to “Sonic Youth: Teenage Riot”

  1. Janet Cupo

    Before I even got to the part where you were talking about their name, I was thinking that there’s a great danger in calling oneself anything that has “Youth” in the name. It reminded me of Isaac Asimov who said that when you wrote Sci-Fi, you should always make sure to place the story beyond your lifetime, so you wouldn’t be proved wrong while you were still alive.
    AMDG

    Reply
  2. Janet Cupo

    And while I’m talking about names–Thurston–now there’s a name that you don’t hear much of nowadays unless you watch a lot of Gilligan’s Island reruns.
    AMDG

    Reply
  3. Mac

    “Thurston” is a rather nerdy-patrician sort of name for a super-hip rock musician. But maybe that’s hip in itself.

    Reply
  4. Jesse Canterbury

    I can’t imagine they would’ve anticipated that they’d still be making music 20 years later.
    Is it just me or does Thurston Moore seem very bored as he starts singing in the more recent clip? I’ve always imagined it must be a particularly awful kind of hell to have to perform the same song in the same way, many many times per year for many many years.
    Anyway, despite all that, kudos to them for continuing to develop (I assume) and make music.

    Reply
  5. Mac

    I wasn’t sure whether he looked bored or a little sick. Definitely didn’t appear to be having fun.
    I’m sure you’ve heard that remark that Mick Jagger made when he was young and that people keep throwing back at him (justifiably)–something about not planning to do this at 40 because he would look like a fool. And he’s now, what, 65 or so?
    I can’t really connect with that “special kind of hell” idea except abstractly–I mean, I can understand that it would happen, but I can’t really enter into it, I guess cause I’ve never performed. I remember reading that Kurt Cobain was tormented by the fact that he couldn’t feel his songs every time he played them, and so he felt that he was being dishonest and cheating people.
    I can’t speak to SY’s development, as I don’t know that much of their work, and little or nothing past Daydream Nation, which I think is over 20 years old now (and which I like a lot).

    Reply
  6. Ryan C

    I love this band. But yeah, badly chosen name.
    ‘Dirty’ is my favorite album by them: I think it’s their best. Here’s two songs:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Hwbhd7c_as
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Llus9u1QcY

    Reply
  7. Mac

    I’ve been wanting to hear more of their stuff for some time. But I’m not getting enough network bandwidth to play these without hiccups now, which plays hell with my nerves, so I’ll have to wait till later. Where does Dirty fall in their discography? I haven’t heard anything later than Daydream Nation, and I’ve read that they got less weird later. Some of their really early stuff is pretty wild.

    Reply

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