[Dead-Air]

Originally Posted by Everyneurotic

uhhh...why is phish in the options?

Because Phish regularly name drop SY, and SY have actively sought the jam-band neo-hippie crowd at least since 1,000 Leaves and their regular appearances at Bonaroo.

It seemed like a relatively calculated move when Jerry Garcia died that suddenly Sonic Youth were vocally very pro-hippie. All those kids following the Dead around were going to have to find somewhere else to go (mind most of them enrolled at Evergreen, which was really kind of obnoxious if you happened to live in Olympia) and SY were just opening their arms and saying come on board.

So, while I kind of doubt anyone would admit it, I bet there are some people who at least read this board who got into SY via Phish. To me, that would be no more lame than getting there via Pearl Jam.

[Everyneurotic]

well yeah, but fuck the hippies, man!

[Dead-Air]

Originally Posted by Everyneurotic

well yeah, but fuck the hippies, man!

Don't say that in front of Thurston and Lee!

Personally, I think there have always been good hippies and bad hippies. Hawkwind were hippies that inspired the Sex Pistols. Lothar and the Hand People, The Fugs, Syd Barrett, Red Crayola in the "freeform freakout" days, all good hippies. Neo-hippie trustafarians, white reggae, and jam bands (including, no, especiallly Phish) bad hippies. There have always been plenty of idiot punks too, and don't get me started on "noise musicians"...

[Everyneurotic]

i was kidding, i said "fuck, the hee-ppies, maaaaaaaaaaaan."

[atsonicpark]

some girl who liked hole.

[Rob Instigator]

phish will make you think you had a soul and that they stole it, magnificent stuff live. the records are a pale shadoww
always building building higher fereakoutssss

[atsonicpark]

Well, some girl who liked Hole had me listen to Bull in the Heather.

But some THrobbing Gristle freak burnt me Confusion is Sex... and since we both met and bonded over a liking of Merzbow, I'll say Merzbow really got me into sonic youth.

[drrrtyboots]

My older sister gave me DDN to listen to when I was in the 6th grade, followed up by Sister (har har).

[jetengine]

In the mid to late '80s, around the time I was finishing up secondary and starting uni, there was a whole bunch of bands that were constantly being credited as 'Velvet Underground followers'. Now, that VU comparison might have been exaggerated, but I first read about Sonic Youth in the same context as The Jesus & Mary Chain, Jane's Addiction, The Pixies, Live Skull, Band of Susans, Sons of Freedom, The Plasterscene Replicas (whoa! that's a blast-from-the-past namedrop that just came out of nowhere!), The Spacemen 3, etc. I gradually started listening to all these groups around the same time. The only things I could hear and see that bound them together were sharp distorted notes, hair dangling in their eyes, army surplus jackets, and a penchant for sunglasses; still, these groups were often lumped together as some sort of genre or movement in the late '80s. Once grunge hit, the illusion of a genre seemed to disappear quickly. That's the way I remember it, from my Canadian perspective.

[jetengine]

Holy Jesus! I hunted around, and look what I found:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendID=173482 052&n=173482052&MyToken=a9e7a00e-d628-4a13-a431-8103ce452c55

Christ, does this ever take me back to the summer of '88! Everything looks and sounds like REM-meets-Live Skull!

[Death & the Maiden]

I'd known of SY for awhile (through NY bands like Ramones, Television, The Voidoids), and I saw the Silver Rockets and Kool Things: 20 Years of Sonic Youth documentary on TV, I enjoyed what I heard so I bought Daydream Nation.

[Dead-Air]

Originally Posted by jetengine

In the mid to late '80s, around the time I was finishing up secondary and starting uni, there was a whole bunch of bands that were constantly being credited as 'Velvet Underground followers'. Now, that VU comparison might have been exaggerated, but I first read about Sonic Youth in the same context as The Jesus & Mary Chain, Jane's Addiction, The Pixies, Live Skull, Band of Susans, Sons of Freedom, The Plasterscene Replicas (whoa! that's a blast-from-the-past namedrop that just came out of nowhere!), The Spacemen 3, etc. I gradually started listening to all these groups around the same time. The only things I could hear and see that bound them together were sharp distorted notes, hair dangling in their eyes, army surplus jackets, and a penchant for sunglasses; still, these groups were often lumped together as some sort of genre or movement in the late '80s. Once grunge hit, the illusion of a genre seemed to disappear quickly. That's the way I remember it, from my Canadian perspective.

Yeah, it was rather like that for me too, though it was definitely the mid and not late '80s. Living in Seattle, by the late '80s it was all about mixing the above with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, which resulted in what later got called grunge. I saw a whole lot of that before it "hit" and feel fortunate, because it really was a lot better then. I'll stop typing now before I devolve into another rant about why and how much I hate Pearl Jam...

[HaydenAsche]

When I was like 11 years old I was at this Wolf Eyes show and they were opening for Sonic Youth. I was following Hair Police and Wolf Eyes at the time and Sonic Youth sounded like noise lite so I checked 'em out. I didn't really dig them but the people on their forum are all down with the harsh static.

[pedestrian]

I got into SY in the most lame way possible. I was an impressionable 8th grader during that grunge boom. Man, MTV was all over that thing! I'd have to go with all of the above because I couldn'y specify which band of that era put it in my head, but I already knew I was supposed to like Sonic Youth before I heard them. Of course, when I did hear them ("100%", by the way) I was genuinely blown away. As my attention span strayed from MTV's influence I got further into SY and eventually became the discerning fan I am today. But, yeah, I got into them when they were kinda trendy.

[SonicBebs]

it was 120minutes on MTV and it was the Sugar Kane video
then i went and got Dirty and Goo from the local library (we had a dam good library) then i sat in the park in the sun with my Walkman and fell in love.

[tasteinmen]

Brian Molko from Placebo used to go on about Sonic Youth all the time, so I thought I'd check them out. didn't like what I heard at first, except sunday.

[Derek]

My aunt who I hadn't seen for a few years found out that I started listening to rock music and said that I should get into bands like the Pixies and Sonic Youth as "they're the coolest bands ever!" So I did, and bought Daydream Nation.

My aunt rules, she saw Sonic Youth live in the EVOL period.

[_slavo_]

I've seen SY on TV. No prior band connection was involved.

[clever name]

I watched Linklater's SubUrbia and Sunday played over the end credits (plus there's SY all throughout). Hearing that was definitely uncanny. It was speaking directly to me. I mean, Sunday! If you haven't seen SubUrbia, drop everything and do it. A gem.

[pedestrian]

Originally Posted by SonicBebs

it was 120minutes on MTV and it was the Sugar Kane video
then i went and got Dirty and Goo from the local library (we had a dam good library) then i sat in the park in the sun with my Walkman and fell in love.

Yeah. 120 minutes gets all the credit here, as well. I love to catch reruns of that on VH1 Classic and get all reminiscent...