The Manson murders had hung over rock music for 15 years by the time Sonic Youth recorded Death Valley ’69, a ferocious, viscerally powerful song written from the fractured point of view of a Manson Family member: the bloody, zero-budget video – by transgressive director Richard Kern – is the perfect accompaniment. Sonic Youth’s response to 9/11 offers a simple but affecting plea for unity in the face of horror: “Gather round, gather friend, never fear, never again.” The music, meanwhile, evokes the ghosts of New York’s past: there are moments where the guitars entwine around each other in a way that distinctly recalls Television. Sonic Youth at Pukkelpop festival, Belgium, 1991. ![]() Its understated power is exemplified by the languid, Pavement-influenced Sweet Shine, disrupted by Gordon’s sudden shift to throat-shredding howl midway through. Sweet Shine (1994)Īpparently recorded over the master tape of 1987’s Sister, Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star was a defiantly subdued, refusenik gesture in the wake of the post-Nirvana alt-rock gold rush. ![]() As Anti-Orgasm grippingly proves – spiky, clashing guitars heaving, monotonal riff beautiful, off-beam coda – it couldn’t have been the work of anyone else. Sonic Youth’s final album, The Eternal, might have been the most straightforward they ever released, but then again, that’s a relative term. It starts out like jerky post-punk funk, then suddenly transforms: an unsettling Kim Gordon monologue over brooding, tense, detuned guitar noise. Thrillingly, you can almost hear the band finding themselves as Shaking Hell plays. His loss, I guess.Sonic Youth’s first full album, Confusion Is Sex, was an abrasive leap forward from their awkward, half-formed debut EP. While Sonic Youth’s version has gone on to become one of the most lauded versions of the track, the Carpenters’ surviving member, Richard Carpenter, has famously said he doesn’t particularly care for Sonic Youth’s version of the song. Gone were the light and easy instrumentation, and instead, we were given an excursion into that of the noisy New York alternative rock scene. Likewise, the group’s infamously intricate guitar-tunings were used to create a vibe completely removed from the original. Maintaining the song’s feeling of loss and loneliness, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore used his vocals to create a dark and moody atmosphere. However, Sonic Youth considered the Carpenters an influence, and dutifully recorded a cover of ‘Superstar’. Now, if one was to look at the Carpenters, often considered a staple of AM-radio easy listening, one would see almost no resemblance to that of Sonic Youth, the highly experimental alternative noise-rock group. In addition to brilliant covers from artists such as Shonen Knife (who covered ‘ Top Of The World‘), and The Cranberries (who covered ‘ (They Long To Be) Close To You‘), was the record’s sole single Sonic Youth’s version of ‘Superstar’. Gone was the soul-styled vocals of the original, and it’s sexual overtones, and instead, Karen Carpenter’s vocals were added into the mix, giving the song a deep feeling of loneliness and loss, as was originally intended by the song’s writers.Īs year’s went by, numerous bands took inspiration from the works of the Carpenters, so much so that a compilation CD was issued in 1994 that saw bands who considered the group as influences, covering their songs. The Carpenters’ version was a hit, with many stating that the Carpenters cover was far superior and emotional than the original. ![]() Instead, the song was passed around between numerous musicians until it received a great deal of success thanks to a little duo called the Carpenters, who renamed it ‘ Superstar‘. This B-side was called ‘ Groupie (Superstar)‘, and wasn’t overlooked as many B-sides of the era were. That single featured, as many did, a B-side. Back in 1969, Delaney & Bonnie released the song ‘ Comin’ Home‘.
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