Wish POLLfillment: Sonic Youth's Dirty

yah Sonic Nurse is aces

Today I noticed: "Self-Obsessed and Sexee" is a dirtier, better "100%."

I don't like SO & S v. much; same goes for Screaming Skull...they're not bad, but definitely is the point where that album starts going astray for me

(but) ^those two are (definitely)

is that math?

Sugar Kane is kinda corny but I've always loved it.
Old school sy fans hate this record cuz it's the crossover record, I always thought. It was the first one my MTV watching ass bought. My first exposure to them was via the pump up the volume soundtrack, tho, of course.

Can't believe people are actually voting for "Youth Against Facism". Such a lame song.

OK, it's got my vote. FASCIST!

Old school sy fans hate this record cuz it's the crossover record, I always thought. It was the first one my MTV watching ass bought. My first exposure to them was via the pump up the volume soundtrack, tho, of course.

― Trip Maker, Friday, January 29, 2010 2:13 PM (14 minutes ago)

I think you're thinking of Goo, not Dirty?

Hah, Pump Up the Volume for me too! I can totally remember that moment (i.e. listening to that CD for the first time and going "What is that?")

Like many songs on Dirty, Sugar Kane, as corny as parts of it are (just lyircs for me), the fucking instrumental passage in the middle of the song is just so so good, especially when it breaks down after the initial rock-out solo and then builds up again. I am so glad there is a lot of love for Purr here too, I used to put that song on mixtapes mainly cause of how righteous the guitar playing is throughout (and cause I always considered it completely overlooked ...)

first exposure to SY was either:

1) coming across their name in random Nirvana/Pumpkins/Breeders articles
or
2) checking out their albums on some Columbia House booklet

I'm pretty sure that whatever it was, it was def. #2, and esp. falling in love with song titles like Kool thing, Cinderella's Big Score, and Titanium Expose that made me decide to check them out. A grunge outcast in my class lent me his cassette copy of goo; v. different than what I expected--I thought all alternative rock sounded like Soundgarden, STP, and Silverchair (or at least like the Pumpkins and Breeders) but this seemed not exactly quieter, but much more atmospheric, much less upfront with its rewards...I liked Mote, Mildred Pierce, Tunic, and Disappearer (still my Sonic Youth POO) and those still tend to be my favorite songs from that album...

Dirty was creeper rock; it wasn't until a couple of years ago listening to some of the songs that I realized how much I had missed that album, how many of those songs had stuck with me...not every album from that time has that effect...my top 2 albums from when I was fifteen, The Bends and Gish, I can't even hear those anymore...Dirty brings it though.

I think you're thinking of Goo, not Dirty?

dirty their first post-nevermind lp, so the entry point for a lot of kids of my generation, rather than goo.

voted wish fulfillment, but could as easily have been theresa or drunken butterfly

Yeah I think for Brits at least Dirty was the album that really got notice here. I was 15 then so I dunno how much attention they got with Goo but the first SY song I ever heard was 100% on something like 120 Minutes or Alternative Nation

I shd probly listen again (for the first time in like 15 years), Sugar Kane I think.

"Drunken Butterfly" all the way, a 1990s Sonic Youth song that even xhuxk eddy could love.

always liked chapel hill a lot

The beautifully recorded Drunken Butterfly. Actually, evertyhing on the album except for Sugar Kane is good to great.

so divisive!

"shoot"

my favorite 'kim song' of the 90's

"Swimsuit Issue" as much for the brazenly naive/stoopid lyrics as the rolling pummel of the first half and the gallumphing robot crunch of the second half.

bad moon rising, evol, daydream, sonic nurse. i like pretty much all their stuff, but dirty and jet set just always bored me

― ♖♕♖ (am0n), Friday, January 29, 2010 12:34 PM (8 hours ago)

troo

I don't remember liking Kim's tracks that much at the time this came out, but they really stand out for me now, especially "Shoot", which gets my vote

"Swimsuit Issue" as much for the brazenly naive/stoopid lyrics as the rolling pummel of the first half and the gallumphing robot crunch of the second half.

yeah I think Kim does really good with the lyrics in this album, the way in 'SI' the way they set up the dopey lyrics in the first half only for it to culminate in a single line of stark poetry: 'ice women'.

'JC' reminds me of Madvillain, really.

yeah I think Kim does really good with the lyrics in this album, the way in 'SI' the way they set up the dopey lyrics in the first half only for it to culminate in a single line of stark poetry: 'ice women'.

