A controversy has been, ahem, brewing over Sonic Youth’s recent announcement that they would be releasing a compilation via the Starbucks recording label. The seminal art-rockers t0ld Pitchforkmedia that they would be releasing a quasi-greatest hits compilation as curated by famous friends; folks like Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Beck, Eddie Vedder, comedian David Cross, fashion designer Marc Jacobs, writer Dave Eggers, and actresses Portia de Rossi, Michelle Williams and Chloe Sevigny.
Indie kids still living in their parents basement, bereft of concrete responsibility both intangible and fiduciary, cried foul labelling the alterna-rockers “sell outs” and other insensitive name callings. These whiners saw the move as traitorous; a blasphemous maneuver against the Youth’s supposed punk-rock principals, but SY’s Thurston Moore laughed off the naysayers admitting the band had already made numerous inroads to see how the corporate other half lived.
“I never thought of it as being more radical than recording for Universal Music. They’re both corporations that have ties to things that people find sort of problematic,” Moore told Billboard, adding the group originally wanted Rather Ripped to come out on the Starbucks label, but the scheduling didn’t work out.
“I like the absurdity of it. Sonic Youth has always, in a way, made itself available to the super mainstream. We’ve always had access to the MTV culture and being there — without selling the kinds of numbers or records that MTV bands sell. It’s sort of interesting to go there and represent ourselves. Doing a release through Starbucks is similar.”
Moore also noted that the band were recording a Bob Dylan song for Todd Hayne’s upcoming surrealist Bob Dylan biopic, “I’m Not There.” Which Dylan song SY recorded he didn’t say (and Billboard didn’t bother to ask.The Dylan song is an unreleased track, named after the film). Moore’s first solo record in 12 years, Trees Outside The Academy, comes out in September.
Download: Sonic Youth – “Corporate Ghost”
Download: Sonic Youth – “Major Label Chicken Feed”
Download: Sonic Youth “Youth Against Fascism”
