Daydream Nation

I could listen to the intro to teenage riot for probably a solid hour.

Something of a masterpiece. It starts off with not only one of the best opening songs on any album, but arguably the best Sonic Youth song, period. This is the alternative album you're looking for. The one where Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore and company put everything together and were so prolific they had enough gems to merit a double album. And this things takes you on a freaking journey. Sonic Youth might be like good scotch in that they're something of an acquired taste, but once you're into them, you're all in. Look no further to hear why Kurt Cobain and several others were so inspired by Sonic Youth. Just say yes.

While I'm a fan of Sonic Youth in theory, this one didn't do it for me. It was very experimental and... noisy. Just really noisy. Not very enjoyable to listen to. That said, I can ABSOLUTELY hear the foundations of a hundred other bands in this one album. It's a critical album to the american music scene. Just not one I'd want to listen to on a regular basis. It does earn bonus points for having several William Gibson allusions including a whole song inspired by Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy. Not enough to lift it past a 3, though. Did I mention it was noisy? It's just so damn noisy...

Why so much random guitar distortion? Why the voices so far away? Sounds like a demo or live recording. Not really my thing I guess.

Nothing like another excuse to listen to this unparalleled collection of 80's alternative rock. I've listened to a lot of Sonic Youth, and they're really in a league of their own - their music ranges from the insanely catchy to absolutely deranged and borderline unlistenable, and I feel they found the perfect balance of the two on 'Daydream Nation'. With that said, I will caution that the first song on this album is, at least in my opinion, far and away the best song on the album, the best song Sonic Youth ever wrote, and one of my all-time favourite songs in general. The hazy dream-pop-y intro, the relentless energy and drive, Thurston's vocals - it's just a brilliant accomplishment of a track. With that said, it's worth sticking around - you get a lot more of the band's tendency towards the more experimental later on in the album - distortion-heavy breakdowns and weird tunings are evident on such tracks as 'Total Trash' and 'Rain King', but at the end of the day, each of these tracks is enjoyable in its own way.

Possibly the greatest album of the 1980s. This sprawling record is expansive, unsettling, ponderous, noisy, and driving. Sonic Youth. This album has had an immeasurable influence on grunge, indie, DIY, etc. which continues to this day.

hold on to your butts

It’s very rare that I don’t get to the end of an album but I had to turn this off after around 30mins when I saw I wasn’t even half way through. Mostly pretty generic garbage/garage punk but then breaking into complete nonsensical twatery. Deeply unpleasant.

Uninspiring and frankly boring. Heard of this band but luckily I never listened before and I won't again. Kind of like deep sea fishing. Only need one go to know it's not for you. And I appreciate that.

Dead good innit.

10 Albums You Actually Need to Hear Before You Die Chapter 9 Does “Fuck You” Sound Simple Enough?: Sonic Youth’s “Daydream Nation” Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A corrupt Republican presidential administration, lead by a B-List celebrity and flanked by the religious right takes power with the aim of “Making America Great Again”. What? No, not him. I’m talking about Ronald Reagan. (Seriously, the whole MAGA thing was originally a Reagan Campaign slogan in 1980. You can’t say the right hates the environment…they are clearly into recycling.) People like to talk about the 1980’s as though it was a perpetual good time with neon excess and everyone living without a care in the world. In some respects that might be true, but it also ignores how much of the 1980’s set the stage for the current situation we find ourselves living here in America. With Trickle Down Economics and unfettered capitalism, shady deals with dictators for personal gain, religious influence in law making and a disdain for science and intellect…We are still living in that world and, in two days time, it’s likely going to be pushed into overdrive. Emerging from Lower Manhattan’s No Wave scene in the early 80’s, Sonic Youth represented an almost wholesale rejection of modern musical convention. With their guitars set in tunings of their own design, drum sticks under their strings, fuzz pedals working overtime and a healthy appreciation for the avant garde, they were hell bent on tearing down convention, picking up the pieces and rebuilding it in their own image. Daydream Nation, ultimately, is where Sonic Youth’s efforts to destroy and rebuild convention fully coalesced for the first time. Though they had made excellent records previously, like 1987’s “Sister”, Daydream Nation should be considered their Mission Statement: a full and total encapsulation of what Sonic Youth “is”. It also serves as document of the waning years of Reaganism in the United States and the counterculture it bred. It was a counterculture founded with a spirit of self-sufficiency, that rejected reliance on corporations and prized artistic freedom and expression. Awash with extended soundscapes and otherworldly guitar noise, Daydream Nation is a singular, untamed proclamation of the arrival American underground. Nowhere is the rejection of Reaganism’s embrace of unimpeded capitalism more explicitly evident on Daydream Nation than it is in Kim Gordon’s opening lines of “The Sprawl”: “Does this sound simple? Fuck you. Are you for sale? Does fuck you sound simple enough?” It is a pretty effective message to live your life by: Your values and sense of self should not carry a price tag. Musically, Daydream Nation couldn’t be more out of step with the popular music of its time. It is unpolished, challenging, unorthodox and uncompromising. As a result, it is truly an alternative to the status quo and it may be worth keeping this record in mind as we navigate the next few years, which are sure to be rife with hyper-capitalism and a society that increasingly demands compliance. Daydream Nation is the sound of freedom: Freedom from conformity, freedom from outdated norms and ideas…It is the freedom to do whatever you please.

