Sonic Youth are made up by four members: Lee Renaldo (guitars/vocals), Thurston Moore (guitars/vocals), Kim Gordon (bass/vocals), and Steve Shelley (drums). Each member was influenced by punk music at a young age, which eventually led all but Shelley to New York to seek out the burgeoning punk scene of the New York Dolls, Television, and the Ramones. Thurston came from Connecticut as a young teenager enamored with punk rock (Foege, 47). He played in a band called the Coachmen in New York City that cited influences such as the Velvet Underground, and slowly came into the new No Wave music scene that was being created out of the New Wave music scene (62). Kim was an art student from Los Angeles that moved to New York City after starting an interest in No Wave bands. Lee was an ex-hippie that moved to the City to later play in several experimental guitar bands. His influences range from the Grateful Dead to Elvis Costello, Television, and the Talking Heads (43). Lee played with Glenn Branca often, where he learned to play with alternate tunings and create "white noise." Branca was a musician/composer who enlisted several (sometimes up to six) guitarists to play his symphonies of noise (44). Sonic Youth learned much from Branca later, such as using alternate tunings and various non-conventional ways of playing to create their style of noise.
Sonic Youth's range of influences were incorporated directly into their music over the years. Rising from the local No Wave and performance art scene in New York City, Sonic Youth's first self-titled EP (1982) was mainly influenced by the local No Wave and performance art scene in New York City in the late 1970s (75). After touring around the U.S., Sonic Youth, and especially Thurston, became interested in the new hardcore music scene developing in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Music by Black Flag, Minor Threat, and the Dead Kennedys helped shape Sonic Youth's music, making it harder and more primal (73). This sound can be heard on their first full-length album, Confusion Is Sex (1983). A low budget album put out by Neutral records in the United Kingdom, Confusion featured covers of the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and "(She's in a) Bad Mood" (from World Party Music article). This was the first album where Sonic Youth began using alternate tunings for their guitars, and used different guitars to create totally different sounds for their songs. Commenting on Confusion, Griel Marcus said, "I heard in that record a kind of extremism, a kind of nihilism that I wasn't hearing anywhere else at the time" (95). In the early 1980s Sonic Youth started to become recognized as the leaders of the New York hardcore scene, even though they did not play straight hardcore music and were much older than the fans of hardcore (85). Just as Sonic Youth became popular with hardcore, they shifted their focus from hardcore to concentrate on American culture of the early 1980s.
Sonic Youth's second album, Bad Moon Rising (1985), was a result of a death obsession of the band's, specifically images of death in American culture. They were concerned with the path society was taking, and perceived events such as Ronald Reagan's peace talks (and the underlying threat of nuclear war) and Charles Manson's murderous "Family" to be perfect examples. One song, "Death Valley '69," is about the Manson Family and their slaughters. The album was very dark compared to early work, and was not received favorably by many critics, which helped to ostracize them from the New York hardcore scene (122-4). After signing with SST records, the Los Angeles independent label home to Black Flag and the Minutemen, Sonic Youth released EVOL (1986). The band, although still dealing with the other bands featured at SST, eventually rejected all hardcore influences since hardcore music had become "codified," and became interested in mainstream pop culture and music, including a serious fascination with Madonna, Prince, Bruce Springstein, and Michael Jackson (139-44).
It was not until their fourth album that Sonic Youth became interested in punk subculture again. By the time Sister was released in 1987, the band had evolved beyond their hardcore roots and became interested in cyberpunk culture, including the works of Philip H. Dick and William Gibson's landmark cyberpunk novel Neuromancer. Sister saw Sonic Youth's music begin to evolve. Their distinct "wall of noise" sound no longer disseminated from chaos, but was built into conventional song structures with more of a punkish punch to them. Their style of playing became more refined, yet tested and pushed at the same time (159-65). Lee and Thurston would insert drumsticks into the strings of their guitars and play them to create quirkier noises, as well as using screwdrivers and other equipment to further expand upon their noise (150). Since then, Sonic Youth's music has maintained a certain style to it by creating sonic landscapes which absorb the attention of the listener. Subsequent releases of Daydream Nation (1988), Goo (1990), Dirty (1992), Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star (1994), and Washing Machine (1996) have explored the sounds of noise, free jazz, punk rock, and alternate song structures to create the Sonic Youth sound. By pushing the boundaries of music, Sonic Youth displays a punk attitude that incorporates a stance against offering the public what it wants to hear.
