A sell-out selling out. That's all this bed.

Sonic Youth is one big corporate fuck party at this point. Starbucks? Give me a fucking break.

Sonic Youth should just pack it in or go back to recording twenty minute songs of wailing distortion.

Steve V. wrote:Sonic Youth should just pack it in or go back to recording twenty minute songs of wailing distortion.

Right, because that pays the rent.
What they *should* do is exactly what they want, as long as they are enjoying themselves. Sonic "Youth's" age averages nearly 50 years old. They are pretty cool for 50 year olds.

It's not like they jumped on the mashup craze, did a dance record, dabbled in electronica, scored "Titanic II: My Heart Still Goes On" and then went latin. Rather Ripped was pretty good. In one way or another they have made "Sonic Youth Music" for a long time now. Ripped had a lot more in common with Sister than it did with Confusion Is Sex, and Sister came out two decades ago.

They changed music, lived in toilets and put out some good records, let's give 'em a break. This is not the end of the world, and again I say, Starbucks is hardly the worst corporation around by a long shot. I might argue, in fatc, that they are probably a SHIT load better than *any* record company when it comes to morality.

-A

Christopher J. McGarvey wrote: you gotta put food on your family.

Ummm... how would that look exactly?

Whatever. If Sonic Youth wants to do it, let them.

It beats listening to whatever else they'd have in there.

SecondEdition wrote:Whatever. If Sonic Youth wants to do it, let them.

It beats listening to whatever else they'd have in there.

True enough. Do you want to hear SY, or the new McCartney?

alex maiolo wrote:

Steve V. wrote:Sonic Youth should just pack it in or go back to recording twenty minute songs of wailing distortion.

Right, because that pays the rent.
What they *should* do is exactly what they want, as long as they are enjoying themselves. Sonic "Youth's" age averages nearly 50 years old. They are pretty cool for 50 year olds.

It's not like they jumped on the mashup craze, did a dance record, dabbled in electronica, scored "Titanic II: My Heart Still Goes On" and then went latin. Rather Ripped was pretty good. In one way or another they have made "Sonic Youth Music" for a long time now. Ripped had a lot more in common with Sister than it did with Confusion Is Sex, and Sister came out two decades ago.

They changed music, lived in toilets and put out some good records, let's give 'em a break. This is not the end of the world, and again I say, Starbucks is hardly the worst corporation around by a long shot. I might argue, in fatc, that they are probably a SHIT load better than *any* record company when it comes to morality.

-A

Sonic Youth has undoubtedly paid many years' rent, many times over.

This is greed, pure and simple. Starbucks may not be the worst corporation in the world, but let's not forget their stance against worker's unions and their backing of a order that made Fair Trade-certification for farmers more out of reach than ever before ($20,000-30,000 to become certified and therefore to become a customer of Starbucks), but they are still a corporation. I'm sure some of that info is erroneous, because I can't recall exactly where I read it, hence I cannot double check my claim. I've read that Starbucks profits somehow end up in the pockets of Israeli military leaders...clarification anyone?

Yeah, they are cool for 50 year olds. "Rather Ripped" was decent enough, and the two before that were absolutely excellent. Yet, I'm still bothered by the fact that Sonic Youth would so easily be coerced into dealing with a big corporate chain like Starbucks. I don't give a fuck who they are or what band they're in...they're still a fucking sell out. They jumped at the chance to make a living off of their band by conceding to corporate interests. They took fat checks and big name producers (Dirty) to capitalize on the early-90's college rock craze. So did the Melvins, so did Nirvana, so did Dinosaur Jr. Doesn't mean they didn't make some kick ass music, but they sidestepped the independent route for a nice fat limousine ride to "rock stardom." Do I lose sleep at night over it? No. Do I think they're a bunch of fucking whores? A little. Will it stop me from being a fan? No, but their convictions are definitely to be taken with a grain of salt from now on.

Sonic Youth is loaning their music to a chain store that sells overpriced coffee for the "hip factor." Paul McCartney brings in the hippie geezers, Sonic Youth brings in the lame-o indie rocker kids. Stores do it all the time. That's why Cartel is in a bubble somewhere with Dr. Pepper, Wal-Mart, Nike, Fuck stick, etc. whatever logos printed all over the building and they're "recording an album." It's all to sell a fucking product.

So fuck Sonic Youth for selling fucking coffee.

Not fuck Sonic Youth for being a good band.

Two thoughts:

1) I've been hearing people talk about Sonic Youth being "sellouts" since they signed to "big label" SST in 1986. Folks, they've been on a major label and working in the mainstream music business for close to twenty years now. The "sellout" ship has long sailed. That doesn't mean they don't make fine music -- they do -- or that they haven't strived to make a corrupt system work in their favor -- they have -- but they've obviously chosen to play in the major leagues on some level, and this is par for that course.

2) When I first started hearing folks talk about how online distribution of music and peer to peer file sharing was going to put an end to the music biz as we've known it, I had the sneaking suspicion that if big record labels moved out of the picture (and musos stopped getting their occasional paychecks from them), we'd have corporations outside the immediate sphere of music sweeping in to use the fan base and reputation of well-known musicians for their own purposes by acting as "patrons" in exchange for attaching their name to their products. I just didn't figure the Coffee Shop With A Will To Power was going to be the first ones to do this on such a grand scale. As fucked up as Columbia, Warner Bros., RCA, MCA and their ilk could be, I'd take them over having our favorite bands send out their product as some sort of premium along with purchase of (fill in obnoxious consumer item here). At least with a major record label, you're only supporting one fucked up system at a time.

For what it's worth, the idea of a bunch of musicians and hipster types picking their fave Sonic Youth tunes for a compilation sounds like it could be fun, if possibly for the wrong reasons. But I ain't going to Starbucks to buy it.

HA!

I want to note that I'm not backing up Sonic Youth on their decision to affiliate with Starbucks. I'm just not judging them negatively because of it. I will, however, give them the benefit of the doubt. In short: Who fucking cares? Honestly, if you're going to get worked up over some morality issue I think there's better (or rather, worse) things out there that deserve your attention.

Screw record labels.
I want someone like Topps, Fleer or Upper Deck to release our band's records.
These are are good examples of companies with integrity.