Thurston Moore
I certainly don't sit around in the morning making pancakes listening to Whitehouse or anything.Collection: Morning
Most people can't tell now who wrote what. I like that blurring of identities within the band. because it becomes a unified thing that can't be related to other forms of historical poetry.Collection: Poetry
Rock'n'roll saved my soul.
Each member does whatever they want with the song and it totally changes it from whatever idea I hear around it. It turns it into a Sonic Youth song and completely away from it being a solo song.
Anyone who grows up with parents who are very influential, there are cases where people run away from that if they have parents who are really lame.
We never notate our music, so you can try to replicate it, but you don't really have it.
A lot of the lyrical ideas do have a lot of meaning in a way, although it is somewhat abstracted.
Buddhism has become a socially recognized religious philosophy for Americans, whereas it used to be considered an exotic religion.
I don't really care about, Oh I really have to sell these things.
I grew up in the early '70s in New England.
I have to reign myself in a lot.
I never do releases to try and make or break some contemporary band.
Kids think of us as being totally over the hill.
No one really gets rich doing this. A couple people do, Black Sabbath does. We don't sell any records anymore.
Whenever I can afford to do something, I do it.
Every now and again, the alternative culture is cherished by the mainstream for what it is, rather than how it should be, like the mainstream popular music.
I never go back and listen to the recorded document. The thrill comes when the balance can be attained. Everyone in the room can have a shared, communal rock experience.
I really want to do a book on the history of the no-wave music scene in New York, how it extended out and formed lots of other things. It was such a great visual culture.
I wanted to hear the songs in the way that I had written them, which was very basic. All I wanted was drums and another guitar, and I was just going to sing.
I was surrounded by nature and trying to come to terms with this blissful nature versus the inhumane mentality of war. People were being deluded by someone using the word peace.
It's American Alternative radio stations that bug me. We're considered Alternative, but don't expect us to be played next to Blink 182 and Offspring. We're hardly of that generation.
It's hard for bands to stick it out because people grow up, and it never really pays off. If you're looking for some sort of payoff, it's not gonna happen.
Lyric writing is an interesting process in Sonic Youth. There's three people writing now, and we've all had a lot of interest and involvement with expression through words.
Traditional songwriting, to us, is where the experimental nature comes in. We're all involved with so much outside activity with really hardcore, experimental music-making.
We're all very sensitive that Jim has the shortest history with the band. He wants to be somewhat of a free agent. I'm just going to let time dictate how Jim's future evolves.
We're like old people now playing music. I'm so glad we stuck it out because it's a lot better. I used to feel kind of anxious. Now our apprenticeship is over.
The band has a liberal philosophy - that's sort of a given.
We're playing all these weird festivals, usually outdoors.
DEVO was like the punk band that non Punk America saw as Punk and so when people who were really into Punk rock would be walking around on the streets the jocks who learned about Punk through Devo would roll down their windows and yell at the Punks: 'HEY, DEVO!!'Collection: America
People... of the universe! Tonight... is the night.. when the skies will open, and spray forth a divine hand with pointed finger! And it will say... everybody... you're not just a duck... YOU ARE HUMAN! YOU ARE HUMAAAAN!!!Collection: Night
Hits are for squares.Collection: Squares
Noise has taken the place of punk rock. People who play noise have no real aspirations to being part of the mainstream culture. Punk has been co-opted, and this subterranean noise music and the avant-garde folk scene have replaced itCollection: Real
My mind is turning into kind of a fine gelatinous ball of pepperCollection: Mind
I wanted to hear the songs in the way that I had written them, which was, in a way, very basic. So all I wanted to have was drums and another guitar pretty much playing what I wrote on guitar, and I was just going to sing.Collection: Song
Tonight I am going to defecate on stage because I think that is the only way to express the nature of my soul according to rock and roll.Collection: Thinking
Lyric writing is an interesting process in Sonic Youth. There's three people writing now, and we've all had a lot of interest and involvement with expression through wordsCollection: Writing
Most people can't tell now who wrote what. I like that blurring of identities within the band. because it becomes a unified thing that can't be related to other forms of historical poetryCollection: People
I was surrounded by nature and trying to come to terms with this blissful nature versus the inhumane mentality of war. People were being deluded by someone using the word peaceCollection: War
We always try to encourage more songs sung by Kim, because there are always requests for it. I certainly don't want to ball hog all the singing.Collection: Song
It's hard for bands to stick it out because people grow up, and it never really pays off. If you're looking for some sort of payoff, it's not gonna happenCollection: Growing Up
So lots of respect for all you boys and girls out there who tab out songs like all the time. You bring rock and roll music closer to the people. Gratefully yoursCollection: Music