though, i do have a similar song, i wouldnt consider this art. theyre all laughing anyway, im pretty sure theyre playing with the term "art" and poking fun at the ones who would actually consider this a form.
@EMcbeal That's the key: it's got nothing to do with musical traditional education, the piece is an irony. And on the realm of contemporary the term cover do not apply,
Like Christ the instrument is hammered. Inorder to apreciate pure sound and the hyperreality that it carries since sound is just a number without form and is ABSOLUT AND CARRIES THE ABSOLUT, we crusify our form loving brain senses. It is a humility of the senses, not a call for "new", "modern", instruments since in the ABSOLUT world toward which this peice aspires to, there is no time and nothing new is seen under the sun.
Whether you like the sound or not is completely pointless. It's an art piece and meant to be theatrical... I'm not sure when Maciunas first premiered the piece, but I'm guessing it was at a concert hall with a paying audience, akin to John Cage's 4'33" ...
If you still don't see the connection or understand what Maciunas was trying to say, just keep thinking (and think philosophically, not inside the musical "box")...
No, no, no. I'm sorry. Let me first say that I enjoy experimental music and ambient sounds. But this is not music. This is a group of people simply being pretentious and believing themselves to be creative, but when you get right down to it, fundamentally, they are destroying an instrument... No. Just a big damn no... ::sigh::
By explaining why you don't like it, you better explained the point of the piece than anyone else has. You said, "but when you get right down to it, fundamentally, they are destroying an instrument". Exactly... It was the statement of the piece to destroy traditional instruments and move music beyond the traditional sounds and instruments music was tethered to...
Why does everybody think this piano is destroyed? All you'd have to do is pull the nails out and if you really wanted to get new keys....
Either way, most of you who are saying this is a waste are also the type who get a chubby for those videos of the Who and Hendrix destroying their gear anyway....
Look at that piano, it was crappy to begin with and it's practically falling apart anyway. This is just about the only song that could be played on it properly at this point anyway.
This is the way the piano piece in question was written; it's how its meant to be played. With hammers and nails. It's not just meaningless destruction. It's music, in the literal sense.
Whether you like it or not is a matter of opinion, but don't attack the artist for playing a piece the way it was written.
i like the sound! it's a bit expensive though. you can probably get the same effect by putting a cat on a piano and hammering nails into the cat. actually you'll get extra sound from doing that, too.
I'm not going to say this like, Sonic Youth's (or George Maciunas' (guy who wrote it) best work, or that it constitutes great piano playing. No. But it's great.
To everyone complaining, what's the big difference between this and Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire? Nirvana or the Who trashing their equipment? Because they don't get slapped with "avant garde" means it's OK for them but not for Sonic Youth?
This is the kind of ridiculous movement in music that does nothing for the art form... avante garde music is at least still music. This is just someone's psychotic venting of the fact that they can't come to terms with the beauty of the instrument as it exists naturally... I'm sure someone will write something remarkably idiotic about how I don't get the piece... I understand the philosophy behind this style of avant garde...save yourself the time... I teach contemporary music and history...
it's curious the lengths people will go to defend this work. you can employ all of the arguments you want, nothing changes that it is a bunch of fellows hammering a piano to death.
this is an avant garde musical equivalent to a snuff-video.
Sometimes 'other people' like castrating themselves too; doesn't make it good sport, either way. I am sure that just because somebody, somewhere, 'enjoys' something, doesn't make it a general rule of good taste, art or acceptance.
really? you know there's a big difference between castrating yourself and listening to people hammer nails into a piano to create tones and sounds one might not normally find otherwise. I personally would never question what other people "enjoy" unless maybe they were hurting themselves or other people. I have little to no interest in finding out what "good taste" or what "art" is.
I love sonic youth, but while the piano looks already effed up, as someone who plays the piano, it's just....arghhh!!! terribly painful to watch and more horrifying than drilling nails into someone's hand!
plus, they are clearly missing the more subtle points of interpretation called for by this masterful composition. this is a hack performance, a disgraceful rendering of an otherwise untainted avant-garde masterpiece.
this is music the same way all art is musical. starting from that, i think it's intuitive that this piece is like someone who wants to be musical but is disciplined to do something else - their music is the sound of hammers on their body.