Daydream Nation melted my 16-year old brain and fused itself to my taste: I cannot review this fairly. Five stars, there you go. . The songs that stand tall to me are few: Teenage Riot, The Sprawl, Providence (love a good interstitial), Rain King and Hyperstation. That’s not a bad haul, but low for one of the big boys. I know every squeak and flinch on this record, but mostly as part of a continuum: I had to play the start of Candle to remember which part of the record the title labelled. More than any other record I love, I know this as an assemblage rather than a discrete sequence of songs. I think it's something to do with the abundance of unique, fleeting peculiar guitar and amp sounds - haunted electronics. The Sprawl is my favourite due to the long, especially ghostly outro, a gorgeous motif repeated to disintegration. Returning to it for the first time in a few years was tremendously moving. This was the first SY LP I heard, so I didn't realise how glossy it was compared to the earlier classics. After I'd spent a while memorising it (could have been just a month!), I sought out others, starting with Sister, I think, and was taken aback by how freakish those records sounded. Bad Moon Rising, EVOL and Sister are flying saucers; Daydream Nation is a manmade spaceplane painted by Chesley Bones. This is a bittersweet album, as it marked their move to Geffen, and I don’t think any of their later records are as great as this and the three that preceded it. But they are all laudably different. . I've seen Sonic Youth around five times; Shellac are the only band I've seen more of. Curiously, the songs they played never decided how much I enjoyed a gig. My favourite performance was mostly songs from Washing Machine, which never snagged me (Diamond Sea apart), and they were incredible. Ten years later, I saw what was close to a greatest hits playlist at the Shepherd Bush Empire and they were lacklustre, the only detail I remember being when I pointed out Bruce Gilbert from Wire to my youngest brother, and my brother went up and got his autograph. I miss my youngest brother.

Sonic Youth looks set to be another band I just don't get the hype for. Maybe a few relistens would improve my outlook but nothing about this album was interesting to me. Also, if your fourteen track album has FOUR seven minute tracks then you need to start cutting.

I don’t know, shit like this hits some kind of sweet spot for me like this is some weird shit but I can’t help loving it, 10/10 album

A true 80s alt-rock classic. Sonic Youth can be hit and miss for me, particularly in album form, but not here. Opening with the best track they ever wrote, Daydream Nation somehow manages to perfectly balance their noisy, weirdly-tuned distortion-heavy brand of alternative, with a layer of polish and accessibility.

I would typically vouch for this being one of the best of its era, although upon playing my copy today I was embarrassed to discover loud CD skipping noises in the middle of "Teen Age Riot"; evidently I haven't chosen to listen to this recording in over twenty years since the mp3 was first created. Shame on me.. So, basically I'm approaching Daydream Nation fresh and, frankly, it is fantastic. All the songwriters have their distinctive flavors and the result is unique (for the time) and genre-defining (for the rest of their peers). So much I love in later work (e.g., Pavement) can be found here for the first time, full of great tunes and great noise. Kim Gordon's book deservedly ruined Thurston Moore for me, but even that only knocks this classic down to 4.9* And, don't worry - I ripped another copy of "TAR" for the future

I listened to this album for about 2 years solidly in my 20s - the sound spoke to me - and it still does.

What an insane trip Daydream Nation is. Sonic Youth grips my by the first notes of the extraordinary “Teen Age Riot” and doesn’t let go until after “Trilogy”. Shelley’s drum and Gordon’s bass goes together perfectly and provides more than just the backbone of the songs, but it’s Moore’s and Ranaldo’s whirling, disorienting and unorthodox guitars that stands out as the main characters of the album. Even after dozens of listens I’m still blown back by “‘Cross the Breeze”, “Eric’s Trip” and “Hey Joni”. There’s simply no denying the greatness of this entire thing - even though they’re probably pushing the limit with the 70 minute runtime.

Came into this album thinking Sonic Youth was a pretentious band. Came out of listening to this album thinking they are a pretentious band that is also very good. I watched the documentary, 1991: The Year Punk Broke, about Sonic Youth and other bands of that era after listening to this, and boy is Thurston Moore a dickhead. Also, I read they would bring upwards of 50 guitars to a gig because of all the funky tuning and modifications they would do. I mean I'm all for experimentation but give me a break. Roasting aside, I did really like this album. The songwriting seemed strong throughout and I read that some of it was inspired by The Neuromancer, which I'm currently reading, so that got me geeked. The most impressive thing to me though was the guitar on this album! It shred of course, and even the droning noise rock bits on the outros of a lot of tracks felt interesting to me and not too overindulgent. As eye roll as it may be, the modifications to the actual hardware of the guitars and alternative playing styles made for some really interesting sounds. A sound that seems to have been a blueprint for so so many indie bands in the 2000s and 2010s, which made this seem a little less fresh to me than I'm sure it was at the time. I really liked "Teenage Riot," but I think I liked the Kim Gordon songs more because again, too cool, disinterested sounding indie white guy has been beat to death. I do think Sonic Youth contributed a lot to modern rock sensibilities and I can see myself exploring their discography further.

No matter what happens and how evolved I become in this life, I don’t think I’ll ever be into punk. Even the more “musical” punk such as this. Bangy bangy yelly yelly done.

I've listened to this album before, and loved it (knew it would be an instant 5* the second it popped up) probably a few times, but I've never really *listened* to it. But damn is this thing perfect. You can probably credit this album/Sonic Youth for a good majority of the 90s alt rock bands on this list, along with a bunch more that aren't on the list, but are shockingly missing. Sleater-Kinney, Nirvana, Modest Mouse, Slint, even Portishead for their album Third, etc. Hell, the opening of Silver Rocket sounds like a riff that would be used in a dissonant black metal track, something Deathspell Omega would come up with (Cross the Breeze verges on dissonant black too, as well as my previous comparison to Portishead's Third). What strikes me the most is the guitar tone and drumming on this album. Especially on songs like Teen Age Riot (probably the best song on the album, but thats not to discount the quality of the rest of the album. That song is just transcendant) and Cross the Breeze. The drummer really loves his 16th notes, and I appreciate that. Love how Cross the Breeze starts off with a more uplifting sound only to devolve immediately into a harsher, dark vibe. And don't discount the bass, that is not always super prominent, but when it is, is always fantastic (see Teen Age Riot). Total Trash where it takes the main riff and devolves it into a dissonant noise bastardization of itself. Honestly that's kinda a story on quite a few songs. Not only do they do some of the loud quiet loud, but they switch vibes up at the same time. Nice here, dissonant and dark there. Candle does the same thing. But probably my favorite thing about this is how much drive it has. Obviously Teen Age Riot, but The Wonder is amazing for that with the anxiety it has while just MOVING. So yeah. An absolute alt rock masterpiece that singlehandedly charted the course for alt rock through the 90s.

