Teen Age Riot by Sonic Youth

Who says that alternative bands aren’t supposed to make epic double albums? Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation was a benchmark of late-‘80s underground and perfectly captured the band’s dual nature. There were energizing rock outbursts within the walls of noise, and the record hit like an energizing call to arms—just a slightly twisted and impressionistic one.

Sure enough, the leadoff track “Teenage Riot” begins with an odd come-hither from bassist Kim Gordon (when she sings “we will fall,” she’s quoting Iggy & the Stooges), and turns into the closest thing to a rock anthem that SY had yet recorded.

According to the band, the song is a vision of the future when Dinosaur Jr. leader J Mascis is elected President. If you like this, go explore the rest of the album.

Proving that inter-band relationships can work, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon have been married since 1984.

Get to know the song, because it’s near-impossible to play unless you know what’s coming. Improvisation is a key element in Sonic Youth’s music, so the guitar parts evince a jazz-inspired sense of spontaneous logic.

Likewise, Steve Shelley’s drum part is probably tougher to play in Rock Band than it would be in real life, because you have to reproduce fills that were likely created at the spur of the moment. In a live band you could fake your way around the fills, but hitting the precise gems will require a lot of practice runs.

Lineup still intact, nearly two decades after this track was recorded.