Sonic Youth Music Group

NOT every rock fan experienced the 1980s in exactly the same way. Springsteen, Prince and Madonna might have dominated mainstream pop music that decade, but there was another, noisier sound already emerging from the American rock underground, an aggressive, mind-expanding racket from the likes of Black Flag, Husker Du, the Minutemen and Sonic Youth. Chart action was minimal.

NOT every rock fan experienced the 1980s in exactly the same way. Springsteen, Prince and Madonna might have dominated mainstream pop music that decade, but there was another, noisier sound already emerging from the American rock underground, an aggressive, mind-expanding racket from the likes of Black Flag, Husker Du, the Minutemen and Sonic Youth. Chart action was minimal.

N ew York's Sonic Youth was one of the most important rock bands of the '80s, the one that most successfully reconciled that decade's trash-culture obsessions with the nihilist urge of punk. The group's strangely tuned guitars rang out like distorted bells or Indian sarods; its deadpan lyrics lay obscurely as punk koans. Their records were noisy and loud, and perennially some of the most popular on college radio.

Rock Losing Its Grip as Other Genres Gain. That recent headline on a Billboard magazine article documenting rock's dwindling share of the pop album market was sobering, but it wasn't unexpected. It has been clear for some time now that rock is no longer the creative heart of pop music. Rather than reflect the imagination and daring that it did in past decades, most rock deals shamelessly in hollow or recycled gestures--and all too often represents nothing more than casual entertainment.

Rock Losing Its Grip as Other Genres Gain. That recent headline on a Billboard magazine article documenting rock's dwindling share of the pop album market was sobering, but it wasn't unexpected. It has been clear for some time now that rock is no longer the creative heart of pop music. Rather than reflect the imagination and daring that it did in past decades, most rock deals shamelessly in hollow or recycled gestures--and all too often represents nothing more than casual entertainment.

N ew York's Sonic Youth was one of the most important rock bands of the '80s, the one that most successfully reconciled that decade's trash-culture obsessions with the nihilist urge of punk. The group's strangely tuned guitars rang out like distorted bells or Indian sarods; its deadpan lyrics lay obscurely as punk koans. Their records were noisy and loud, and perennially some of the most popular on college radio.