‘Teenage Riot’: the Sonic Youth song written for their “slacker genius”
Rising out of New York’s no wave scene in the early 1980s, Sonic Youth completely reinvented expectations around rock music. Using experimental methods of guitar playing, the band set themselves apart from virtually everybody else during the 1980s, coming to the forefront of the noise-rock scene.
As the decade drew to a close, the band started to receive more and more attention. Struggling along as largely ignored fringe artists for most of their early days, Sonic Youth broke into the mainstream with Goo in 1990. Their first release on a major record label, Goo, saw the band move into a more palatable sound while retaining the DIY edge that hardcore fans had fallen in love with.
Prior to Goo, Sonic Youth demonstrated their youthful rebellion on Daydream Nation. Released in 1988, as grunge began to dominate US rock scenes, was largely ignored by the musical mainstream. Barely breaking into the top 100 in the UK album charts, Sonic Youth remained distinctly underground with Daydream Nation. With their early work forming huge inspiration for the blossoming grunge and alternative rock scenes, it should come as no surprise that the record embraced this new music scene – deluxe reissues of the album even featured the band covering the seminal grunge anthem ‘Touch Me I’m Sick’ by Mudhoney.
Another group that played a big part in influencing the explosion of grunge was fellow noise-rocker Dinosaur Jr. The two bands had something of a shared history, often touring together and expressing their appreciation for each other’s music. Sonic Youth had such an appreciation for their touring partners and their primary songwriter, J Mascis, that they penned a song based on him.
‘Teenage Riot’, originally entitled ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll For President’, was an ode to Mascis. Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore declared to Q in 2007 that the Dinosaur Jr frontman “represented our slacker genius”, continuing, “So, in tribute, we wrote a song called ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll For President’ about him being president.”
The song forms the opening track on Daydream Nation, acting as a kind of manifesto for the youthful noise rock and rebellion, which makes up the rest of the record. Perhaps in tribute to their friends in Dinosaur Jr, the song is something of an outlier within the discography of Sonic Youth. In contrast to the chaotic menagerie of sound that so often formed the basis for their songs, ‘Teenage Riot’ adopts a fairly standard pop song structure. As a result of this more mainstream sound, the single enjoyed heavy airtime on American rock radio stations, increasing awareness of the group before the release of Goo.
‘Teenage Riot’ remains a fitting tribute both to the slacker genius of Sonic Youth and their touring partners Dinosaur Jr. One of the band’s most recognisable tracks, it witnessed a resurgence after Sonic Youth broke into the mainstream during the 1990s, eventually becoming the final song the band would ever play live in 2011.
