ready for the oldies station
Last week or so some publicist sent me a copy of Goo: Deluxe Edition, a two disc set that made Sonic Youth's first major label album seem that much more important. For whatever reason, the thing never made it into my hands. I would have remembered getting such a package because Sonic Youth is my favorite band that's still intact. The package was sent and signed for by someone at the office; I asked around, but no one had seen it. I'm not saying it was taken, but with all the shit we get, things have a way of disappearing. Luckily, the publicist is more or less a friend of mine, so she sent me another one. This time, I didn't let the thing out of my sight.
After lugging office furniture up our mountainously steep steps (for some reason, we'd ordered new office furniture from a company whose delivery men were not insured to carry things up steps; I don't think I'm technically insured to carry things up the steps, but luckily for everyone involved, I and the rest of the staff made it through the task unharmed), I settles, panting and sweaty, at my comfy work station and spent a good portion of the day listening to my two-disc, remastered version of Goo.
It's not my favorite Sonic Youth album, but it's got good songs on there. I remember seeing the video for "Dirty Boots" on the old MTV show 120 Minutes, which I still think was the best MTV video show ever. Y'know, when they played videos, but I guess even that sentiment has become a bit trite. 120 Minutes was on weekly for two hours (duh) from Sunday night at midnight into the wee hours of Monday morning. Much of my musical taste of that period of my life--and even now--was dictated by what videos I saw and enjoyed on that program. I never missed one. I remember Lewis Largent (though I liked Dave Kendall better) interviewing Mark Lanegan, then of the Screaming Trees and his own solo stuff (I think he was pushing Whiskey for the Holy Ghost), and talking about how cigarettes actually helped add an earthiness to his vocal tone. I interviewed Mark over the phone a couple years ago. I think he lit two cigarettes and nearly got into an accident. At one point he asked me "y'know what I mean, man?" and instantly I thought I was the coolest guy on Earth.
Right, so I remember seeing "Dirty Boots" on 120 Minutes. This was after I'd bought Dirty and spazzed out as Sonic Youth tore up their guitars playing "100%" on the David Letterman Show. I was kinda late to the game, but I'm either very young Gen X or very old Gen Y depending on how you look at it. The "Dirty Boots" video must have been shot in mid- to late 1990 or early 1991. I was 13 or 14 and probably just becoming disenchanted with hair metal and wondering why I had no friends as a freshman in high school. I probably saw the video a year and a half after that. If I remember correctly (I guess I could look it up, but I'm trying to stay true to my nostalgia no matter how thin it has ben worn down by the sands of time), the video is a pretty basic performance clip at a small club with kids in cut off jean shorts, moppy hair, flannel and some kind of Doc Martins-like boots (presumably dirty). There were no pretty dudes or hairsprayed chicks in tight denim and halter tops. If I were old enough to be there, I might have fit right in. At least I hoped I would. I think there was some love story element to the video as well. Girl meets Boy at the indie rock show and they conquer their teen angst to have a good time and thumb their noses at the man, or something similarly romantic.
After lugging office furniture up our mountainously steep steps (for some reason, we'd ordered new office furniture from a company whose delivery men were not insured to carry things up steps; I don't think I'm technically insured to carry things up the steps, but luckily for everyone involved, I and the rest of the staff made it through the task unharmed), I settles, panting and sweaty, at my comfy work station and spent a good portion of the day listening to my two-disc, remastered version of Goo.
It's not my favorite Sonic Youth album, but it's got good songs on there. I remember seeing the video for "Dirty Boots" on the old MTV show 120 Minutes, which I still think was the best MTV video show ever. Y'know, when they played videos, but I guess even that sentiment has become a bit trite. 120 Minutes was on weekly for two hours (duh) from Sunday night at midnight into the wee hours of Monday morning. Much of my musical taste of that period of my life--and even now--was dictated by what videos I saw and enjoyed on that program. I never missed one. I remember Lewis Largent (though I liked Dave Kendall better) interviewing Mark Lanegan, then of the Screaming Trees and his own solo stuff (I think he was pushing Whiskey for the Holy Ghost), and talking about how cigarettes actually helped add an earthiness to his vocal tone. I interviewed Mark over the phone a couple years ago. I think he lit two cigarettes and nearly got into an accident. At one point he asked me "y'know what I mean, man?" and instantly I thought I was the coolest guy on Earth.
Right, so I remember seeing "Dirty Boots" on 120 Minutes. This was after I'd bought Dirty and spazzed out as Sonic Youth tore up their guitars playing "100%" on the David Letterman Show. I was kinda late to the game, but I'm either very young Gen X or very old Gen Y depending on how you look at it. The "Dirty Boots" video must have been shot in mid- to late 1990 or early 1991. I was 13 or 14 and probably just becoming disenchanted with hair metal and wondering why I had no friends as a freshman in high school. I probably saw the video a year and a half after that. If I remember correctly (I guess I could look it up, but I'm trying to stay true to my nostalgia no matter how thin it has ben worn down by the sands of time), the video is a pretty basic performance clip at a small club with kids in cut off jean shorts, moppy hair, flannel and some kind of Doc Martins-like boots (presumably dirty). There were no pretty dudes or hairsprayed chicks in tight denim and halter tops. If I were old enough to be there, I might have fit right in. At least I hoped I would. I think there was some love story element to the video as well. Girl meets Boy at the indie rock show and they conquer their teen angst to have a good time and thumb their noses at the man, or something similarly romantic.
I like particular sounds I hear in Sonic Youth songs more than whole songs most of the time. Dirty is probably still my favorite, because that's the one that introduced me to the group. Though as I've gotten more familiar with them over the years, I know it's not their best album. I've grown to like their newer, more spacier and mellower stuff and I've gotten older spacier and mellower, but today, for whatever reason, turned out to be a good day to rediscover Goo.
2 comments:
Dear god. The flashbacks. I lived in flannel, ripped jeans, black tees, and my beloved Chuck Taylors (which I still wear-- newer pair, of course-- and love). I saw some kids at my kids' school trying to bring back that look. Their sweet little faces couldn't quite hold the right amount of existential angst required.
it kinda thrills and frightens me that we're bound to get the grunge redux eventually.
Post a Comment