Added: 6 years ago
From: ThurstonMoore
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  • I remember catching this when it aired, had no idea it was gonna be on, and was blown away...my favorite SY ever. Thank you Lettterman, you filthy alt rocker. (and Thurston)

  • She's not a bad looking girl, which is to say, she isn't fat.

  • EnNNnnOOOoRRRmmMMMoOOOouSSss!!­!!!

    

  • Brace yourselves. Its Sonic Youth!

  • This song is a work of genius. So deep and moving.

  • "Selling out" is a concept embraced by people who don't have jobs and have never been paid for anything they've done and considered "artsy." It's not Sonic Youth's fault that kids plugged into what they were doing and continue to do so. They didn't put out a cock rock album to appeal to Stryper fans or anything. I feel soooo bad for them getting recognition and money for not sucking at what they do. Jesus, I need a drink.

  • Sonic Youth did sell out... They were almost as popular as Nirvana. They signed to a major label. It doesn't make them bad or anythin, they'll always be one of my favorite bands. If they didn't sell out, they probably wouldnt have made amzing albums like Goo and Dirty

    .

  • @oldmanpinkerton "Selling out" and "popular" aren't the same thing (and not that it's important, but they were never even close to Nirvana's popularity).

  • @oldmanpinkerton They never 'sold out'. Selling out implies that they stopped making the kind of music they used to so they would get more money or because their label wanted them to. They never did that, actually, whenever they felt unsatisfied with a label they just switched, and they did that pretty often.

  • Kim is totally rockin that Knicks jersey.

  • Woo

  • Una bala que excelencia de musica

  • haha, the fucking audience dont know what they just saw

  • Paul Shaffer is looking at them wishing that was him.

  • Wow, watching this again was the first time I noticed the drummer switches to a break-beat rhythm during the refrain... little subtle things like that set this band apart.

  • @VaqueiroAruanda Wow!!! True genius!!!!

  • i love kim!

  • I missed the thumbs up button. someone get their friends to hit it.

  • Ooh nice nice girl pure angel what your cell num nums  Ryecardew Kolumbus aka Crystopper

  • Comment removed

  • I remember watching this when it aired.

    I was with a friend who is a jazz drummer and he got a kick outta Steve playing with a maraca. [sp?]

  • Only Sonic Youth can make guitars sound like church bells.

  • Is the logo on the kick drum inspired by surge or the other way around hahaha

  • kim is pregnant in this video

  • Thurston doesn't age cause he's Sonic Youth!

  • look at little steve shelley go!

  • SO FUCK AWESOME!!

  • sonic youth=like taking two 10 mg hydrocodones

  • Never have I felt as cool when listening to music as I do when listening to Sonic Youth.

  • This is the best live version of this song I've ever heard.

  • Does anyone know a song with SY that sounds a bit like this one but is slower?

    It is performed live and sung by Kim Gordon? Been looking for it for at least 7 years now.

  • dam kim is hot, dam

  • I always wondered what was producing those sort of groaning slidey sounds on the record.  Kim's bass - now I know (interestingly, though the guitars have odd tunings, the bass is kept in standard tuning).

  • NBC really did their shit on kim cause she looks hot just like Tia Leoni!

  • @themiln Kim Gordon needs no help looking great.

  • @themiln she was pregnant here, that's just the motherly glow

  • i love kim´s voice

  • ESTO ES HERMOSO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • kim's preggo with coco here!

  • I remember buying this album the day it came out, was totally in love with everything Sonic Youth stood for and still am. Amazed at how young Letterman looks, it feels like it was just yesterday! Thanks so much for posting this!

  • you're an ass

  • so sorry for you. don t know what u miss.

  • Nice one neviatha. I agree. few bands have gone their own way unchanged or bowing to commercial pressure like Sonics. Selling out? Check the horrible adds we get in UK with Iggy Bop selling frigging car insurance. Yuk. So sad really, but I guess he has to earn a living. Still sucks IMHO. Luv John.

  • I have just read similar posts on "Nevermind", about selling out. What a load of twaddle. This band have done there own thing for over 25 years regardless. Massive respect. Nothing else out there nowadays with the exception of Radiohead. Both great bands IMHO. Jazzclub-NICE!!

  • Yeah man.....I just read that too! What a lot of pish...

    Selling out is not about what label you are on.... it's about sacraficing integrity to appeal to a more marketable audience to sell a product rather than making tunes.... and making tunes is obviously what sonic youth is all about.

