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 the Minutemen/fIREHOSE member Mike Watt.

The band never played live, but 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 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 contains cover songs by various artists, in particular a cover of "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer, which was recorded in a karaoke booth.

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.

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