Sonic Youth

Someone banging on about their favourite band can be annoying, especially at a time when they had released very little, CDs were the next big thing and Spotify was unthinkable as noone even had a computer. In an attempt to shut my friend up, I agreed to go and watch Sonic Youth as they were supporting Nick Cave. The Birthday Party had been awesome and so the Bad Seeds were worth a watch. On came a scruffy bunch of Americans to a half empty hall as all the men were still in the toilets spraying their hair into a state of rigor mortis (hair gel was another thing of the future), fixing their eyeliner and blushing their cheek bones into an angle that defined geometry. It was the original day of the goth, when every girl and boy wanted to be stick thin and look like Susie Sioux.
The noise that Sonic Youth started to make was breathtaking. Now, some would have said that it was a tuneless racket, but then this was the day of the self-publishing and Steve Wright and his possey on Radio 1, when Kajagoogoo were considered risky. What was on stage was totally original to my ears. The songs were perfectly crafted, every noise deliberate. Tuning up between each song was crucial, the thickness of the lacquer on the guitar in a particular song vital, so that when drum sticks and spoons were stuck between the strings the sound produced was perfect. The audacity of the whole thing sent shivers down my spine. And then there was this little lady (Kim Gordon) who really kicked ass on stage bellowing lyrics and thrashing her guitar. There was an adage at the time that said- "if you meet a woman who likes The Fall, Marry her." This subsequently changed to "if you can't have Kim Gordon, the if you meet a woman who likes The Fall, then you can accept second best. As for Nick Cave, there was no point in watching him. He could not possibly better what I had just seen.