Daydream Nation

Daydream Nation
Studio album by Sonic Youth
Released	October 18, 1988
Recorded	July 1988 – August 1988 at Greene Street Recording, New York City
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	70:47
Label	Enigma (U.S.) Blast First (UK) DGC Records (1993 CD and later re-issues)
Producer	Nick Sansano, Sonic Youth
Professional reviews
Original release: Allmusic link Blender link Robert Christgau (A) link link Deluxe edition: Allmusic link Q Magazine Pitchfork Media (10.0/10) link Rolling Stone link
Sonic Youth chronology
Sister (1987) Daydream Nation (1988) Goo (1990)
Singles from Daydream Nation
"Teen Age Riot" Released: 1988 "Touch Me I'm Sick/Halloween" Released: December 1988

Daydream Nation is the fifth studio album by the American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released in October 1988 by Enigma in the United States, and by Blast First in the United Kingdom. A number of publications, including Rolling Stone, Spin Magazine, and Pitchfork Media have hailed it as one of the best albums of the 1980s.^[1][2][3] As a result, it is regarded as a milestone of 1980s underground music.^[4]

Although arguably the two albums immediately before it—Evol and Sister—mark Sonic Youth's first attempts at shifting from their roots in unsettling noise-rock to a somewhat more accessible combination of avant guitar experimentation and traditional rock, for many listeners, Daydream Nation is the apex where this change fully took hold. The album cover itself invokes this transition, with the 1983 Gerhard Richter photorealist painting Kerze ("Candle").^[5] The back cover art is a similar Richter painting from 1982.^[6]

Nevertheless, initial sales were poor, partly because Enigma Records, Sonic Youth's American record label, went out of business not long after the record's release. After a period of being out of print, Daydream Nation was reissued by DGC in 1993, which had signed the band largely on the strength of the crossover critical acclaim reaped by the album. In 1988, the single "Teen Age Riot", charted on Billboard Magazine's newly created Modern Rock Tracks chart at #20.^[7]

In 2007, Sonic Youth undertook a series of performances of the album in its entirety.^[8]

On June 12, 2007, a two-CD deluxe edition of the album was released. It contains live versions of every track on the album, plus studio recordings of some cover songs. A 4-LP vinyl version was released on July 17, 2007.^[9]

Album style

"The Sprawl" was inspired by the works of science fiction writer William Gibson, who used the term to refer to a future mega-city stretching from Boston to Atlanta. The lyrics for the first verse were lifted from the novel The Stars at Noon, by Denis Johnson.^[10] "'Cross the Breeze" features some of Kim Gordon's most intense singing, with such lyrics as, “Let's go walking on the water/ Now you think I'm Satan's daughter/ I wanna know, should I stay or go?/ I took a look into your hate/ It made me feel very up to date”. "Eric's Trip" has lyrics pertaining to Eric Emerson's LSD-fueled monologue in the Andy Warhol movie Chelsea Girls.^[11]

"Hey Joni" is titled as a tribute to rock standard "Hey Joe" and to Joni Mitchell.^[12] It is sung by Lee Ranaldo, and has surrealist lyrics such as, “Shots ring out from the center of an empty field/ Joni's in the tall grass/ She's a beautiful mental jukebox, a sailboat explosion/ A snap of electric whipcrack”. This song also alludes to the works of William Gibson with the line “In this broken town, can you still jack in/ And know what to do?” These feature similarly on Lee's two other songs on the album, the rarely-played "Rain King" — an homage to Pere Ubu and perhaps Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King — and the aforementioned "Eric's Trip".

The album's title comes from a lyric in "Hyperstation",^[13] and the closing track "Eliminator Jr." was thus titled because the band felt it sounded like a cross between Dinosaur Jr and Eliminator-era ZZ Top. It was given part "z" in the "Trilogy" both as a reference to ZZ Top and because it is the closing piece on the disc.^[14]

	"Teen Age Riot" "Teen Age Riot" by Sonic Youth.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The album was nearly titled Tonight's the Day, from a lyric in "Candle." This was also meant as a reference to Neil Young's LP Tonight's the Night.^[15]

Some of the band's more experimental tendencies are on display in the musique concrete piece "Providence". The song consists of a piano solo by Thurston Moore recorded at his mother's house using a Walkman, the sound of an amp overheating and a pair of telephone messages left by Mike Watt, calling for Moore from a Providence, Rhode Island payphone, dubbed over one another. Oddly, it was released as a single, and a single-shot music video was even filmed for it.^[16]

Videos were also shot for "Teen Age Riot", "Silver Rocket" and "Candle".

