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Dirty - 1992
Discography and tracklist
Reviews on this album
Notes on this album
Soundclips
"Dirty"
1992 - 2xLP/CS/CD on DGC (DGC/DGCC/DGCD-24485, DGCD-24493, US)
1992 - CS/CD on Geffen (???, UK)1992 - 2xLP/CS/CD on DGC (???, Australia)
1992 - CD on MCA/DGC (MVCG-92 (DGCD-24495), Japan)
Songs: Vocals: Length:
100% Thurston Moore 2:28
Swimsuit Issue Kim Gordon 2:57
Theresa's Sound-World Thurston Moore 5:27
Drunken Butterfly Kim Gordon 3:03
Shoot Kim Gordon 5:16
Wish Fulfillment Lee Ranaldo 3:24
Sugar Kane Thurston Moore 5:56
Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit Kim Gordon 4:17
Youth Against Fascism Thurston Moore 3:36
Nic Fit Thurston Moore 0:51
On The Strip Kim Gordon 5:41
Chapel Hill Thurston Moore 4:46
JC Kim Gordon 4:01
Stalker (2xLP and Japanese CD only) Thurston Moore 3:00
Purr Thurston Moore 4:21
Créme Brulèe Kim Gordon 2:33
Notes:
The 2xLP an "album-only" bonus track, which also appears as the last
track on the Japanese release, although it is not listed in the CD
booklet. There are two US versions of the CD, a regular edition
(DGCD-24485) that comes with a standard dark gray CD tray, and the
"risque" version (DGCD 24493), limited edition 50000, which comes with
a transparent amber CD tray with an off-color graphic by Richard Kern
visible under it. In the UK, the "dirty" version came with a clear,
colorless tray instead. The Japanese CD tray is opaque white, but the
"dirty" picture can be found underneath. The booklet also comes with
lyrics, although the translation is rather poor. The Australian album
was a limited edtion of 1000 on orange vinyl, 500 sold by Waterfront
and 500 by AuGoGo. The Australian CD came with the "Burning Spear" 7"
free.The man pictured in the CD jacket is performance artist Mike
Kelley, in a photo from high school. He was featured in an article on
"bad art" in The Utne Reader. His stuffed animals are available from
the Sonic Death Fan Club. "Swimsuit Issue" mentions every model from
the 1992 Sports Illustrated "Swimsuit" Issue. Ian McKaye of Minor
Threat and Fugazi fame plays guitar on "Youth Against Fascism."
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Dirty - Reviews and Notes
Exclusive Review from 
Rock has never seen A band quite like Sonic Youth, even
if you discount the group's innovative guitar tunings and
unique slant on pop culture. For eleven years now, Sonic
Youth - singer-guitarist Thurston Moore, singer-bassist
Kim Gordon, guitarist Lee Ranaldo and drummer Steve
Shelley - have sure-footedly made their way from the
New York noise-rock underground and indie labels to
their present contract with Geffen, continually advancing
but in increments and always retaining complete artistic
control. Each album has been better recorded than the
last, has further refined the band's songwriting craft and
chops, has expanded its range. Through it all, like Bob
Dylan's John Wesley Harding, they were "never known to
make a foolish move."
The Youth were early, enthusiastic supporters of Nirvana
and of the whole Seattle-centered guitar-grunge scene, so
it's not surprising to find the band working with producer
Butch Vig and mixer Andy Wallace of Nevermind fame
on "Dirty". It's the first time the band has used an outside
producer, and it works, giving this eighth SY album
added richness, clarity, punch and amp-static snarl as
needed. It's more focused and harder hitting than "Goo,"
(1990) the band's last album and its Geffen debut, but the
disc-to-disc development is well within previous SY
parameters, not even as radical a jump as the one from
"Daydream Nation" (1988) to "Goo."
