Goo

Apple Music's description of the album spent a lot of time and text explaining Sonic Youth's business savvy and their unique management of money without "selling out" than they spent on the music. It is a good album by a band doing some good things, however, it feels more self-indulgent than innovative. Perhaps that is the point, but it didn't move the needle for me. And if you don't connect, it remains more noise than transformative music.

This Noise Rock album feels like walking through a city street where several rusty machines are grinding away, each producing its own irritating rhythm. The distorted guitars scrape, wobble and clash, while the bass and drums keep a loose, driving pulse underneath. Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore deliver their vocals with a cool, detached attitude, as if they are barely impressed by the noise surrounding them. There are catchy moments, but they keep getting tangled up in dissonance, feedback and awkward changes of direction. The sound is less relentlessly chaotic than some underground rock, yet it never quite settles into something comfortable or memorable for me. I feel like an outsider watching this strange machinery at work, trying to find a pattern in its movements but mostly waiting for it to stop.

If I listened to this cold, I would certainly rate it a 1. As it happens, I just listened to an even worse album, which makes me look at this one more favourably. With that in mind, I'll give it 1.4, which of course rounds down to 1

Gear: ZMF Bokeh Closed Artwork: 😎🚬✏️ Production: 🎙️🎚️😮‍💨 Music: 🧐🍷🫩 Rating: 🥽(🥽)/5

[Did you notice when you read one of these listener rating reviews, how some of these are just so damn long? I mean, who has the time to write this stuff? How many drafts did they take? The factors they use to come with a rating is the similar math used to place people on the moon. As if they are writing so that they will be picked up by a record label, or some editor at Rolling Stone who happens to be scrolling and says "Wow! What insight!!!! Let's hire this anonymous wind bag - they can fill pages!" Please spare us! I do not care if the rhyming scheme is similar to Gregorian Chants, or this being their 6th album is so far inferior to number 4? Get a life.. now, my diatribe does not count as a review; it is purely commentary from listening to 1,008 albums so far] Here is my actual review: OK album by a purely overrated band. (See? simple. Now, throw a number on there and on to the next)

Proper good racket this. The guitars sound incredible. Some of the hip talking is a little dated but this rocks.

Pretty good. Not a fan of talking sections in songs but overall pretty good.

Oh my god, this is exactly what I needed to hear today. This album is healing me.

Goo by Sonic Youth (1990) Rating: 4.6/5 Short Review: Noisy, rebellious, and effortlessly cool. Sonic Youth somehow makes chaotic, distorted guitars sound beautiful. There’s plenty of experimentation, but the album never forgets to deliver great melodies. It’s abrasive without being exhausting, and surprisingly catchy. Favorite Track: Tunic (Song for Karen). Haunting, melancholic, and strangely beautiful. Kim Gordon’s detached vocals make it even more unsettling.

Very interesting. I like it.

I’ve heard some Sonic Youth before and listening to this album in full cemented how I feel about them. It’s fine. Some songs are pretty good and others are not, so it evens out to fine. I struggled how to rate it, 3 feels too high for something I only really like a few songs. I’ll give it 2 stars, but just know it’s 2.7

Not a fan

This was a pleasant surprise. I actually liked it better than Daydream Nation.

On my Mount Rushmore of SY albums along with Dirty, A Thousand Leaves, and Evol.

Noisy, yes. Cool, also yes.

Kinda expected it to be heavier, fine ig

The most accessible Sonic Youth album, still pretentious and disrespectful of the audience. Like in the punk days you'd go visit friends, they'd have a band (16 - 18 year olds) in the basement and they would be messing around with instruments they were just learning to play, just making obnoxious noise for its own sake. Nothing wrong with that. But no one is taking it seriously. THe first half of the album is ok. The second is unlistenable garbage that sounds like all of the rest of Sonic Youth's unlistenable garbage.

Its a good Sonic Youth album, but a lot of the heavy lifting of making it approachable is done by Cool Thing, which is a great song.

It was good.

I mean ... it's okay I guess

So they moved to a big commercial label and the label wanted a big commercial label with commercial singles. And they delivered this. When the most commercial thing on it is the droning chant of Kool Thing then you know you'd love to be a fly on the wall when the suits put it on for the first listen. A long way from Kill Yr Idols, but still true to themselves.

This was my introduction to what would end up being one of my favorite bands of all time. The band's nosiest yet but still manages to keep its mainstream appeal. Bravo.

