Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Oh My Goodness...

While no release date is officially set, Sonic Youth are planning on continuing their series of re-releases with none other than their magnum opus, Daydream Nation.

I'll admit, Daydream is not my favorite Sonic Youth album anymore (it takes a close, close, second to Sister), but there's no denying the importance the album had on the independent music scene and, to be quite frank, my life.

Hopefully I don't sound too much like a coming of age Zach Braff film, but Daydream Nation changed my life. I noticed it immediately too, which is the strange thing. I'm not sure if any of you have ever had a moment like that, where after listening to an album you feel like you've grown as a person, but that's how I felt listening to this album over 10 years ago. My teenage mind was blown.

This album was my introduction to the world of indie music. And even though it didn't prevent me from listening to a lot of shit that came out (I had some pretty questionable taste in music in my high school years, as I think we all did), it certainly opened my mind. Instead of being put off by low-quality sounding music, I instead learned to listen to the song as it was written, not how it was recorded. This helped me get into My Bloody Valentine as well. Without Daydream Nation, I would have certainly dismissed Loveless after the first listen (lets face it, the recording of Loveless does not hold up as well as the songs do). Without Daydream Nation, I would have slept through Blonde Redhead's opening slot at the Red Hot Chili Peppers/Foo Fighters concert. Without Daydream there would be no Slanted and Enchanted, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, You Forgot It In People, or 13 Songs in my music collection. In fact, you can thank Sonic Youth in some way for just about everything I own or listen to.

The news of this re-release is good news indeed. I cannot stress enough how strongly I recommend purchasing it when its released.

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