Record Review: Boots, Tunics and Goo

*The review and analysis of noise rock band Sonic Youth's sixth studio album "Goo"

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The one thing that many don’t realise about the whole image of the guitar hero is that it did not happen just because Hendrix and Clapton had a natural knack for composing obfuscating 7-minute solos, but rather because they had an intention beyond recognition that allowed them to do more than most musicians ever could ever assimilate. They undoubtedly practised their pentatonic scales until their calluses bled open, and one would be a fool to believe that they didn’t have at least a basic grasp of music theory. However, with all this studying and operation, comes the inevitable urge to explore such an unputdownable noise machine. There are some that go as far as just adding basic, rudimentary and prosaic effects that mildly enhance the sound of their 6-string, but then there were those like Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was renowned because he constantly did what most would see as unfathomable. He had this effortless mastery and bond when it came to the instrument as he understood that the guitar was essentially a piece of technology. He spent hours upon hours exploring and experimenting all of its limitations, taking his influences and pushing the boundaries of them by toying around and altering exactly what the vocabulary of the guitar was. He studied its phonetics, he learned of the etymology and origins, he created slang and held his own conversations, and when the relationship got more serious- he eventually made love to every note he played. Ask anyone who saw Hendrix in action and they’ll tell you, he had never practised actually playing the guitar as much as he was investigating all of its little quirks and mechanics. When taking that into consideration, it’s quite foreseeable that I would have such an appreciation for a band like Sonic Youth.

The amount of time that the punk-rock noise mechanical gods from Sonic Youth must have had spent time screwing around with feedback loops and studying permutations upon variations of alternative tuning is quite admirable to a young chap like me. “Goo”, their six studio album, is commonly recognised as an expansion to the noise rock universe they’ve helped redefine. In “Goo”, they set out to continue what they had done their previous album “Daydream Nation” where the words “chorus” or “structure” was but just a fleeting memory that they had ever so effortlessly thrown out the window. (which is already enough to send your average pop or classical musician mewling in a corner)

“Dirty Boots” was the fun kick-off to the album, and with the context from the album cover—“I stole my sister's boyfriend. It was all whirlwind, heat, and flash. Within a week we killed my parents and hit the road”, you can understand that this album (especially Dirty Boots) was going to be anything if not delightful accompaniment to a wholesome road trip story! “Dirty Boots” wasn’t the most melodic out of all the tracks, but it sure as hell delivered with Thurston and Ronaldos Staccato and detached picking, along with the menacingly harmonious collaboration in the interlude near the end.

“Tunic (Song For Karen)” was accompanied by Gordon's ghastly monologue about the terminally ill and anorexic Karen Carpenter. “Dreaming, dreaming of a girl like me/ Hey, what are you waiting for?/ Feeding, feeding me/ And I feel like I’m disappearing, getting smaller everyday/ But I look in the mirror, and I’m bigger in every way/”. Sonic Youth may have just expressed their opinion on the Karen Carpenter story, however, the lyrics accompanied with the beautifully baleful unison with the guitars in the chorus as Gordon sings “You aren't never going anywhere/ You aren't never going anywhere/ I ain’t never going anywhere, I ain’t never going anywhere”, is something that unfortunately accurately depicts all of teenage apparition and the struggle that many have endured in not only adolescence but throughout adulthood. “Kool Thing” was the first introduction I had to Sonic Youth, and oh boy, oh boy does this song have one hell of a danceability score! (this is going by Sonic Youth’s standards). Similar to “Tunic”, “Kool Thing” has just got a malignant, bewitching, screaming guitar. If you listen close enough, I swear to god, you can hear Moores guitar start singing “I don't wanna” as if it were mimicking Gordon as she sings in the Chorus. This unison, along with Gordons Primordial bass is also quite reminiscent of “Tunic” and only just further authenticates Sonic Youth’s ingeniousness. Thurston and Ronaldo’s roaring and fearsome guitar would understandably overtake and possess any young lads body to just start jumping (including mine, which is precisely why I have a wound on my left leg that will very likely end up being a scar), and it’s all very worth it for a track like “Kool Thing”.

“Mote”, “My Friend Goo” and “Disappearer” were all your pretty standard Sonic Youth songs, badass and what-is-the-musical-equivalent-for-inedible? Anywho, that was all fine and dandy until “Mildred Pierce” caught my ears. Beginning with Gordon and Moore’s bass and guitar, if you’re anything like me you often get into the habit of believing that “hey, this seems alright. I think it’ll transition really nicely into a chorus with some beautiful unison and I can incorrectly use words like ‘phantasmagorical’ or ‘malevolent’ just to piss off the editors when professing how much of an undying love I have of Thurston Moore’s guitar technique”. However, knowing the boundaries of noise rock and avant-garde music, I should have been aware that there are none. It should have been expected that Thurston would have started shrieking along with the feedback in his guitar in a rather peevish manner-“Mildred!!!/ Mildred Pierce!!!/Mildred Pierce!!!/ No!!!/ Mildred Pierce!!!/ Mildred Pierce!!!/ Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!/ Mildred Pierce!!!/ Mildred Pierce!!!/ Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!”. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. That’s because by using feedback, harmonics, alternative tunings, etc, Sonic Youth constantly did the unexpected; just like the legends such as Hendrix who had preceded them. “Scooter and Jinx” was about a minute and 4 seconds of some vehicle engine that I have yet to identify, and all this had been leading up to the long-waited final track of “Titanium Expose”.

Sonic Youth’s innovative and insurgent-like style of playing while rejecting all oppressive principles of what music is supposed to be and how it is supposed to be structured will always be something I will look up to. As after bands like the “Stooges” and The “Velvet Underground” did so as well, music was rightfully never the same again.

“Everybody's talking 'bout the stormy weather

And what's a man do to but work out whether it's true?

Looking for a man with a focus and a temper

Who can open up a map and see between one and two”

-Sonic Youth (Daydream Nation)

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Additional sources:

Sonic Youth, “Goo”, Sorcerer Sound Recording Studios and Greene St. Recording, 1990

A similar article by David Fricke:

"Goo." Review of Goo, by David Fricke. Rolling Stone Magazine, 9 Aug. 1990, p.

1. Rolling Stone, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/

goo-252759/. Accessed 8 Jan. 2021.