Goo
Studio album by Sonic Youth
Released	June 26, 1990
Recorded	March–April 1990
Studio	Sorcerer Sound Recording Studios andGreene St. Recording, New York City
Genre	Alternative rock[1] noise rock[2]
Length	49:23
Label	DGC
Producer	Nick Sansano Ron Saint Germain Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth chronology
Daydream Nation (1988) Goo (1990) Dirty (1992)
Singles from Goo
"Kool Thing" Released: June 1990 "Disappearer" Released: 1990 "Dirty Boots" Released: April 1991

Goo is the sixth full-length studio album by Americanalternative rock bandSonic Youth, released on June 26, 1990, byDGC Records. For this album, the band sought to expand upon its trademark alternating guitar arrangements and the layered sound of their previous albumDaydream Nation (1988) with songwriting that was more topical than past works. Coming off the success ofDaydream Nation,Nick Sansano returned to engineerGoo, but veteran producerRon Saint Germain was chosen by Sonic Youth to finish mixing the album following Sansano's dismissal.

Goo was a critical and commercial success upon its release, peaking at number 96 on theUSBillboard 200, their highest chart position to date. Although it lacked significantradio airplay, its lead single "Kool Thing", a collaborative effort withPublic Enemy'sChuck D, reached number seven on theBillboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Since then,Goo has been viewed as one ofalternative rock's most important albums, and is considered musically and artistically significant. In 2020, the album was ranked at number 358 onRolling Stone's500 greatest albums of all time list.^[3]

In 1989, nearly a year after the release of the band's breakthrough albumDaydream Nation, Sonic Youth announced that it had signed a recording contract withGeffen Records, the group's first major label deal.^[4][5] Sonic Youth decided to sever relations with its former label,Enigma Records, as a result of the band's displeasure with Enigma's indecisive marketing and distribution ofDaydream Nation, as well as "Teen Age Riot"—‌the album's accompanying single.^[6] Another factor that contributed to the group's departure from the label was Enigma's handling ofThe Whitey Album, an experimental album of sound manipulation andhip-hop influences released under the name Ciccone Youth. Not only did Enigma reject the band's proposal to simultaneously release the album withDaydream Nation, the label's publicity branch also attempted to withdraw itscover art—an enlarged photo ofMadonna's face—even though Madonna reportedly gave Sonic Youth her permission to use it.^[7][8]

By mid-1989, Sonic Youth's relationship with its British and American label headPaul Smith, who the band's legal counsel, Richard Grebal, termed "a trusted advisor but never a manager", was growing increasingly strained. Tensions between Smith and the group had begun in 1986 when Smith arranged the release of live recordings by the band on the albumWalls Have Ears without their input. Mindful about their work and image, Sonic Youth was irritated by the decision, especially when the album was distributed beforeEvol.^[9][10] The situation was compounded further when Smith took a bold negotiating stance with major record labels during theDaydream Nation tour and took long intervals to communicate information to the band. His stance, which had the potential to scare away record executives, represented the final straw for the band. On June 2, 1989, Sonic Youth went to Smith's apartment, ostensibly to discuss another music video forDaydream Nation, to announce an end to their partnership.^[11]

Having entertained offers fromA&M Records,Atlantic Records, andMute Records, Sonic Youth signed a five-album deal worth $300,000 with a clause which secured the band's complete control of its creative output. The group, however, was somewhat dissatisfied that the album would not be released by Geffen but rather a new and unestablished subsidiary label,DGC Records.^[12]

In November 1989, Sonic Youth, accompanied by producersDon Fleming andJ Mascis, recorded demos of eight songs at the Waterworks, a studio run by Jim Waters in the meat-packing district of New York City.^[13][14]Lee Ranaldo recalledKim Gordon andThurston Moore were keen on inviting Fleming and Mascis "both as extended family and as people to have an opinion"; both Ranaldo andSteve Shelley were uncomfortable about their presence "because we'd never made records before where there were other people involved".^[14] The originalworking title for the album wasBlowjob?, mostly to test the humor of their new label, but ultimately the band was convinced to drop the name in favor ofGoo, a title inspired by one of the album's tracks, "My Friend Goo".^[13] Because the results of these sessions were later heavily bootlegged, Moore officially released them on the albumGoo Demos in 1991.^[9][15]

At engineerNick Sansano's recommendation, with a sizable budget finally at their disposal, Sonic Youth booked themselves into Sorcerer Sound in early 1990. Sansano knew well from his work onDaydream Nation that the band, particularly Ranaldo, enjoyedoverdubbing sound and guitar effects.^[16] At Sorcerer Sound, the studio was equipped with two 24-track consoles, allowing the group as many instrumentals as they desired. Sonic Youth used the studio time to experiment with abstract techniques such as hanging microphones from the Sorcerer Sound's catwalk and isolating Shelley in a drum booth.^[16] Early on, however, the band was bogged down by issues: "It took us forever to get final takes", said Ranaldo, "Something would inevitably go wrong for somebody and we'd have to start again. I remember getting fairly frustrated with it".^[16]