  • radiohead and sonic youth are amazing because they dont never give into commercial things

  • Thank you Sonic Youth for being different, innovative and incredible!!! Sorry, but this track is like a mark in my life!!!

  • Kim is so hot here. Her hair looks best like this.

  • People always talk about selling out. Well, here's a band that never did, never will, and continue to make inspirational, quirky music. I have enormous amounts of respect for them.

  • I disagree 1. that this is their least grating and repetitious song (teenage riot, rats, turquoise boy, theresa's sound world, sunday, Kool thing, schizophrenia, diamond sea, skip tracer) 2. that "NO ONE" wanted them to "sell out" (you imply NO ONE likes their music, which is ridiculous, although they don't pander to a wide audience) and 3. that they have a genre. Some compare them to big black, buttholes, pussy galore. These bands aren't grating and repetitive at times?

  • Don't be silly. When they signed to Geffen on the back of all the grunge hype (they were well-regarded by their peers) they could have simplified and polished their sound to appeal to a pop audience, but they never did.

    I don't mind a little dissonance and bite to a record, anyway. I can't stand all this glossy, overproduced shite pop we've got at the moment. So sterile, unchallenging.

    You think this is grating? Check out some avant-garde jazz sometime, that's way more out there than SY.

  • @zackpliskin Umm Playing Letterman is a big deal. Its watched by Hundreds of Thousands Of People every night. Kurt Cobain was trying hard to make everyone realize how great this band was but The masses didnt find them as appealing as Nirvana. I think the reason they never "sold out" was because they could never reach the level of success such as Nirvana and other bands. Not because they didn't want to - They didn't have a choice.

  • @zackpliskin You are so right! SY never has been nor will be a sell out. They are experimental to the core. I read once that SY is like an experimental jazz band. Their music weaves in and out of a theme and their instruments go places few musicians imagine; they know how to stretch their instruments to the limit just like jazz musicians. I LOVE that description. I heart SY!

  • @zackpliskin How have they not sold out? im not having a go at you or them, just interested to know

  • @MrRosstifarian I think - at the time - a lot of people (not me btw) thought they had sold out when they moved to Geffen. I love the fact they are still releasing records and aren't just resting on their laurels...they could easily just do endless tours playing their most popular tracks, but they don't.

  • @zackpliskin Except they did sell out. Massively. They released a record on Starbucks' label, signed a deal with Fender to manufacture a signature series of guitars, and commissioned music to some dreadful Hollywood films like Juno. If that isn't selling out by the standards of an underground band, what is?

  • @adamj1989

    exactly, dude. we need to bring back elitism to rock n roll!

  • @adamj1989 The Starbucks thing is the only real sell-out point. The Fender thing is just super-smart, cool. The Juno soundtrack maybe they like the people involved. They are not Rob Zombie who gives ANY of his songs to ANY shitty movie soundtrack or trailer for a few bucks, and he is proud to admit that with that money he can afford to keep that annoying cunt of a wife.

  • @adamj1989 I don't give a shit what business decisions a band makes as long as their actual recorded output is uncompromised. As long as they make good albums, they can do a commercial for K-Mart for all I care.

  • @kurtispopp Agreed.

  • kim is 40 and pregnant in this clip.

  • @michaelstuartpasta

    So this is like 1992?

  • hahahah kim is in a jersey, thats awesome. and steve said fuck a drumset just give me some maracas and a snare i'll still tear it up. great band, i recommend everyone see them live.

  • Amazing!!! They play!!! I think now what was thinking the people there with that strange sound... LOL. By the way I got the original CD!!! I love this song!

  • I love it sooo much (L).

  • Whats so great about this is Paul cant contribute anything to it but stare at real talent, thinking to himself they didnt teach this stuff in my music school

  • is that a john starks' uniform?

  • No your right, she just had a child.

  • He's actually playing behind the bridge. Lee actually has a guitar with a pickup installed back there.

    although, at points it does look like he's playing "normally" and still getting that weird sound...

  • Amazing Band!! & Kim Looks Really Hot!!!

  • Amazing band live man...sounds just like the CD.  I respect that.

  • I think this video was made shortly after Kim had her baby with Thurston (correct me if i'm wrong).

  • Thank you. 1st I see the live. I bought te CD a long time ago.

