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It's no easy trick to simultaneously adopt and demolish pop culture. Plenty have tried, but that kind of art takes a mastery of both the academic and the popular that few posses. That's why it's so amazing that Sonic Youth have done it for so long. They've been at it since 1982, and have rarely missed the mark.
Released on Greg Ginn's label SST in 1986, EVOL wasn't the band's first stab at mixing the avant-garde with celebrity obsession, but it was their first record to do it flawlessly. It was a good time for it, too -- MTV was just getting started and Reganite values were all the rage. In the face of all that, songs like "Madonna, Sean and Me," and "Marilyn Moore" seized pop celebrity and murdered it.
Of course, it was "Expressway to Yr. Skull", the last track on EVOL, that blasted away my notions of what music could do as art and rebellion. I heard it about 10 years after the album came out, but even as a 14-year-old in 1996 New Jersey, it rang like a battle cry -- an anthem for those of us struggling against the status quo. For me, rebellion was in destroying pop culture, not elevating it by pointing out its problems. And so, the first time I heard Thurston Moore sing "We're gonna kill the California Girls," my blood started flowing.
Sonic Youth is not the most physically intimidating band, and there are certainly more artistically obtuse acts out there. But, they masterfully melded the fire of early '80s hardcore (Minor Threat and Black Flag) and the New York No Wave scene (James Chance and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks). Songs like "Expressway" were relevant in 1986, continued to be relevant in 1996, and are still relevant in 2006.
So, when Sonic Youth came out for their second encore at the Starlight Ballroom in Philadelphia, and the opening jangle of "Expressway" rang out, my blood began flowing like the first time I heard it. Seeing Sonic Youth live, wrenching their instruments and contorting their bodies and voices in that little ballroom in that Northern Liberties neighborhood was violence. It was murder. It was pure assault. It was the same slaughter of popular sensibilities that I heard when I was 14.
And, at that moment in the show -- packed against sweaty bodies ranging in age from about 45 to 15 -- I realized that a SonicYouth concert represents a state of mind, one raging in a culture war that it will probably never win. But, by the same token, in that moment, as "Expressway" planted me firmly in a mass of bodies moving to the same revolution, anything seemed possible.
Even the opening act, Be Your Own Pet, had a sort of revolutionary, kinetic energy. BYOP is a young, fervent group led by lead singer Jemina Pearl. She shakes and writhes across the stage in mock spasms. These young kids may or may not be the saviors of the indie scene (the hype is already reaching critical mass, so let's hope they don't fade away -- or worse, fall flat on their faces). In any case, it must have been a tough gig opening up for Sonic Youth, and BYOP rose up in flames and destroyed the stage.
And, in some respect, Sonic Youth rebuilt it, only to smash it again. "Expressway" transformed me for personal reasons, but most of the songs played -- from "Incinerate" off the new record to "Shaking Hell" from the Confusion is Sex -- have the same power to entice pop out of its shell. Then, when it isn't looking, bring on the slaughter and lay that mother down.
— 21 July 2006
