Daydream Nation | 
| Artist: Sonic Youth
Label: Geffen Records
Category: Music
List Price: $9.98
Buy Used: $3.45
You Save: $6.53 (65%)
New (47) Used (26) Collectible (4) from $3.45
Rating:  155 reviews
Sales Rank: 4116
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.7 x 0.4
MPN: 24515
UPC: 720642451526
EAN: 0720642451526
ASIN: B000003TAL
Release Date: November 23, 1993
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Visible scratches. No-Hassle return policy. Domestic orders ship First Class with tracking information. All international orders ship Airmail.
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| Tracks:
| • | Teen Age Riot | | • | Silver Rocket | | • | The Sprawl | | • | 'Cross the Breeze | | • | Eric's Trip | | • | Total Trash | | • | Hey Joni | | • | Providence | | • | Candle | | • | Rain King | | • | Kissability | | • | Trilogy: The Wonder | | • | Trilogy: Hyperstation | | • | Trilogy: Eliminator Jr. |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential recording
The essential New York rock band of the post-punk era, Sonic Youth care as much about the quasi-symphonic, microtonal art-guitar music of composers like Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca as they do about the rock-song form, and with Daydream Nation, they struck their greatest balance between the two. The songs hover gorgeously for extended lengths, letting guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo intertwine fragile tonalities as carefully as it's possible to do at wall-shaking volume, while Moore and bassist Kim Gordon's untutored voices disaffectedly intone words that flirt with pop stupidity, high-art eloquence, and urban cool. When they bear down and rock, they do it with a blurry intensity that finds gorgeousness at the heart of discord. --Douglas Wolk
Album Description
Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Universal. 2008.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 150 more reviews...
 Third best alt / indie rock album of the 80s April 3, 2005
TimothyFarrell22 (Massachusetts)
28 out of 32 found this review helpful
This is the masterpeice of the 80s alternative / indie rock scene right after the Pixies' "Surfer Rosa" and "Zen Arcade" by Husker Du. Sonically, it is an incredibly raw and distorted album, sort of like Velvet Underground and the Stooges combined. The most impressive thing about this album is, despite its massive length of seventy minutes, it all works incredibly well, and is never, ever boring. Stunning masterpeice, the pinnicle of Sonic Youth's career.
Musings From A Total Idiot. November 2, 2002
Emma
23 out of 27 found this review helpful
Daydream Nation is considered a classic album, but it never makes those "100 Greatest Albums" lists because they need to save room for the 18 Beatles albums that will undoubtedly be on there (Nothing against the Beatles, it's just like, "How many spaces do you need?!?"). Anyway, like I was saying, it's thought of as a classic album and rightfully so. Simply put, this is the most perfect collection of sounds I have ever heard. Everything on this album is exactly as it should be. A balance between chaos and structure. Blah, blah, blah. You know the deal.
***
Another good thing about this album is that music snobs like it, so you can bring it up in casual conversation and be accepted into their elitist scene. Cos there's nothing cooler than hanging out with a guy who pretends to like Radiohead. And Sonic Youth influenced a lot of Grunge-era bands, so if you meet someone who's really into Nirvana or something, you can sniff and tell them how derivative you think Kurt Cobain and the Gang were.
***
So ... shell out the $$. Trust me. It's worth it. Just promise to give it a couple listens before you make up your mind. Cos it's a really complex album like that. And if you don't like it? Well, forget you! Go listen to Papa Roach or something.
like a car careening off the highway into the abyss January 6, 2003
22 out of 27 found this review helpful
I can't describe the total grip this album had on me when I first bought. At the time I was a complete XTC fan. I got hooked on this the first time I listened to it. I was in college at the time and it sounded like I felt. Slow guitar intros into mindbending songs where little snippets of lyrics/truth can be made out. Little bits of truth/lyrics keep coming through the static haze of the songs. Its as if Sonic Youth were there with me on my journey peering into the darkness/abyss and describing it and guiding me. This album continues to surprise me, noone else will ever come close to this sound. I sometimes feel the power and surge of the guitars on this album are the best ever recorded or maybe I was just high. This is Sonic Youth at full power barrelling down the highway, heading off the cliff into the abyss .... thanks for the ride. Anyway, If you are a new fan get this and Sister and Thousand Leaves.
 This Record Sounds Way Cool . . . November 1, 2006
Rich Latta (Albuquerque, NM - Land of Entitlement)
22 out of 28 found this review helpful
. . . that is, if you're tone deaf. SY fans will immediately poo-poo my review for that statement, but let it be a warning to new-bes thinking about purchasing this album because of all the high praise it gets.
I actually like a lot of radical, tripped-out and avant-garde music, such as Faust, Mr. Bungle and Death, for example. And while I'm not exactly a fan, I really do like a fair amount of Sonic Youth, such as the eerie, trippy "Shadow of a Doubt" from EVOL and the epic, extended zone-fest "The Diamond Sea" from WASHING MACHINE along with quite a few of the tracks from their experimental SYR series of EPs.
While I'm well aware that my opinion is way outside the conventional views of Sonic Youth, I still strongly believe that DAYDREAM NATION gets a lot more credit than it deserves, I suspect in part because some people jump on the critical bandwagon in a vain attempt to look cool. I actually think their previous album SISTER is stronger and more paletable. Their major-label debut, GOO, does absolutely nothing for me but I do think there's some cool stuff on their next record, DIRTY, especially "100%" and "Drunken Butterfly."
One could say DAYDREAM NATION "rocks," but it's just so gratingly atonal and annoying, especially when Kim Gordon opens her mouth. To be perfectly honest, most of their music could be described that way. I think their later albums are typically more artistic, more listenable and generally better, but no doubt many fans prefer the alien F-U radicalism of their earliest material.
SY deserves props for their fearless experimentalism and severely art-damaged, strangely tuned, feedback-drenched guitars. But this band has an extremely limited appeal for good reason. Approach with caution.
I'm sure my review of DAYDREAM NATION does not conform to the vast majority of opinions by Sonic Youth fans, but I bet plenty of non-fans would agree with it. Whatever the case, it's my honest opinion.
THE GREATEST ALBUM EVER! December 28, 1999
Christopher Kingman (Seattle, WA USA)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
the strength of sonic youth is their ability to blend the avant-garde and experimental aspects of their roots in the no wave scene active in new york in the late seventies, along with their more recent free jazz influences, with brilliant pop song structure and form. they take the energy and sincerety of early punk rock and experimental pioneers, and use it to make accessible pop gems, and no album more successfully bridges these two worlds as daydream nation. sitting at the crux of their earlier, more dissonant and experimental work released on independent labels in the 80s and their subsequent move into the pop world and the mass market with their jump to a major label in the early 90s, daydream nation is the height of their career. the song forms are extended and intricate, but buried inside them are beautiful pop hooks and engaging lyrics. the intricate interplay between guitarists thurston moore and lee ranaldo is nothing short of magical, as is the way songs dissolve and coalesce, flowing smoothly from noisy jam to concise melodies. the album is also extremely well balanced in mood, moving from energetic rockers ('Cross the Breeze, Eric's Trip), to more poignant reflective moments (Candle, The Wonder). throughout however, sonic youth maintains an integrity and strength of conviction that is impossible to ignore, and translates into some of the most convincing music ever. this album is definately a must have for anyone who is a serious music fan, no matter what your favorite genre is.
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