I seem to only get great albums on here, and this is no different. One of the essential listens for all fans of Alternative Rock. Absolutely perfect!

fuck yea i'm gonna be listen this more often

I was hooked from the first chorus-laden guitar chords. They built such a distinct and influential sound with this album, while still keeping enough variety to keep the album engaging through it's longer runtime.

An all-time classic!!

Sonic Youth read some William Gibson novels, dropped some acid, and made a noisy, distortion-heavy, socially conscious album. It sounds exactly like you might expect. An album you have to listen to more than once, or you'll miss a ton. Best track: Candle

I didn’t stop listening to it on the way there, but it wasn’t particularly noteable.

Better than Coldplay

Magnificent from beginning to end. Easily one of the greatest albums ever.

I think I like “Sister” a little more, but this one does contain the iconic Teenage Riot and lots of (SY trademark) guitar textures.

Probably their best record, loads of great driving guitar parts, loads of energy, has that feel of an album that needs to be listened through start to finish.

I liked this one, though wish it had been a little shorter. Much better than some of their other albums.

This is the perfect Sonic Youth album. On earlier releases, they got too noisy at times and the songwriting was a bit lacking, while on later releases they get a bit too mainstream sounding, losing a bit of what made them special in the first place. Daydream Nation falls right in the middle and perfectly balances the noisy experimental rock tendencies of their early work and the more accessible song structures and riffs of their 90's work. Without a doubt their best. Key tracks: Teen Age Riot Silver Rocket Candle Kissability

Sonic Youth is such a cool fucking band but I’ve never been able to get into them. I tried a couple albums and this one easily hits the hardest for me. Killer fuckin blown out clean tones on a jazzmaster with blaring noice and catchy hooks. Every time I put on this album I don’t remember a single song. Do I have some sort of disease? I’d give it five but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sonic Youth has a unique sound. Weird tunings, odd chord progressions, dirty production in spots, and it's awesome. I love the guitar tones on this album. It's dirty, metallic and muddy. I like Z) Eliminator, Jr. as the final track because of that, it's like the guitar sound throughout the album progressed and culminated in that harsh tone. So many of the songs have such pretty progressions, though, and it makes for a cool contrast. I enjoy how long some of the tracks are. It creates a kind of soundscape for me that I can fall into and it doesn't feel like I get pulled out of it too early. Favorite tracks: -Teenage Riot -'Cross the Breeze -Total Trash - the chaos in the middle might be my favorite part of the album -Rain King - this got borderline sinister -Kissability - I wish more songs were led by Kim's vocals like this track -Z) Eliminator Jr. is my top track. Least favorite track is easily Providence. It didn't have enough going on to be interesting. Not related to the music at all but it's a drag they were so mean to Nardwuar. Very few artists have done that and it's a real bummer.

This was one of my favorites in my alt rock-obsessed phase from high school/early college, and it’s probably my favorite Sonic Youth album. It still sounds so big and fresh, the rare double album that doesn’t overstay its welcome… mostly. A-

I know this band a bit but never listened to an album. I get that some will say it's noise. I agree it's noise but I like it anyway.  Teen Age Riot kicks off the festivities in style and is as close as they  get to a song that people without a deranged taste in music might like. Total Trash  isn't in that user friendly zone. It's noise but it's meant to be noise. They are playing fucked up sounding guitars on purpose to create "noise art". One minute I get it and the next minute I say "C'mon".  It comes so close to going over the edge and landing in a cesspool of noise that can't be listened to  but, imo, it doesn't go over that edge.  I realize 70 minutes is a lot of any band in one sitting. I surprisingly didn't do my first "K - how much is left?" time check until midway through the trilogy.  . . . and I'm 60 for christ's sake. Full transparency: I tapped out 30 secs into when Eliminator Jr.  I like these guys and wish I had listened to their albums years ago.

It ebbs and flows from high energy to a more calm trance like rock. Heavy experimentation occurs throughout. This is a very good album.

Love the guitar through most of this album. Lyrics and vocals are average and tend to break my focus when they take center stage on the song. Caught myself thinking this part sounds like XYZ band a couple times, which I realized it was actually just that band sounding like Sonic Youth which was a cool realization.

This classic guitar-grinding, beat-driving, angst-spilling, iron-pumping album is not for the faint of heart or ear! It always gets under my skin and triggers fist pumps of rebellion and release!

To me this is where Sonic Youth really start to shine. Their songs got more expansive and yet feel more focused and infectious than before. Perhaps it was the pressure of the higher dollar studio time? I love them most when they give their songs room to breathe with extended instrumental passages. Kinda punk-prog. I'm also a fan of the jam to song method they developed these songs with. Perfect balance of capturing that wild vitality but refining it into something more structured.

Moody, noisey and cool. Can hear where lots of bands have drawn influence like Slint, Pavement Car Seat Headrest etc. Seems like the very early days of dad rock without actually being dad rock. Highlights are The Sprawl (love the spoken word) and Eric's Trip.