Someone somewhere probably could have used that piano to create something and who ever these tards are just took that chance away. Selfish spoiled brats...
It's more than likely this piano was going to be thrown away as it's in awful condition already. Also pianos are incredibly heavy and difficult to move. Third point: you're a fucking retard who doesn't understand that this is music too.
Haha. They're not really brats. They've been working hard in the music industry for over 30 years earning everything they have. It sounds like you need a little more culture.
It's a cover of a piece originally composed by avante-garde artist George Maciunas. It's simply an alternative art form. You really have to take it "with a grain of salt".
George Maciunas was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, to a Lithuanian father and Russian mother. As a young man, he moved to the United States where he studied architecture at Carnegie Mellon University. Later, he moved to Germany to escape his creditors. It was in Germany at a 1962 festival in Wiesbaden that Maciunas, Dick Higgins, Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell, Emmett Williams, and Alison Knowles staged the first "Fluxus" art festival.
I haven't heard of this composer before, and it's quite interesting, but that's a horrible destruction of an instrument. I think some of these composers really have a problem if they just destroy instruments like that. At least John Cage's prepared pianos survived and could be re-used.
I hope they're hammered.
Boredomsnotaburden 5 days ago
though, i do have a similar song, i wouldnt consider this art. theyre all laughing anyway, im pretty sure theyre playing with the term "art" and poking fun at the ones who would actually consider this a form.
Sc0ttPrian 3 months ago
this is brilliant. that piano is done.
volumeninteyone 7 months ago
Comment removed
MellowCricket 8 months ago
It's the artist, not the song!
ThePerfectPresent 10 months ago
This is what happens when you force kids to learn piano. Bloody murder.
nickeeboy 11 months ago
If you can afford to break a piano everytime you want to play, have at it I say.
rudeboyruffian 11 months ago
I don't see what is so wrong with this piece?
wingo84 1 year ago
I love sonic youth but this is awful
lobotreas 1 year ago
The best part was 4:30
grf0 1 year ago
Oh please! This is a cover of something!? WTF is this! This a shit... pretentious lazy artists, go to a music school...
EMcbeal 1 year ago
@EMcbeal That's the key: it's got nothing to do with musical traditional education, the piece is an irony. And on the realm of contemporary the term cover do not apply,
IrvoDominguez 4 months ago
In this piece there are a lot of fff and sfz!!
massimiliano123123 1 year ago
Like Christ the instrument is hammered. Inorder to apreciate pure sound and the hyperreality that it carries since sound is just a number without form and is ABSOLUT AND CARRIES THE ABSOLUT, we crusify our form loving brain senses. It is a humility of the senses, not a call for "new", "modern", instruments since in the ABSOLUT world toward which this peice aspires to, there is no time and nothing new is seen under the sun.
MYGAS21 1 year ago
Omfg , I did NOT like this one bit. You guys are a complete waste of time and that piano was beautiful. Learn to make real music.
LynxLover77 1 year ago
wait... these guys make money?
weeks87 1 year ago
Whether you like the sound or not is completely pointless. It's an art piece and meant to be theatrical... I'm not sure when Maciunas first premiered the piece, but I'm guessing it was at a concert hall with a paying audience, akin to John Cage's 4'33" ...
If you still don't see the connection or understand what Maciunas was trying to say, just keep thinking (and think philosophically, not inside the musical "box")...
Tapxeno 1 year ago
that's the best piano piece I've ever seen
usases 1 year ago
Is there George Maciunas?
when this video is recorded?
fetishhhh 1 year ago
No, no, no. I'm sorry. Let me first say that I enjoy experimental music and ambient sounds. But this is not music. This is a group of people simply being pretentious and believing themselves to be creative, but when you get right down to it, fundamentally, they are destroying an instrument... No. Just a big damn no... ::sigh::
Kinteoka 1 year ago
@Kinteoka ... Only in the world of art :)
By explaining why you don't like it, you better explained the point of the piece than anyone else has. You said, "but when you get right down to it, fundamentally, they are destroying an instrument". Exactly... It was the statement of the piece to destroy traditional instruments and move music beyond the traditional sounds and instruments music was tethered to...
