Sonic Youth – Teenage Riot

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  Memory:I am a student affected by the Chicago teacher strike, and this song summarizes the last week for me. Sunday night nobody knew what was going to happen. Everyone was talking but all we could do was wonder. We woke up at 5:30 A.M. to go to our school and support our teachers. Nobody was sure what would happen or if it was worth going down. When we finally got there, there were around 200 teachers and 400 students all on the lawn wearing red. The kids all got together and waved at cars and stood by our teachers. The teachers left at 10:30, but a lot of kids hung around. Teenage riot in a public station... We also all saw Rahm Emanuel as the hero of our city. Lots of people liked him, but we just painted a zero on his hand over this. We're looking for a man with the focus and a temper. We hope it works out our way, But until then the teenage riot will keep getting us out of bed to go back on the road on the riot trail.

  Flag thekid1811on September 17, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:Just getting into these guys, I'm really big into grunge and 90's proto-alternative rock so of course in that, Sonic Youth is kinda omnipresent, so I decided to give them a try, and I am not so big on their more experimental noise-rock stuff or a lot of Kim's songs yet, but what I do like, holy shit. I think these guys will be my next big band. Every so often, every person who is seriously into music comes across a song that changes the whole game... changes the way they look at music. Like, from then on, everything and the way you look at music is different. For me, that's this song. The 90's had a lot of great songs about being a fucked up, confused, crazy teenager, but I think this might be the best. I love everything about this song. The lyrics... youth, punk rock, revolution... the music is so driving and exhilirating... fuck yeah!

  Flag Tig45on March 30, 2012   Link

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  My Opinion:Kim singing We will fall in the intro could be a quote to Iggy Pop's album... Or maybe not.
  
  Anyway this song is about the need for a rebellion, for a change, for something to fight for.

  Flag Urasawaon May 04, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:Hey dude, the lyrics are like totally missing...
  
  This song is like so uplifting, it's got like this feel to it that makes you have an out of body experience.
  
  And this is a discussion about this SONG. Whoever started babbling about emo bullshit needs to get out of this post. Start a post somewhere else if you want to debate, this is about Sonic Youth's masterpiece, not about the true meaning of Emo.
  
  To clear things up on that, and to settle the argument, Emo is a stereotype. Are we going to start stereotyping music the way we do people? No. I think it's all stupid. Music sounds the way we want it to. If you choose to take it and let it burn your ears, that is your own personal choice. But to take it and label it is almost as disrespectful as labeling someone else a "retard" or a "nerd".
  
  I'm not saying that genre's don't exist. I'm just saying you guys are taking words that are supposed to define the music, and using it to insult. Not to mention there IS no emo genre, it's a punk style that is mimicked by multiple artists over and over. So please can we stop the whole Emo debate, and for once enjoy the music?

  Flag Tonagamuon February 10, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:thankyou!!! themountainman14 is completly spot on. WTF has sonic youth got to do with emo? absoloutly nothing. I mean hate the stereotype that is emo as much as every other guy on this page, but if thats the way they want to be so be it. I belive the title of this thread is "teenage riot" NOT "lets verbally bash the ironically conformist emo kids" I went on this thread because I curious as to what other people make of this song.
  
  err but not really sure what this is song is about. to me, its just about being a young stupid kid and enjoying life at the same time.

  Flag FenderPrecisionon January 19, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:Okay, I signed up to put this out there. Sonic Youth is not emo, so why the hell are you all arguing about it. It is irrelevant to the song, as are Minor Threat, Fugazi, Rites of Spring, or whatever the hell other bands you've talked about. and thus should not be in the comments. I go on this website to get an idea about the meaning of a song, not to get a bunch of kids abusing their power to post on this site to go on some anti-emo crusade, especially with bands, like Sonic Youth, who are not emo at all. I am not emo, I don't enjoy emo, but emo kids are people too, accept it. You're only slowing the progress of human equality, not to mention my search for the meaning to Teen Age Riot (which is the way I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be titled). Now we've got a bunch of Sonic Youth fans forcing their opinions against emos upon people. Meanwhile, Sonic Youth is entirely against hate. Way to betray yourselves people. There, argument settled. Can we all stop being fascists now?