Tiens, encore un album où, quand je vois le nom du groupe et la pochette, je m'attends à trouver ça nul et qui me surprend agréablement. En vrai, je connaissais déjà Sonic Youth de nom et dans ma tête, c'était un groupe de rock indé, une étiquette dont je me méfie fortement. Mais pour le coup, c'était très bien. C'était un peu décousu, parce que le groupe alterne entre pas mal de style, des titres noise rock suivis par des titres plutôt punk entre autre choses. C'est un peu décousu, mais force est de reconnaître que tout ce que le groupe fait, il le fait bien et des tas de passages m'ont beaucoup accroché. Vu le spécimen, il faudrait plusieurs écoutes pour vraiment m'en imprégner, mais je suis fort content de la découverte !

I don't like Sonic Youth. This was better than the other album I've had by them though. I knew Kool Thing. It's okay when the guy sings, but I can't stand Kim Gordon's voice.

gritty, noisy, sometimes murky - a worthwhile listen 4

It always amuses me how the optimistic expectations for Nevermind were "with luck, it could be as big as Goo". Sonic Youth is a band I've never really cared for outside a handful of songs, but about half of those are on this album.

Lo mas alternativo que he escuchado en mi vida. Le doy 3 porque me hizo entender que tipo de "musica" tocaba Allison en ¡Si señor!. Cumple con el cometido de "Noise rock".

I’ve definitely spent more time with Daydream Nation but this one hit especially hard on this listen. I need to spend more time with the entire discography.

I love Sonic Youth

They kind of remind me of a cross between Concrete Blonde and Husker Du? A typical 80's/90's alternative band sound. Not bad, but nothing that really jumped out at me as being amazing.

I really don't like "jamming" of any kind, whether it's jam-band jamming, blues-riff jamming, or - in this case - noise jamming. Just play a f-ing song already. The moments of song that Sonic Youth put forth are pretty good and often great, but if I'm just looking for that part of what they do, I'll go listen to Dinosaur Jr. Marking down because there are too many SY albums on this list.

Here's an album I don't even have to listen to to rate. But, of course, I did. I mean, why miss any opportunity to listen to SY? I'm pretty sure this album marks the band's entry into the mainstream. It's eminently listenable, but is still noisy and experimental in a way that not many other bands can match. Mildred Pierce is my favorite 2ish minute song from SY. The total devolution in the last 40 seconds makes me immensely happy. Tunic and Kool Thing are great songs just for listening. I can play the 1 minute of broken amp noise in Scooter and Jinx on repeat for nap time. It's all so very fucking good.

This album runs out of gas toward the end for me, but has plenty of good stuff. Mary-Christ is one of my favorite Sonic Youth songs. The guitar sound is fantastic and mean on that one. Kool Thing & Dirty Boots are pretty great, too.

Still don't get the appeal. It's fine, and I like this a little better than the other three SY albums we've heard. But that's it.

4/5 - This list will ensure you have heard SY if you've never been exposed; that's without question. I like this one a lot. It has more coherent song structures, and is a classic gen-x album.

Jeg tænkte det måske var noget for mig, meeeen ikke sådan helt vildt begejstret. Åbningsnummeret blev jeg lidt interesseret af, men det bliver en anelse for skramlet til min smag til tider. Det er jeg normalt ikke skræmt af, men der er nok for få payoffs og kontraster fra det til min poppede smag. Det er en svag 3'er, tangerer en 2'er

Ligesom alt det andet Sonic Youth, så starter det rigtig godt og slutter mindre godt. Noise Rock-delen er lidt for noisy til mig. Kool thing er til gengæld så crazy godt et nummer 2.8

Great record

I bought Goo on the strength of the "Kool Thing" video on MTV's 120 Minutes. I still own the CD to this day, but I have not re-visited Goo since. A re-listen was a nostalgia trip back to my little room; when I thought I had my act together but was really a bunched up tangle of anxious sadness. Good times.

Is it possible to like an album cover more than the album itself?

Terrible

Kool Thing

Perfect blend of noise, hooks, and sleaze. SY pushed their experimental side as far as possible while weaving in choruses and melody.

