Bad Moon Rising (album)

Infobox Album
Name = Bad Moon Rising
Type = studio
Artist = Sonic Youth


Released = 1985
Recorded = September - December 1984
Genre = Alternative rock, post-punk
Length = 37:33 (original)
53:05 (reissue)
Label = Homestead
Producer = Sonic Youth, Martin Bisi
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:clv8b594tsqg link]
*Robert Christgau (B) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Sonic+Youth link]
*Mark Prindle rating-10|7 [http://www.markprindle.com/sonicya.htm#bad link]
Last album = "Sonic Death"
(1984)
This album = "Bad Moon Rising"
(1985)
Next album = "EVOL"
(1986)
Misc = Singles
Name = Bad Moon Rising
Type = studio
single 1 = Death Valley '69
single 1 date = December 1984, June 1985
single 2 = Flower/Halloween
single 2 date = 1985
single 3 = Flower/Satan Is Boring
single 3 date = 1985
single 4 = Halloween II
single 4 date = 1986

"Bad Moon Rising" is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on the New York independent record label Homestead Records in 1985. The album is loosely themed around the dark side of America, and includes references to obsession and insanity, Charles Manson, heavy metal, Satanism and early European settlers' encounters with Native Americans. Each side of the original vinyl was a mostly continuous cycle of songs, except for the album's closer "Death Valley '69".

Released to strong reviews from the underground music press, "Bad Moon Rising" was the first Sonic Youth album to combine the band's experimental material with transitional pieces and segues.Azerrad, p. 248] Distributed by Blast First in the United Kingdom, it was the band's first release on the distributor. Sonic Youth released one single from the album, "Death Valley '69", which did not chart in either country.

Background and production

Sonic Youth were an alternative rock band that was formed in New York City in 1981 by guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo and bassist Kim Gordon. The band signed to Glenn Branca's Neutral Records, releasing the "Sonic Youth" EP in March 1982. As Sonic Youth released a number of albums and EPs to increasing critical acclaim, including "Confusion is Sex" and "Kill Yr Idols" in 1983, several drummers joined and left the band. Bob Bert rejoined Sonic Youth after the "Confusion is Sex" tour in mid-1983. The New York press largely ignored Sonic Youth (as well as the noise rock scene in the city), until after a disastrous London debut in October 1983 that actually received rave reviews in "Sounds" and "NME". [Azerrad, 2001. p. 247-248] When they returned to New York, the queue at CBGB for the band's concerts went around the block.

By mid-1984, Sonic Youth were playing almost once a week in the city, but its members started to realise there was little future in their musical approach; Moore later said "it was getting to the point of overkill". They retreated to the rehearsal room, retuned their guitars and changed their equipment so they were unable to play their old songs, and began writing new material. After a period of intense songwriting, the band entered Before Christ Studios in Brooklyn, New York with producer Martin Bisi, who had recorded early rappers and local avantists such as Elliot Sharp, in September 1984 to record their next studio album.

Music

"Bad Moon Rising" begins with "Intro", a short instrumental featuring several guitars, described by Michael Azerrad as “a melancholic, meowing slide line playing off a delicate stack of crystalline arpeggios”. "Intro" segues into the next song, "Brave Men Run", named after a painting by American artist Edward Ruscha. The song begins with a single riff repeating for a minute, before Gordon murmurs “Brave man run in my family/Brave men run away from me”. The riff fades into the album's third song, "Society Is a Hole", “a one-chord hymn to big-city anomie”.Azerrad, 2001. p. 249] Sonic Youth's use of transitional pieces in the album was inspired by their live shows, which featured either Moore or Ranaldo tuning guitars for up to five minutes while the other played slow transitory guitar riffs or prerecorded sound collages.

"I Love Her All the Time", the album's love song, features extensive prepared guitar by Ranaldo and the use of one chord, with a noise section in the middle; like many of the album's songs, "I Love Her All the Time", focuses on texture and rhythm rather than melody. "Bad Moon Rising"'s second side, which comprises the experimental "Ghost Bitch" (which features Ranaldo on acoustic guitar and references Native Americans' first encounter with European settlers), "I'm Insane" and "Justice is Might" expand on the soundscape concept; the songs feature repeating guitar riffs that segue from one song to the next, while Moore and Gordon mumble cryptic lyrics.

"Death Valley '69", the album's closer, was the result of a collaboration between Thurston Moore and New York singer and poet Lydia Lunch.

Cover, title and imagery

Release

Critical reception

The album was chosen one of the best albums of 1985-1995 at number 42 by Alternative Press. Bad Moon Rising surpassed Daydream Nation in this list. [http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/apress.html#Alternative%20Press%20(10th%20Anniversary%20Issue)%20July%2095]

Track listing

#"Intro" – 1:12
#"Brave Men Run (In My Family)" (lyrics/vocals Gordon) – 3:57
#"Society Is a Hole" (lyrics/vocals Moore) – 4:54
#"I Love Her All the Time" (lyrics/vocals Moore) – 8:19
#"Ghost Bitch" (lyrics/vocals Gordon) – 4:24
#"I'm Insane" (lyrics/vocals Moore) – 6:56
#"Justice Is Might" (lyrics/vocals Gordon) – 2:57
#"Death Valley '69" (lyrics/vocals Lydia Lunch and Moore) – 5:12

1995 CD reissue bonus tracks

#

"Satan Is Boring" (lyrics/vocals Moore) – 5:12
#"Halloween" (lyrics/vocals Gordon) – 5:12
#"Flower" (lyrics/vocals Gordon) – 3:36
#"Echo Canyon" – 1:08

*Tracks 9-12 originally released as the Flower EP.

All tracks except 10–11 were recorded and mixed at Before Christ Studios, Brooklyn, N.Y.C. between September and December 1984. Tracks 10–11 were recorded and mixed at Radio Tokyo, Venice, California in January 1985.

Personnel

*Lee Ranaldo
*Kim Gordon
*Thurston Moore
*Bob Bert – drums
*Lydia Lunch – vocals on "Death Valley '69"
*Sonic Youth – producer
*Martin Bisi – engineer, producer (all tracks except 10–11)
*Ethan James – engineer (tracks 10–11)
*John Erskine – producer (all tracks except 10–11)

Release history

Tracks 9–12 appear only on the CD releases. Tracks 10–11 were also released as the "Flower/Halloween" single. The Torso release and original vinyl Homestead release come with a lyric insert.

References

Notes

External links