Where would you have put "Genetic" on "Dirty" if Kim and Thurston hadn't been such dicks?

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From Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth:

When the album, which was nineteen tracks long, needed to be trimmed, Moore, Gordon, and [A&R man Gary] Gersh all agreed: “Genetic” would have to go. “I wasn’t willing to have that,” Moore says about retaining “Genetic” and bumping another track. “It would have affected the sound of the album.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFM_JjvnYVI

Poll Results

OptionVotes
It's better as a B-side 4
After "Nic Fit" 2
After "Youth Against Fascism" 2
As the very first track 2
After "Drunken Butterfly" 1
After "Chapel Hill" 1
After "Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit" 1
After "Sugar Kane" 0
After "Crème Brûlèe" 0
After "Purr" 0
After "JC" 0
After "Shoot" 0
After "On the Strip" 0
After "Wish Fulfillment" 0
After "Swimsuit Issue" 0
After "Theresa's Sound World" 0
After "100%" 0


ArchCarrier, Thursday, 19 October 2017 08:19 (six years ago) link

It would've been the best track on this record so easily that this is kinda impossible. Hendrix Necro is great too, for that matter. My least-liked SY album.

albvivertine, Thursday, 19 October 2017 08:35 (six years ago) link

Even more dickish is putting a Sex Pistols rip called Stalker on the vinyl version, rather than restoring Genetic. Maybe they were annoyed at Mote being so good on Goo.

albvivertine, Thursday, 19 October 2017 08:38 (six years ago) link

otm about 'Stalker', but I don't agree that 'Genetic' would have been the best song on the album: 'Theresa', 'Sugar Kane', 'Wish Fulfillment', 'Chapel Hill' and 'JC' are a few of their very best songs.

ArchCarrier, Thursday, 19 October 2017 08:44 (six years ago) link

Yeah those are all great, it's just I connect emotionally with Genetic in a way that's pretty rare for me with SY (probably cos it's about his son). And it rocks hard (Steve Shelley's especially amazing on it iirc)

albvivertine, Thursday, 19 October 2017 08:47 (six years ago) link

Put it after Youth Against Fascism and bump Crème Brûlèe (feel free to bump Nic Fit at the same time). Tough call though, this is a really strong album (also Lee has probably my favourite song here in Wish Fulfillment).

Gavin, Leeds, Thursday, 19 October 2017 12:20 (six years ago) link

I'd replace "Youth Against Fascism" and "Nic Fit" with it. Thurston's attempts to shore up punk cred don't add much to the record.

a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Thursday, 19 October 2017 12:24 (six years ago) link

The version here cooks. I might leave the recorded version as a B-side.

No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Thursday, 19 October 2017 12:43 (six years ago) link

damn i haven't heard or thought of this song in MANY years. it's SO good -- i would put it in the second half of the album because i always thought those songs were kinda boring.

my head is spinning because the only reason i know this song is because this guy who stalked me left the 100% CD single on my car as a gift and i was conflicted because i loved this song so much (and 100% but Genetic was magically good) but i was in my first year of college, recovering from a long slide of bad events, and this dude's letters and unwanted attention were the last thing i needed. so confusing.

weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 19 October 2017 12:55 (six years ago) link

wow I totally forgot about this song. I also heard it on the CD single. I dunno. I'd have bumped Nic Fit for this definitely. Nic Fit seems like the ultimate b side.

akm, Thursday, 19 October 2017 13:13 (six years ago) link

Put it at the start. I'd happily go further and erase '100%' and 'Swimsuit Issue', such that it goes immediately into 'TSW'. It would indeed have "affected the sound of the album". I might even have refrained from selling it!

Maximum big surprise! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Thursday, 19 October 2017 13:19 (six years ago) link

Thurston Moore in talking shit shocker

Master of Treacle, Thursday, 19 October 2017 14:09 (six years ago) link

First track. It's more of a middle of side 1, perhaps side 1 closer, but I really, really dislike "100%" and "Genetic" just fucking rules.

flappy bird, Thursday, 19 October 2017 18:32 (six years ago) link

i can imagine bob mould singing this on an album i would never hear. until the patented youth drift at the end there.

scott seward, Thursday, 19 October 2017 18:45 (six years ago) link

otm

flappy bird, Thursday, 19 October 2017 18:45 (six years ago) link

i never listen to genetic

i also require performance of the original album to be on period-authentic instruments

j., Friday, 20 October 2017 02:36 (six years ago) link

Original baseball bat from Letterman U&K

No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Friday, 20 October 2017 02:39 (six years ago) link

Next up: Where would you have put "I Promise" on "OK Computer"?

Mark G, Friday, 20 October 2017 08:46 (six years ago) link

this song has been stuck in my head ever since i saw this thread. over and over and over that one part -- "i see it, i believe, somehow i know it's true"

weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 20 October 2017 13:40 (six years ago) link

xp no way. Lift, maybe

flappy bird, Friday, 20 October 2017 16:38 (six years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 00:01 (six years ago) link

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

System, Thursday, 26 October 2017 00:01 (six years ago) link

one year passes...

a worthy winner there.

je est un autre, l'enfer c'est les autres (alex in mainhattan), Sunday, 13 October 2019 16:43 (four years ago) link

i loved genetic when it came out. still got it on orange concentric groove vinyl which skipped between tracks (cos it was concentric grooved).

Fizzles, Sunday, 13 October 2019 17:02 (four years ago) link


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