The “greatest live band” Thurston Moore has ever seen
Live music lies at the heart of what constantly connects us to sound. While it’s great that we can access it daily, when you go to a gig and find yourself in a crowded room, side by side with like-minded people, watching an artist do what they do best, nothing compares. It was The Beatles performing live which started Beatlemania, and it’s because the infectious attraction that comes with live music is, and always will be, undeniable.
Of course, there are differences of opinion when it comes to deciding which kind of music is best to see live. For instance, some people enjoy large stadium shows. They get swept up in the spectacle of the gig, lost in its vastness as lights, music, and atmosphere all come together to create something huge.
Contrast that with people who enjoy gigs in smaller environments, where it feels as though the energy within the room is volatile and could combust at any moment. Mark Davyd from the Music Venue Trust strongly believes in these kinds of venues, which led him to create an organisation that champions them.
“I’ve never really wanted to be anywhere else. I go to festivals, and I go to big gigs, but they just don’t have the same thing,” he said, “I like that feeling that the singer might attack you at any moment and the sort of element of when a room kicks off. In a small venue, it can properly kick off; you get 300 people watching a band, and the band plays a song, and the whole room goes up; even the bar staff are on the bar. That can happen at a small venue. The whole thing has just got that raw community spirit.”
Many people who like punk music share this mindset. Punk music tends to exist in small spaces, and the music itself is only part of the experience, as energy, mosh pits, specific dance moves, and audience interaction are the other parts. Thurston Moore could identify with this atmosphere when he started going to hardcore punk gigs, which no doubt eventually inspired the heavy sound he achieved within Sonic Youth.
Sonic Youth is a tricky band to pin down as the influences that they allow to creep into their music vary greatly. They don’t just stick to a hard rock sound; they draw from noise music, heavy sounds, and, of course, hardcore punk. The latter can be heard throughout their discography.
It’s likely that Moore’s experience at what he describes as one of the greatest gigs of his life massively inspired this part of his sound. When he saw Minor Threat in the ‘80s, he described them as “The greatest live band I have ever seen.”
He also spoke about the experience of going to hardcore punk and how he thought the crowd’s atmosphere was better than regular punk shows. “The whole thing with slam dancing and stage diving, that was far more exciting than pogoing and spitting,” he said, “I thought hardcore was very musical and very radical.”
The live experience remains a quintessential part of music. It feeds us creatively and inspires us. No doubt Sonic Youth wouldn’t have wound up having the sound they did were it not for Moore experiencing those hardcore punk shows.
