David Browne - Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth

As much a chronicle of the combustion of music and popular culture Sonic Youth helped ignite as it is an earnest portrait of the band and examination of their work.... Brownes book will suck you in.... He fleshes out the personalities and occasional tensions behind the bands deadpan image.

Los Angeles Times

The most comprehensive book yet on slackerdoms greatest musical legacy.

New York magazine

The whole scene in you-are-there detail.

New York Post

A rollicking, epic biography... Browne cannily opts to tell, in a crisp, novelistic style, the compelling story of the cultural tornado of galleries, rock clubs and unique personalities (Lydia Lunch, Kurt Cobain and Chlo Sevigny, to name a few) Sonic Youth swirled around in, the bands ongoing fight to maintain the purity of their vision, and above all, their shared passion for new ideas and sounds.

Salon

A much-deserved biography.

Rolling Stone

A purposeful, detailed pleasure, describing the day jobs and the tensions, and animating the real story: how a group of smart twentysomethings repurposed half-broken instruments and thrived by feeding backjust like their ampsinto the world around them.

Times of London

Brownes game for the task of finding fresh ways to describe Really Noisy Guitars.... He goads the band (everyones on board here, even Jim ORourke) into uncharacteristic chattiness, and he milks intrigue from the mysterious cultural and sexual magnetism of the Kim Gordon/Thurston Moore union that drives the band.

Village Voice

Deeply reported... entertaining and insightful... Browne smartly humanizes the most aloof of rocks great bands.

The Stranger

This copious amount of research... renders Browne an expert not only about the band but also about the scene. Goodbye 20th Century delivers the only thing you really want from a rock & roll biography: it enhances your listening experience.

Pop Matters

Comprehensively captures Sonic Youths unorthodox legend in full... Brownes willingness to probe every facet of every members activities and proclivities adds an extra dimension.

Detroit Metro Times

Thoroughly researched and passionately written... Browne had full, unfettered access and tells a complete version of the bands story. Recommended.

Library Journal

Compulsively readable... Browne traces each phase of the bands career with the easy, anecdotal grace of an accomplished journalist.... he succeeds at capturing the personalities and debates that shape the bands character.

Publishers Weekly

A wonderful evocation of the 80s no wave, downtown standard-bearers and their uneasy alliance with the major label system.... An effective remembrance of times past.

Hits

Whether youve heard of the band or not, whether youre a fan or only dimly aware of their 25-year existence, youve probably felt the effects of Sonic Youth. Like Gertrude Stein to the lost generation, Sonic Youth either directly paved the way or actively encouraged the young careers of the grunge generation.... Browne warns in his introduction that you also wont find the usual litany of rock-star foibles here. Sound boring? It would be if it werent for Brownes ability to portray the bands very lack of clich as such an exceptional feat.

Mens Vogue

Browne chronicles the bands quarter-century career from avant-garde noisemakers to indie-rock pioneers. Members weigh in on the culture that influenced them, but its the culture that they influencedranging from Nirvana to Guitar Herothat stands as their real legacy.

Cleveland Free Times

[Browne] found a neat narrative to work with, charting the groups determinedly paced journey from under-populated gigs in the arty early-80s downtown scene to its brush with alt-rock fame in the mid 90s to its current status as an inspiration to a nation of young experimentalists.

Time Out New York

Browne does a fabulous job of detailing the setting, technical details and artistic temperament in the groups creative process without hyperbole. The book cant help but feel nostalgic for a cozy time before punk broke.

Time Out Chicago

Browne acknowledges the bands impact on popular and underground culture without descending into the obnoxious sentimentality that characterizes so much of rock journalism.

VenusZine

Sonic Youths journey, meticulously documented in Goodbye 20th Century, unfolds much like a Sonic Youth song, slowly and deliberately... Browne digs deeply into the bands democratic decision-making process, which gives each distinct personality ample voice.

The Huffington Post

A vivid and fascinating picture of the rise of the independent music scene in 80s America.

RTE Guide

Through amazingly thorough recollections, Browne takes the reader through nearly thirty years of recording and touring with Sonic Youth.... Browne doesnt just go through the motions, but analyzes the connections between albums and songs, showcasing the bands taste for irony and innovation... Sonic Youths music is both art and poetry and, similar to those vehicles, takes on new meaning when its inspirations are revealed throughout the book.

Feminist Review

Compelling and thoroughly researched... A refreshing look at a hardworking band that stands out in the culture of unrealistic industry hype.

Charleston Post and Courier

An essential history of an essential band.

Record Collector

Terrific... Virtually no important detail is spared... Youll get a sense of Sonic Youths roots, what was going on around them at the time, the inspirations behind much of their best-known (and least-known) work and personal insights into the marriage of Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon. Highly recommended.

The Big Takeover

An extraordinary job capturing the whole history of a band... Goodbye20th Century is truly like one of those great freeform jams they would later release, ebbing and flowing as it weaves a tale.

Bookgasm

Also by David Browne

Dream Brother: The Lives & Music
of Jeff & Tim Buckley

Amped: How Big Air, Big Dollars, and
a New Generation Took Sports to the Extreme

Goodbye

20th Century

A Biography of
Sonic Youth

David Browne

Copyright 2008 by David Browne

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
publisher. Printed in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Browne, David, 1960
Goodbye 20th century : a biography of Sonic Youth / David Browne.
1st Da Capo Press ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-306-81515-7 (alk. paper) 1. Sonic Youth (Musical group)
2. Rock musiciansUnited StatesBiography. I. Title. II. Title: Goodbye
twentieth century.
ML421.S615B76 2008
782.42166092'2dc22
[B]

2008004228

First Da Capo Press edition 2008
ISBN-13: 978-0-306-81603-1
eBook ISBN: 9780306817595
First paperback edition 2009
Published by Da Capo Press
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
www.dacapopress.com

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