Not for me

chill

3.5/5 https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/sonic-youth/goo/ It feels like somewhat of a blasphemy for someone with my musical taste to not have listened to Sonic Youth much, yet here I am. Of course, I know this classic album cover from all the H&M shirts, but I've never really sat down to listen to it properly. Glad that I did it now, and that I can say that it's not really enjoyable for me upon first proper listen. I will check it out more, because I feel like this will strongly grow on me, but for my initial listening experience it was too much random noise, and not in a good way. In all fairness, I was not super focused and the speakers sucked, so it's not all too fair. Hence, I will give it another chance sometime later and rate it with the expected growth in mind.

I can see why some might cream over these guys, but I can't escape a sort of fake pretentiousness that I get from them every time I listen. Might just be a complete misread but it's not for me.

The vocals were meh but I really liked the instrumentals. Super moody, creepy, ominous. I liked the protracted endings a lot with just the instrumentals.

Sounds like a complete teen age riot haha. I do not much a fun of such music, even these guys were in Kyiv back in 1989 and change perception of Ukrainian rock scene back there.

Started strong but ended weird-3.5

曲としては、女の人のヴォーカルがメインでそれに楽器隊がついていくみたいな印象だったけど、それがたまにぶっ壊れてめっちゃギターとかがでしゃばってくるのがおもろい。ヴォーカルに合わせて動くパートも良い感じだけど。ギターの壊れ方が楽しい、ノイズみたい。

Marko - 2 Sara - 2

I am going to listen to this six times through and them I am going to fight God because I will have no mountains left to climb.

hell yeah

Pro: Chuck D, Kool Thing, Tunic, Mote, Disappearer Con: My Friend Goo (contender for the dumbest/ worst SY song ever)

Segundo disco que me toca de Sonic Youth, y llego a la conclusión que no me gusta el grupo

This was the album that made me fall in love with Sonic Youth, and is probably my 3rd favourite album from them, after Dirty and Daydream Nation.

Enjoyed some of the sounds on this album - it was a good listen.

Sonic Youth is a band I feel guilty for not liking.

Accessible while maintaining some of the weirdness/experimentation of their earlier albums.

love opening intro. rest of it is okay. very hard.

Not bad...not great but I enjoyed the hardness

This is one of my favorite albums by Sonic Youth!

I don’t know why we needed five other Sonic Youth albums in this list because this one feels like the only necessary one. This was super rockin’ and interesting, and I especially enjoyed the songs where Kim was lead vocals.

3/5

Noise Rock/Alternative Rock Favorite Songs: Dirty Boots, Tunic (Song for Karen), Mary-Christ, Kool Thing, Disappear, Cinderella’s Big Score, Titanium Expose Least Favorite Song: Mildred Pierce This album is definitely up in my overall alley in terms of what I typically listen to non-electronic wise. Has a good range of some great rock songs on the album. Will be adding this into my music library. 8/10

I'm not much into punk or noise-based music. So this would not be the kind of thing I would listen to. That said, I do appreciate that this is quite good for the genre. It has a unique sound, attitude, and is inventive. I can't rate it high personally, but I can see how someone would. I'll give it three stars, but I almost gave it four.

not really my thing i guess

Definitely Sonic Youth's most commercial album. Gen X hipster stoner shoegaze. I was a touch too young in my musical tastes when it came out. But when I did discover it, I dug it. I still dig it. If a Sonic Youth album made its way to my vinyl collection, it'd probably be this one.

WOW! I had a very hard time picking a favorite on this one! I loved this album a lot, I feel like these guitar instrumentals are some of my favorites ever. I know I’ve been giving a lot of 5s but I really like this. Highlights: Dirty Boots Tunic Disappearer (favorite?) Cinderella’s Big Score

It was good but that’s about it nothing super special

Take this review and rating as a compliment: - sounds like music my edgy artsy 7 year olds would make - hated every minute of listening to it

Good, fine indie rock. I couldn't find anything tangible to grab onto that sets this apart from other stuff, but I think this is an album that has an audience that I don't find myself a part of.

Not a sound for me at all. Grungy post-punk, couldn't even get to the second half of the album.

Goo...oood. I liked this for all the reasons I like Daydream Nation but i haven't spent as much time with it. Really liked the first few tracks.

I didn't really dislike this, but it took me three sittings to finish because I kept getting bored so it doesn't feel correct to give it a 3

This is such an overrated album. Just the cover makes me roll my eyes at the pretentiousness

Dirty messy

Had to break it down

Better than Coldplay

Rubbish

Sonic Youth feels like the kind of band pretentious artsy people love. They do some cool dissident stuff and the bass lines are fun but overall this album just has a " we're so cool and if you dont get it, its because you're too mainstream" vibe.

