What do you mean songwriters? Are you talking about the lyrics?

How does the Sonic Youth songwriting process work? I had thought Sonic Youth just sort of "jammed" songs into existence, and then pretty much randomly decide who sang on what. See Disc 2 of the Diry Deluxe. I didn't think it was a McCartney/Lennon/Harrison type thing, where they individually write songs and then take them to the entire group to play.

Lee has not written a bad Sonic Youth song in my eyes. Kim has written some of the best but she is off and on. Thurston is steady eddy.

Plastic Sun was confirmed as a Thurston-penned song in an interview but where is this other information? I'd love to know who wrote what.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNO!

Oh yes....waaaay YES!

Lee is better than the others.

Although it is true that Lee is God, keep in mind that Thurston and Kim have way more songs so it is kind of easier for them to have their "weaker songs" come to surface more so than the one good song that Lee gets on the album (if that makes any sense).

???

Chris, they are idiots. The end.

Lee's lyrics seem a little cliche. He writes with too much emotion and just sounds really lame. Thats just my opinion but I just dont like all that symbolic thoughtful stuff. It ruins the whole art filled vibe.

Thurston and Kim however are both great however.

I hate Thurston and Kim's voices for the most part.

Thats why I listen to them. There so bad and atonal (atleast in the earlier days) that its great.

Inhuman has the greatest vocals...


Lee tries to sound serious and I just end up laughing at his songs...

Yeah, I really prefer Kim and Thurston's vocals on older stuff. It fits better. Newer stuff is so much more delicate I think Lee's vocals work better.

with mote lee plays the chord progression-ie the meat of the tune while thurston plays the noise accompaniment.


beauty lies in the eye-lee plays all of the guitar while thurston plays bass

lee #2 - cant remember what thurston plays but pretty sure lees playing the main chord progression

im sure there are more but thats all i can think of right now. oh yeah wish fulfilment-lee plays the main harmony of the song while thurston is more in the accompaniment role-especially in the begining -they both mirror each other for the rest.

so think about it in these terms - if you were to take lees parts out of these songs would the identity of the song still be as intact as it would be if thurstons parts were taken out. think about female mechaninc on duty(mainly the A section). the "meat" of the song is kim's guitar part while thurston and lee augment it. thurston with his noisy stuff and lee with his mirroring of kims part. hers is the more dominant part in the A section

as of late it seems alot of the songs have come from thurston and then the band fleshes them out. you can hear how his parts are the nucleus of the song in these instances while what kim and lee do are the flesh. in this way the lee songs i mentioned above are more his than thurston or kims tho of course they are still sonic youth songs of course.

the last song on murray st is a wonderful example of all of their parts coexisting equally. and that was one of the only songs on that album that was culled from a jam.

matt

They are all very different. I think Lee's are all really great, but he has so few. So maybe if the tables were turned and he did more, and Thurston or Kim did less, we'd say Thurston was better. Thurston or Kim can't always put out as good stuff consistently while Lee only puts out a few. But they are all really great, and we all know that. I'd have to say they all make some really good songs. Lee's are just all good, because he does so few.

i can;t argue with that logic. but it still stands as one of my favorite dirty songs

yea. i think kim doesnt relaly write all of her own songs. i remember reading an interview where thurston had written all the main structure and vocals for pattern recognition, but kim heard it and wrote a better one. they probably ahve a unique way of writing and collaborating. although thats just one example. i like lee the best. but diamond sea is a gem.

skip tracer is Thurston's song?

Hard one! id have to go for Lee! simply because he has written some astonishingly brilliant and affecting pieces over the years. Athough Kim gets a lot of criticism she has been resposable for some of the bands best work ('I love you golden blue' anyone?) Thurston is very consist as a writer. This is what makes sonic youth so good as a band is that they all bring different elements to the mix, and are all equally talented in different ways

Honestly...........this shouldn't even be debated.
All three are very talented musicians and songwriters, and to compare them to each other is like taking a piss while spinning around in a centrifuge..............