I really liked this album more than I thought. You could hear the punk influence in a lot of songs, which was of course distorted and experimented with. I preferred Kim's songs, but thought Teen Age Riot was a great opener. Despite it's long songs, I was engaged the whole time. Really enjoyed this and of course, bonus points for half the name coming from Fred 'Sonic' Smith of MC5. Very cool homage.

Noise but good noise, one of their really great albums but does lack the subtlety to make it really great.

Some good sounds with a lot of junk.

Some high highs but overall to me, Daydream Nation is an awkward and sometimes ponderous transition from the underground era that ended with what may be my favorite SY album, Sister, and the major label period that began with the excellent Goo. I would have given this more stars if there were fewer tracks between the classic "Teenage Riot" and humorous ZZ Top tribute "Eliminator, Jr" that bookend this album. This didn't need to be a double album. In any case, I don't think SY is going to age well, because they make so much more sense as live band than on these records. You lose a lot of the sense of humor and it's replaced with a smartass rich kidz from Connecticut type vibe. Also, you have to play this super duper loud to fully appreciate the nuances of the guitars and who is really going to do that?

Daydream Nation No 3 of the 5 Sonic Youth albums on the list. I can’t really recall much about Dirty and EVOL, but looking back at my reviews I seemed to have enjoyed them without really loving them, and I think I feel the same about this one. I definitely think they are one of the most interesting US alt rock bands, their looseness and surf pop sensibilities marry well with the interestingly distorted and scuzzy guitar noise, particularly on Teen Age Riot, the standout track. It may be that I can’t really remember the previous albums well enough but I thought you could particularly hear how influential this, for good and for ill, was on lots of the bands that followed. And despite it definitely being overlong it seemed to be more melodically interesting than the other two albums - the guitar noise framework meshing well with more conventional songwriting, and the bass and drums creating lots of good grooves, like The Sprawl and Total Trash (which the Manics must have liked). I also liked Candle and Eliminator. I think I preferred this to EVOL and Dirty, although truthfully I’d have to listen to them again to be sure. I don’t quite think though it reaches a 4, so it’s a high 3 for now and I’d like to revisit when I don’t have 11 albums to catch up on. 🕯️🕯️🕯️ Playlist submission: Teen Age Riot

I admit I went into this with a bias against Sonic Youth. They seemed to me to be the definition of style over substance, and they seemed like they viewed themselves as the coolest people ever. (See their interview with Nardwuar) Already in the first song I could hear that they were pretty innovative, as they sound like a 90s band despite the fact the album was made in the 80s. I could hear how the instrumentation(particularly the guitars) influenced great bands and albums (Loveless, The Bends) I would say they sound like an assortment of important 90s bands, but in reality I guess many 90s bands sound like them. Despite that, listening to the album confirmed some of my prejudices; the spoken word sections are meaningless and pretentious. The social critiques (lyrically) sound really basic and the album is excessively long. Still there are really interesting moments musically, particularly in the instrumental sections. The music sounds raw and at the same time very clear and layered. It sounds DIY but sophisticated and even when it's noisy and wild they create an interesting atmosphere. 3.5/5 because while it's innovative and interesting, it has it's drawbacks and to my ear's doesn't have that much replay value.

Influential but doesn’t quite do it for me

Great in places, but not the whole album

One of those albums that I'm supposed to like (a man of such discerning musical taste!) but have never got into. Some decent tracks but the amount of reverb always gives the feel of style over substance, but its interesting enough to keep my attention. Never been that keen on the vocal on some of the tracks. Having said that a solid and probably quite influential album. Highlights: Teenage Riot, Hey Joni, Kissability

For some reason I didn't enjoy this one as the previous Sonic Youth albums. I think I like the female vocalist more than the guy. It got a little better as it went on. I like the long noisy instrumental at the end of The Spawl, for example. It sounds very mid 90s post-punk so I guess at 88' they maybe defined this sound? With more heavy distortion front-and-center, 'Cross the Breeze would sound like a metal song interestingly. Lyrically it feels a bit juvenile, very HS writing feeling. I will say this album has quite a range of styles in terms of instrumentation and it's all interesting to me. 3.5 down to 3.

I love some Sonic Youth songs and I hate others. Really weird.

its not a bad album but less of few songs i didnt really clicked with it. +Nardwuar -1Point bcs yall need to be humble to interviewers especially for him

Cool band name. I gave up after the 3rd song, and that after skipping the first 2.

When I first moved down to Bournemouth in the mid 1980’s, whenever I went into town there was a vagrant/tramp/down-and-out who used to stand on a corner strumming a beaten up old ukulele at super high speed. Just the open strings mind. 

 CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING! He thought he was a legit busker and that passers by would give him cash. He was totally deluded. CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING! Some people would occasionally give him loose change. Not because they thought he was talented, but because they wanted other people to see them do it. But, of course, it just made him carry on. Every time I went into Bournemouth he’d be there CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING!-CHING! Sonic Youth remind me of that old tramp guy.

Wow, got into this even less than Phrenology. Again, the flow is a major issue with me, but in this case it feels very disjointed within individual songs (outside of Teen Age Riot) and across the album. Nothing spoke to me. Glad to be experiencing music outside of what I generally like, though.

eh, boring.

After rating one of the other Sonic Youth albums we've gotten so far 1 star and another one 4 stars, my expectations for this one were pretty uncertain. Unfortunately, this one is a major dung heap again. It's just chaotic noise to me.

I hate Sonic Youth. GRANTED it might be the foundation for a lot of things to come, I just don't give a shit about any of the songs on this album, or the band in general.

They're a band who's reputation is entirely build on other musicians saying they're great. But it largely sounds like uncrafted noise... and I guess there's something to be said for that. Regardless, this will be my first and last listen.

