Dirty
Studio album by Sonic Youth
Released	July 21, 1992
Recorded	Early 1992 at The Magic Shop and Sear Sound, New York
Genre	Alternative rock, noise rock
Length	58:45
Label	DGC
Producer	Butch Vig, Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth chronology
Goo (1990) Dirty (1992) Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star (1994)
Singles from Dirty
"100%" Released: July, 1992 "Youth Against Fascism" Released: December, 1992 "Sugar Kane" Released: February, 1993 "Drunken Butterfly" Released: August, 1993

Dirty is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released on July 21, 1992, through record label DGC.

Recording [edit]

For Dirty, Sonic Youth worked with producer Butch Vig. On the album's sound, Pitchfork Media opined that "they weren't entirely catering to the new ears Nirvana's success was sending their way", but "were at least taking it into consideration on a semi-conscious level."^[1] During his first meeting with the group, Vig told the band that he wanted to tighten the song arrangement and focus on crafting the guitar sounds. Vig quickly landed the producer job for the record.^[2] During a visit to the apartment of Sonic Youth members Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, Moore told Vig he wanted the album to sound like an obscure Mecht Mensch single Vig had produced. The band sent a series of cassette tapes to Vig in late 1991 featuring its new compositions. Vig was pleased but also uncertain, as the tapes consisted of long instrumentals where the producer was unable to discern the song structures.^[3] The second batch of cassettes Vig received demonstrated that the band had performed some self-editing with its compositions.^[2]

Vig moved to New York City for three months in early 1992, booking studio time at the Magic Shop studio.^[2] Vig felt pressure about working with the group: he noted that his friends' expectations that the record would be "amazing" "sneak into your psyche". Vig also found it difficult dealing with the Fender Jazzmaster guitars the band favored, which easily went out of tune. Vig made the band perform multiple takes for songs, a practice the band did not always like but did regardless.^[4]

After recording was completed, the album needed to be trimmed down from nineteen tracks. Moore, Gordon and the band's A&R person, Gary Gersh, agreed that the song "Genetic" by guitarist Lee Ranaldo would be removed. Ranaldo did not react well to the decision: coupled with personal issues he was facing at the time, it led him to consider leaving the group. After a few weeks the matter settled and Ranaldo stayed with the band.^[5]

Track listing [edit]

All songs written and composed by Sonic Youth (Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo, Steve Shelley, except as noted. 

Release [edit]

In the wake of the success of Nirvana's 1991 album Nevermind, DGC pushed Dirty heavily. Lead single "100%" was not the crossover hit the label anticipated; Geffen Record executive Mark Kates admitted the single "was not a great radio song". At Kates's urging, "Youth Against Fascism" was released as the album's second single. The single did not sell well or receive airplay; Kates referred to the decision as "one of the biggest professional mistakes of my life".^[6]

Critical reception [edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Robert Christgau	A[8]
Entertainment Weekly	A[9]
Rolling Stone	[10]
Pitchfork	8.6/10[1]
Piero Scaruffi	7/10[11]

Dirty was generally well-received by critics. AllMusic called it "a damn good rock album, and on those terms it ranks with Sonic Youth's best work. "^[7] Entertainment Weekly praised the album, calling it "possibly the finest hour (59 minutes, actually) from this New York noise & roll band. It is also much-needed proof that the old-fangled concept of a rock guitar band can still result in vital, undeniably moving music", ending the review with "At this point, every other rock & roll album that visits our planet this year will have a hard time topping [Dirty]. "^[9] Rolling Stone opined that Dirty "easily rank[s] with Daydream Nation and Sister" as "the band's most unified and unforgettable recorded works. "^[10]

Trouser Press saw Dirty as a big improvement over Goo, which the publication saw as "failing miserably".^[12] Piero Scaruffi, while opining that the records Sonic Youth released after the 1980s have "failed to improve over [that] model and failed to find the same magical balance of elements", he cited Dirty as a better album than Goo.^[11]

Accolades [edit]

Dirty was deemed the best album of 1992 by Entertainment Weekly.^[13]

Personnel [edit]

Chart positions [edit]

References [edit]

Bibliography

• Browne, David (2008). Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81515-7. 

External links [edit]

• Dirty (Adobe Flash) at Radio3Net (streamed copy where licensed)
• Dirty at Discogs (list of releases)