Writing Archive

Today's Theme
SONIC YOUTH, "Dirty Boots" (Goo 1990)

Immediately after graduation from college, I realized I had taken the whole thing way too seriously, especially upon meeting new friends who liked to stay up at all hours "conversating" and rocking the light fantastic.

That's when I stopped dressing like a campus dandy, in slacks and a blazer, and started in on the flannel and Doc Martens, rocking a ski cap. I wasn't quite comfortable with my hair, so I shaved down to the skin with my own clippers.

It was a good time, as I realized that I wasn't so bad at talking to girls and that maybe I didn't have to stay shy about the world. My soundtrack for "post-college rebel bullshit," Sonic Youth was one of the coolest bands to come out of century's end, and I really dug bassist Kim Gordon's stewing, gnarling power-stance and breathy spit-in-the-face vocals. (See her sardonic-ass cover of Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" in the spin-off group Ciccone Youth, loosely inspired by Madonna and other '80s staples, on The Whitey Album c. 1986.)

Still, at rock shows I usually ended up just bashfully smiling at the hot rocker in the cool band T-shirt, not stage-diving with her into hipster eternity.

For more vintage Sonic Youth, see "Teenage Riot" from Daydream Nation, 1988.