From the Vaults Friday: Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation (1988)

The Year: 1988
The Album: Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
Who It Influenced: Nirvana, Hole, Pavement, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Mogwai, Blonde Redhead, No Age

With the imminent release of Sonic Youth's 16th LP, The Eternal —their first for new label Matador— what better time to look back at their double-album magnum opus, Daydream Nation.

Sonic Youth’s decade-long reign as the American rock underground’s Godheads of the ’80s came to an almighty culmination on this monolithic double-album. Marrying circuit-frying guitar wattage, modernist experimentalism, ad-hoc lyric poetics, and almost jazz-like sense of 'in the moment' communal creation, Sonic Youth laid down two weighty slabs of black wax that served as foundation for a whole generation of irregularly-tuned guitar-rockers.

And Sonic Youth are, without doubt, one of the most influential of all alt-rock acts. From peers like Dinosaur Jr., The Flaming Lips, and Yo La Tengo, to new-millennial noiseniks like Liars and No Age, Sonic Youth have served as a source of inspiration for countless outfits. It seems particularly telling that one song on Daydream Nation, "Eric's Trip," loaned its name to a band that, themselves, have become semi-legendary in certain, Sub Pop-lovin' circles.

Listening to the LP, now, I get the feeling that its influence is still out there, lingering; like some sort of Pet Sounds for the noise-rock crowd.

• Full review: Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
• Top 10 Alternative Starter Albums