Sonic Youth is 30. They are celebrating with a live gig on the Williamsburg Waterfront with Wild Flag opening. I am not there. This is pretty much the show to see this summer. Still kinda mad at myself for missing WF at Johnny Brenda’s but figured I could make this one but I’m just too broke. Coincidentally, Shonen Knife is also 30 this year but we’re not talking about Shonen Knife right now. Let’s focus. I don’t need to tell you any more about Sonic Youth, it’s just an excuse for a quickie list post.

1. Daydream Nation
   Kinda wanna not give it the top spot because I will rarely put it on now because it’s so played out and so long. But it really is that good.

2. Evol
   Oh man, this is one to get next. You could totally go wrong after Daydream and get put off the band. Probably happens to a lot of people. Am I really talking like this? No, it’s just a blog. Take it easy.

3. Confusion Is Sex
   NOISE NOISE NOISE NOISE. So dark. The darkest. Actually scary. No sentence is short enough to annoyingly describe it. Destroys.

4. Sister
   Most people would probably put Sister over EVOL. They seem to always play a lot of Sister songs live. Some clunkers lyrically. Actually, fuck it, I had this at 3, it’s going down a notch. Something about it tho.

5. Experimental Jet Set Trash & No Star
   Probably higher in the list than it should be for overall quality but it was the first one I got. Which makes no sense but that’s how it happened.

6. Washing Machine
   I could say a lot about this one but it has a great opener and great closer. It’s a summer album. Except wiki says it came out in late September. Becuz just sounds great blasting out of a window. It’s how summers feel to me.

7. Bad Moon Rising
   Very soundtracky, some moods just call for this album. Maybe hard to justify at #8, but it has the unbelievably epic Death Valley 69. Just noticed Dirty did not make this list, but believe it or not I never owed Dirty. It has some of my favorite songs but I only have a dub tape which cuts out several songs. (You could probably guess.) Sorry, Dirty. I just don’t think of you that way.

8. Goo
   Has it’s share of cringe moments, but they’re only moments, or are the lyrics to the title track. Probably the best overall production, if you like music to sound good. Like the breakdown part in Tunic. And Mote is maybe my favorite. Lee songs are epic (and I hate to use epic twice so close together but it’s 30 years of music here). Goddamnit, Wish Fulfillment is on Dirty, that’s another one. Turns out I do feel that way about Dirty, but it just didn’t work out. Fuck. Plus the metalheads from 9th grade are going to find me now and shoot me with their paintball guns, which I had avoided at the time by only listening to the first 3 Metallica albums until they graduated. And somehow a lot of The Doors. Weird bunch. How did ska fit into this? Man that 9th-10th grade summer was a weird one. I digress.

9. SYR 2: Slaapkamers Met Slagroom
   Might seem weird to count this, but it’s got the best parts from A Thousand Leaves which was a crushing disappointment of an album after the heavily played Washing Machine. Late 90s for me was mostly this, trip-hop, and shibuya-kei. Then I joined a rockabilly band. In retrospect…no it makes total sense. You had to be there. This record also has the benefit of being the best looking record I own so it tended to stay on the turntable for long periods. I miss my old setup but what can you do.

10. The Eternal
    Got to give them credit for pulling this one out after several records which were exactly half good. (Although I think Murray Street is probably better but I don’t really own that one either so I haven’t given it a fair shot.) This is the last CD was playing in my car a lot before the player broke. Only 2 years ago but seems like longer…shit really seemed like it was going to work out way back then. Maybe it will but time crawls with only shoddy radio reception and high gas prices. (Much better reception is North Jersey.) It’s literally a summer album but feels like it could be wintery. Not really I’m just being a jerk. It’s non-season specific. Long and zero hits but solid.

Closing thoughts: I need to stop fucking around and get some kind of actual income so I can go to more shows. This is awful. Just kidding. No I really need to move. Sonic Youth, everybody.

[edit: Yes, I added Amazon links.]

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