Tapxeno 1 year ago
The dissonance is beautiful. The wonderful way this piece was written reminds me of a John Cage piece.
emphaticleech 2 years ago
So, would dropping a piano out the window also be artistic?
smileman66 2 years ago
This is awesome.
I love this band!
nowimhere1 2 years ago
Kim really hates that piano.
LeGronk 2 years ago
Why does everybody think this piano is destroyed? All you'd have to do is pull the nails out and if you really wanted to get new keys....
Either way, most of you who are saying this is a waste are also the type who get a chubby for those videos of the Who and Hendrix destroying their gear anyway....
cowboystitching 2 years ago
I love this in an artistic sense but i cant help feeling sorry for that poor defenseless piano
10fingersofdeath 2 years ago
Look at that piano, it was crappy to begin with and it's practically falling apart anyway. This is just about the only song that could be played on it properly at this point anyway.
Euroflounder 2 years ago
rehearsals must have been expensive.
skafskaf 2 years ago 3
You commentators are philistines.
This is the way the piano piece in question was written; it's how its meant to be played. With hammers and nails. It's not just meaningless destruction. It's music, in the literal sense.
Whether you like it or not is a matter of opinion, but don't attack the artist for playing a piece the way it was written.
Rogueofmv 2 years ago 4
how dare you destroy a piano like that! its just.... idk wut words to use! piano's weren't meant to be beaten by hammers!
Pianoman1770 2 years ago
It was interesting to watch and to listen. I liked it.
arrgentum 2 years ago
@arrgentum > i agree
miepdetruus 2 years ago
Nothing is a waste if done for a reason. Maybe this piano sits in the corner of their studio as an art piece.
sydbarrett5 3 years ago
that'll learn that dern piana!
sydbarrett5 3 years ago
Kim can't hold a hammer...
GrungeIndiani 3 years ago
do you think this is funny?....fuck you
BodomHeart17 3 years ago
Flux you
dimentagon 2 years ago 13
I love Sonic Youth, and I play the piano.
I think this stupid, no ?
Ptiny56 3 years ago
awful, I find it painful to watch
OhReallyClazza 3 years ago
what the hell are they doing? i love sonic youth and avant garde music but this is stupid.
boogster123321 3 years ago
I think I get it. ;-D
wontgetfooledagain1 3 years ago
fuckin twat ;-D
littleflags 3 years ago
por q son tan fabulosos?
elefantelibre 3 years ago
RIP the Piano...T^T
those bastards!!!!!!
wing19831228 3 years ago
i like the sound! it's a bit expensive though. you can probably get the same effect by putting a cat on a piano and hammering nails into the cat. actually you'll get extra sound from doing that, too.
merdufer 3 years ago 2
so...you destroyed it...no music? A waste in my opinion!
quietpianist 3 years ago
I think a few of those nails were flat. Fluxus rules! The end of "art" as we knew it.
babyjujuman 3 years ago
it hurts my stomach. why not hit something that needs to be hit, there would still be some music in that. this is just destruction
henry251 3 years ago
Genius.
Wafflecake 3 years ago
This might sound weird, but I actually like the sound of it.
Whitestripes33 3 years ago
I'm not going to say this like, Sonic Youth's (or George Maciunas' (guy who wrote it) best work, or that it constitutes great piano playing. No. But it's great.
Crouchosarus 3 years ago
Destroying a piano... Bravo -_-
Moore0806 3 years ago
I saw this get done at the tate Modern as well - amazing piece :)
matthewleeknowles 3 years ago
man, I gotta start digging in some real avant-garde music
fjallman90 3 years ago
hoping they eat theiself thumbs while doing this shit things...
rattatuju 3 years ago
that piano could be eaten by a poor little japanese smart boy starving in central africa down the powerful stunning sun.
dfgoijoi 3 years ago
suckers, it's just a band without talent, that explains all
stevelp646 3 years ago
To everyone complaining, what's the big difference between this and Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire? Nirvana or the Who trashing their equipment? Because they don't get slapped with "avant garde" means it's OK for them but not for Sonic Youth?
