Customer Reviews

Dirty

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Countless critics site Daydream Nation as Sonic Youth's premier album, but I would choose Dirty. My love for Sonic Youth stems from the layers they add to a simple Rock/Pop song while still making it accessible to the general public, and not the elitest artist or musician. For me, Dirty is that album. It shows you can be different, but still write beautiful music. Take "Sugar Kane" or "Purr". Both tracks contain elements of pop masterpieces, but in the style of Sonic Youth.

My favorite track on the album is "Chapel Hill", which is a great example of Sonic Youth in general. It's a well written rock song broken up by a minute and a half of guitar solo in the form of noise and distortion. Also wonderful is "Theresa's Sound-World", a track that opens quietly and builds into an intense wall of distorted guitars.

If you don't own a single Sonic Youth album but you're still big into early Alternative artists like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins or the Pixies, pick up Dirty. Or, if you're into Built To Spill, Pavement, Yo La Tengo, Modest Mouse... and for some reason don't have this album, you should. Sonic Youth is, no doubt, listed as an influence of all these groups. This is Sonic Youth's best selling album for a reason, and that reason is that it's one of the most appealing album to mainstream rock fans. This album (or Experimental...) is a great starting point for someone who doesn't own a Sonic Youth album.

Dirty and Daydream Nation are the only two Sonic Youth albums I own, but they are both utterly amazing, though for different reasons. In the case of Dirty, its for cooler-than-cool, disaffected post-punk and grunge-pop. More song-based and straight-ahead rock than the somewhat proggy Daydream Nation, its nevertheless tempered with fine bursts of white noise, magical guitar duelling, grinding riffs and propelling, heavy bass.

Everyone mentions '100%' and 'Sugar Kane', and both are good, the former a driving, posturing, cool punk number and the latter a radio-friendly, poppy rock song. However this album by no means stops there. Springing to mind is the utterly wonderful 'Theresa's Sound-world' which builds from quiet, reflective melody to a wall of beautiful, heavy, ear-bleeding noise. 'Drunken Butterfly' is propelled by a catchy riff (recently ripped off by Cooper Temple Clause for their single 'Promises Promises') and an earnestly ironic chorus of 'I love you, I love you, I love you, what's your name?'.

Their political drive comes to the fore on the slower, but equally menacing 'Youth Against Fascism', which contains sneering vocals, a monster of a bass sound and guitars that sound as if they are being ritualistically tortured rather than played. The album veers from creepy ('Shoot', 'On The Strip') to all-out punk ('Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit' and the cover of 'Nic's Fit'). The more commercial 'Chapel Hill' sits alongside 'Sugar Kane' nicely, but every track on here has a sense of melody. Then there is a bit of lunacism, like the strange and twisted closer 'Creme Brulee'.

Every track on this album digs its own musical furrow and the album is all the better for it as despite its length of 15 tracks each one is worthy of high acclaim. Above all, listening to Dirty, you get the sense that they were influencing scores of alternative bands to come: much of the album seems a template for bands like My Vitriol, Cooper Temple Clause and Ikara Colt, 'Youth Against Fascism' seems to have influenced Mclusky and 'Chapel Hill' sounds like it may have wormed its way into the minds of the Manic Street Preachers at times. This is an amazing album, an equal of Daydream Nation, and probably the best starting point for newcomers to this brilliant band.

And EASILY THE BEST ONE FOR INITIATES!!!!

Sonic Youth, along with the Pixies, were one of the formative influences on everyone's faves- wunderkind- Nirvana. They were both touring together around the time this was coming out. Wow. SY even borrowed the producer (a little history: Butch Vig produced most of the sound-sculpted seminally influencial ((like it or not)) albums of the early 90's- he was the co-inventor of the Kevin Shields Sound"- that furious wall of distortion you hear on Nevermind, Siamese Dream, Loveless...) for this classic.