Oh, by the way, "Dirty" is a great Sonic Youth disc,
easily ranking with "Daydream Nation and Sister" (1987)
among the band's most unified and unforgettable recorded
works. The aural "dirt" is one element that pulls the
album together. Another is the thematic move away from
the cyberpunk allegory of recent discs and squarely into a
confrontation with life in America during a particularly
scary election year. Sentiments along the lines of "I
believe Anita Hill/The judge'll rot in hell" and "Yeah, the
president sucks," from the coruscating "Youth Against
Fascism," dovetail with the sexual-harassment issue
addressed in the skronking head-clanger "Swimsuit Issue"
and with the melodically haunting, ideologically
devastating "Chapel Hill," a sharp retort to the geriatric
politics of Jesse Helms and his ilk. The aura of
insurgency provides a charged context for the disc's more
personal songs, upping the intensity and the emotional
stakes and fusing a collection of diverse tracks into a
scorched and scorching whole. "Dirty" is a burner.
Between Sonic Youth projects, singer-guitarist Moore
has gotten his own indie-label venture Ecstatic Peace off
to an explosive start with Dim Stars, a major
contemporary rock event in its own right. The Stars are
Moore; SY drummer Steve Shelley; the criminally under-
appreciated, multitalented Velvet Monkeys/B.A.L.L.
alumnus Don Fleming on guitar; and most notably singer-
lyricist Richard Hell - yes, the guy who, beginning in the
mid-Seventies, forged jacked-up garage rock, spiked
hair, ripped T-shirts and a bad attitude into what we now
know as punk rock.
Too often, the result of this kind of casual studio play is
casual music. Not this time. Dim Stars carries on the
raving sonic mayhem of Hell's original Voidoids. His
visionary songwriting and off-center soulfulness are
dominant enough to make Dim Stars Hell's very long-
awaited follow-up to "Destiny Street "(1982), which was
only his second album. Rarely has a rocker been so
influential with such a small body of recorded work. On
this album he makes a spectacular return to peak form; if
"Dim Stars" is the third Hell album, it might also be the
best.
But Dim Stars also succeeds as a group effort, with
original Voidoids guitarist Robert Quine's addition of
deep blues feeling and superior riff-craft on several tunes
as the very tasty icing on the cake. Throughout, there's a
palpably genuine group chemistry at work - warped,
gonzo, righteous and loud. These Dim Stars shine brightly
indeed in the Lower East Side quadrant of rock & roll
heaven.
"Dim Stars" is available from Caroline Records, 114
West Twenty-sixth Street, New York, NY 10001. (RS
638)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Exclusive Review from 
Sonic Youth has made its evolution in reverse - from
avant-studied, scientific deconstructions of rock to
brightly subversive Warholian pop postcards - seem an
artful, fascinating process in itself. If there can be a King
Of Pop, then there can be pop Political Cartoonists too,
and while Sonic Youth has delivered its most barbed,
topical and confrontational comment upon mainstream
culture, Dirty should prove to be their most directly
engaging for all those kids who learned to slamdance on
the Pearl Jam tour. Dirty is brimming with indie-rock
pride, the band acknowledging its status as scene
commentators and village elders ("Chapel Hill"), and the
production by the band and Butch Vig sports as much star
quality as the musicians. Though five-minute undersea
fencing matches/guitar solos are crowded out, Thurston
and Lee's irrepressible feedback urges are the goblins
tearing at the sleeve of this Reader's Digest explanation
of the Youth, their turbulent presence a warning to those
attracted by the surface sheen and the tight, nifty
structures of "100%," "Youth Against Fascism" and
"Sugar Kane." Besides the above Thurston songs, the
presence of Kim Gordon dominates the record, using this
brighter spotlight to state her personal, uncompromising
pro-woman views. Her "Swimsuit Issue," "Shoot" and
"On The Strip" are as spooky as they are empowering,
not only strengthening the record but also the resolve of
adoring fans and newly activized, non-indie listeners
alike.
Deborah Orr
© 1978-1998 College Media, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exclusive Review from
Although some of you may be surprised to see Sonic
Youth grace the hard rock pages, they're actually more
appropriate to the genre than most of the metal crooners
out there. Their use of noise as a palette makes Sonic
Youth a most unusual and much-needed relief from
sound-alike headbangers. Off-key, weird tunings and the
substitution of various metal objects for picks are not
haphazard gimmicks, but the driving forces of SY's
appeal. Dirty returns (almost) to where Evol left off, but
its crafty nature moves Sonic Youth into new waters,
slightly to the right of their underground roots. But while
their previous album, Goo, failed to fully break the band
into the mainstream, Dirty could pave the way for the new
audence it rightfully deserves. But in reality, this is far
from universally appealing, and though tunes such as
"100%" and "Youth Against Fascism" should satisfy the
whistlers, the white-noise chatter on "Nic Fit" and "On
The Strip" will secure Sonic Youth's underground cred
(hopefully). Top ear damage: "Swimsuit Issue," "Purr"
and "Theresa's Soundworld."