  Flag themountainman14on January 01, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:[kim]
  Youre it
  No, youre it
  Hey, youre really it
  Youre it
  No I mean it, youre it
  
  Say it
  Dont spray it
  Spirit desire (face me)
  Spirit desire (dont displace me)
  Spirit desire
  We will fall
  
  Miss me
  Dont dismiss me
  
  Spirit desire
  
  Spirit desire [x3]
  We will fall
  Spirit desire
  We will fall
  Spirit desire [x3]
  We will fall
  Spirit desire
  We will fall
  
  [thurston]
  Everybodys talking bout the stormy weather
  And whats a man do to but work out whether its true?
  Looking for a man with a focus and a temper
  Who can open up a map and see between one and two
  
  Time to get it
  Before you let it
  Get to you
  
  Here he comes now
  Stick to your guns
  And let him through
  
  Everybodys coming from the winter vacation
  Taking in the sun in a exaltation to you
  You come running in on platform shoes
  With marshall stacks
  To at least just give us a clue
  Ah, here it comes
  I know its someone I knew
  
  Teenage riot in a public station
  Gonna fight and tear it up in a hypernation for you
  
  Now I see it
  I think Ill leave it out of the way
  Now I come near you
  And its not clear why you fade away
  
  Looking for a ride to your secret location
  Where the kids are setting up a free-speed nation, for you
  Got a foghorn and a drum and a hammer thats rockin
  And a cord and a pedal and a lock, thatll do me for now
  
  It better work out
  I hope it works out my way
  cause its getting kind of quiet in my citys head
  Takes a teen age riot to get me out of bed right now
  
  You better look it
  Were gonna shake it
  Up to him
  
  He acts the hero
  We paint a zero
  On his hand
  
  We know its down
  We know its bound too loose
  Everybodys sound is round it
  Everybody wants to be proud to choose
  So whos to take the blame for the stormy weather
  Youre never gonna stop all the teenage leather and booze
  
  Its time to go round
  A one man showdown
  Teach us how to fail
  
  Were off the streets now
  And back on the road
  On the riot trail

  Flag dawgg08on December 27, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:Now, now. Let's stop arguing...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ... DINOSAUR JR. INVENTED EMO.

  Flag Kermit4Prezon December 23, 2008   Link

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• 0
  General Comment:it occurs to me: Bauhaus were described as "Gothic" way back at the time of their original LPs in early '80s. and sometimes they and Joy Division were tied together, though it was an artificial association created by a few rock critics, not widely agreed upon. at the time you never heard anyone try to lump them together with, say, The Cure. by this I mean The Cure, let's say, after they released Pornography: because when Three Imaginary Boys was all they'd done, The Cure hadn't been pigeonholed yet. these bands had in common a tone which could be described as bleak or dark. not much else though.
  
  off-topic I know, but so is most of this thread

  Flag foreverdroneon June 21, 2008   Link

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• +1
  General Comment:this song is a wake-up call; it's a call-to-arms to every young person who ever wanted to pick up a guitar. i'd been listening to daydream nation for almost 20 yrs before i read "teenage riot" was about j mascis. didn't matter. you only have to hear the song. the way it rocks: that IS the meaning.
  
  my opinion--for what little it's worth--is that "emo" was once a term (rarely used except by a handful of rock critics, trying to achieve some kind of historical perspective) used to describe a very small subset of the punk-rock scene, of which Rites of Spring were the archetypal example. Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto being the singers & songwriters of Fugazi--and earlier having been members of Minor Threat and Rites of Spring (in that order)--well, this probably explains the confused attempts to tie them to something called "emo".
  
  in 2008 most people use "emo" with an entirely different meaning. with the exception of the very earliest days of goth, I have difficulty thinking of a music scene or sub-genre which appears to have no adherents: either because it doesn't exist, or maybe because the tag is being applied as an insult, by those who aren't part of the scene.
  
  by "no adherents" I mean how "emo" is such a commonly-used term, but you rarely hear someone say "I'm into emo." (except maybe among themselves?) or if a band is tagged as "emo" they never embrace the term; they explain why they're not "emo" or why they don't think it's a meaningful category.
  
  usually these terms for sub-genres flourish because members of a scene adopt them as a badge of pride. which is how "goth" changed from being a kind of insult into an actual scene. not that the scene didn't exist before, but it has been affected in some ways by having a name (though in the UK "the anorak crowd" is fairly similar, and a term which predates "goth" by a long time)
  
  this is perhaps not a great analogy, as "goth"--prior to being reclaimed as a self-chosen identity--was little more than a dismissive categorization. whereas calling someone or their band "emo", that's fighting words. so there is a difference, although it might be only a queston of degree.
  
  history suggests the longer "emo" is used as an insult, the more likely it is to become embraced by those at whom it's being hurled, and thus turn into an actual scene. so if you hate emo, it's in your best interest to stop using the word.
  
  this is even more divisive than the old "who is more punk" debates. "emo" has become an insult more stinging than "faggot". but if I were a musician--and someone implied my band (or worse, my singing) sounded like Bright Eyes--hey, I'd be insulted.
  
  this too shall pass. but until it does, it's going to (continue to) be fucking annoying.

  Flag foreverdroneon June 21, 2008   Link

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