Is it for the Best that Sonic Youth Broke Up?
 

SY is my very favorite band, so I was as upset as anyone about their breakup. And in my opinion, they were still making great new music right until the end. Now that many years have passed, I think it's fair to question if their breakup was for the best, strictly from the standpoint of recorded music. (Live concerts are a different matter.)

For example, I don't think Lee would have had time to make the four LP's that he's released if SY had remained active. And I suppose there would have been no Body/Head, Chelsea Light Moving, some of Steve's other projects, etc. Of course, we will never know what SY's output would have been had they remained together. They probably would have released another three or four records by now, but what would they have sounded like? We will never know.

Personally, I've enjoyed Lee's output the most since the breakup. And I think his work has been the greatest departure from SY's style. With SY still active, we might have never heard most of those songs. Maybe a few of them would have appeared on SY records.

To be clear, I'm not questioning whether it would have been better for SY to have never existed. I would not trade their 27 years of musical output for anything. But I'm not sure that their collective output since The Eternal would match what they have done separately. Again, we will never know.

fully agree.

(I like Lee's output too since breakup... last album is just amazing)

They did 5 main albums in the 80s, which I loved.
They did 5 main albums in the 90s, which I loved.
They did 5 main albums in the 00s, which I loved.

I wish they could have done 5 more albums in the 10s. I would have loved that.

But 15 main albums, with all kinds of other goodies, was a damn fine run.

They should have split after Murray St

It's true, and deep down you know it

And not have them release one of their best albums sonic nurse? Nonce sense.

Well... personally I think 'Sonic Nurse' was their last good album, 'Rather Ripped' and 'The Eternal' sounded good but they were very conventional and basic, I'd rather they split up before see them degenerate or playing just to make money etc...

I've never understood the lack of love for The Eternal.

If you programmed an AI to make an average Sonic Youth record it would give you Nurse

But an "average Sonic Youth record" is still a beautiful thing.

And for Rather Ripped as well, that record's fuckin' perfect. As for degenerating and playing just for the coins, there was no indication, musical or otherwise, that that was about to happen eventually, even if rock history patterns say different. For a moment, forget about what caused the band to dissolve - THEY would have killed it had they thought they were treading water (and I believe they would have had the artistic integrity to recognize it).

I didn't mean to say SY was a dead band, I just think their last era was fascinating because their experimental vibe, their improvisations, their chaotic sound sometimes... those 2 last records were good rock 'n' roll and nothing else, didn't step forward in their career.