EagleOfDeathMetal 3 years ago 3
Brilliant! This is their best performance ever!!!
I'm so sorry for those who don't get it...
eieui 3 years ago
That's awful.
MovieMaestro36 3 years ago
This is the kind of ridiculous movement in music that does nothing for the art form... avante garde music is at least still music. This is just someone's psychotic venting of the fact that they can't come to terms with the beauty of the instrument as it exists naturally... I'm sure someone will write something remarkably idiotic about how I don't get the piece... I understand the philosophy behind this style of avant garde...save yourself the time... I teach contemporary music and history...
wiccanus 3 years ago
take a day off
nitramorse2 3 years ago
hahaha -wlc, you have to say that this is remarkably funny, the reply I mean. Why is everyone so upset about this? They seem to be having fun.
nonsenseamigo 3 years ago
AGH HOW COULD YOU!?!?!?
lastdreams 3 years ago
Entertaining musicians, but crummy carpenters!
jmeintn 3 years ago 2
If you're going to destroy a piano, you might as well make it sound good.
autismgeek 3 years ago 2
it's curious the lengths people will go to defend this work. you can employ all of the arguments you want, nothing changes that it is a bunch of fellows hammering a piano to death.
this is an avant garde musical equivalent to a snuff-video.
jiolsmolimassunemo 3 years ago
sometimes other people like the sound of hammering nails into piano
MicrostoriaBC 2 years ago
Sometimes 'other people' like castrating themselves too; doesn't make it good sport, either way. I am sure that just because somebody, somewhere, 'enjoys' something, doesn't make it a general rule of good taste, art or acceptance.
jiolsmolimassunemo 2 years ago
really? you know there's a big difference between castrating yourself and listening to people hammer nails into a piano to create tones and sounds one might not normally find otherwise. I personally would never question what other people "enjoy" unless maybe they were hurting themselves or other people. I have little to no interest in finding out what "good taste" or what "art" is.
MicrostoriaBC 2 years ago 4
I love sonic youth, but while the piano looks already effed up, as someone who plays the piano, it's just....arghhh!!! terribly painful to watch and more horrifying than drilling nails into someone's hand!
bunchoradishes 4 years ago
this is soooo cool
afrodyta10 4 years ago 3
This comment has received too many negative votes show
eso es realmente insultante para este instrumento esrealmente estupido acer le esto aun piano !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
899010 4 years ago
insultante es no poner h en "hacer".
complottt 4 years ago 2
los geniales sonic youth!suckersssss!!!!
monoparlante 4 years ago
These guys cant hammer nails for shit.
oneafter908 4 years ago
plus, they are clearly missing the more subtle points of interpretation called for by this masterful composition. this is a hack performance, a disgraceful rendering of an otherwise untainted avant-garde masterpiece.
jiolsmolimassunemo 3 years ago
your mother suck my cock asshole fuck face
pianofreak1992 4 years ago
como se atreven a insultar a este instrumento
yousantos 4 years ago
this is music the same way all art is musical. starting from that, i think it's intuitive that this piece is like someone who wants to be musical but is disciplined to do something else - their music is the sound of hammers on their body.
barrentree 4 years ago
locooo, hacer mierda un piano, no es fluxus, es tener la guita para comprar otro!!!.(este comentario intentó ser ta fluxus como la obra de maciunas)
CHANVREIN 4 years ago
this is so stupid... if u think that's music u have something wrong with
Reapers123 4 years ago
sonic youth artists that took noise to be accepted to a large number of people,homage another artist that contribute to this process.very simply.
johnreedclub 4 years ago
Hahahaha.
Twig6 4 years ago
If only there were 89 keys.
ringingboots 4 years ago
Really amazing... My kind of music!!
But it`s not easy to understand and analize performances like these. There`s more beyond the contaminated images that penetrate our eyes.
Try to listen this with your eyes closed, and see the difference...
Fersantos1984zzz 4 years ago
sounds like a lot of you needs to be a little more cultured
foesdog 4 years ago
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa stupid fuck you horrrorr :(
binhoservice 4 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
wow, they are really stupid, why did they do that?
dont they think?
stupid guys!