Robert John
© 1978-1998 College Media, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exclusive Review from
After more than a decade of deconstructing the myth of
rock with violently experimental sound collages, Sonic
Youth connected with the mainstream this year with
Dirty. Even more than on 1990's Goo, the band focused in
on an utterly appealing indie punk groove that proved
easily accessible to newcomers as well as college radio
diehards. Lyrically, the album was the band's most
topical and thought-provoking, addressing sexism, racism
and consumerism on such cuts as "Swimsuit Issue" and
"Youth Against Fascism." Since its inception, Sonic
Youth has been the uncontested pioneer of alternative
music, challenging and inspiring through its lack of
convention, its conviction still holding true today.
© 1978-1998 College Media, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ranked #8 in the Village Voice's list of the 40 Best
Albums Of 1992.
Village Voice 3/2/93, p.5
Ranked #1 in Entertainment Weekly's list of the Top 10
Albums Of 1992 - "...Rock & roll--whatever that archaic
phrase means in the '90s--simply doesn't get more vital
and intense than this..."
Entertainment Weekly 1/7/93, p.123
Ranked #3 in Spin's list of the 20 Best Albums Of The
Year - "...the spectrum of sound and fury unleashed by
Sonic Youth is the perfect soundtrack for a generation..."
Spin 12/92, p.67
Included in Q's list of the 50 Best Albums Of 1992.
Q Magazine 1/93, p.72
Recommended - "...In an era of reduced expectations,
Sonic Youth remains uncompromised--integrity and soul
intact..."
Spin 9/92, p.101
"...much-needed proof that the old-fangled concept of a
rock guitar band can still result in vital, undeniably
moving music...every other rock & roll record that visits
our planet this year will have a hard time topping
[DIRTY]..." - Rating: A
Entertainment Weekly 8/14/92, p.58
4 Stars - Excellent - "...DIRTY is a great Sonic Youth
disc, easily ranking with DAYDREAM NATION [1988]
and SISTER [1987] among the band's most unified and
unforgettable recorded works...a scorched and scorching
whole. DIRTY is a burner..."
Rolling Stone 9/3/92, p.63
Recommended - "...the new Sonic Youth album
rocks...Sonic Youth remains uncompromised--integrity
and soul intact...the vocals have never sounded better, nor
have the guitars...a wonderful record..."
Spin 9/92, p.101
"...as solid and uncompromising an album as Sonic Youth
has made...Sonic Youth is already one of the defining
bands of its generation, far more significant in terms of
their influence and artistic import than bands which far outsell them..."
Option 9-10/92, p.128
"...[a] grunge-pop masterpiece...packs maximum snarl
and pummeling dissonance...The fraying fabric and
internal contradictions embodied in DIRTY are precisely
the point, and Sonic Youth makes it brilliantly..."
Stereo Review 12/92, p.104
Notes
Sonic Youth: Thurston Moore, Lee Renaldo (vocals,
guitars); Kim Gordon (vocals, bass); Steve Shelley
(drums).
Recorded at Magic Shop, New York in early 1992.
All songs written by Sonic Youth except "Nic Fit" (A.
MacKaye/E. Mashety/R. Moore/B. Quieroz).
Soundclips
1992
1.100%, AU-Clip
2.Swimsuit Issue, AU-Clip
3.Theresa's Sound World, MP3-Clip
4.Drunken Butterfly, MP3-Clip
5.Shoot, MP3-Clip
6.Wish Fulfillment, AU-Clip
7.Sugar Kane, AU-Clip
8.Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit, MP3-Clip
9.Youth Against Fascism, AU-Clip
10.Nic Fit, MP3-Clip
11.On The Strip, MP3-Clip
12.Chapel Hill, MP3-The Whole Song!
13.JC
14.Purr
15.Creme Brulee
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