10 Perfect Indie Albums Of The 1990s
8. Goo - Sonic Youth
Most of the best indie rock coming out of the decade tended to go to the freshest blood on the scene. It makes sense too. If you've been slogging it out for years at a time, there comes a point where you start to get restless in your own sound. Even after releasing a classic with Daydream Nation though, Sonic Youth still had something to say with Goo.
After jumping up to the big leagues with Geffen Records, the sound of the band hadn't changed in the slightest, with Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo practically battling it out with their guitars on songs like Kool Thing. Whereas most acts would just try to make noise for the sake of noise, it always sounded like they were trying to tap into some sound between the notes that no one could quite reach.
The real secret weapon behind the record is Kim Gordon, who's sultry voice tends to make everything feel slightly dangerous in moments. There are even some off the wall moments on here too, like bringing in Chuck D on a song just because you can. Since this was before grunge even hit, Goo was actually looked at as the benchmark for the label, even being the model that they would base Nirvana's Nevermind on a few years later. No attention to structure...random genre hopping...and influencing Nirvana? Yeah, these guys have pretty much reached mega alternative points here.