Nachis36 4 years ago
its an interpretation of an avant-garde musical piece written by George Maciunas in the 1960's i believe i could be wrong about the date.
soniclife88 4 years ago
assholes :I
xxl606 4 years ago
Someone somewhere probably could have used that piano to create something and who ever these tards are just took that chance away. Selfish spoiled brats...
Snoforce 4 years ago
It's more than likely this piano was going to be thrown away as it's in awful condition already. Also pianos are incredibly heavy and difficult to move. Third point: you're a fucking retard who doesn't understand that this is music too.
rascalrascal 4 years ago 3
They're Sonic Youth. Never heard of them? They were probably one of the biggest and best alternative rock bands of the 80s and 90s.
Whitestripes33 4 years ago
Haha. They're not really brats. They've been working hard in the music industry for over 30 years earning everything they have. It sounds like you need a little more culture.
Twig6 4 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
30 years?!? and they're hammering a piano?? wtf?
Reapers123 4 years ago
It's a cover of a piece originally composed by avante-garde artist George Maciunas. It's simply an alternative art form. You really have to take it "with a grain of salt".
Twig6 4 years ago 8
@Twig6 I wouldn't call it any form of art I would call it hammering nails into piano keys and nothing else.
Racki123 1 year ago
HAHAHA.
"whoever these tards are"
greenroots 4 years ago
wtf?
raddclyffe 4 years ago
Who says performance art doesn't have a sense of humor?
cjmarsicano 4 years ago 2
that is actually one of the most brilliant comments i've yet read concerned about this kind of expression in music. people too often
forget their sense of humor when dealing with stuff like this.
jiolsmolimassunemo 3 years ago
Slightly better than my younger cousin's recital.
Sorry cuz :(
bigstereo 4 years ago
Interesting, but definitely the "WTF?" moment of the week.
sahmir4, you're a twit.
Cynothoglys 4 years ago
i dig.
mynameischarlie 5 years ago
George Maciunas was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, to a Lithuanian father and Russian mother. As a young man, he moved to the United States where he studied architecture at Carnegie Mellon University. Later, he moved to Germany to escape his creditors. It was in Germany at a 1962 festival in Wiesbaden that Maciunas, Dick Higgins, Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell, Emmett Williams, and Alison Knowles staged the first "Fluxus" art festival.
Fersantos1984zzz 5 years ago 2
no one cares
sahmir4 5 years ago
I fucking care!!!
bigstereo 4 years ago
ugghh omg:| piano whut are yu doin to it
monika8317 5 years ago
you people must live very boring lives, fuck
thanks for posting this...
slartibartfast12 5 years ago
I haven't heard of this composer before, and it's quite interesting, but that's a horrible destruction of an instrument. I think some of these composers really have a problem if they just destroy instruments like that. At least John Cage's prepared pianos survived and could be re-used.
Tranxhead 5 years ago
Malo
Ultimopaso 5 years ago
clearly they never worked as carpenters before the band took off.
alexitin 5 years ago
I actually like this
damildlyshreddah 5 years ago
diocane!
tattameo 5 years ago
**screams*** wat are u doing?? im actually going to die!!!! the poor instrument!!! i cant bare to watch
paulclitheroe7285 5 years ago
lol they don´t have a pianist?
johannesjuanes 5 years ago
i get it, its not that great though
MastaPianist 5 years ago
ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!!!!
essivivono 5 years ago
I still don't get this Crap
HakuryuuX 5 years ago
avant-garde
nfamiliar 5 years ago
killing what deserves to die.
bluntsafety 5 years ago
genial!russolo gustaria de esta grandiosa mierda !.
monoparlante 5 years ago
wtf?
84M81 5 years ago
Quit whining, this is great stuff!!
anagrama1 5 years ago
Great performance !!!
So lets move on and start cutting the strings too,to kill the piano perfectly..... then put it on fire !!
ponlur 5 years ago
one word, "why"?
sydbarrett5 5 years ago
this thing's painful to watch.
CobainStaley0405 5 years ago
no.
corythrall 5 years ago
Is this stupid or what? :D
TorsoHAI 5 years ago