Daydream Nation

Performer: Sonic Youth
Engineer: Nicholas Sansano; Wharton Tiers
Producer: Sonic Youth; Nicholas Sansano
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Sonic Youth: Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo (vocals, guitar); Kim Gordon (vocals, bass); Steve Shelley (drums). Recorded at Greene Street Recording, New York, New York in July and August 1988. Originally released as a 2-LP set on Enigma (5403). Includes liner notes by Jutta Koether. Sonic Youth: Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo, Steve Shelley, Thurston Moore. By refining the song-oriented breakthroughs of Sister and developing their fascination with noise and alternate tunings, Sonic Youth created a masterpiece of post-punk art rock with the double-album Daydream Nation. Though the self-conscious sprawl of the album might appear self-indulgent on the surface, Daydream Nation is powered by a sustained vision, one that encapsulates all of the group's quirks and strengths. Alternating between tense, hypnotic instrumental passages and furious noise explosions, the music demonstrates a range of emotions and textures, and in many ways, it's hard not to listen to the record as one long piece of shifting dynamics. But the songs themselves are remarkable, from the anti-anthem of "Teen Age Riot" and the punky "Silver Rocket" to the hazy drug dreams of "Providence" and the rolling waves of "Eric's Trip." Daydream Nation demonstrates the extent to which noise and self-conscious avant art can be incorporated into rock, and the results are nothing short of stunning. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine The double album that brought Sonic Youth to the attention of a wider audience and prompted the eager interest of a handful of major labels. DAYDREAM NATION, with its sleepy single candle flickering silently on the gatefold cover, harnessed their reckless live favourite, "Teenage Riot," while they ran gloriously roughshod over "Rain King" and "Silver Rocket," and offered the overtly camp glee of "Trilogy," which came with parts a, b and c. Their assured ascension to festival billing and the giant Geffen label came as no surprise to anyone who had heard this album.

Rolling Stone (p.74) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[I]ts tunings keep it honest and its anthems keep it thrilling." Rolling Stone (10/89) - 3.5 Stars - Very Good - Ranked #45 in Rolling Stone's '100 Greatest Albums Of The 80s' survey. Spin (p.100) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "In terms of badass sonics and sentiments, perhaps the greatest art-punk statement ever." Spin (1/89, p.67) - "...this music is hitting me right where I live..." Q (7/96, p.144) - 3 Stars - Good - "...regarded by many as the Youth's greatest work....DAYDREAM NATION...contain[s] the glorious, Nirvana-predicting 'Teen Age Riot'..." Uncut (p.94) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[An] avant-rock masterpiece....If it had been recorded yesterday, DAYDREAM NATION would still sound revolutionary." Alternative Press (7/95, p.89) - Rated #51 in AP's list of the 'Top 99 Of '85-'95' - "...Sonic Youth's most focused, fully-realized work. This [is] the document of a band at the height of their powers, distilling every lesson they [have] learned in guitar terrorism, songwriting, rock action, and shattering conventions into a sustained series of electrical shocks..." CMJ (1/5/04, p.26) - Ranked #20 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1989" Down Beat (p.72) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "Widely hailed as Sonic Youth's masterpiece....DAYDREAM NATION was a lean, graceful blast of subcultural New York writ large..." Melody Maker (5/4/96, p.58) - "...The mid-period Sonic LPs, specifically SISTER and DAYDREAM NATION, are generally regarded as their most fully realised..." Kerrang (Magazine) (p.50) - "[The album] opened the floodgates for acolytes such as Nirvana....You can practically hear the '90s being invented..."

Drawing equally from punk rock and new-music pioneers such as John Cage and Glenn Branca (whom guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo both played with), Sonic Youth employed a palette of white noise that deconstructed punk-rock orthodoxy into radical new configurations. Seemingly the opposite of what major labels would want in a band, Sonic Youth inked a deal with Geffen records in the late 1980s and caught the ear of a certain mainstream listenership. With the release of their 16th proper studio album, RATHER RIPPED, in 2006, Sonic Youth secured their position as icons of underground and alternative culture.

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