Sonic Youth is a group of independent Rock founded with New York in 1981. Clearly related on ethics and the culture Punk S, Sonic Youth was associated with various musical currents since the beginning of the Années 1980  : initially No wave (1981-1983), then Hardware-core (1983-1986), Grunge (1989-1992), Post-rock'n'roll (1998-2001).

This difficult classification is due partly to a style clean, nourished very many influences and creating its own character. The music of Sonic Youth can be regarded as an attempt at destructuration of the Pop music by the recurring use of Dissonance S and Distorsion S in songs based on melody S pop

At the beginning inspired by the experiments of Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca (with which the major part of the group played), they were known for the use of a not very orthodoxe variety of tunings of guitar, and for the use of the prepared guitars and the screwdrivers added to modify the stamp.

The members of Sonic Youth each one are in addition implied in various additional artistic projects (music, films,…) and many independent groups sponsored (for example Blonde Redhead, but most famous being Nirvana, at the beginning of the Années 1990).

They created their clean Independent label Sonic Youth Recordings, or SYR, in order to leave the experimental discs which could not appear on Geffen, their usual label.

Members

• Kim Gordon (low, guitar, song)
• Thurston Moore (guitar, song)
• Lee Ranaldo (guitar, song)
• Steve Shelley (battery, since 1986)

Former members

• Mark Ibold (bass player on the round Daydream Nation, for the pieces of Rather Ripped, also bass player of Pavement);

• Jim O' Rourke (guitar, low, synthetizer, electronics, 2000 to 2006);
• Ass DeMarinis (keyboards) (1981);
• Richard Edson (battery) (1982);
• Bob Bert (battery) (1982-1985, with a stop of a few days in 1983);
• Jim Sclavunos (battery) (1983).

Singers, singers, musicians having contributed to certain projects

Discography

Albums

• Sonic Youth (1982) (Neutral/Zensor) (republished by ST in 1987 and 2006 by Geffen)

• Confusion is Sex (1983) (Neutral/Zensor) (republished by ST in 1987, then in 1995, with " Kill yr Idols" in no-claims bonus)
• Sonic Death (1984) (Ecstatic Peace!) (republished by ST in 1988)
• Bad Moon Rising (1985) (Homestead/Blast First) (republished by Geffen in 1995)
• EVOL (1986) (ST (label)/Blast First) (republished by Geffen in 1994)
• Sister (1987) (ST (label)/Blast First) (republished by Geffen in 1994)
• Daydream Nation (1988) (Enigma (label)/Blast First) (republished by Geffen in 1994)
• The White (there) Album (published under the name of Ciccone Youth) (1988) (Enigma/Blast First) (republished by Geffen in 1995 and 2006)
• Goo (1990) (DGC/Geffen)
• Dirty (1992) (DGC/Geffen)
• Experimental Jet set, Trash and No Star (1994) (DGC/Geffen)
• Screaming Fields off Sonic Coils (compilation 1982-1988) (1995) (DGC/Geffen)
• Made in the USA (band of film of the same name) (1995) (Rhino)
• Washing Machine (1995) (DGC/Geffen)
• has Thousand Leaves (1998) (DGC/Geffen)
• SYR4: Goodbye 20th Century (1999) (SYR)
• NYC Ghosts & Flowers (2000) (Geffen)
• Murray Street (2002) (Geffen)
• Dirty Deluxe Edition (republication of Dirty with news) (2003) (Geffen)
• Sonic Children's nurse (2004) (Geffen)
• Hidros 3 (with Chechmates Gustafsson and of the friends) (2004) (Smalltown Supersound)
• Goo Deluxe Edition (republication of Goo with news) (2005) (Geffen)
• SYR6: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui (2005) (SYR)
• Rather Ripped (2006) (Geffen)
• The Destroyed Room: B-Sides and Rarities (compilation of scarcities) (2006) (Geffen)
• Daydream Nation Deluxe Edition (republication of Daydream Nation with news) (2007) (Geffen)

EPs, individual

Sound tracks

• Lovedolls Superstar (1986) (ST (label))

• Made in the USA (1987) (Chrysalis) (on this version, it has there only one piece of Sonic Youth)
• Pump Up the Volume (1990) (MCA (label))
• Judgment Night (1993) (Immortal/Epic)
• My So-Called Life (1995) (Atlantic)
• Suburbia (1997) (DGC/Geffen)
• Condo Painting (1998) (Gallery Six)
• Pola X (1999) (Phantom)
• End off Days (1999) (Universal/Geffen)
• Grind Session (2000) (Shaba Ranges/Sony)
• Demonlover (2002) (Labels)

Recoveries and collaborations

Collaborations

• 1987 : Lee Ranaldo in backing-vocals on the album You' Re Living room All Over Me of Dinosaur Jr
• 1993: I Coils you Mary Jane in duet with the group of rap Cypress Hill on B.O. film Judgment Night
• 2001: Two songs with Brigitte Fontaine on the album Kékéland

Recovery S

• 1983 : I Wanna Be Your Dog of the Stooges
• 1986: Into the Groove of Madonna
• 1986: Bubblegum of Kim Fowley
• 1987: Today Yr Love, Tomorrow the World, Beat One The Brat of the Ramones
• 1989: Touch Me I' m Sick of Mudhoney
• 1991: Personality Crisis of the New York Frauds
• 1992: That Planes for Me Plastic Bertrand
• 1994: Superstar of the Carpenters on compilation homage If I Were has Carpenter
• 1996: Moist Vagina of Nirvana
• 1996: Simpsons topic at the end of the episode of Simpsons " Homerpalooza" (or Sonic Youth appears)
• 1998: Within You Without You of the Beatles
• 1999: The album SYR4: Goodbye 20th Century is composed of resumptions of contemporary classical music

Other projects of the group

Labels

• Smells Like Records

• Ecstatic Peace!
• SYR
• Goofin'

Parallel projects

Kim Gordon

• Free Kitten

• Kim Gordon Four-bit byte
• Mirror/Dash

Thurston Moore

• Mirror/Dash

• Lucky Sperms

Thurston Moore moreover left several albums in solo

Lee Ranaldo

• Text off Light

• Dim Stars

Steve Shelley

• Dim Stars

• Crucifucks

See too

External bond

• Official site