Occasionally this album's smugness can be eye-rolling, but when this album's high points make it worth sitting through all the hipster stink. Noisy and discordant, Sonic Youth somehow were able to adapt their avant-garde sound to put out some hits that could be played on the radio. Both "Dirty Boots" and "Kool Thing" rule and I'm impressed that something as chaotic as those songs got airplay before Nirvana came along and changed the game. It's not all good though. The outro of noise on "Mildred Pierce" felt like noise for noise sake. Lee Ranaldo takes lead vocal duties on "Mote" and I wish we got more songs with him singing instead of Thurston Moore, whose voice can sometimes get grating. Overall this is a very influential album that I do respect despite its flaws.

My personal favorite of Sonic Youth's albums. Still don't get why they have so many albums on the list, as anyone not familiar with them going in isn't going to hear much difference between this one and the others.

Please see my previous 27 reviews on Sonic Youth. This one is Kool

There was a big deluxe reissue of this album when I was in high school and I fell in love with it then. This really is the hinge point of their career -- the guitars all still kinda sound like Daydream Nation, but the songs have a bit more of a "pop" structure. Lotsa love for Goo!

I've listened to 5 out of the 11 tracks, and they were (without a single exception) fucking awful. I just can't call this music, it's noise. I can often appreciate that if I don't like something there is 'something' in it that I could understand other people enjoying - but I don't get that with this album at all. To be fair, the other Sonic Youth albums I've endured through this site have been consistently shit.

Goo is such a legendary Sonic Youth album, and it really shows how far ahead of the game they were compared to the rest of the 90s alt-rock crowd. Some people think it’s too polished since it’s their first major-label release, but I think they nailed it. They took all that signature noisy, dissonant energy and somehow turned it into catchy songs without losing their edge. Kim Gordon is the real MVP here. Her vocals on "Kool Thing" and "Tunic (Song For Karen)" are just incredible and still sound super fresh. Between the fuzzy riffs on "Dirty Boots" and those classic feedback squalls, the whole thing is just perfectly balanced. It’s way more than just a cool t-shirt design, it’s basically the blueprint for the entire decade of music that followed.

It was a bit too noisy for me. I know it’s the grunge era and it was the trademark back then, but I didn’t enjoy it as much. I don’t have much more to say about it. 3/5. Slight chance, except for Dirty Boots and Kool thing, I will listen to it again, and probably gave a higher note. Dirty Boots : 5 Tunic (Song for Karen) : 2 Mary-Christ : 3 Kool Thing : 5 Mote : 2 My Friend Goo : 2,5 Disparearer : 3 Mildred Pierce : 2 Cinderella’s Big Score : 3 Scooter and Jinx : 2 Titanium Expose : 3,5

not for me but okay

I appreciate the themes explored overall but the sound just isn't for me. Most of it feels like it's not meant to be listened, but also I'm no musician so maybe I'm just dumb, I don't know, what I do know is that I don't want to hear it again (Maybe mote, I didn't mind the moth) Dirty Boots ★★✩✩✩ Tunic (Song for Karen) ★★✩✩✩ Mary-Christ ★✩✩✩✩ Kool Thing ★★✩✩✩ Mote ★★★✩✩ My Friend Goo ★★⯪✩✩ Disappearer ★★⯪✩✩ Mildred Pierce ★⯪✩✩✩ Cinderella's Big Score ★✩✩✩✩ Scooter + Jinx ⯪✩✩✩✩ Titanium Exposé ★★✩✩✩

this album kicks so much ass, the sounds that he gets from his guitar is just unmatched. and obviously i mean, kim gordon!

Bit heavy for my taste

It's OK but too noisy for me. This is the third Sonic Youth album from the list, and that is at least one too many. My opinion on this is exactly the same as their next release, Dirty, it's punky noise rock.

Epitome of cool.

At times, including from the jump, I thought, not so bad as the others from them. Then, by the end of a song, or from the outset of the next, they changed my mind. Again and again.

Really enjoyed the first half of this album, wasn't as crazy about the second half.

Love the sound. Love the (smart) lyrics.

Just meh

First impression - it’s the American Stone Roses with added noise. Dirty Boots a strong opening. Stays strong for a few songs, but feels like they ran out of ideas a bit and start stretching songs out with distortion and noise. 3