🔸⭐🔸𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇🔸⭐🔸

🔸"𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙘 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤." 🔸
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝙱𝚎𝚕𝚏𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚃𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑 𝟸0𝟷𝟻)

Hello soulmates,
today's post will be about the band that influenced Brian's musical growth the most.
And do you know the story about Brian and 𝗞𝗶𝗺 𝗚𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘀?
No? You will love this!

Photo credit: Giotas

🔸💬 "The first time I heard Sonic Youth was a very, very important thing for me. It was my 16th birthday and I was very stoned and I'd never really heard anything like it before in my life. That was the year that I started playing guitar so that had a very, very big effect on me. After I moved to London, I heard PJ Harvey for the first time and the emotional intensity and depth of the album Dry also had a very, very big effect on me. I guess when I went into the idea of a band I kind of wanted to marry the kind of dissonant, atonal beauty of Sonic Youth's experimentalism with a kind of pained confessional and highly emotional quality that PJ Harvey's music has."(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚣𝚒𝚗𝚎 "𝙸𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙸𝚕𝚕 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕", 𝙰𝚙𝚛'𝟿𝟿)


🔸💬 "Placebo's music comes directly from that, from that American alternative rock. Sonic Youth is by far the band that had the biggest impact on us. I like their authenticity and their taste for experimentation. They revolutionised the classic way of understanding rock n' roll, that backward vision with the masturbatory solos and one or two leaders showing off at the front of the stage."(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝙶𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛 𝙼𝚊𝚐. 𝟸00𝟷)

⭐𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨:⭐
𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. The band had five members, but at its birth we find two important names: 𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐞 and 𝐊𝐢𝐦 𝐆𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐨𝐧. Their love lasted until 2011, when they broke up and the band Sonic Youth officially ended their career.
Sonic Youth were the representatives of the so-called "𝑵𝒐 𝑾𝒂𝒗𝒆", a direction that opposed the pop "𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝑾𝒂𝒗𝒆" in the 1980s. They left a huge trace of their influence on later bands professing the grunge style - Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails and many others.
𝐊𝐢𝐦 𝐆𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐨𝐧 is often considered to be a sex symbol of American independent music.
Sonic Youth play very specific music and cannot simply be assigned to a musical genre. In the initial period, they were included in the post punk scene because they experimented with the sound and the raw sound of guitars excelled in their music.

𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙘 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙢.
𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙...:

🔸💬 “Me and my buddy Nick were 16, he came over to mine, we smoked a joint, turned the lights out and put ‘Goo’ on. I’d been playing guitar for about three years, but my entire perception of what was possible for what could be done with electric guitar changed that day. It opened up an entire new universe of possibilities. Sonic Youth remain possibly my biggest influence to this day. They’re the greatest rock’n’roll band of all time.”
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎, 𝙽𝙼𝙴 𝟸0𝟷𝟽)


Here you can listen to the song "𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬" by 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡, which Brian mentioned in this interview.
🔸🎶 https://bit.ly/3kzLAEd

Photo crecdit: Benni Valsson

"Sonic Youth were the beginning for me. The whole “𝐆𝐨𝐨” album changed my life because before it, I was unaware of all the possibilities of guitar music. They had the ultimate punk attitude towards the guitar, they threw the rulebook away and made the guitar work for them. They also showed me the beauty of atonal chords and dissonance. They opened up a whole new world to me."
(𝙺𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐 "𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘: 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝙼𝚢 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎", 𝙹𝚞𝚗'0𝟼)


I think it's worth listening to the whole “𝐆𝐨𝐨” album, which caused the musical direction of the future band Placebo:
𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇: 𝐆𝐎𝐎
🔸🎶 https://bit.ly/3bUOK6O

🔸💬 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍?
"Sonic Youth, from the 'Daydream Nation' record and it's them standing on the street looking really tall and completely blurred. I think Sonic Youth are aesthetically satisfying as kind of like geek-rock gone dissonant. They're very sexy! They are. Kim Gordon is absolutely sexy."(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝚅𝙾𝚇 "𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝙾𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔'𝚗'𝚁𝚘𝚕𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚊𝚕", 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝟿𝟽)


Now it is absolutely clear that Brian longed to have the same guitars as his beloved musical role model.
𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟑?

🔸💬 /.../ My favorite guitar, my original guitar, I call my "Bitch" you know. Basically, it's got like a little sticker that says "Bitch" on it you know and that's kind of like my classic guitar, you know..."


𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥?
🔸💬 "I always wanted one. Because they were Sonic Youth guitars".
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝙶𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝, 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟽)

Photo credit unknown

🔸💬 "When I was sixteen I heard Sonic Youth for the first time and they blew my head off and changed my life really and that was just as I started to play guitar. They sort of opened up so many possibilities and they acted as a sort of trampoline. I explored bands that influenced them from the Stooges the New Wave scene and through The Joy Division and The Fall and Post punk particularly and then when I was in collage I heard PJ Harvey for the first time. At that point I decided I wanted to make music that carried a similar kind of emotional weight and a similar kind of fragility and vulnerability and humanity."

