Albums by this artist

It's a certainty that Sonic Youth's arrival on a major label brought with it no requirements or constraints on the battle-tested quartet's core sound. They wouldn't have signed on the dotted line otherwise, and even had DGC asked them to tone down the screeching vocals and buzzing guitars, there's no chance they would have heeded such instructions.

The fact that Goo is the most accessible thing they'd produced to that point is more coincidence than anything else. With Daydream Nation they had more or less cornered the market on dramatic sweep, and turned instead to producing personalized versions of the punk covers that had always peppered their earlier albums. Lead track "Dirty Boots," with its late-arriving chorus hook and surprisingly distinguishable lead and rhythm guitars, is the introduction to a three-album costume change. Goo (the prototype), Dirty (the fan favorite), and Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star (the one that people actually own, thanks to the tinkling minor radio hit "Bull In The Heather") present Sonic Youth as a headier Fugazi or Husker Du.

Goo's songs retain their experimental cred with feedback-wash outros (a device the band continues to employ to this day) but acknowledge the possibility of a wider audience with moments that are downright catchy, as in the Stooges-y "Mary-Christ" and the mostly instrumental "Mildred Pierce." Thurston Moore takes the lead and provides most of the lead vocals, but Kim Gordon's turns are unusually focused, particularly the Karen Carpenter-channeling "Tunic." Lee Ranaldo's customary mid-album feature vocal appears over the havoc-inducing "Mote," the most Nation-like track on the record. The fact that Ranaldo is the traditionally gifted singer in the band, yet tends to write the most melodically unpredictable songs, is typified on this number.

Not all of the songs work perfectly. "My Friend Goo" doesn't rank among Gordon's best work, while Chuck D's contributions on "Kool Thing" at least manage to be less embarrassing than R.E.M.'s meeting with KRS-One. "Cinderella's Big Score" doesn't manage to cover any territory that Sister hadn't well mapped out already. For every misstep, however, there's an exciting new idea, like the shoegazer-channelling "Disappearer" or "Titanium Expose," which builds nicely on the rhythmic charge of Daydream Nation tracks like "Teenage Riot" or "Eric's Trip."

Goo isn't Sonic Youth's best work by a long shot, but it is a necessary listen to track the band's evolution from the expansive Sister/Daydream period to the more conventionally post-punk Dirty/Experimental years. Whenever the band decides to try their hand at more concise statements, like "Sunday" or "Unmade Bed," the roots are in Goo. And let's not give the impression that the early Geffen albums are sellouts -- Goo is only "conventional" compared to Sonic Youth's other work.

This is still one hell of a guitar album, loaded with Moore's wacky tunings and Ranaldo's demented lead work. The faster tempos, shorter song lengths, and squarer progressions only allow the musicians to demonstrate a different side of their skill set. They acquit themselves quite well, thank you very much.

MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West.