This was their 2nd release for DGC, and boy did they take advantage of that. You can hear the advancement of production values. Now- whether you want to hear sound qulaity on an SY album is totally up for debate. Whether you think that their brand of noise-rock should go for accessibility is also a debatable argument. I stand by this release, all of it a gorgeous, furious, precision-tuned masterpiece. I remember being 13, hearing 100% and thinking- I want an album that sounds like THAT- THE WHOLE THING!!! Lurchingly sanguine and Demented fuzzed out bassline and two gnomic guitars just wailing- keening with scraps of noise, fire, a maelstrom of sonic brutality pouring out of the desperate amps... Wow. That one track (which concerns the death of their friend, Joe Cole (see Hank Rollins book, "Now watch Him Die," his best easily) makes thIs worth picking up.

You may be bewildered by their approach- but what sounds like utter hell is truly a very finely crafted sculpture of sound. One that they are able to reproduce with fairly meticulous and faithful renderings- live. Each song sounds utterly different, conjures a variety of images and scenes for the mind's perusal. No sleeper tracks, save for the cover of 'Nic Fit,' which is les than 2 minutes long anyway...

(I wonder why this magic kinda subsided on subsequent releases like "Washing Machine" and "Jet set, Trash... their more recent releases also seem- not as magical. meybe it was just me- maybe it was the time. Who knows.)

The brooding, sumptuous tempest that is JC- another ineluctable reason to pick this up. You can't hate that song. It is one of the most amazing pieces i have ever heard and totally stands on its own. In it- all the random noise comes together into a whirring buzzsaw of delectable hell while Kim meanders, pensively, a beautiful tale that is completely impressionistic and always makes me feel swamped with loss...

All tracks winners. each and every one. These songs seem like children to me. Never grow up. I put this on and sink back into my headphones and BOOM! It's 1992 again and I'm 13 and pining for my best friend, hating her boyfriend, reading Salvatore's Dark Elf trilogy, messing around with a guitar (thought I invented the e minor chord), up late at night writing bad psuedo Bryonic poetry... this Cd brings back to me the SMELL of my old room. How many Cds can do that? Invoke palpably the sense of your past?

Enough. Just get it. It will not disappoint.

There are two camps of Sonic Youth fans, those who like the more experimental, avant-garde albums of the eighties (which were ground breaking and innovative) and the albums after they ascended to major label status starting with Goo. I like both periods actually and they have in my opinion yet to put out a bad recording, including the much underrated NYC Ghosts & Flowers from last year. But I am going off on a tangent so lets get back to Dirty. With this album, the songs are much tighter, confined to a much more conventional pop song format. While this got cries of "sellout" and "mainstream" in my opinion Sonic Youth have always maintained their artistic integrity and it even shines through on this album. This album and Goo are recommended for the uninitiated before you plunge into more headier fare like Confusion is Sex or EVOL. Sonic Youth still reigns supreme. Simply one of the best. Utter genius from a band that was and still is ahead of their time. Enjoy.

1990's "Goo" was Sonic Youth's major label debut; as expected, it almost lacked their trademark guitar noise, the songs were structured and there was a poster inside. Geffen tried to make them hit it big time that way. But did millions of rioting teenagers stick these posters on there walls? Thousands, maybe, although the album was actually very good. Luckily, Geffen didn't give up and they tried it again with Nirvana... the rest is history. Being thankful to Sonic Youth for discovering Nirvana, Geffen gave them Nirvana's producer - Butch Vig, known to be a magician of turning grunge noise into superpop (see also Smashing Pumpkins' "Siamese Dream"), gave them good marketing specialists and there it was - "diRty", Youth's biggest selling rekkord. Though it's often described as their most commercial "verse-chorus-verse 'Nevermind' wannabe album" it actually sounds like not a very well compiled Greatest Hits collection. This time the! guitar tricks are even louder, however they go nowhere - Sonic Youth is not noise, it's art-thru-noise, but this time it's all buried in decibels. It's not that it doesn't rock, some tracks are good fun punk - the opener "100%", and "Sugar Kane" are fine examples. "Theresa's Sound World" is a beautiful slow melodic ballad. In "Youth Against Fascism" Thurston goes: "A sieg heil-in' squirt, / You're an impotent jerk, / Yeah, a fascist twerp, / It's the song I hate / It's the song I hate". He surely does hate Fascism, but what he means is that he hates the oh-so-easy to understand message of this song. His intentions are not to please mass crowds, so in a way this album is a major setback compared to "Daydream Nation", that managed to combine political appeal with real arty poetics and orchestration. "diRty" is still a must for every Sonic Youth fan, but definitely not a first pick.