The symbols

The CD itself featured four symbols on the disc representing the four members of the band,^[5] similar to the symbols of Led Zeppelin IV. The symbols featured are infinity, female, upper case omega, and a drawing of a demon/angel holding drumsticks.

Acclaim

In the years following its release, Daydream Nation has risen in stature to become one of the most highly-regarded albums of the 1980s, receiving much critical acclaim and appearing on many "Best-of" lists. It was ranked #1 in Pitchfork's top 100 albums of the 1980s,^[3] 14 in Spin's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005".^[2] In 1989, it was ranked #45 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s.^[1] In 2003, the album was ranked number 329 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.^[17] In 2006, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.^[18] In 2006, the album ranked as the highest rated alternative album of 1988 on Sputnikmusic.^[19]

Accolades

Since its release, Daydream Nation has featured heavily in various "must have" lists compiled by the music media. Some of the more prominent of these lists to feature Daydream Nation are shown below; this information is adapted from Acclaimedmusic.net.^[20]

( * ) designates lists which are unordered.

Track listing

Original release

All songs written by Sonic Youth.

1. "Teen Age Riot" (lyrics/vocals Moore, Gordon intro vocals) – 6:57
2. "Silver Rocket" (lyrics/vocals Moore) – 3:47
3. "The Sprawl" (lyrics/vocals Gordon) – 7:42
4. "'Cross the Breeze" (lyrics/vocals Gordon) – 7:00
5. "Eric's Trip" (lyrics/vocals Ranaldo) – 3:48
6. "Total Trash" (lyrics/vocals Moore) – 7:33
7. "Hey Joni" (lyrics/vocals Ranaldo) – 4:23
8. "Providence" (vocals Mike Watt) – 2:41
9. "Candle" (lyrics/vocals Moore) – 4:58
10. "Rain King" (lyrics/vocals Ranaldo) – 4:39
11. "Kissability" (lyrics/vocals Gordon) – 3:08
12. Trilogy: – 14:02†
    • a) "The Wonder" (lyrics/vocals Moore) – 4:15
    • b) "Hyperstation" (lyrics/vocals Moore) – 7:13
    • z) "Eliminator Jr." (lyrics/vocals Gordon) – 2:37

†Some releases separate the parts of "Trilogy".

Vinyl etchings (Enigma release)

• Side 1: "Rock and Roll for president"
• Side 2: "Star strangled Bangles"
• Side 3: "Destroy all record labels, part 2 - high, end"
• Side 4: "No sleep till Rhino"

Liner notes in the 1993 reissue were penned by Jutta Koether.

Deluxe edition

Disc One

1. "Teen Age Riot" – 6:57
2. "Silver Rocket" – 3:47
3. "The Sprawl" – 7:42
4. "'Cross the Breeze" – 7:00
5. "Eric's Trip" – 3:48
6. "Total Trash" – 7:33
7. "Hey Joni" – 4:23
8. "Providence" – 2:41
9. "Candle" – 4:58
10. "Rain King" – 4:39
11. "Kissability" – 3:08
12. "Trilogy: The Wonder" – 4:15
13. "Trilogy: Hyperstation" – 7:13
14. "Trilogy: Eliminator Jr." – 2:37
15. "Eric's Trip" (Home Demo) - 2:27

Disc Two: Live Daydream

1. "The Sprawl" - 8:27
2. "'Cross the Breeze" - 5:54
3. "Hey Joni" - 3:38
4. "Silver Rocket" - 4:19
5. "Kissability" - 2:19
6. "Eric's Trip" - 3:05
7. "Candle" - 5:04
8. "The Wonder" - 4:02
9. "Hyperstation" - 6:14
10. "Eliminator Jr." - 2:38
11. "Providence" - 1:47
12. "Teen Age Riot" - 4:37
13. "Rain King" - 4:06
14. "Totally Trashed" - 1:57
15. "Total Trash" - 5:18

Bonus cover songs

16. "Within You Without You" (Harrison) - 4:58
17. "Touch Me I'm Sick" (Mudhoney) - 2:33
18. "Computer Age" (Young) - 5:12
19. "Electricity" (Van Vliet/Bermann) - 2:46

Personnel

All information is taken from the CD.^[6]

• Lee Ranaldo – guitar, vocals
• Kim Gordon – bass guitar, vocals
• Thurston Moore – guitar, vocals, piano
• Steve Shelley – drums
• Sonic Youth – producer
• Nick Sansano – producer, engineer
• Howie Weinberg – mastering
• Dave Swanson – assistant engineer
• Michael Lavine – photography
• Matt Tritto – assistant engineer

Album charts

Charting singles

References

External links

• Daydream Nation at SonicYouth.com discography