You call yourself an indie head and you’ve never listened to Daydream Nation all the way thru? Pft, poseur.

I'm so conflicted on this album. By all accounts, I should love it. Influential, alternative rock that was truly ahead of it's time. I love some of the bands that cite this group as a heavy influence. But- there's just something off. I can't explain or place it, it's like I just can't convinced enough to care about whatever it is they're singing about. Songs feel like they go on forever and not in a good way. My son (10 at the time of this review), though, adores this band. He occasionally listens in on my album of the day and rarely feels anything is worthy. He was thrilled with everything about this. He went on a (very long) rant when he found out they aren't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So where does that put my rating? My son rates it a 4.5/5, I'm more on the side of a 3. 5 it is, because I love my kiddo. One day, when he's older (maybe at Prom? Wedding?), I'll remind him of the time he ranted for a solid 20 minutes about the poor choices of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 5/5

Teen Age Riot is maybe a friendlier, happier Sonic Youth than the earlier albums. It's still got that cool detachment to it. Very indie. The fuzz is there, and energy levels are good. Still liking the guitars - great intro on Silver Rocket, too, and it leads into a couple of neat riffs with more punk rock sounding vocals before everything devolves into noise. Out of the chaos, another great riff fades in. I'm digging this. The Sprawl is different again, smoother, more abstract vocals, a repetitive groove. The drums drop out and we get delicate fragments of melody over a background of ambient noise. It's a hypnotic effect. Cross the Breeze is next, a speedy tour-de-force of atmospheric riffing and tortured vocals. After 5 minutes, we finally get a chance to breathe. Great drumming now. Eric's Trip is weaker for me, but Total Trash closes the first half with catchy hooks and another lengthy instrumental section full of feedback. It's moody, dense stuff. Hey Joni is an energetic start to the next side but Providence is something else - pianos and fuzz, vocal samples. Very good. It leads into Candle, a clean intro riff that is a little disorienting and it turns a pretty heavy but athemic track. Rain King is dark and gloomy, heavy again. Kissability has keyboards or chimes in the mix that give it an eerie sound, but the guitars drive the track. So far the second half has alternated more accessible tracks with something a bit avant-garde, the closing trilogy breaks the streak though and continues with the melodic, driving stuff. Building to a climax in the first part - frantic drumming, dual guitars. Hyperstation is more atmospheric, slower. I expected maybe an ambient outro, but Eliminator Jr has another head banger of a riff. We end on a bang, not a whimper. This feels like it needed the 70 minute runtime. A masterpiece in sound design and ambience but it's also full of so. many. riffs. Lives up to the hype.

I've been playing Sonic Youth on repeat for the past year, so I'm obviously going to give most of their albums 4 or 5 stars... Their name was always on my radar in the early 90s, but I was too into the grunge stuff to notice the real good alternative bands that emerged from the late 70s punk scene into the 80s collage rock scene, but I am sure glad to give them their due diligence now that I can still appreciate them.

Likely forgotten in the annals of time is just how much of a debt Sonic Youth owes to Husker Du for laying the Sonic (get it?) ground work for this record. Aside from that, Daydream Nation should be viewed as the culmination of SY’s shift from No Wave beginning with EVOL progressing to Sister and peaking at Daydream Nation. This is where the balance between Wire influenced no wave arrives at Husker Du influenced Alt rock with traditional song structures, melody and still gritty around the edges. Eric’s Trip and Total Trash are excellent examples of this balance with almost pop melodies in angular guitar with howling buzzsaw guitar lines. The inclusion of lengthier guitar workouts more reflective of their live show at that time is fascinating. This is a record that everyone should have in their collection. I have listened to this record hundreds of times over the years and each listen brings new insights. I will say that for me the second half of the record beginning with Eric’s Trip is more interesting to me although it’s not the hit portion. Candle is a classic and an amazing closer to this record. There is also no denying that Teenage Riot is an all time classic track but it is also a pretty conventional song for a band whose whole reputation is on experimentation and noise ala Glenn Branca. This record is really about balance and on Daydream Nation it is perfect. No skips on this record 5/5.

i think i’ve heard all of sonic youth now but this had to be their best album of them all

On Sonic Youths 5th release they made the conscious decision to let their songs ride out as long as they needed to and the result is a fantastic album. Yea, they’re still noisy but the songs have room for melody as well, listen closely, there’s some beauty in there too. What an awesome record this is. 5 stars

Full of raw energy and punch, The grounded production on the vocals and occasional talk-singing style makes me feel like I'm sat at a karaoke bar with a bunch of people I can click with. Instrumentation is fantastic, melodies are incredibly catchy, every vocalist brings their own style to their songs, noise breaks are of an acceptable level and fit with the tracks they're inserted into.

