Sonic Youth

An American rock band Sonic Youth contributed a lot to the music industry. With its founding members Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo playing the guitar and Kim Gordon at bass and vocals, the band became one of the most popular ones in the 1990s and 2000s.  

In 1977, not long ago after moving from the suburbs of Florida to The City of Dreams New York, guitarist Thurston Moore formed the band “Room Tone” (later on - “Coachmen”) with his roommates. Unfortunately, the history of the project turned out to be a fragile thing. After the band’s breakup, Thurston Moore got together with Kim Gordon, who would be his beloved wife in the near future. 

At first, the group of future spouses was named as “Male Bonding”, then - “Red Milk” and one more variant - the “Arcadians”. Finally, in the hot summer of 1981, the musicians made up the proper title, which revealed the inner motives of the couple - “Sonic Youth”.  

At the end of 1981, the New York studio recorded Sonic Youth’s mini-collection of the same title, which included 5 demo versions of their songs. The band sent out the tape to several significant music magazines, and critics gave “Sonic Youth” positive reviews and feedback. The album sounded like traditional post-punk in contrast to the later band’s releases. 

The debut studio work under the title "Confusion Is Sex" was released in far 1983. The album was pretty well met in Europe while the US and New York in particular left “Sonic Youth” without the expected dose of attention. Enthusiastic notes about the newcomers appeared in the press only after their catastrophic tour of Europe in 1984: the band's equipment failed, and in desperation, Moore smashed it with his guitar. And when Sonic Youth returned to New York, they were insanely popular, their photos glistening on magazine covers. 

Another studio album by Sonic Youth “Bad Moon Rising” was released in 1985 in honor of the marriage of Moore and Gordon, who were the soul of the band. The album's distinctive features were the transitions between songs performed by Moore and Ronaldo, while other members of the band tuned the instruments for the next hit. It turned out that the music sounded without a break, creating one sound line. 

“EVOL” in its turn, which saw the world in the second half of the 1980s, was the first studio album recorded on the SST Records label the rock band dreamt of working with. The signing of a contract between the two parties helped the group leave the underground and join the big stage and show business.  

In the next studio tape called "Sister" of 1987, the band continued to do experimental pop. The album was partially inspired by the life and work of Philip K. Dick, who was a science-fiction writer. The name of the album is a reference to the hard and unforgettable loss of his twin sister at an early age. "Sister" sold 60,000 copies.  
Over time, Sonic Youth became disillusioned with SST Records and switched to another label - “Enigma Records”. They released "Daydream Nation" in 1998 - an album that brought the band significant recognition in the United States. And the best-selling disc was "Goo". 

Sonic Youth's discography expanded in short terms: "Dirty" in 1992, "Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star" two years after, which reached number 34 on the Billboard 200, despite the lack of touring, because Gordon carried Moore's baby under his heart, " Washing Machine ”in 1995,“ A Thousand Leaves ” in 1998. In support of the latter Sonic Youth released the single "Sunday", in the video, the main role was played by the famous actor Macaulay Culkin. 

In the late 1990s and in the beginning of the 21st century, Sonic Youth began releasing experimental recordings on their own label titled SYR's. Music of that time could be called, rather, instrumental improvisation than their usual recordings. Albums and tracks were composed in several different languages: "SYR1" in French, "SYR2" in Dutch, and so on and so forth. Esperanto, Lithuanian, Japanese, Arpitan, and Danish were also used. 

In the 2000s, Sonic Youth released 5 albums one by one - "NYC Ghosts & Flowers" (2000), "Murray Street" (2002), "Sonic Nurse" (2004), "Rather Ripped" (2006), "The Eternal" (2009), after which they went underground and took quite a long break. 

In the autumn of 2011, Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore announced the bad news - they were going to divorce. This did not mean the breakup of the band, but plans for Sonic Youth became vague, despite the available developments for the next album. In a November 2013 interview, Lee Ronaldo mentioned that everybody in the group was engaged in his own project and the band is going to split up soon. 

In his autobiography "Girl in a Group" in 2015, Ronaldo repeatedly pointed out that Sonic Youth, unfortunately, "fell apart forever".