The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Book Cover for: Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth, David Browne

Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth

David Browne

Rising from the drug-infested streets of '80s New York City, the incomparable Sonic Youth recorded some of the most important albums in alternative music history and influenced an entire generation of indie rockers.

They helped spawn an alternative arts scene of underground films and comics, conceptual art, experimental music, even fashion. More than perhaps any band of their time, they brought art previously considered "fringe" into the mainstream--and irrevocably altered the cultural zeitgeist.

Based on extensive research, exclusive band interviews, and unprecedented access to unreleased recordings and documents, Goodbye 20th Century is the definitive biography of the Velvet Underground of their generation.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Da Capo
  • Publish Date: Jun 2nd, 2009
  • Pages: 464
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.80in - 5.90in - 1.20in - 1.15lb
  • EAN: 9780306816031
  • Categories: GeneralMusic

About the Author

David Browne is a senior writer at Rolling Stone and the author of Dream Brother, widely seen as the definitive biography of Jeff Buckley. He is also the author of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young: The Wild, Definitive Saga of Rock's Greatest Supergroup; Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY, and the Lost Story of 1970; and biographies of Sonic Youth and the Grateful Dead. His 1993 New York Times article, "The Unmade Star," was one of the first major stories published on Jeff Buckley. He lives in Manhattan.

More books by David Browne

Book Cover for: Talkin' Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Slow Fall of America's Bohemian Music Capital, David Browne
Book Cover for: Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley, David Browne
Book Cover for: Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, Csny, and the Lost Story of 1970, David Browne
Book Cover for: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young: The Wild, Definitive Saga of Rock's Greatest Supergroup, David Browne
Book Cover for: So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead, David Browne
Book Cover for: Family Preparedness for the New Millennium, David Browne
Book Cover for: A Self Defence: With a Refutation of Calumnies, Misrepresentations, and Fallacies, Which Have Appeared in Several Public Prints, Evide, David Browne
Book Cover for: McQs for the New Mrcpsych Paper a with Answers Explained, David Browne
Book Cover for: Mrcpsych Paper I One-Best-Item McQs: With Answers Explained, David Browne

Praise for this book

"An expressway to the soul of the influential band."--Vanity Fair

"As much a chronicle of the combustion of music and popular culture Sonic Youth helped ignite as it is an earnest portrait of the band and examination of their work...Browne's book will suck you in...He fleshes out the personalities and occasional tensions behind the band's deadpan image."--Los Angeles Times

"The whole scene in you-are-there detail."--New York Post

"A rollicking, epic biography...Browne cannily opts to tell, in a crisp, novelistic style, the compelling story of the cultural tornado of galleries, rock clubs and unique personalities (Lydia Lunch, Kurt Cobain and Chloë Sevigny, to name a few) Sonic Youth swirled around in, the band's ongoing fight to maintain the purity of their vision, and above all, their shared passion for new ideas and sounds."--Salon

"For almost 30 years, Sonic Youth has been one of the most influential and innovative bands in the rock topography...a much-deserved biography."--Rolling Stone

"He goads the band...into uncharacteristic chattiness."--Village Voice