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UNBELIEVABLE: Sonic youth | History Defined

Girls in bands: two 90s rock icons on romance, ruthlessness and boring men

In the 1990s, Melissa Auf der Maur played bass in two of the decade’s most notable rock bands: Hole and Smashing Pumpkins.

The Conversation

There's now a massive archive of thousands of indie rock gig recordings online, and it's awesome

Want to listen to Nirvana, Nick Cave, Sonic Youth or The Cure gigs from the '80s and '90s? Allow us to introduce you to your favourite new online archive

Louder

“The first time Sonic Youth went to England, people hated us: ‘Oh, you’re playing guitar? That’s so old-fashioned’”: Alt-rock icon Kim Gordon on the secret to making great music on bad guitars and why she never saw herself as a bassist

Returning with solo album Play Me – a stinging broadside against the modern age – the alt-rock talisman remembers the bad guitars andrenegade tunings of her ’80s breakout with Sonic Youth

Guitar World

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‘She sounded like the cosmos breathing’: David Byrne, Flying Lotus and more on the greatness of Alice Coltrane

The radical work of the musician and composer was dismissed by sexist critics and overshadowed by the legacy of her late husband John. But today, musical stars from Doja Cat to David Byrne all champion her experimental sound

The Guardian - UK

‘The male ego is even more fragile than it ever was’: Kim Gordon on shyness, AI and Zohran Mamdani’s cool

As she releases her new solo album, Play Me, the former Sonic Youth star answers your questions on acting for Kristen Stewart, doing Basquiat’s photocopying, and who really invented punk rock

The Guardian - UK

“My life was going down the toilet. I was trying to stay out of everybody’s way, just to finish what I’d started." The story behind the troubled birth of Foo Fighters' second album, The Colour And The Shape

Despite countless setbacks and obstacles, Dave Grohl emerged from Kurt Cobain's shadow with a clutch of songs that primed Foo Fighters for stadiums

Louder

‘A lot of late 70s bands wore grey. But we were determined to have fun’: the return of the mega-influential Swell Maps after 46 years

Championed by the BBC’s John Peel and signed to Rough Trade, the band were punk when that meant DIY, psychedelia and prog as well as screaming chords. What’s more, they loved Pink Floyd …

The Guardian - UK

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“I never saw myself as a bassist. I haven’t played bass since the last Sonic Youth gig”: Why Kim Gordon has stopped playing the bass – despite being an icon of the instrument

Gordon's work with Sonic Youth cemented her reputation as a modern pioneer of the bass guitar – but she hasn't picked one up in over 10 years

Guitar World

Post your questions for Kim Gordon

The Sonic Youth musician will answer your queries ahead of the release of her third solo album Play Me

The Guardian - UK

Kooler than ever: Kim Gordon on punk, Kurt and slopaganda

In Sonic Youth she destroyed the rock mainstream alongside Nirvana in the 90s, and now as a blistering solo artist she’s continuing the fight against autocrats, algorithms and music that sucks

Evening Standard

"If we were legendary for anything, it was for bringing Jello to a show and getting it all over the monitors." The story of the hate song that kick-started the entire grunge movement

A song about a disintegrating relationship, Swallow My Pride spread ripples that are still being felt today

Louder

“Flamenco-inspired triplets, big trap beats, and – wait – is that a wah solo?” January 2026 Guitar World Editors’ Picks

Featuring an onslaught of leviathan power chords from Sunn O))), a bruiser of a blues rock romp from Jared James Nichols, a beautiful, heartfelt piece of desert blues from Imarhan, a genre-obliterating piece of twisty guitar genius from Tim Henson, and a whole lot more

Guitar World

"The thing that influenced me most was the news. We are in some kind of ‘post empire’ now, where people just disappear." Sonic Youth legend Kim Gordon announces new album Play Me, shares new single Not Today

Kim Gordon's follow-up to 2024's The Collective is incoming

Louder

“It stacks brilliantly and the additional modes are super useful”: DOD Overdrive Preamp 250-X review

The DOD 250 gets modernized, with two additional modes. Is the workhorse showing its age? We find out.

Guitar World

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The Guardian - UK

‘I almost always play it in hiding, alone’: can anyone get into free jazz, history’s most maligned music?

Even though he’s partial to hideous noise, free jazz is mostly unknown to the Guardian’s pop critic. A new guidebook from Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore may change his mind

The Guardian - US

‘I’m all for instilling more playfulness’: the unusual musical world of Stephen Prina

The uniquely irreverent artist, whose work includes everyone from Mozart to Sonic Youth, has a career retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art

Operation Sports

Skate Reveals Updated Soundtrack for Season 1

New tunes!

MusicRadar

"We went to Memphis, ate a lot of barbecue, went to Al Green’s church on Easter Sunday, made some hot jams!”: Sonic Youth are teasing activity of… some kind in 2026, revolving around their Washing Machine

Band have shared fond memories of recording the 1995 album

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Louder

Sonic Youth are teasing fans with the promise of something coming in 2026

Band's official social media accounts make a Washing Machine-related post – which is shared by Kim Gordon

The Independent UK

From Little Richard to Strauss: David Bowie’s favourite tunes revealed as new exhibition opens

Influential musician was a fan of Jeff Beck, Sonic Youth and The Beatles

Louder

These were David Bowie's favourite songs, according to a note found while amassing his new V&A archive

Bowie picked songs by The Beatles, Roxy Music, Little Richard, Sonic Youth and more

Guitar World

“I never felt comfortable in standard. In some ways I felt more pressure because the world was so full of great players in standard – I had no interest in competing with them”: Thurston Moore on Sonic Youth’s Sister, and moving from junk guitars to Fender

The NYC noise-rock pioneer looks back to 1987, a time when Sonic Youth were growing up in public and expanding their vocabulary of alternate tunings

Evening Standard

Music legend defies Trump's banned-word blacklist in explosive viral song - watch before it's pulled!

Conservatives have labelled the move ‘digital vandalism’ as streaming platforms considered banning it

Guitar World

“I hadn’t been playing guitar for that long. I’d just make up chords with the least amount of fingers possible”: In 1985, J. Mascis was a beginner guitarist stumbling upon a sound – yet Dinosaur Jr.’s debut would shape a generation of players

Recorded in a cabin in the woods, Dinosaur Jr.'s debut was the sound of a beginner guitarist stumbling upon on guitar tone that would influence a generation of players

Guitar World

“Our guitars were so bad, we couldn’t make them work for us. Glenn came over to my apartment with six guitars, three under each arm, and threw them onto the futon”: Sonic Youth are now alternate tunings icons – but the band opted for them out of necessity

The noise-rock icon is famous for his love of weird tunings, but that fixation only happened with a little help from one of the NY art-rock scene’s biggest innovators

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