Highlights: - Teen Age Riot - Good vibes, cool guitar and I love Thurston's voice - Silver Rocket - What starts as rudimentary punk song quickly devolves into discordant noise. Given the time of release this is probably in reference to the Challenger disaster. - The Sprawl - The last 4 minutes of this song really do something to me. A fuzzy mess of guitar goodness. - Cross The Breeze - We're away from the feedback for now... but don't worry, it'll be back! i promise I'm not listing every song - Eric's Trip - I wasn't a huge fan of this song on my first listen but it has massively grown on me over the many listens. The whirring, discordant guitars and the infectious beat got to me... - Total Trash - We're back to feedback! 5 minutes of noisy goodness... - Hey Joni - Great track that makes me want to get up and dance! - Providence - Even though this is just an interlude it creates an incredible atmosphere - Candle - This song just sounds so magical and has such an amazing jam in the middle, you can imagine them playing the first few chords at a concert and the crowd absolutely losing it - Rain King - One of the less memorable songs on the album for sure with it's lackluster vocal delivery but it's still a masterpiece of guitar writing - Kissability - Maybe I am listing every song... the jam on this song is incredible. - A) The Wonder B) Hyper station C) Eliminator Jr - I've ran out of ways to give praise to the guitar writing on this album but rest assured this trilogy of songs live up to the rest of the album. (I ended up listing every song my bad I didn't realise how good this album was) I took this opportunity to finally listen to this on vinyl! What many consider to be their Magnum Opus and for good reason! High energy! punky! noisy! catchy! What's not to love?? This album is fantastic all the way through. The latter half is less memorable maybe I was just out of it by the time it got to that point because on this listening I found everything amazing. Actually it's probably because there's less noise on the 2nd half c: Thurston was a blessing on the guitar scene. Inspiring so many bands and writers alike, Kevin Shields of my bloody valentine credits him being a massive inspiration and they are best buds nowadays. Thurston gets a lot of his chaotic guitar writing from his extensive listening of free jazz. Taking that and applying it to guitar might be the only reason I still listen to music. Ridiculously High 5.

A true 80s alt-rock foundation for so many bands that followed. Sonic Youth can be hit and miss for me, particularly in album form, but not here. Opening with the best track they ever wrote, Daydream Nation somehow manages to perfectly balance their noisy, weirdly-tuned distortion-heavy brand of alternative, with a layer of polish and accessibility. 5⭐️

i love when loud apparently

Definitely a vibe

Gigantisk banger. Bedste vi endnu har haft med dem

1001 Albums Vol. 0022: Daydream Nation ============================================================ Introduction: Alright, we deviated away from the good stuff for a short time, now we can hopefully get back on track. This album, Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth, was released in the great year of 1988. What a time it would have been to be alive back then. Anyway, when regarding this album, I have heard literally nothing but praise for it. I've heard it hailed as one of the greatest works of all time, THE greatest work of all time, and just all around positivity. Positivity to its absolute max. Reasons for this seem to be fair too, it was apparently hugely influential on the yet-to-boom Alternative Rock scene. Again, I myself am a huge fan of Alternative Rock, so nothing but positivity in those regards. That being said, I have a little bit of a story here. I was really never all that into music until I hit my teenage years. My dad to this day has a car that contains a CD player. I think it's from 2012 or something close to that. For as long as I could remember, and as a lot of dads would, he would play music that he likes. It may have been to try and turn me onto what he likes or just for his own entertainment. I don't know. That being said, a lot of what he played was pretty damn average or pretty damn bad from what I can remember. He went through a phase where he really liked Bandstand by Family. I remember that much. That being said, every once in a while he would find a CD that was pure gold. I remember being first exposed to Funeral by Arcade Fire and Quadrophenia by The Who because of him. That being said, the CD that he put on that really got me into music was Starfish by The Church. I don't know why. It's undoubtedly not as good as the previous two I mentioned, but Under The Milky Way, Reptile, Destination, and just everything on that album really turned me onto music as a whole. That love has obviously never left since. Now, point of story? That album, Starfish, has kinda permanently "ruined" my interpretation of Alternative Rock in a way. That's not a dig on the album, I'm just saying. What do I mean? Well, I'm realizing more and more as I generate more albums on this site that I have no clue what the hell Alternative Rock really is. My brain instantly associates it with a mix between Neo-Psychedelic and Dream Pop...maybe a bit of Shoegaze too. That being said, after listening to albums such as Blood Sugar Sex Magik, I clearly have no idea what the hell Alternative Rock is. That album being considered Alternative Rock is proof of that. Hopefully, a few albums later, I'll start to actually get the gist of what this genre truly means, but until then I'm still just going to associate it with ethereal sounds and slow guitars....Anyway, back to the album. Sorry about that. Uh...yeah, even a government agency realizes how good this album is. Just like Remain In Light, this album was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. That's cool. Good for this band. Anyway, with all of that said, let's get into this album. I've kept you here long enough. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Track 1: Teen Age Riot Score: 11/10 Track 2: Silver Rocket Score: 10/10 Track 3: The Sprawl Score: 11/10 Track 4: 'Cross the Breeze Score: 11/10 Track 5: Eric's Trip Score: 9/10 Track 6: Total Trash Score: 10/10 Track 7: Hey Joni Score: 10/10 Track 8: Providence Score: 8/10 Track 9: Candle Score: 10/10 Track 10: Rain King Score: 8/10 Track 11: Kissability Score: 9/10 Track 12: Trilogy Score: 10/10 A) The Wonder Score: 9/10 B) Hyperstation Score: 10/10 Z) Eliminator, Jr. Score: 9/10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Conclusion: Well, I came out of this album more confused than ever about what the hell Alternative Rock means. I mean, this album bordered on Punk Rock on a lot of songs. That's not Alternative Rock. I don't think it is. I really don't know. I really couldn't tell you. As far as I'm concerned, Alternative Rock is just the name given to songs that are so unique that they won't get a lot of mainstream radio play....That previous sentence perfectly describes this album...and in a good way too. I really couldn't have expected anything less from this album, Could I? Literally everything that I've heard about this album is accurate. It's a masterpiece, it's influential, even today it's unique, it's emotional...just everything that propels music from "good" or "alright" to "masterpiece" is on here. What exactly makes the album so great? Wel...there's literally so many things that I couldn't quite get into it all. That being said, I'll start with the album's music. It's...admittedly not for everyone. Before I get down on my knees and bow down to the music that this album has to offer, I will point out that I can understand why someone may not necessarily like it. It's experimental. Heavily experimental. There are parts where instrumentation combines together to form something that doesn't even have a coherent melody. I don't mind these factors at all, but I can completely understand why someone would mind them. That being said, let me bow down to this album's music. It' so goddamn great. The instrumentation provides a very, very unique mix of Punk Rock, Alternative Rock, and Noise Rock. Noise Rock undoubtedly takes the main stage when compared to the other two genres, however. That being said, this is not a bad thing in the slightest. The album combines the typical type of instrumentation you would hear with Noise Rock and fuses it with enjoyable and recognizable melodies similar to that of Alternative Rock and Punk Rock. It's a great fusion which I can definitely see having a huge impact on Noise Rock as a whole. I would imagine that the more accessible and distinct melodies opened the genre up to many more listeners. No matter how you look at it, it's an undoubtedly great fusion between genres and helped push forward many genres of rock at the same time. It's great. No one will deny that. There are plenty of moments on the album that sound more akin to typical Noise Rock as well such as the bridge of Silver Rocket and the outro of The Sprawl. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of literally all things Noise. It's not a genre of music that I hate, but it's far from my favorite as well. That being said, these segments of pure Noise are so well produced and well written that I loved listening to them. These segments felt very atmospheric and psychedelic in all the right ways. There are entire songs more reminiscent to typical Noise Rock as well such as Eric's Trip and Rain King. Granted, those are two of my least favorite songs on the album, but they're still extremely well-written and unique. Now, this may just be me, but I genuinely got the vibe of...Arcade Fire while listening to this album as well. I mean this in nothing but a good way. Specific riffs on songs like The Sprawl, Teen Age Riot, Candle, and Hey Joni just gave off that somewhat magical vibe that Funeral-era Arcade Fire did. Weird comparison I know, just wanted to point it out. With all that said, I'll briefly move on to the vocals and lyrics. The vocals are...pretty damn great across the entire album. Many members of the band get a chance to shine as the main vocalist across each song which provides a lot of variety and personality to each song. That being said, I just have to briefly mention Kim Gordon's voice. I know some people may not like her voice, but I freaking love it for a multitude of reasons. It's cool, it feels raw, and it genuinely somewhat shocked me to learn that her voice...well...belongs to a female. I honestly just envisioned her voice belonging to a young guy in his 20's who maybe has curly hair and constantly shaves all of his facial hair off...basically a twink. I said it, kill me. Anyway, it shocked me that Gordon's borderline masculine voice belonged to a female and not a male. I've not seen anyone else online claim that they've been surprised by this. maybe I'm the first. I mean, just listen to The Sprawl and tell me you don't envision a twink. Tell me that....Anyway, the lyrics...they're pretty damn great as well. They, for the most part, have a very dark, magical, yet nostalgic tone to them all at the same time. They speak of themes such as the freedom of youth, the escape into thoughts, and occasionally speak of drug trips as well. Speaking of which, Eric's Trip is what I imagine to be one of the most realistic musical interpretations of a drug trip you can get while still having the music be enjoyable. I don't speak from experience. I've literally never done any type of non-prescription drug in my life, I'm just speaking based on my own interpretation. And no, I'm not just saying that so that the DEA won't come bust down my door. I'm serious. Anyway, with all that said, I overall find this album to genuinely be up there as one of the best I have heard to date. I imagine it probably won't even be in my top 50 by the time I'm done with this site, but who the hell knows? Albums like this are one of the main reasons I even decided to start my journey on this site in the first place. I wanted to discover new masterpieces all while discovering new disasterpieces at the same time. I of course enjoy discovering the former more, however. Anyway...uh...album's a masterpiece and honestly pretty damn close to getting an 11/10 out of me. It just...unfortunately isn't something that I would put on the same level as Kid A or Remain In Light. It's perfect no doubt, but it just barely doesn't reach the point where I would label it as beyond-perfect. I can't be too generous with 11's. If I were to give this album one, I would have to bump most of my other 10/10's at this point to 11's because this album does NOT beat Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix...or Lo Borges. That album's score on this site still devastates me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Daydream Nation Score: 10/10 Song Average: (Trilogy + Three Sub-Tracks): 9.7/10 Song Average: (Just Trilogy): 9.8/10

