Confusion Is Next: The Sonic Youth Story [Paperback]

Alec Foege (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1994

"Alternative" rock has now gone mainstream, yeah, yeah, Lollapalooza is captivating a generation, and Nirvana sells millions of albums, but before all of this in-yr-face stuff there was Sonic Youth.

Sonic Youth are the floorboards of the current fertile musical era in which underground culture has, like it or not, become the mainstream. Confusion Is Next boasts exclusive interviews with the band members and dozens of other scene-sters, including members of the Beastie Boys, Pavement, and fIREHOSE, and art iconoclasts like Mike Kelley, Lydia Lunch, and Glenn Branca.

Sonic Youth. They hold equal weight in the champagne SoHo galleries, the sleazy fashion world, and the legendary punk club hovels across the planet. Here is Sonic Youth's convoluted, twisted, and bashed journey, from the band's early days in the post-punk East Village to their current reign as templates of the indie scene, to their studio time recording their latest album, Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star. Confusion Is Next sets both the record and the CD straight.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A literate and thorough biography of Sonic Youth, one of the most innovative and significant bands of the '80s and '90s. Foege is several cuts above the typical scribblers in rock journalism, and his insights about the possible obsolescence of critics in a pop culture are particularly interesting.

From Publishers Weekly

The unconventional history and experimental music of Sonic Youth, a seminal, New York-based post-punk band, should make a compelling story. Emerging from the punk-rock culture and avant-garde New York art scene of the 1970s, Sonic Youth has produced a myriad of records and side projects, and inspired scores of other bands with its glamorous bohemian poses, dedication to the underground art world and a noisy punk sound marked by unorthodox guitar tunings and screeching feedback. An unabashed admirer, Spin contributing editor Foege's solemn panegyric fails to pierce the band's cool veneer, throwing little light on its enigmatic members and aesthetic inconsistencies. Through interviews with the band's friends and collaborators, Foege meticulously charts its links to New York's "no wave" music scene of the late '70s, the grass-roots punk culture of the early '80s and the widespread assimilation of "indie" rock by the mainstream music industry in the early '90s. By contrast, he gives short shrift to the band's private lives (sorely absent are details of the marriage and recent parenthood of vocalists Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon). This will be of significance mainly to record collectors and fans. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 274 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (October 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312113692
• ISBN-13: 978-0312113698
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #508,452 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alec Foege has written business articles and investigative pieces for Fortune Small Business, The New York Times, Adweek, and Mediaweek. Over the years, his work has appeared in the pages of Rolling Stone, People, New York, Spin, Playboy, and Details, among other publications. He is the author of three books, including 2008's "Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), which was a New York Times Book Review "Editors' Choice." Mr. Foege holds a B.A. in English from Columbia College of Columbia University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thurston, Lee, Kim and Steve, July 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Confusion Is Next: The Sonic Youth Story (Paperback)

As a Sonic Youth fan, I thought this was a great book, full of interesting anecdotes, cool background information about the NY No Wave scene and rad photos. It has all the data you'll ever need to you about Sonic Youth up to their release of Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star (1994).

The background on the different circumstances of each successive album is worth the price alone.

A fun read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent but dry, January 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Confusion Is Next: The Sonic Youth Story (Paperback)

This book was okay, and I'd recommend it for the enthusiastic Sonic Youth fan who can't find anything else or can afford to be a completist. It was just a little dry, with discussions of the first show at which the group used particular tunings and such, but I'm sure some people would really want to know that. It was just a little cold, more about the making of the music than the inspiration or the makers, for the most part.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Chaos is the future & beyond it is Freedom,, June 1, 2000

By 

Funkmeister G - See all my reviews

This review is from: Confusion Is Next: The Sonic Youth Story (Paperback)

Seeing as this is the only readily available book on Sonic Youth, which is a great shame as so much could & should be written about them, it's hard to say now necessary it is. It was written about the same time as Experimental, Jet Set, Trash & No Star was recorded [although it might have been updated since]. It gives you a lot of good information & insights but like others have pointed out, there is something missing. I'd still say it's well worth any SY fan or music fan in general giving it a read, it's not too heavy going, but has substance. Yes, Thurston said he wasn't sure about whether he liked Foege's writing style & also the discography was apparently stolen from someone else, but it is quite indepth. Also there are some really good photos & flyers etc @ the front of the book, from pre-SY bands like the Coachmen & into Confusion is Sex era & then semi-stardom. Actually a year or so ago Lee put out a book of diaries from the 80s that would complement or surpass CIN, that was on Soft Skull press I think, like his Road Movies poetry book. Maybe it is because Sonic Youth is 4 distinct personalities that it was hard to make it sufficiently personal whereas a solo artist might be easier to write about. I was generally pleased enough when I read it about a year or so into enetering their world.