Sonic Youth: Bad Moon Rising (2/29/2024)

Sonic Youth: Bad Moon Rising [Goofin', 1985] You know what? I really have to stop giving bad ratings to artists I really and truly do like. First Green Day, then Sleater-Kinney, then Smashing Pumpkins, then Beck, and now this, Sonic Youth. It pains me because if I get famous, which I won't, these reviews will paint an inaccurate portrait of my opinion on these artists. Sonic Youth rock, and I absolutely mean that. However, unlike most artists, who change direction when stuck in a rut, Sonic Youth have a formula that works really well and keeps the music from sounding burned-out. Another great thing about this formula is that it has produced some of SY's best albums, like Sister, for instance, probably the first album where this formula was in full effect. This album is a great example of a Sonic Youth album without this formula. It does not work as well. From the melodic, one-minute "Intro" to the also-one-minute hidden final track "Echo Canyon," Bad Moon Rising is hardly musical. Serving more as a hellish soundtrack to convey its messages of societal disfunction, it lacks what made the later records better: some optimism. Sonic Youth may not have been the world's most uplifting band (see: "Satan Is Boring"), but their mix of hope and nihilism was perfectly executed in the 1990s and 2000s. The best example of the "message music" here would probably be the aptly titled "Society Is A Hole," on which Thurston Moore groans abstractions about how society makes him lie to his friends. What makes this music? Simple: the guitar, bass, drums, and the fact that the words are spoken rhythmically, not sung, spoken. At its worst, on "Ghost Bitch" and "Death Valley '69," the most energetic track on the album, Bad Moon Rising just feels like a horror movie, leaving a kind of bad aftertaste, and in the end, you ask yourself, "Did I really need to listen to this? Did I really need to buy this just because Sister wasn't in stock?" The answer is no. Most of this is just spoken word over distorted guitars and pounding drums. What's evident here is that SY made this record for themselves; this is for them to relate to, not you. If you've gotten through all twelve tracks by now, and you're scratching your head asking yourself what makes this as good as Sister, what makes this merit such positive reviews, scratch on. This album made me realize that a song called "Schizophrenia" could actually be one of the most uplifting songs I'd ever listened to. Not that this is a bad album, of course. It's Sonic Youth. [4.6/10]