Ciccone Youth

Ciccone Youth is an experimental band which was formed in 1986. It is a side project of Sonic Youth members Steve Shelley, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo, and Thurston Moore, with Minutemen/fIREHOSE member Mike Watt.

The band's name is a play on the names "Sonic Youth" and "Ciccone", the original surname of pop singer Madonna.

Band history

While the band has never performed live, they have released two records. The first was released on New Alliance Records in 1986, and consisted of three tracks: "Into the Groove(y)" (a cover of Madonna's hit "Into the Groove", incorporating snippets of her recording) and the short "Tuff Titty Rap" on the A side (both performed by the Sonic Youth members), and "Burnin' Up" (performed by Watt with additional guitars by Greg Ginn) on the B side.

The Whitey Album

The second record was a full-length album called The Whitey Album on Blast First Records in 1988, incorporating the previously released 3 tracks. It was rumored to cover songs by The Beatles, but actually only contained three cover songs: "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer (recorded in a karaoke booth), and "Burnin' Up" and "Into the Groove" by Madonna.

Relation With Sonic Youth

The Sonic Youth album Sister, released in 1987, also contains material heavily influenced by Ciccone Youth. One such example is "Master-Dik", in which Moore mentions Ciccone Youth several times.