Sonic Youth’s tenure on Geffen Records has been a high-profile case of the intersection between art and commerce, or, perhaps more interestingly, between the avant-garde and rock. With Rather Ripped, the Geffen era seems to be coming to a close; it completes their contract, though the band hasn’t yet announced what is next. The nine albums Sonic Youth released on DGC/Geffen, as varied as they are, tell one cohesive story about a band seeking the best way to take the reckless, brave spirits of free jazz, punk, and experimental music, and generate them within the confines of traditional rock song structure.
Sonic Youth are an anomaly on Geffen: musicians with feet firmly in the art-gallery and basement-noise-band worlds, collaborating with out-jazz innovators and releasing a series of experiments through their own label, SYR. At the same time they’re not an anomaly; they’re a rock band, doing typical rock band things: touring arenas, playing on Letterman, doing interviews and photo shoots. That’s the story of Sonic Youth on Geffen: bohemian sound pioneers influenced by contemporary artists, releasing their own version of rock music to the masses.