Although recognized now as the godfathers of alternative culture, Sonic Youth has never been popular in the same sense as bands like Nirvana or Pearl Jam. Their faces have not graced a major entertainment or music magazine cover since the mid-1980s, where they were featured on NME, Melody Maker, and Sounds, three British music publications. Their albums have never gone gold (over 500,000 copies sold). In fact, Dirty, their most commercially acceptable album, had only sold 300,000 copies by 1994 (230). The reason that Sonic Youth do not sell that many albums is because that would mean they would have to copy others' sounds, and the fans would lose something. They do not want to stylize their sound because this would make it to Pink Floyd-ish, too glossy (Goldberg). The fact that Sonic Youth are truly "no star" results from their punk/hardcore stance against popularity. "Hardcore's stance was anti-celebrity, . . . [because] mass recognition connoted squandered creativity and self-delusion" (109). Their at times cacophonous music alienates them from mainstream culture, but then as Lee Renaldo puts it, "the mainstream hasn't got a clue what this is all about or how to handle it . . . and that's good." He goes on to quote one of punk rock's ultimate acts, the Germs: "What we do is secret" (Harrison). Thurston claims that people are not musically adventurous because they only like to hear what's popular. People want to be a part of the MTV majority, but Thurston never wanted that from music. He wanted music that suited him, something he could immerse himself in and have it become a part of his character (Goldberg). This stance towards mainstream music conveys a punk attitude in Sonic Youth to not "sell out" and make it rich in the rock and roll industry.
Sonic Youth's actions have also influenced the rock industry in a shocking, punk way. Back in the early 1980s, when Confusion was released and hardcore was an influence, the band pursued the Do-It-Yourself ethic of hardcore by releasing 7" singles, using photocopied art for album covers, and making low-budget, low-tech recordings (87). Thurston published his own "art-core" hardcore fanzine, Killer, from 1983-85, and also started his own independent label Ecstatic Peace. Later, while on their 1990-91 Goo tour, Sonic Youth took bands like Nirvana, Mudhoney, Pavement, Gumball, and Babes in Toyland on tour with them to help promote them. Around this time, the major label industry was disappointed with the success of current bands like Motley Crue and Bon Jovi, and thus the major labels were seeking fresh new bands. Sonic Youth used its influences to help new postpunk bands of the 1990s get record contracts from these labels, the most significant one being Nirvana's signing with Geffen records in 1991 (222). Steve Shelley started his own independent label, Smells Like records, which produces 7" singles by upcoming bands like Sentridoh (238).
Of anyone in the band, Kim Gordon might be attributed with the most influence upon the rock industry. Around the time when Sister was released, Kim began having more influence in the writing and lyrics of Sonic Youth's songs. The most radical member of the band, Kim's songs often deal with women's issues. Goo's "Kool Thing" responds to L.L. Cool J's chauvinist attitude towards women, as well as Dirty's "Swimsuit Issue," a song about the degradation of women in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue (225). Kim's nonmelodic vocal timbres and punk attitude (she claims women are the best anarchists) have inspired a number of "riot grrrl" bands, such as Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, and Huggy Bear, to form and speak out against female oppression (243). This revolutionary aspect of women's contribution to rock displays a type of punk ethics earlier seen in bands like the X-Ray Specs.
Sonic Youth, although not a traditional punk band, does have punk attributes and have been influenced by punk bands and genres. Their consistent pushing against musical boundaries and their actions in the world of mainstream and indie rock display a punk attitude and ethic. Kim Gordon says, "the whole punk-rock thing with us - on one hand it's tongue-in-cheek. But it also indicates the kind of experiences that we had, that we saw, that marked us. There are aspects of it that we identify with, but not really so much the structure. For us, it's more about the free aspect and not wanting to be homogenized" (238). As Sonic Youth continue to forge their way into the future, they will continue to maintain this punk ethic, their guiding principle to their lives. Punk is the foundation of Sonic Youth and has constant emphasis in the lives of its members.