Sonic Youth is een band die je in Nederland eigenlijk amper tegen komt in mijn ervaring. Dit was ook het eerste Sonic Youth album dat ik geluisterd heb. Heb erg genoten, het gitaarwerk is fantastisch, de nummers hebben atmosfeer en het album is lang, maar zo dynamisch dat de tijd voorbij vlieg. 9/10

This one's a banger. My 4th album from them and probably the one I've enjoyed the most. Surprisingly strong for a double lp and it went by quickly for 70+ minutes. Like the other albums Kim Gordon is standout for me.

SONIC YOUTH GUYS I LOVE SONIC YOUTHHHHHH Incredibly biased, because I know what they meant to the band pavement <3, so i learned to love them as well. The whole vibe of the album is lovely. To me, it feels very comforting. I love indie, indie rock or anything that feels slightly experimental AND THIS FEELS LIKE A SHIT SHOW. Highly recommend listening with headphones!! The guitars slay, but they always slay sooo anyway 5 stars no regrets

PEPINO MARINO GUARINO!

sonic youth!!!! "'cross the breeze" sonically describes how my brain feels all the time. love the strangeness of this all, especially the long guitar solos that are kinda off but in a perfect way, and how it gradually descends into more and more chaos

How can a record be both noisy and catchy? Pure raw energy.

I have listened multiple times, it’s a perfect album.

now this is influential music.

My personal introduction to Sonic Youth, this album holds a special place in my heart and really opened up a whole world of interesting music to me, hard to be objective so fuck it, go with your heart!

