this is one of the ones that your great great grand kids will go to the theatre to see....

(relevant tracks: confused, others)

people have heard swans and lpd, but the truth is that my analog string sounds in the late 90s were mostly trying to emulate the mellotron found on this record, which would subsequently be purchased by tony banks and used prominently in genesis. in any case, this is the root of all of it. so, the other suggestions are not wrong, they're just finding a common influence.

(relevant tracks: constant, throughout)

this more or less replaced fixed as my go-to nin record for busing and had a big influence on me in terms of rhythms slowly developing over time. it's something that mostly comes out in the remixes, this sort of evolving, mutating thing...it's very much process music....

(relevant tracks: on sexual awkwardness in adolescence, symphonies 4 & 5, teenage jesus (suicide), others)

this record had such a weird influence on me, mostly because the sequencers are consistently using vanilla general midi settings, which is all i had available to me at the time through my pc sequencer. so i found myself relating really heavily to these primitive string sections...

(relevant tracks: schizoid, wish, on sexual awkwardness in adolescence)

deathtokoalas
this was their comeback disc, after their disastrous attempt at trying to be real life big ass rock stars. it's interesting to note how many people are pointing out they were young when it was released. i was 14 as well. first sonic youth disc. and, yes, it had a huge effect on me..

(relevant tracks: screwed up, all the symphonies, [2002], more)

Paul S
they've never screwed up, not artistically. Don't think they ever been considered 'big-ass rock stars' ----where did you get that from ? theyr'e like the artiest rock band ever,

deathtokoalas
they toned things down dramatically at the precise time they signed to geffen. the band had a bit of a split personality for pretty much it's entire existence, but they were very obviously in world domination mode between daydream nation and washing machine, and i don't think it's a coincidence that that's their weakest period (non-inclusive), musically.

Paul S
I like all their albums but fair enuff.

rickiwarrior
Hi. I could not help reply.... I understand how this album is a comeback, but I do not consider it´s predecessors disastrous attempts at all. I think that Sonic Youth´s relevance is based in that period you call "weakest" as well, because then, they proved that their talent can be comprehended massively (or commercially), not only by hardcore fans.---------------------------------------------------- I was born in 1982, so in 1995 I was just 13 years old. I started with Sonic Youth recently, around 2000, after I borrowed Dirty from a friend, and since then, is one of my Sonic Youth favorite albums. Washing Machine is really difficult to dig, so it takes 5 times more to love, and at this moment, for me it´s equally loveable as Dirty, I don´t know how would I feel about this in the future - (by the way, I can get enough of WM and The Diamond Sea.....ufff)----------              Finally, where does the Geffen period ends and begins?

deathtokoalas
what you mean to say is that they watered the sound down to sell more records.

sonic youth's cultural relevance is not their geffen years. it's their sst years. sister and daydream nation, particularly (although daydream nation wasn't on sst). the stuff after washing machine was very good for a while, but it will have no cultural impact. likewise, as bad a record as it was, people in their 40s today may look back at dirty as something they liked in a period of their life, but it will not be passed on to the next generation.

daydream nation, on the other hand, will be referenced for the next century.

this redefined epic for me.

(relevant files: screwed up, first movement, too cold, others)

if you haven't heard this, well.....you gotta hear this.

(relevant file: inrisampled)

well, this is hardly under-rated. and who doesn't know of it's existence? but i should also mention it as relevant, for a great number of files. i take the contentious position that this was their peak and it was downhill from here.

(relevant files: nope.mp3, wish, drive, many others)

i also should have pointed out the underratedness of this album yesterday, but it's still underrated today.

(relevant file is nope.mp3)

i should have said this was a great song yesterday.

it's still a great song today.

(relevant file is nope.mp3)