1991: The Year Punk Broke (1992)

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1991: The Year Punk Broke (1992) – D. Markey

A tour diary of sorts from Sonic Youth’s two-week visit to Europe (with support act Nirvana) to play various big festivals, edited and “directed” by Dave Markey who had also done some of their music videos.  At first, when I realized there would be horsing around between each song, I thought “this is going to be too much wankery” – but as things progressed, I found that Markey’s editing of the backstage goofin’ and the various European locales (and fans and radio interviewers etc) actually moved at a pretty good clip and the video experimentation (with color and sound) throughout added value.  But you come for the music and I must say that these are some pretty fantastic Sonic Youth performances with songs drawn from throughout their early repertoire (Schizophrenia, Expressway to Yr Skull, I Love Her All The Time, Brother James, Dirty Boots, Mote, Kool Thing).  Also featured (just to raise the nostalgia value for those who were, say, 23 to 25 years old, in 1991) are Nirvana, Dinosaur, Babes in Toyland, Gumball, and (briefly) The Ramones. This vid is unafraid to get noisy. Those were the days that make me think “bionic ear” and, of course, miss you friends.