― don't mind me: just exhuming dead horses... (Drugs A. Money), Saturday, January 30, 2010 8:06 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

for like 12 years i thought she was singing "are swimming," now I think she's singing "us women"

also it's "war pig fuck" duh

for like 12 years i thought she was singing "are swimming," now I think she's singing "us women"

also it's "war pig fuck" duh

― congratulations (n/a), Saturday, January 30, 2010 4:05 PM (6 hours ago)

I think it's "I'm swimming"

Yeah, official site says "I'm swimming," which is how I've always heard it, but lol ambiguity.

lol 100%

They really should have found 3 1/2 minutes to put Genetic on the album. It should have been a single for that much, as it is probably one of the best pop nuggets Sonic Youth made.

Purr

I also always heard it as "I'm swimming".

"Wish Fulfilment" is the best song but I voted for "Shoot" before relistening based on the memory of how exhilarating it was to hear for the first time as a teenager. Listening now, what seemed most striking was how people who were approaching middle age could have recorded something so adolescent.

I assumed that was because they were spending all their time reading Sassy.

ice women: maybe it IS i'm swimming, that's how I heard it at first, but some lyrics page I read said otherwise...

Shoot: this track is great, battered-wife revenge dub, it is kind of adolescent, but still awesome...I'm glad it's getting so much love!

This is really hard - this is my favorite SY album. Ian MacKaye playing 2nd guitar on Y.A.F.! And the Untouchables/"Nic Fit" cover! And "Wish Fulfillment" is my favorite Lee song...

just voted on the strip

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

runoff!

how often does this happen? def got to do a runoff

weird results, didn't know people liked YAF that much and have no idea why

Yeah, I was just about to ask whether ten people were taking the piss about that.

none of those 3 would ever get my vote but out of just those 3 i'd vote YAF

i voted for YAF, it's definitely the song i like best even though the arrangement is kinda weak

went back and listened to this (rescreened?), not nearly as bad as i remembered. prob would vote for wish fulfillment

man, I would have been the tie-breaker for Sugar Kane if I had seen this poll earlier... cuz of this: Like many songs on Dirty, Sugar Kane, as corny as parts of it are (just lyircs for me), the fucking instrumental passage in the middle of the song is just so so good, especially when it breaks down after the initial rock-out solo and then builds up again.Like many songs on Dirty, Sugar Kane, as corny as parts of it are (just lyircs for me), the fucking instrumental passage in the middle of the song is just so so good, especially when it breaks down after the initial rock-out solo and then builds up again.

oh no, i didn't see this & could've decided it for "wish fulfillment"! RUNOFF

this really is my favorite SY 90's LP by a hair, glad Wish Fulfillment got some recognition. I think it shows the strength of the album that most everything picked up votes - mine was for Theresa's Soundworld, love that tune but I also love Sugar Kane.

You asked for it; you got it.

absolute best kim performances, vicious and totally confident

most production presence

biggest dumbest drums

sickest noises

most urgent riffing

best lee song?

CLOUD JAMS

i believe anita hill

'radio' songwriting fits in rather than sticking out

fat alt-rock bass

this is the best SY album forever

Really think Bob Rock would have better helped them realize their vision for this one.

Probably not coincidental that Bert is the only one of the group who was in a great band *after* SY.

― dlp9001, Monday, August 3, 2015 8:42 AM (four years ago)

Yikes. Here's a selection of bands and artists who Jim (S) recorded/toured with post-SY:

Alex Chilton (1983)
Tav Falco's Panther Burns (1983, 1992-1994)
Lydia Lunch (1984-1986, 1991-1992)
The Cramps (1991-1992)
Congo Norvell (1992-1996)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1994 - present)

Surprised to see Youth Against Fascism place so high. Always saw it as a a cheap concession to Alternative Nation.

A sieg heil-in' squirt
you're an impotent jerk
Yeah, a fascist twerp
it's the song I hate
it's the song I hate

I think I've listened to enough Sonic Youth now to know they're not really my thing, but I adore this album

It was my first Sonic Youth album, so maybe that's the reason it's the one I latched onto. But I probably need to check out more of their albums. Goo felt similar to Dirty to me, if not as cohesive. I did enjoy a lot of Bad Moon Rising.

I was definitely scarred when I picked up Daydream Nation - said by many to be their best - and found it interminable and ponderous instead. This was years ago though, in the days of committing $17 to a CD when you just wanted to try something. It was enough to keep me from exploring their other albums. I should probably make it a point to dip my toes back in now that they're on Spotify.

I really dig that little guitar break in “Purr” (from like 2:40 until the main riff comes in again)… are there other SY things with that particular sound?

Ranaldo's leads in "Stones"? 2:50 in "Dirty Boots"?

Thx... "Stones" is nice. I think there's something almost Pavement-y about that "Purr" gtr, maybe that's why I like it so much

I know this is a basic-ass SY opinion, but "Sugar Kane" is such a great song... prob my favorite of theirs overall (it's a little funny when Thurston sings, "Kiss me like a frog"... I think it puts a different image in my head than was intended).