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Entertainment Mailbox: Sonic Youth criticized unfairly
Issue date: 3/8/07 Section: Entertainment
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03/08/07 - To the Cigar,
I am writing in response to the CD review written by Jackie Cole about Sonic Youth's CD, B-sides and Rarities, in the Feb. 28 edition of the Cigar.
As I understand it, she essentially says that everyone tries so hard to be different, it becomes the norm, "leaving the truly original people frustrated and the faux-originals just looking like dumbasses."
I couldn't help but agree with this portion of the article, especially when she cited the annoying gimmicks of My Chemical Romance and Panic! At The Disco as giving "different" a terrible image. Then, in the very next paragraph, she states, "Thus is the case with the grunge / noise / jam band sounds of Sonic Youth."
What? Come again? Did she actually compare the vapid lyrical and musical slop of My Chemical Romance to Sonic Youth? It took a second reading to conclude that, yes, indeed she did.
Allow me to say that the two aforementioned groups have absolutely no connection whatsoever to Sonic Youth. At all. Sonic Youth is not "trying" to be different in the same superficial manner, i.e. black dyed hair, angled haircuts and eyeliner.
Not only do they sound completely different, but they have practically defined noise and alternative rock, and influenced numerous bands, such as Nirvana and Trail of Dead. My Chemical Romance influenced young teenagers to wear lots of black and to write bad poetry (as if the world needs any more of that).
Cole asserts, "It is clear the band has either run out of original material and needs to call it quits, or that the current music scene has ... influenced them in a horrible way." Now, I haven't listened to B-sides and Rarities because I am still a recent convert to the legions of Sonic Youth fans. The title alone indicates that it is catering to the hardcore, long-term fans that have stuck with the band for the past 20 years or so.
The disc is a compilation of previously unreleased songs, some of which, ironically, are from the very same "early days" when Cole said Sonic Youth "were pretty damn good."
I am writing in response to the CD review written by Jackie Cole about Sonic Youth's CD, B-sides and Rarities, in the Feb. 28 edition of the Cigar.
As I understand it, she essentially says that everyone tries so hard to be different, it becomes the norm, "leaving the truly original people frustrated and the faux-originals just looking like dumbasses."
I couldn't help but agree with this portion of the article, especially when she cited the annoying gimmicks of My Chemical Romance and Panic! At The Disco as giving "different" a terrible image. Then, in the very next paragraph, she states, "Thus is the case with the grunge / noise / jam band sounds of Sonic Youth."
What? Come again? Did she actually compare the vapid lyrical and musical slop of My Chemical Romance to Sonic Youth? It took a second reading to conclude that, yes, indeed she did.
Allow me to say that the two aforementioned groups have absolutely no connection whatsoever to Sonic Youth. At all. Sonic Youth is not "trying" to be different in the same superficial manner, i.e. black dyed hair, angled haircuts and eyeliner.
Not only do they sound completely different, but they have practically defined noise and alternative rock, and influenced numerous bands, such as Nirvana and Trail of Dead. My Chemical Romance influenced young teenagers to wear lots of black and to write bad poetry (as if the world needs any more of that).
Cole asserts, "It is clear the band has either run out of original material and needs to call it quits, or that the current music scene has ... influenced them in a horrible way." Now, I haven't listened to B-sides and Rarities because I am still a recent convert to the legions of Sonic Youth fans. The title alone indicates that it is catering to the hardcore, long-term fans that have stuck with the band for the past 20 years or so.
The disc is a compilation of previously unreleased songs, some of which, ironically, are from the very same "early days" when Cole said Sonic Youth "were pretty damn good."
