Okay over the years I have heard many, many genres of music that I have come to appreciate in maturity, jazz (west coast, free-form, be-bop) experimental, hardcore punk, hardcore, sludge metal, thrash, proto-punk, post-punk, lo-fi, slowcore and shoegaze. Everyone who ever went out and bought a guitar or drums had to have fallen for their first love, rock music. And by rock music, I mean in all its variety, its sub-genre, everything from classic rock, garage rock and psychedelic rock right up to post-rock that began to the latter of the 90s. But few are harder to define than alternative rock, it transcends definition. As a subgenre, alternative rock is influenced by so many different types of music, it could contain pop-sensibility or piss on it in the same instance. It could be a wall of sound, with a rhythm you can't help but bob your head to. It could be five fuzz heavy chords with echoes of feedback being strummed in a way no ears could ignore, whether the person listenings wants turn the stereo up, or off. Here's my top 20 alternative rock records in no particular order...
1.
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)There is perhaps a defining album for any seminal band, but when I bought this record when I was 15, I realised this was a stand-alone record, nothing I'd heard from the New York underground of the 1980s had been as appealing, inspiring or gratifying as Sonic Youth's 'Daydream Nation'. Sonic Youth are kind of a sonic pastiche themselves when you think about it, emersing thereselves in the hidden fringes of art and music and in turn producing some very forward thinking music, by 1991 they established themselves as Generation X's trash girl/boy poster band, the vangaurd of alternative rock.
The album starts with Youth fans anthem 'Teen Age Riot' which comes in two parts, beginning with Kim Gordon's Patti Smith-like prose, reciting the lyrics "say it don't spray it, miss me, don't dismiss me, spirit desire, spirit desire, we will fall" as hypnoticly strummed guitars lay the foundations for quite an impressively fresh intro for an album of 1988. The second part of the song starts as soon as you hear the Towsend strum and the carefully EQ'd timbre of both Moore and Ranaldo's guitars as they chime beautifully, in time perfectly. Shelley's drums and Kim's bass enter and you realise this is a song with such melody and youthful grace its one your hardly ever going to forget. If you look to Sonic Youth's previous effort the critically acclaimed 'Sister' you can see Thurston has brought melody and textures that weren't present before 1 minute and 20 seconds into this record. The sharp but smooth velvet esque chords, the burn-out lyrics, Shelley's enigmatic drumming, and Lee Ranaldo's tonality and Moore's slacker drawl creates a legendary format that Sonic Youth are still synonymous with. As the track fades feedback slurs and the second track 'Silver Rocket' starts, a few notes are picked out as they slow down before two distorted chords come crashing in. Sonic Youth's dynamics have always been about pushing limits and setting themselves far apart from the conventions of a generic rock and roll act. If you've never found yourself drawn to long bursts of noise, feedback and manipulation after listening to this record I don't think you ever will be. After scrolling through their back catalogue I didn't just find myself desensitized to noise, but
noisier recording artists like Naked City, Brainbombs and Merzbow.
The tracks richochet from one to another, until eventually you're left with what appears to be a completely original album, Sonic Youth venture deeper into noisey, conceptual and melodic territory. I would suggest this album to any new Sonic Youth fan, as its impressions on underground art-rock, noise rock and lo-fi are long-lasting. Serving as a constant inspiration to those who's values and aspirations don't correspond with the establishment or the conventions of "getting signed" constantly followed by your atypical sell-out musicians.
Tracks to check out:
Teen Age Riot:* (Track 01)
The Sprawl:* (Track 03)
'Cross The Breeze:* (Track 04)
Hey Joni:* (Track 07)
Candle:* (Track 09)
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