Noise: Fiction Inspired by Sonic Youth [Paperback]

Peter Wild (Editor), Lee Ranaldo (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 2009

For more than twenty-five years, the antimelodic “noise” of Sonic Youth has assaulted us, exhilarated us, inspired us. Why?

Katherine Dunn says it's because they operate in the foggy world between the real and the surreal. Mary Gaitskill says that Sonic Youth caught her, years ago, when she was falling. J. Robert Lennon says it's because Sonic Youth rip it apart. Emily Maguire was hooked because once she was in love with chaos.

Their sound is caustic, elemental, nihilistic—and quite unlike any other cult band ever to achieve rock godhood. In Noise, twenty-one great literary voices offer short fiction based on or inspired by songs from Sonic Youth—a raucous coupling of music and literature featuring marrow-colored goo, severed hands and abandoned babies, Patty Hearst watching the apocalypse on TV, and other unruly images of the Zeitgeist.

Contributors
Hiag Akmakjian • Christopher Coake • Katherine Dunn • Mary Gaitskill • Rebecca Godfrey • Laird Hunt • Shelley Jackson • J. Robert Lennon • Samuel Ligon • Emily Maguire • Tom McCarthy • Scott Mebus • Eileen Myles • Catherine O'Flynn • Emily Carter Roiphe • Kevin Sampsell • Steven Sherrill • Matt Thorne • Rachel Trezise • Jess Walter • Peter Wild

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Peter Wild is the editor of a series of fiction anthologies based on the songs of rock and pop bands. His articles and fiction have appeared in The Independent (London), The Guardian (London), The Big Issue, Word Riot, NOÖ Journal, and 3:AM magazine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061669296
• ISBN-13: 978-0061669293
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,758,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Wierd, unnerving, subversive....Sonic Youth, January 19, 2012

By 

Billy Bjelland "BB" (Illinois) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Noise: Fiction Inspired by Sonic Youth (Paperback)

This book of short stories inspired by legendary NYC noise rock band, Sonic Youth, is exactly what I expected....which is the unexpected. This band has an extreme distaste to conventional presentation in regard to their music, imagery, etc...Album titles include 'Washing Machine', 'Whores Moaning', 'Silver Sessions for Jonathan Knuth', and on and on. Like their music, they are a band that can be very hard to predict and this book presents itself in a very Sonic Youth-type fashion.
Sonic Youth (and this book) are not interested in making the listener/reader feel nice and cozy. They tend to focus on things like death, sex and odd pop culture references. They are also thought of by many as being the ultimate "cool" band and one thing, in my opinion, that has always been the reason for this is that they never act like they care about the attention they recieve. In a lot of ways this book reminds me of what a Sonic Youth album would be like in written form. As a fan of the hippest band on the planet I dug this book.

3.0 out of 5 stars not what I expected at all, February 1, 2011

By 

A. Whitley (MO United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Noise: Fiction Inspired by Sonic Youth (Paperback)

This was an interesting read, but it wasn't what I expected. As a longtime fan of Sonic Youth's music I was expecting more of a direct connection. Quite honestly, without the titles and book's cover I never would have made ANY connection to Sonic Youth and the stories within. I realize it is not a biography or non-fiction book on the band, and that is not what I expected either...but I thought the stories and characters would feel more in the vein of a Sonic Youth video somehow. It's not a bad short story compilation but definitely nothing stands out here to savor re: Sonic Youth.