Goo (album)

Untitled

Goo is an album by alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on June 26, 1990. A remastered version was released in 2005.

Goo was the first album released after the band signed to major label Geffen Records. Their albums became more accessible and less experimental, but still retained their trademark collage of noise.

Songs

The album's lead track, "Dirty Boots", evokes old blues slang in its declaration that "It's time to rock the road/And tell the story of the jelly rollin'."

"Tunic (Song for Karen)", written and sung by Kim Gordon, is about singer Karen Carpenter and her anorexia:

I feel like I'm disappearing

Getting smaller every day

But when I open my mouth to sing

I'm bigger in every way

It imagines her in heaven, happy, playing the drums again and meeting new friends Dennis Wilson, Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin.

The album featured the single "Kool Thing", on which Chuck D from the rap group Public Enemy guested. The song is purported to be about the disillusionment that Gordon experienced after interviewing LL Cool J for Spin Magazine the previous year. "Are you going to liberate us girls from male, white, corporate oppression?" Gordon asks in the song. "Kool Thing" became the song that many casual music fans associate with the band.

The album's title derives from the song "My Friend Goo", a portrait of a friend who "sticks just like glue":

My friend Goo has a real tattoo

She always knows just what to do

She looks through her hair like she doesn't care

What she does best is stand and stare

The song "Mildred Pierce" is an homage to the 1945 film Mildred Pierce starring Joan Crawford, and/or the 1941 novel by James M. Cain on which the film is based.

Track listing

Original release

1. "Dirty Boots" (lyrics/vocals Moore, backing vocal Gordon) – 5:28
2. "Tunic (Song for Karen)" (lyrics/vocals Gordon) – 6:22
3. "Mary-Christ" (lyrics Moore, vocals Moore and Gordon) – 3:11
4. "Kool Thing" (lyrics/vocals Gordon, guest vocals Chuck D) – 4:12
5. "Mote" (lyrics/vocals Ranaldo) – 7:37
6. "My Friend Goo" (lyrics/vocals Gordon, backing vocal Moore) – 2:19
7. "Disappearer" (lyrics/vocals Moore) – 5:08
8. "Mildred Pierce" (lyrics/vocals Moore) – 2:13
9. "Cinderella's Big Score" (lyrics/vocals Gordon) – 5:54
10. "Scooter + Jinx" – 1:06
11. "Titanium Exposé" (lyrics/vocals Moore and Gordon) – 6:24

Deluxe edition

Disc one

1. "Dirty Boots" – 5:29
2. "Tunic (Song for Karen)" – 6:21
3. "Mary-Christ" – 3:11
4. "Kool Thing" – 4:06
5. "Mote" – 7:37
6. "My Friend Goo" – 2:20
7. "Disappearer" – 5:08
8. "Mildred Pierce" – 2:13
9. "Cinderella's Big Score" – 5:54
10. "Scooter + Jinx" – 1:05
11. "Titanium Expose" – 6:34
12. "Lee #2" – 3:31
13. "That's All I Know (Right Now)" – 2:20
14. "The Bedroom" – 3:42
15. "Dr. Benway's House" – 1:17
16. "Tuff Boyz" – 5:39

Disc two

1. "Tunic" – 6:45
2. "Number One (Disappearer)" – 4:59
3. "Titanium Expose" – 4:45
4. "Dirty Boots" – 6:38
5. "Corky (Cinderella's Big Score)" – 7:51
6. "My Friend Goo" – 2:34
7. "Bookstore (Mote)" – 4:16
8. "Animals (Mary-Christ)" – 3:02
9. "DV2 (Kool Thing)" – 4:20
10. "Blowjob (Mildred Pierce)" – 8:52
11. "Lee #2" – 3:34
12. "I Know There's an Answer" – 3:10
13. "Can Song" – 3:17
14. "Isaac" – 2:45
15. "Goo Interview Flexi" – 6:03

Personnel

• J Mascis – additional backing vocals (tracks 2, 5, 6)
• Don Fleming – additional backing vocals (tracks 1, 7)
• Nick Sansano – production

Trivia

• Kim's spoken word from the middle of "Kool Thing" is sampled in Ssion's cover of The Birthday Party's "Nick the Stripper" on the Release the Bats tribute album.
• The song "Kool Thing" appears on the Beat Generation documentry The Source while Dennis Hopper reads excerpts from William S. Burroughs' book Naked Lunch.
• The song "Kool Thing" also appears in the video game True Crime: New York City
• The song "Kool Thing" also appears in the Hal Hartley film Simple Men.
• The song "Kool Thing" also appears in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, as a master track.
• The popular cartoon: Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends features an episode called "My Friend Goo".

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1990	Official UK Albums Chart	32
1990	Billboard Top 200	96

Singles

Year	Song	Chart	Position
1990	Kool Thing	Modern Rock Tracks (US)	7
1990	Kool Thing	UK Singles Charts	81