Sonic Youth – Bomb Popsicle Shirt
A popsicle is defined as “a trademark used for a colored, flavored ice confection with one or two flat sticks for a handle.” For those of you who have ever tried to eat a popsicle on a hot summer day, you know there is no avoiding the sticky mess of melted sugar and ice that will end up all over your face, hands and shirt.
Sonic Youth’s musical output, especially during their early 90′s/welcome to the major label period (Goo, Dirty, Experimental Jet Set), creates the same sort of melty, sticky experience. Listening to Sonic Youth often leaves not only a taste in your mouth well after the record is over, but seems to literally drip all over you. Perhaps it’s the layers of guitars, or the sweet-as-pumpkin-pie vocal work of Thurston which seems to ooze over the track, but there is certainly a parallel between a melting popsicle and tracks like Kool Thing, Sugar Kane, and Sweet Shine.
Is Sonic Youth the most self-aware band in history, with the ability to see the connection between water ice and their music, or is the image simply striking. I say both.
