Sonic Youth has a new limited-edition compilation coming out on June 10. It’s called Hits Are for Squares and it will be sold exclusively at select big city Starbucks stores. The track list was selected by a bunch of famous fans, and Billboard has revealed the selections.
Of course the first thing we must determine is: Who is hardcore and who’s a poser? I.e., who picked the accessible “hits” and who picked the weird old noisy stuff? For what it’s worth, Radiohead selected “Kool Thing” and Chloe Sevigny selected “World Looks Red” from 1983’s Confusion Is Sex.
Criticize the rest of the picks after the jump…
Hits Are for Squares track list:
“Bull in the Heather,” selected by Catherine Keener (Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star, 1994)
“Sugar Kane,” selected by Beck (Dirty, 1992)
“100%,” selected by Mike D (Dirty, 1992)
“Kool Thing,” selected by Radiohead (Goo, 1990)
“Disappearer,” selected by Portia De Rossi (Goo, 1990)
“Superstar,” selected by Diablo Cody (If I Were a Carpenter, 1994)
“Stones,” selected by Allison Anders (Sonic Nurse, 2004)
“Tuff Gnarl,” selected by Dave Eggers and Mike Watt (Sister, 1987)
“Teen Age Riot,” selected by Eddie Vedder (Daydream Nation, 1988)
“Shadow of a Doubt,” selected by Michelle Williams (EVOL, 1986)
“Rain on Tin,” selected by Flea (Murray Street, 2002)
“Tom Violence,” selected by Gus Van Zant (EVOL, 1986)
“Mary-Christ,” selected by David Cross (Goo, 1990)
“World Looks Red,” selected by Chloe Sevigny (Confusion Is Sex, 1983)
“Expressway to Yr Skull,” selected by Flaming Lips (EVOL, 1986)
“Slow Revolution,” exclusive new Sonic Youth recording
MP3: Sonic Youth – “Kool Thing” (8-trk demo)
15th century, twin-tailed siren image courtesy of How the Starbucks Siren Became Less Naughty.
Interesting that Chloe didn’t pick the song for which she’s in the video. I think it was “Sugar Kane”, so maybe Beck had already taken it. Diablo Cody’s choice was pretty fucking obvoius, though.
Personally, I’d go for “Scooter and Jinx”, “Rain King, or “Total Trash”, but “Shadow of a Doubt” and “Expressway” would be pretty close.
So what does it mean that about half of Sonic Youth’s catalog is post-1994, but somehow only 2 songs from that period were deemed worthy? It either says something about the band’s music or the musicians chosen to pull together the compilation…I’d go with the latter.