DIRTY by SONIC YOUTH (1992, DGC)

Last year Sonic Youth finally called it a day after thirty years and 16 albums. No one reason was cited but it seems very likely it was to do in large part with the breakdown of the marriage of the group’s two main singers/songwriters Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore.

DIRTY was the second release on David Geffen’s major label DGC, which the year before had released Nirvana’s Nevermind. No doubt the label were hoping for another radio friendly unit shifter. They didn’t get it. In the US it’s highest position in the Billboard charts was No. 83.

Like all Sonic Youth albums it’s can be a tough and raw listen. It is mostly abrasive and discordant. That said DIRTY is also one of Sonic Youth’s most accessible records.

Best tracks for me are those sung by Thurston Moore rather than by Kim Gordon whose guttural delivery I just can’t get with. ‘Youth Against Fascism’ which features Ian Mackaye from Hardcore bands Minor Threat and Fugazi, ‘Sugar Kane’ which is perhaps the most conventional rock tune on the album and also the sludgy discordant grunge of ‘100%’. The video for ‘100%’ is worth checking out in order to see a very young Jason Lee and Spike Jonze, who also directed it.

‘100%’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3gN9Up6hmc

‘SUGAR KANE’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIIEbrMXs20

‘YOUTH AGAINST FASCISM’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWzIlCJAw-o