I thought I'd kick this blog off with an album that inspired me to make this blog in the first place. To this day I don't even know what to say when I hear Teenage Riot. It's upbeat, clean guitar playing coupled with almost stream of consciousness lyrics about a perfect world where the frontman for Dinosaur Jr., J Mascis, is president. And right there you can tell where Sonic Youth's influences are, the gritty sounds of noise rock which you can hear on the rest of the album.Daydream Nation is an album full of energy, and that transfers over to the listener as you hear it, almost as if they're playing for you specifically. I can't even tell you how much I get into the instrumental that opens up up 'Cross The Breeze, I start head banging (Corny I know) in tune with the drumming and start singing the chorus when it kicks in. "I wanna know, should I stay or go" sounds so heart wrenching and passionate, the song almost bleeds red with the emotion entailed. Honestly if I had 1 complaint about the album it would lie solely with Lee Ranaldo's vocals. He falls a little short of Moore's and Gordon's singing but it's definitely not offensive to me, don't get me wrong. In fact Eric's Trip is probably one of the most energetic and visceral tracks here.
Sonic Youth is creative and they're ever experimenting, looking for a new sound to latch onto and perfect and this is as close to perfect as they ever were. Daydream Nation is what rock music sounds like without its Ritalin, spontaneous, energetic and noisy. It's staple of music and one of, if not the greatest rock album of all time.
10/10