◾𝑆𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑆𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑚𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑆𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟?
"Sister and EVOL and Bad Moon Rising, those are my tree favourites."

◾𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑚 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙?
"Discordant sort of theme to it, yes. It's cos I play the same guitar as they play. As soon as we got a record contract I went out and bought myself a new Jaguar."
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝚂𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜, 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟽)


🔸💬 "I've got three Fender Jaguars, one Fender Jazzmaster and two Gibson SG's, and they're all older than me.
I use my Gibson SG to get a Pixies or AC/DC sound, a sort of classic rock chunk. And, with my Fender Jaguar and Jazzmaster, I can get that grungier Sonic Youth sound. It depends what I'm looking for."
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝚄𝚕𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚎-𝙶𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛.𝚌𝚘𝚖)


🔸💬 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: Ok, in Molko town, East London, who wins in a fight, I don’t mean a physical fight, but who wins between Bowie and Sonic Youth?
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Oooof, well, Sonic Youth I guess ‘cause they’ve got so many more guitars which they just can pummel Bowie with.
𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: Alright then. Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine?
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Well, you know, you’re asking me to choose between my first love and other loves in my life, but Sonic Youth remain my first and ultimate love. So they will kind of always win, really.
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙱𝙱𝙲 𝟼 𝙼𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌 𝚁𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚘 𝟸00𝟿)

Photo credit unknown

𝗢𝗸, 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵... 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀... :

🔸💬 “For me it sort of distils the essence of Sonic Youth in one song. It’s got the dissonance, but there’s also the unusual melodies which are very hooky, as well as the unique guitar sounds that Sonic Youth create. I did a fashion shoot once for Calvin Klein in New York, a lot of other musicians were doing it, and Kim Gordon [was one of them]. Now, Sonic Youth are my favourite band of all time, and we were sharing a space where we could get changed. She was off getting her photo taken, and I saw her sneakers, and on top of her sneakers were her socks. And I had this moment where I froze and I went, I want to smell Kim Gordon’s socks. I have to smell Kim Gordon’s socks! And there I am, staring at her socks and daring myself to smell them, and just as I’m about to bend down to pick them up, Kim Gordon walks into the make-up room. Thank fuck I didn’t do it! It would have been very embarrassing.”
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, "𝚂𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝙸 𝚠𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎" - 𝚂𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚌 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚑 "𝙷𝚎𝚢 𝙹𝚘𝚗𝚒", 𝟷𝟿𝟾𝟾 𝚁𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝙰𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚊, 𝚂𝚎𝚙𝚝.𝟸0𝟷𝟽)


So what, dear soulmates, do you like this story?
I'm sure you can imagine the whole event vividly...
𝐈𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟕, 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐳𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐳𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐫:


🔸💬 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒀𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒄 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐?
"Pretty sure, there I feel that this is exactly what I am looking for in music. Bands like Sonic Youth had a hard kickass music but there was a lot of creativity, emotions and great ideas put into it. Kim Gordon has always excited me. What do you say to her?"


𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒙 𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒐𝒑 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒑𝒖𝒏𝒌 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏?
"Strength and femininity that together create an incredible sex appeal. This is not the brute force that men put into rock music. It's incredibly sexy to see a girl on stage yelling rock songs. I think women could often capture the essence of rock'n'roll better."


𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 "𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒌'𝒏'𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒍" 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖?
"Freedom, strength and expression."


𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒙𝒚, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒐 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒖𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔?
"It's hard. It is something that completely demolishes and cuts me, something that removes my consciousness and in a way excites me. Sexy things are usually imperfect and unfinished. Perfection is boring, I don't understand people who are excited by ingenious proportions. It's really boring."

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At the end of this post I share with you a live performance of the song 🔸🎶 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐄 🎶🔸 from MTV Rome 2003. And why this one?
Because Brian references lyrics from Sonic Youth's album Sister on "Plasticine" ("𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚" 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 "𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟'𝑠 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚" 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑆𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ'𝑠 "𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑦 𝐿𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑦𝑒").

This is not the only reference to Sonic Youth lyrics. You may not know this, but in the song Taste In Men the phrase "𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒" is taken from Sonic Youth's song "Catholic Block" found on their album "Sister".


Perhaps another reason to listen to more Sonic Youth music, don't you think?
𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇 "𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑"
🔸🎶 https://bit.ly/3P4rRg1


Just a few last words before I say goodbye today:
You will have noticed that, along with Sonic Youth, another alternative rock star - 𝐏𝐉 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐲 - had a very strong influence on Placebo's music.
⭐Which of these musical influences do you personally prefer?⭐


I am very much looking forward to your answers, dear friends.
I hope you enjoyed today's post and maybe it brought you something new.
Have a nice summer evening and take care of yourself.

Post by Marti