Focus on Thurston Moore – Why him ?

As rhythmic guitarist/singer/songwriter of Sonic Youth Thurston Moore is the main contributor of a major band in post-punk and noise rock. That’s already a good reason to talk about him. But I think he’s a major indie guitarist because of his contributions to experimentation and songwriting as well as his charisma.

Experimentation

With his bandmate Lee Ranaldo they were pioneers in the field of bright use of dissonance, noisy and drone sounds, alternate tunings, altered cheap guitars, which all became then characteristics of indie rock.
His artistic approach is prominent, especially for his search of new sounds and tones. He got unpromising gear and experimented new open tunings that resulted in innovative and unprecedented guitar tunes.

Songwriting

Experimentation is key for an indie guitarist but the genius of Thurston Moore was to mix that experimentation with pop influenced songwriting that birthed indie rock and influenced so many bands.
Plus Thurston Moore and Sonic Youth succeeded one of the hardest challenges for a band and an artist nowadays – they have lasted for a long time and they have managed to keep a high level of songwriting all along. Sonic Youth released 15 studio albums from 1983 to 2009, proceeding far from mainstream and sometimes getting closer but always keeping their artistic integrity.

Charisma

It’s hard to measure and evaluate charisma. But Thurston Moore’s charisma can be first seen in the influence he had on other major indie rock actors.
Sonic Youth inspired many indie bands, including famous ones like Nirvana – their bassist Krist Novoselic said in 1992 “We wanted to do as good as Sonic Youth…” or The Strokes as 1994 single ‘Bull In The Heather’ directly influenced The Strokes’ 2003 single ’12:51′ (in fact, “I’m totally ripping it off,” Julian Casablancas would later admit). It was also a time when bands used to tease each other, e.g. Sonic Youth’s landmark “Teenage Riot” famously imagines a world where J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr is president. So they globally influenced many musicians like post-punkers, shoegazers and noise rockers. Also their DIY approach encouraged a generation of artists to reclaim their gear and not be slave of it.
Awards can also be an indicator. And Moore was awarded several times. He was ranked 34th in Rolling Stone’s 2004 edition of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. In May 2012, Spin published a staff-selected top 100 ranking Moore and his Sonic Youth bandmate Lee Ranaldo together on number 1.

So let’s find out more about him in the next posts…