  • i remember wathching this when it was on, 1994 i think.  and she's actually pregnant in this video.

  • Really? If she was, how many months pregnant was she at the time this video was made? (If that was the case, you could barely notice the pregnancy watching this video...)

  • regardless she still looks hot, she reminds me of PJ Harvey...

  • that's kinda how they sound live tho you can barely hear Kim over Lee and Thurston playing

  • I think this performance was done sometime after kim had her baby (correct me if i'm wrong)

  • Shes 56. WTF.

  • And still hot.

  • Kim Gordon is awesome! But this vid is washed out. It sounds wrong.

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  • She kinda got drownded out

  • Yeah, they do kinda drown her out in this performance, but she has a soft voice anyways....

  • great song

  • Dave was smart to walk straight over to the drummer.

  • @diViSiONdeJoiE why?

  • year?

  • I would guess 1994... ?

    Or maybe 1995.....

  • 1994.5

  • its amazing)

  • Kim's pregnant on here?

  • very

  • yeah!!!

  • 1:30 - 1:35 the sound is incredible

  • this is probably the best i've seen kim look...she looks really really good

  • that drum beat is infectious, i love it

  • FIERCE

  • she looked so shy lol

  • just watched their letterman performance from 6/10/09. THURSTON HASN'T AGED.

  • a heroic vulva

  • i know

  • @davidyow so true, he looked 25 years old live last year

  • @davidyow and Kim has hardly aged. lol

  • @SchindlerHaughton Kim is beautiful in this vid...

  • @davidyow Sad fact is that time hasn't been quite so kind to Kim. I always had a thing for her, but it's becoming increasingly disturbing as each year goes by. It's actually quite depressing.

    But yeah what the hell is the deal with Thurston?

  • @thecrikster he sold his soul to the devil

  • Kim looks Sooooo Good!

    I love that woman!

  • This has got to be the greatest live song I've ever heard ever.

  • you should totally listen to Daydream nation. It's the absolute shit!

  • hittin the hgih hat with the marraca sweeet

  • damn letterman looks much younger here.

  • it's like he got older in the past 15 years or something

  • does it sound like shes about to cum mid-song? whatever this version is so much better than the studio

  • Great song!

  • how old is this?

  • 1994

  • Is she pregnant here?

  • yup

  • :o my god!

    thats so punk rock!

  • thurston has a bad ass jag

  • isn't it a jazzmaster?

  • yeah

  • jazzmaster but who's counting.

  • my all-time favorite youth song!

  • teenage riot

  • fuck! all their gig tickets in europe are sold fucking out :(

  • ? there is a sonic youth song that has been played in many movies, but i don't know the name of it. it's fast, upbeat, repetitive, it would usually occur in action scenes.. any ideas for the name of it?

  • So called they're playing Glastonbury this year?

    And has anyone heard The Go! Team cover of this?

  • lol id put my bull in Kim's heather

  • Elliott13371 ... you Kool Thing you.

  • I used to have this video on my psp. lol

  • Such a creative song.

  • this song reminds me of summer

  • yeah i know exactly what you mean. but i hate summer.

  • yes it does

  • Kim is so hot <33

  • It's the breathy voice...*shivers*

  • yo thanks for replying. I get to watch her again :D

  • I like the Pussy Galore sticker on his guitar.

  • eargasm......

  • this is what is reffered to as

    "Boner Jams"

  • Can anyone confirm if Kim is barefoot here please =]?

  • Think so! :-)

  • she is :P

  • nope

  • And pregnant too, I think!

  • i have to say i kinda miss kathleen hanna dancing around in the background.. lol

  • how come the original video to this song is not on youtube? did viacom remove it!?

  • yup cuz of copywright which sucks...

  • who else here really likes the trilogy on daydream?

  • when was this performance done?

  • The album Experimental Jet Set, Thrash & No Star came out in 1994.

    Love how Moore uses third bridge technique on the Jazzmaster.

  • you see the pickup behind the bridge?

  • this band has done every rock genre of the 80s and 90s.. and more. long live sonic youth

  • Sonic Youth assaults your brain with genius.

  • hahaha totally

  • kim is soo hot. I had a crush on her when I was 14 back then

  • tell me that you wanna buy a sonic youth album

  • kim is not wearing that much...

    HIGH FIVE!

  • grear band!!!!!

  • brace yourself and hang onto something.

    lol letterman was funny

    one of the best grunge songs!!!