Another of my Desert Island Discs I think. I’m not sure why I find noise rock so comforting - my five year old claims that it isn’t music, it’s just people warming up before they play music. Almost every track on the first half of the album is a favourite, and I still enjoy the second half.

The best so dar

🩵

My only previous exposure to Sonic Youth was the album Goo, also from this list. I thought that album was ok. This one surpassed all of my expectations and I loved it. Such a mature and self-assured sound on this album. None of the songs stuck out as incredibly catchy, but every song was good. This was more of a continuous listen than a collection of singles. I hope I come back to this one at some point.

Already have this, fucks

Otro disco esencial, de un grupo imprescindible para entender la música desde finales de los 80´s. Minutemen como Hüsker Dü habían editado discos dobles, así que los Sonic Youth se lanzaron a por este formato, después de haber publicado esa gema que fue Sister (mi disco favorito de los SY). Portada memorable y apertura gloriosa con el clásico Teenage Riot con J Mascis de Presidente de los USA. Silver Rocket es un delirio punkorro (como ‘Cross The Breeze pero esta te lleva aún más lejos) mientras The Sprawl es una canción sobre drogas, camellos y fulanas, en la onda de la Velvet pero con la distorsión de los SY. Eric’s Trip y Hey Joni tienen como referentes a Andy warhol y Joni Mitchel respectivamente. Total Trash anticipa lo que serán sus pasos en Dirty. Mi favorita: Candle. El resto del disco sigue por los mismo deorroteros, un fascinante viaje de furia, ruido , melodía y distorsión. De Nueva York a la eternidad.

Kim Gordon = GOAT

𝘋𝘢𝘺𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 is one of those albums I know so well that it almost feels like part of my internal wiring. I’m aware I have a positive bias toward Sonic Youth, but even with that in mind, this record stands out as something extraordinary — not just within their own catalogue, but within the entire landscape of 1980s indie music. It’s the rare double album where ambition and execution meet perfectly, and where experimentation doesn’t undermine accessibility but deepens it. From the opening seconds of 𝘛𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘈𝘨𝘦 𝘙𝘪𝘰𝘵, there’s a sense of momentum — a pull forward, like the band is opening a door into a world that runs parallel to everyday reality. A huge part of that energy comes from the interplay between Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo. Their guitars don’t simply serve roles like lead or rhythm; they weave in and out of each other, forming shifting planes of sound. Moore’s angular drive, Gordon’s grounding presence, and Ranaldo’s abstract flourishes create a three-way conversation that defines the album’s identity as much as any melody or lyric. The long-form songs are where the album’s character really unfolds. Tracks like 𝘚𝘪𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘙𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘭, or 𝘌𝘳𝘪𝘤’𝘴 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘱 drift between clarity and distortion, calm and escalation, with transitions that feel both unpredictable and inevitable. Steve Shelley’s drumming holds everything together — it doesn’t fight the guitars, but charts the path through them. There’s something exhilarating about how the band stretches time: letting riffs expand, letting feedback breathe, trusting repetition as a narrative tool. Instead of losing focus, these moments become hypnotic. Lyrically, the album works almost like a collage. The words aren’t meant to deliver a message; they create textures and impressions. Street fragments, surreal images, cultural references, half-formed emotions — Sonic Youth treat language the same way they treat guitars: cut it up, rearrange it, let it resonate. Even after dozens of listens, the album still reveals new angles, precisely because it doesn’t lock itself into a single interpretation. The production is another part of why this record stays so alive. It captures the rawness of the band without sacrificing clarity. You can hear the air in the room, the scrape of strings, the subtle shifts in tone as effects flicker in and out. For all its heaviness, 𝘋𝘢𝘺𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 remains spacious, even airy. It never collapses under its own size; instead, it feels like a document of a band expanding beyond the limits of what indie rock had been. I also can’t ignore how historically rooted the record is. This wasn’t just a step in Sonic Youth’s evolution; it was a statement that reshaped what American underground music could sound like. Bands in the 90s and beyond drew from this album’s willingness to combine noise, melody, structure and abstraction into something coherent and compelling. Calling it 𝘵𝘩𝘦 indie album of the 80s doesn’t feel like hyperbole — it feels like simple accuracy. But beyond all that, there’s a personal element. I know I’m biased because this album has been with me for so long. It’s one of those records I can slip into effortlessly, where every transition feels familiar yet still electric. Even knowing every corner of it doesn’t dull its power; if anything, it strengthens it. 𝘋𝘢𝘺𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 hasn’t just survived my repeated listens — it has deepened with them. For me, it remains a masterpiece: expansive, restless, visionary, and endlessly rewarding.

Loud, experimental, angular, beautiful

5/5. Great tracks, I really enjoyed this album. I was vaguely aware of Sonic Youth but now this album got me to really appreciate the contributions they made to music.

Already one of my top 10 ain't listened in a hot minute

It might just because I've been listening to such garbage on this list but this feels like a breath of fresh air. It almost feels like a response and condemnation of the post punk that existed before it. Everything feels calculated. Everything from the rhythm to the vocals are dense and layered with nuance that is completely at odds with the mind numbingly simplicity of the alternative that exists before it. I was never a fan of this band but I think I understand the context of what they came from, how they influenced some of my favorite bands and just the nuance of the music to create music with noise. I think I found my new favorite album.

Love it

It was pretty good. The vibe is both mellow yet aggressive. Will listen to more.

Noisy goodness! Took me so many years to got into this, no regrets. Easy 5 stars.

I have listened to this album only once before and I thought it was just ok. But listening to it this time round I’m in love with this album. What an intro Teen Age Riot has, just sets up the whole album nicely. Now this is a 5 star album and it couldn’t have come at a better time as I’ve had shit album after shit album I thought about quitting! Not now, thank you Sonic Youth