Sonic Youth – Kool Thing
I figured the best way to start writing on this thing was to introduce myself in the same manner that the music was introduced to me. I was a late bloomer when it came to discovering music that really spoke to me, and it wasn’t til 1989-90 that I stumbled across KROQ here in the Los Angeles area. I was fiddling with an old Walkman that my dad handed down to me when I came across this bizarre little song here late one Sunday night (I remember because Loveline was only on once a week back then). I hadn’t heard anything like it before. Granted, it wasn’t a song that made me embrace the band, but the song forever was etched in my mind as something different, and something a little off-kilter from the popular junk emanating from the more prominent radio stations. It started me down an alternative path that I continue to follow to this day. I discovered the names of the bands I had heard at the roller skating rink, and never really delved into. My parents also finally got cable and I was suddenly able to watch 120 Minutes on MTV. These were the elements that broadened my horizons and made me appreciate lots of different sounds.
Since then a bunch of factors have taken me in many different directions, but I’ll always remember this song as my alternative starting point. I’m not always going to post alternative stuff though; you’ll just have to wait til you get the explanation as to why I’m posting awful late 70s and early 80s soft rock…
–Nooker