After the basic tracks were completed, Sonic Youth moved toGreene St. Recording, Sansano's home base, to finalize the songs and begin the process of mixingGoo. Additional layers of guitar lines were included; vocals were manipulated with different distortion devices, particularly on "Mary-Christ".^[16] Also in the studio again were Mascis and Fleming to serve as consultants, Mascis for the album's vocal parts and Fleming for the percussion sounds.^[17] Fleming felt Gordon's vocals, with her unconventionaltimbre, were a particular pleasure to record, noting her eagerness to attempt different approaches with her delivery during the sessions.^[13] Sansano, however, was unsure of the album's direction: Each member of Sonic Youth brought their philosophy to arranging the music that conflicted with the label owner's expectations for a radio-friendly album.^[17]

While recording Goo, Moore played the Nirvana albumBleach forMasterdisk audio engineerHowie Weinberg saying that he would be very happy if the record sounded likeBleach. Weinberg was surprised by the request to emulate a recording as primitive asBleach (which was recorded on a $600 budget). Moore has said that he "really love[s] that record", describing it as "primal" and the songwriting as "completely melodious" but also "punk".^[18]

Although Gary Gersh, one of Geffen's managers, denies that Geffen placed any pressures on Sonic Youth to produce a commercial album, upon listening to the first mixes from the sessions, both Gersh and the band were concerned about Sansano's abilities to finishGoo and insisted on hiring a veteran producer—the group chose jazz musician-turned-producerRon Saint Germain—to arrange the final mixes.^[14] Sansano voluntarily left the project but was so dejected by the group's lack of faith that he refused to speak to them years afterwards.^[17] With Germain, the band gave him relatively free rein to sort through the countless overdubs that Sonic Youth had worked on before his entry into the project.^[14] He already had an extensive resume, including his work in the jazz community andBad Brains' highly-influential albumI Against I.^[19] By the timeGoo was complete, its costs rose to $150,000 (US), five times as much asDaydream Nation. The figure was staggering for a cost-conscious band; according to Shelley, Sonic Youth would have been better served releasing the originalGoo demos to reduce the final costs.^[17]

Goo expanded upon the alt-rock stylings ofDaydream Nation with far more deliberatepop culture references. Another development within the band at the time was Gordon's importance as both a lead vocalist and songwriter. Gordon contributed two songs, "Tunic (Song for Karen)" and "Kool Thing", that challenged the expectations of a woman's role in American society. "Tunic (Song for Karen)", an exploration intoself-esteem andbody image, tracesKaren Carpenter's struggle withanorexia nervosa to her mother's comment that she appeared overweight onstage, and the music industry's rejection of her proposed 1980 solo album.^[20] Band biographer Stevie Chick described Gordon's lyrics as "coloured by a suffocating almost gothic sadness" and "melancholy perhaps similar to that which underscores the Carpenters own music".^[21]

A second Gordon composition, "Kool Thing", was inspired by her 1989 interview withLL Cool J. Although Gordon was a long-time fan of thehip hop artist and credited his albumRadio with drawing her to rap, LL Cool J's inattention topunk music and misogynistic viewpoints towards women disenchanted Gordon.^[20] In her anthology bookHere She Comes Now: Women in Music Who Have Changed Our Lives, Elissa Schnappel wrote that Gordon "transformed the experience into a sharp and witty social critique of gender, race and power that you could dance to."^[22] Gordon's tongue-in-cheek response to the meeting, "Kool Thing", poked fun at her own left-wing political beliefs as well as her fascination with theBlack Panther Party.^[20] Although LL Cool J himself is not mentioned in the song, his works "I Can't Live Without My Radio", "Going Back to Cali" andWalking with a Panther were referenced.Chuck D ofPublic Enemy, who was at Greene Street to recordFear of a Black Planet, contributed to the call-and-response middle section.^[20]

The production'smusique concrète-influenced approach reflected Sonic Youth's inclination to record sound collages that feature varying rhythms and overdubbing. "Mildred Pierce" and "Scooter + Jinx" were worked out from methods that involved the band members reconfiguring and recontextualizing different types of sound in the studio.^[16] Deriving from the eight-minute demo "Blowjob", the angst-driven "Mildred Pierce" was inspired by the 1945noirfilm of the same name.^[23] Alec Foerge observed the song as "the band's reaction against what had become a frustratingly overwrought process", featuring nothing more than a three-chord vamp and Moore repeatedly shouting "Mildred Pierce"; still, as Foerge described, it is an example of Sonic Youth's progression from the primitive nature ofConfusion Is Sex andKill Yr Idols.^[23] At one point in the recording sessions, Moore'samplifier overheated and exploded, emitting a high screeching sound. The band, nonetheless fascinated by the results, reappropriated the sound for all of "Scooter + Jinx".^[16]

