Classic Album Sundays: Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation // 28-10-2018

For this month’s Classic Album Sundays, taking inspiration from the more extreme ends of guitar music, namely early-hardcore, dissonant no-wave, and a performance ethic that saw nothing wrong with playing the same note of feedback for half an hour, Sonic Youth were the Velvet Underground for the materialistic 1980s. Whilst Pixies still tried to operate within the structure of rock and roll, Sonic Youth cast aside any convention. Sonic Youth have been praised for having “redefined what rock guitar could do” using a wide variety of unorthodox guitar tunings and preparing guitars with objects like drum sticks and screwdrivers to alter the instruments’ timbre. The band is considered to be a pivotal influence on the alternative and indie rock movements.