"Silver Rocket" / "You Pose You Lose" b/w "Non-Metal Dude Wearing Metal T-Shirt"
33 1/3 7" Recorded live at Maxwell's, Hoboken NJ, June 18th, 1988
Sonic Youth
Forced Exposure, 9/88

"Silver Rocket" (free, legal from the Sonic Youth website)

This single was sold to Forced Exposure subscribers in the late '80s and captured one of the best cuts off of one of the Youth's best albums, Daydream Nation, in which they finally broke out from the experimental art scene, melding their unique Branca-ish manipulation of their instruments with the pop song formula they explored and venerated in their Ciccone Youth side-project and The Whitey Album which was released in the same time-frame.

A prime example of combining experimental rock with pop, "Silver Rocket" takes seemingly random phrases ("nymphoid clamor" "splice yr. halo" "TV amp on fire") and straps them to more literal comic book imagery ("fuelling up the hammer/you got to fake out the robot/and pulse up the zoom") to create a surreal ride from an earthly tenament to the atmosphere and back. This live version is more raucous than the studio version and the guitar/drum/noize approximation of rocket launch break in the middle is near incredible.

The other two cuts from this record are more experimental - apparently "You Pose You Lose" is an improv. -- "Non Metal Dude Wearing Metal T-shirt" was also known as "Eliminator Jr" and shows up on some bootlegs from the period. Both are well-worth the download.

Notes:

• All cuts can be downloaded from the "classic" Sonic Youth MP3 page
• Reviews and (non-spyware laden) lyrics of Sonic Youth records up to the early 90s are here
• An unofficial SY discography here. It is being ported to their Wiki page.
• The official Sonic Youth discography is maintained here by SY fan Chris Lawrence.

Edited 2nd paragragh 10/31/04 to improve readability (hah! - ed.)