Quote Blog #3

This week while reading Our Band Could Be Your Life, Michael Azerrad wrote about Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, and the beginnings of Big Black. This section of the book highlighted the struggles and the journey each band went through to achieve their goals and get to the point of success (whatever success meant to each individual band). Because they signed with independent labels and were part of the underground punk scene, it was not as easy to gather a huge following or be accepted by venues where they could potentially find financial income. Having a smaller and tighter group of people that cared about their music and shared their vision was exactly what they strived for but created financial hardships, and blurred the lines of being successful and staying loyal to their original beliefs.

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When writing about Sonic Youth, Michael Azerrad wrote, “Even their intensity functioned as a shield. ‘If you put out a certain amount of energy while you’re doing something,’ says Gordon, ‘it’s almost like a buffer so nothing else can come of it.’ Even the lyrics are guarded - often, they are opaque, even nonsensical; when they are personal, they are heavily veiled,” (259). In this quote Azerrad was explaining that sometimes punk bands, or just bands in general, (but specifically Sonic Youth in this instance), can feel uncomfortable being fully emotionally vulnerable when performing or making music. Kim Gordon, a member of Sonic Youth, was explaining that there is a lot of emotions within their music and the work she does but it feels safer to be more vague and metaphorical within lyrics and by being very aggressive and loud while performing, it helps mask vulnerability that comes from expressing one’s true emotions.

This quote is very interesting to me for a couple of reasons. While listening to music on the radio, it is common to hear the artist being very open and vocal about how they feel, like in love songs and what have you. I think that in a way this reflects the ability we as a society have generally have found to express our emotions and be okay with being open to others. I am not saying that people were not open with their feeling in the Eighties and Nineties; there were many strong opinions being shared at that time. I do believe that many people are closed off and self conscience about being themselves and voicing their true opinions. I found that the quote, although made in the Eighties by a member in a Punk band from New York City speaking about their music, it relates to the modern day youth. Translating this quote from being really loud and maybe not very open when writing lyrics to the way we work socially, I think is a huge connection. With social media and countless levels of peer pressure that we face every day, it can be hard to feel comfortable exposing your true feelings, or even your real personality. It’s a lot easier for many people to put on a front or not really say what you mean when placed in a social setting. So, I just thought it was very interesting that there is a connection between two very different groups, teens in 2016 and punks in the Eighties.