Sonic Youth / Hits Are For Squares

Sonic Youth
Hits Are For Squares
(Geffen)
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Mortal beings tend to release Best Of collections. Sonic Youth meanwhile, are basically alternative rock deities – which gives them the right to do all sorts of ridiculously flashy things, such as inviting a stellar cast of underground luminaries to ‘curate’ their Best Of. Readers? They have done this.

What’s more, it means that ‘Hits Are For Squares’ sparkles like a connoisseur’s dinner menu, as opposed to the Guide For Dummies that some of these collections end up as.

Who would have guessed that Mike D of the Beastie Boys would choose the addictively mean-assed stomp of ‘100%’? Or that Radiohead would go for the punkishly drugged-up and demented assault of ‘Kool Thing’? Somewhere in between, Beck goes for the paranoid boogie of ‘Sugar Kane’, and Eddie Vedder goes dirty-cool with the upbeat ‘Teenage Riot’.

The meeting must have been incredible, with Kim Gordon saying stuff like “Sorry Flea, the Flaming Lips have already chosen ‘Expressway To Yr Skull’. Could you choose another one?” Thankfully, the end result is equally as mind blowing: this guide has gravity.