Goo was released by DGC Records on June 26, 1990.^[9] The album's front cover design was created byRaymond Pettibon, who was responsible for early covers forBlack Flag. Instead of his originalJoan Crawford sketch, Sonic Youth chose another Pettibon design: an illustration of two sunglasses-wearing Britishmods, based on a photograph of Maureen Hindley and David Smith, two witnesses in theMoors murders trial.^[24][25] Although Geffen pushed for a mainstream market, the label also was concerned about alienating Sonic Youth's original fan base. This prompted Geffen executive Mark Kates to attempt grassroots promotional tactics. In promotingGoo, Kates arranged for the band to visit college radio stations and music journalists weeks leading up to the album's release.^[26]

The controversy surrounding the album's content and the exposure from the single "Kool Thing" helpedGoo exceed the expectations of the group's label. By December 1990,Goo had sold over 200,000 copies and ultimately peaked at No. 96 on theBillboard 200—the band's highest charting album to date.^[27] Although it was difficult for Geffen to transition Sonic Youth over to pop radio, "Kool Thing" made it ontoBuzz Bin's regular rotation schedule, and became their most popular song on alternative radio, reaching No. 7 on theBillboard Modern Rock Tracks.^[28] The album contributed to alternative music's commercial breakthrough at the beginning of the 1990s, despite its limitedradio airplay.^[29]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Blender	[30]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	A−[31]
Entertainment Weekly	B[32]
Los Angeles Times	[33]
NME	9/10[34]
Pitchfork	8.5/10[35]
Record Collector	[36]
Rolling Stone	[37]
Select	4/5[38]

Goo received rave reviews from contemporary critics.^[27] In an August 1990 article,Rolling Stone'sDavid Fricke viewed the record as Sonic Youth's most accessible work to date. He believedGoo was a "brilliant, extended essay in refined primitivism that deftly reconciles rock's structural conventions with the band's twin passions for violent tonal elasticity and garage-punk holocaust".^[37]Jonathan Gold of theLos Angeles Times hailed Sonic Youth as the "Rolling Stones of noise music" and found the band's distorted guitars, danceable rhythms and catchy choruses fit for radio airplay.^[33]Select writerRussell Brown felt that the album "bursts with ... a sense of the unexpected" and praised it as "bitchin' good art".^[38] InNME,Steve Lamacq concluded that while it "might not be the hippest album, taking into account public taste for USgrunge at the moment",Goo "is still a defiant alternative".^[34]

SinceGoo was first released, it has been viewed as one of the greatest and most important alternative rock records of all time, as well as a culturally significant work.^[27] Alec Foerge cited it as "radical—even defiant by 1990 major label standards"^[23] whileDavid Browne said the album's success was "an indication that an audience for this music was coalescing, albeit slowly".^[27] Daisy Jones ofDazed found the album powerfully relevant to American youth: "It sprung out of 1990, the year in which grunge had spread like an itch amongst a generation increasingly disillusioned with the mock-metal and stadium theatrics of artists likeGuns N' Roses andAlice Cooper".^[39] Writing forTidal, Jakob Matzen said that becauseGoo was Sonic Youth's most approachable album, it is a "crucial piece of the puzzle to understand how and why other alternative artists (likeNirvana) were able to bring the underground to the mainstream and challenge the dominant music industry hegemony".^[40]

Music journalist Andrew Earles wrote that "What makesGoo an undeniable winner is Sonic Youth's increased focus on songcraft", going on to say the album contains some of the best material of the band's career.^[41]

Credits are adapted from theliner notes ofGoo.^[9]

• Browne, David (2008).Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth.Da Capo Press.ISBN 978-0-306-81515-7.
• Chick, Stevie (2007).Psychic Confusion: The Sonic Youth Story.Omnibus Press.ISBN 978-1-84449-931-1.
• Christgau, Robert (2000)."Sonic Youth: Goo".Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s.St. Martin's Griffin.ISBN 0-312-24560-2. RetrievedApril 17, 2013.
• Earles, Andrew (2014).Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981–1996.Voyageur Press.ISBN 978-0-7603-4648-8.
• Foege, Alec (1994).Confusion Is Next: The Sonic Youth Story.St. Martin's Press.ISBN 0-312-11369-2.
• Gordon, Kim (2015).Girl in a Band.Dey Street Books.ISBN 978-0-06-229589-7.

• 1990 albums
• 1991 video albums
• Sonic Youth albums
• Sonic Youth video albums
• DGC Records albums
• Geffen Records albums
• Geffen Records compilation albums
• Geffen Records video albums
• 1990s demo albums
• Music video compilation albums
• Albums produced by Ron Saint Germain
• Albums recorded at Greene St. Recording
• Albums produced by Nick Sansano
• Albums with cover art by Raymond Pettibon

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