SONIC YOUTH - Daydream Nation (Deluxe Edition) Review

When punk kids put the needle to the groove in 1988 and heard the first whispered words of Daydream Nation -- "You're it. . . . No, you're it. . . . Say it, don't spray it." -- it may have been hard initially to foresee the cultural impact it would have. But it likely only took a minute and a half, when Dinosaur Jr.-style riffing exploded into "Teenage Riot," for them to be convinced they were hearing musical history in the making. Twenty years later, no rock magazine can list the best albums of the '80s without including it somewhere near the top. A copy of it resides in the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry for its historic, cultural and aesthetic importance. And the praise is endless and well deserved: Daydream Nation is a must-have for anybody interested in rock music....full text Progress: It's a time-honored American tradition. We've come to expect that through twin toils of science and industry will improve everything. And if we can't make it better -- or just don't want to figure out a way to fix it up -- we can at least make it bigger. Cheeseburgers are yummy, but that coronary-baiting triple-stack at Wendy's goes large. Who wants a Hummer now that you can park in three or four spaces at once with a massive F-650? Even as we read this, technicians in Apple's labs are cramming more destined-never-to-be-filled memory into massive iPods....full text Chances are if you're reading this review, you've heard "Daydream Nation," or at least heard of it. It's such a touchstone of late 80s college rock (before it was called "alternative" or even the misnomer of "indie") that is cited amongst the best albums ever (though it is really that big of a compliment to selected by "Rolling Stones" as one of the best 500 albums ever? 500 is a lot of freaking albums…), and selected to be included in the Library of Congress's history of recorded music archives. There's been voluminous writing on the album, including a 33 1/3 book by Matthew Sterns. If you also follow the contemporary wisdom/urban legend, "Daydream Nation" is Sonic Youth's best album, and also the last great album they released (though I disagree with both assertions). In other words, I don't know if you know this, but this album is kind of a big deal....full text