“I was stunned by how they transcended everything about how great a rock band can be, just by utilising barre chords”: The punk band that most inspired Thurston Moore
Every musician, no matter how big they eventually become, has that one artist they looked up to in the beginning who gave them the confidence that they, too, could follow in their footsteps and become a musical success.
As guitarist in Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore invariably looked up to the great punk names that came before him, and he says none were more influential on him than the Ramones.
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Asked in a new feature with Uncut about the band which offered him the greatest sense that he could create a musical career for himself, he replies: “Possibly the Ramones.”
“I was stunned by how they transcended everything about how great a rock band can be, just by utilising barre chords. That minimalism attracted me to such a degree that I thought, ‘This is what I wanna do.’
Moore adds that it was how he perceived frontman Joey Ramone as “awkward” which “validated my own awkwardness”.
“I totally related to Joey because he was as tall, if not taller than I was, and his physical demeanour was even more seemingly uncoordinated, so it was completely alluring. It validated my own awkwardness.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Moore recalls the advice Neil Young gave Sonic Youth when they toured together in 1990.
Elsewhere in the interview, Moore recalls the advice Sonic Youth were given by Neil Young during their early career.
“There was a time when Neil came storming into our dressing room, knowing that we were going to be on The David Letterman Show and were having issues about sound limitation and how long we could play,” he recalls.
“Our songs were notoriously longer than three minutes, and we were told we could only play at a certain volume in the studio, so we were contemplating whether it was worth our while or not.
“Neil got wind of this and was like, ‘Don’t have those bastards ever tell you what to do! When I was on Saturday Night Live, they tried to tell me to turn down. I locked the door to the green room, didn’t watch one minute of the show, then came out and turned the amps up.’
“So that’s what we did. I always took that advice – if somebody tells you to turn your amp down, just do the opposite.”
Thurston Moore will release his new solo album Flow Critical Lucidity on 20 September. For more info, head to his official website.
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