Psychic Confusion. La storia dei Sonic Youth

by Stevie Chick

Sonic Youth was one of the most unlikely stories of underground American rock in the 80s. Inspired by hard-core punk, they re-defined what noise meant within rock 'n' roll and inspired bands, including Nirvana, Pavement and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Author Everett True has been a fan of the New York band since he saw them play live in 1983. He draws upon his wealth of source material and exclusive interviews with both band-members and the people closest to them to give a fascinating insight into this most complex and fascinating rock bands.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography

381 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Sonic Kid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Difficile restare equilibrato parlando dei Sonic Youth, soprattutto dopo aver letto “Psychic Confusion - La storia dei Sonic Youth” di Stevie Chick, edito da Arcana (e tradotto troppo alla buona). Le vite dei musicisti che diventano una storia comune, quella di un gruppo che in 30 anni ha costruito una carriera solida, onesta, entusiasmante, rumorosa e senza mai una caduta di stile. Bello leggere come sono nate le canzoni, gli aneddoti dei concerti, scoprire come le loro vite si sono intrecciate con quelle di tantissimi altri musicisti (Mike Watt, Kurt Cobain, Neil Young, Madonna) e come ogni disco ha una propria personalità e rappresenta una tappa nello sviluppo della gioventù (oramai eterna) sonica. Interessante capire da chi sono stati influenzati e quanto a loro volta sono (e sono stati) influenti, e perché no anche lanciare uno sguardo nella loro vita personale: Thurston Moore l’indefesso entusiasta, Kim Gordon l’artista, Lee Ranaldo il rumorista sperimentatore, Steve Shelley lo schivo batterista e produttore altrui. Tra le righe leggere anche della storia di New York e dei suo cambiamenti e dei suoi drammi, una città in movimento a cui la band è strettamente e indissolubilmente legata (e viceversa). Uno dei gruppi più importanti nella storia della (mia) musica.

[Maarten Wagemakers · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read. It is mostly an extended retelling of their history, using both recent interviews and contemporary secondary sources to place the band in its proper historical perspective (mostly by sticking to name-dropping, remarkable career milestones, and other facts). That the focus is squarely on their earlier days (three quarters of the book deal with their first 10 years basically) is almost par for the course with these kinds of books, although it does seem a bit rushed in the last few chapters. And sure, Chick does tend to get overboard somewhat with detailed namedropping of other bands, but it was not as disruptive and bad as some of the other reviewers make it out to be though.

It is also very clear the book was written by a fan: negative album and live reviews are mentioned in the book, but are framed mostly in the "heh, look how silly these critics look in hindsight" way. In fact, Chick hardly ever offers any critical notes of his own: this book reads more like the storyboard of a VH1 documentary than the in-depth, academic analysis that a band of Sonic Youth's stature might have warranted.
Still, even with this in mind I still got a kick out of this book. I for one really enjoy silly little facts about one of my favourite bands and some of their contemporaries (in a number of cases I did not even know about their shared history), while the narrative is clear and pleasant to read.

[Mike Balsom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good history of the ground breaking noise rockers covering their early days up to the publication of this 2007 book. Chick rambles a bit at times, flying off on tangents about many of the artists associated with the band as well as the record labels that signed them. He breaks down each of their albums, sometimes song by song, shedding much light on their songwriting and recording process. The publication date means this book doesn’t get in to the divorce of Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore or the eventual dissolution of the band, if that’s what you’re looking for. But it does a great job of assessing and affirming Sonic Youth’s rightful place in the history of avant-garde American music.

[Gregory Kuchmek · Rating 2 out of 5]

As some others noted here, it starts out fine, but devolves into a 90s scene report. No thanks. I really only liked SY in the 80s with bits and pieces after that (Goo is practically unlistenable, yet it's highly lauded; so I'm not a true fan).
Probably outside of reading Forced Exposure and Options magazines back in the olden tymes, the best SY book I've read was Alec Foege's Confusion is Next. I forget the year, but it probably came out mid-90s. That book def covers their early years and rise throughout the 80s very well. So for later era coverage, this book MIGHT be okay, but I'd look elsewhere.

[Antonis Moras · Rating 4 out of 5]

not as intimate as goodbye 20th century but still a good read that places the emphasy more on the relation of the band to their millieu than the relations between them. The biography of the public image of the band.

[Mark Farley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed parts of this because I haven't read anything on the band since 'Confusion is Next' and that's a long time ago now, so as an update, it's insightful but essentially it stinks of music journo 101 and you can really tell that Chick had been roped in at the last minute to do this (Everett True was originally given the task but never got around to it) inasmuch that some of the facts haven't been checked and you can really see what areas of alt rock that Chick falls down on. For example, he calls The Breeders "an all girl 4-piece" when in actual fact, the drummer was very much a man. He also says that Krist from Nirvana called Axl Rose out from the stage at the 1992 VMAs, when it was Dave Grohl. Poor Krist was unconscious from a bass guitar crashing down on his head. And that's the other problem, I found. The filler. Too much time spent talking about other bands and regurgitating old magazine quotes. I would have preferred much more input from the actual band. It just reminds me why I don't read 'unofficial' critique by those who do not personally know their subjects.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started well. Two...two-and-a-half chapters about the band's early years and rotating drummer issues [insert requisite Spinal Tap joke here], but at some point the book lost focus on the band and went more into "scenes" and "movements" and "AlternaNation" and all that jazz. Yeah, I know the band was influential. But when I pick up a book where I'm expecting to hear mainly about them and what they did to be influential, instead I get whole chapters where Thurston, Kim, Lee, et al. hardly even appear. If I wanted to read about Nirvana, I'd get a different book.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

A merely adequate bio of the Sonics. While it's way readable, even way enjoyable, Sonic Youth deserve something far more scholarly and poetic than what Chick offers. He gets the key events right, sure, but never conjures the New York No Wave scene, the true characters and relationships of the musicians, etc.. Definitely better than Alec Foege's "Confusion is Next" & the 33 1/3 book on "Daydream Nation," but hopefully David Browne's forthcoming bio will be better and, er, y00tier.