This is an album full of different styles of songs, using three vocalists, and provoking a wide range of emotions.Most of the songs are just outright exciting, full of fast, loud guitars with weird tunings, and with vocals that perfectly fit the music.There is more than just noise in these songs though, with some showing a delicate and intricate structure, such as Theresa's Sound-world and the haunting beauty of Lee's vocals on Wish Fulfillment.Both of those transport me to a different world full of wonder and mysticism.There are tracks that grab you, and make you want to join in despite yourself, Drunken Butterfly and Chapel Hill being fine examples, and more traditional rock efforts such as Sugar Kane with its Stones inspired riff.Whatever mood I am in, this album has something to fit it, and I always regret that it ends after 59 minutes.There are so many great Sonic Youth albums that it seems a crime to pick a favorite, but if I were pushed, I would choose Dirty.

this is my favorite sonic youth album.'91-'92 were great years for me in music,in that so many great albums came out during this period,most of which i have or will rate eventually."100%","swimsuit issue","drunken butterfly","shoot","sugar kane","nic fit",and "on the strip" are my personal favs.if you like noise done right and haven't checked out this band yet than i would start here.if you like this than you are bound to like others like "goo" and "daydream nation".many have taken gordon and moores cues and used them as if they were their own.never forget where it came from.

Seriously this album is uncompromisngly good, never gets old. If you don't get it keep listening. It's quality stands up to the Beatles even. Far and away Sonic Youth's Best album it is definately, with Nevermind, the two most important albums since the Beatles broke up. No Lie. A Must have for every teenager, whether they want it or not. I mean...Swimsuit Issue!!!

(EN ESPAÑOL) Los Sonic Youth no fueron ni serán Nirvana o Pearl Jam o Pavement, pero estas últimas bandas le deben mucho a los padres del noise-guitar o a la llamada corriente alternativa de los años 90, los precursores del experimento sónico, feedbacks y melodias pop(?) todo en uno. En este maravilloso album Sonic Youth demuestra que lo mas bajo del ser humano se combate con guitarras sobrecargadas, speed drumming y voces enceguecidas por la frustración; ejemplos de estos los encontramos en Swimsuit Issue ("... no te la estoy mamando en un bungalow del Sunset...") o en 100% la cual habla de Joe Cole, quien fue asesinado el día antes de Navidad. El cinismo está presente en todo este album, producto de la vida en la clase media de estos jovenes(sic), quienes nos escupen sus esquizofrenias, su preocupación por las estrellas y el llamado sueño americano. Nos muestran el primer mundo en pleno caos utilizando letras hipercargadas, con reminiscencias de escritores beat, como en Shoot! en la cual Kim Gordon encarna a una ama de casa soñando que mata a su esposo, la cual nos hace rememorar a los dos primeros discos de Velvet Underground que parecen haber cambiado las letras de Lou Reed por las de William S. Burroughs. La vida en New York requiere de experimentaciones de todo tipo, las cuales pueden llevar al pasajero a diferentes formas, en esta los jóvenes sónicos nos demuestran la suciedad. Suciedad. 15 variedades. 15 canciones.

After the failure of Goo (musically rather than commercially, of course), Dirty finds Sonic Youth riding the wave of the grunge movement and disposing of the half-hearted 'noise-rock for the masses' attitude of its predecessor. But as they showed on Sister, hard and fast suits them just fine, and here they employ that tactic while also mixing it up with epics such as the beautiful 'Theresa's Sound-World'. Overall, a satisfying listening experience.