While David Lee Roth was swinging from rafters in buttless chaps during the
mid-Eighties, Sonic Youth was modestly — though not quietly — defining
underground music on the now-defunct SST label with the likes of H�sker
D�, the Minutemen, and Dinosaur, Jr.
With the influences of these seminal bands now glowing in full color on MTV,
the underground of yesterday has become the mainstream of today, and with an
indie label on every corner, it’s become increasingly hard to make sense of
today’s underground music and what influence it might have on the future.
“It’s hard to come out with something startlingly original anymore.” says
Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley. “We’re so post post everything.”
As a contingent of mostly middle-class white kids, the current movement seems
to be toward jazz, spacey lounge music, or the seemingly incompetent lo-fi,
with bands like Denison/Kimball Trio, Stereolab, and Guided by Voices leading
the way.
“I think a lot of underground bands are reacting against what happened with
Nirvana and Pearl Jam,” says Shelley. “Because I know when I was a kid, I
didn’t want to be associated with Kansas or Foreigner.”
The textural blast that Sonic Youth packs has influenced an incalculable
number of bands over the past 10 years, and Shelley sees this influence.
“Even when Fugazi came out, it was such a different thing than Minor Threat,”
says Shelley. “I really dug it because I was into the new approach they were
taking, but as far as our influence goes, I wish people would get over it.
“The most interesting aspect of what we do is putting together new music and
recording a new album. We do it for ourselves, we don’t think about radio
format, or the record company, or anything.” says Shelley. “We’ve never even
given the record company demos.”
As far as “The Year That Punk Broke” goes, “It felt great. I thought it was hilarious that a band [Nirvana] a lot of our peers liked was a number one band,” says Shelley. “Because I think they scared the hair metal bands away.” — Taylor Holland
This article appears in November 10 • 1995 and November 10 • 1995 (Cover).