Thurston Moore’s moved on
Sonic Youth was once the most beloved experimental rock band in the world, and Thurston Moore and the band’s co-leader, Kim Gordon, its most beloved couple. Moore and Gordon split in 2011 after 27 years of marriage, amid rumors that Moore was involved with another woman. Sonic Youth didn’t last very long after that. Moore has since released a handful of solo and group projects, including the new album “Rock n Roll Consciousness,” recorded with My Bloody Valentine’s Debbie Googe and Moore’s former bandmate Steve Shelley.
Moore talked recently about his new album and the end of Sonic Youth. The following are excerpts from that conversation.
On moving to London
I sort of followed my heart there. My girlfriend was living there, and I moved in with her and I created a life there. I formed a group there to do recordings and touring, and it has subsequently become an established group for me. I kind of allow a lot for intuition in this kind of thing, and I sort of follow that with some modicum of adult responsibility.
On his new album’s comparatively accessible, not quite commercial sound
I equate commercialism with money, and I’ve never, ever done music for money. Even when Sonic Youth would be asked to do soundtrack music, I never thought of it as a way to make money, even though that was what it was all about sometimes. So it’s very possible I’ll never become a major music star because I don’t really care about money, even though I like to have it in my pocket. I was asked sometimes in Sonic Youth, “If you clean it up a little bit, you guys could be the Pink Floyd of post-punk.” And it was like, “No, I want to sound like the B-side of the first Damned single.” I’m not going to base what I do on any other model. You just have to be yourself and see what happens.
On Sonic Youth’s last days
I don’t think we were thinking final record during those last years. It was never really decided that was the case. I think maybe I personally was thinking that because I knew my life was changing in the personal realm, and I knew it would probably change things radically, so I wasn’t really surprised that Sonic Youth ceased to be a working group. But I didn’t feel like the plug was pulled artistically on the group. I think we said quite a bit, and I feel really proud of it. It’s one of the greatest things in my life. I have it tattooed on my arm since the 1980s, “Sonic Life.” That’s my story. So when people come up and give me commendation about Sonic Youth and what it meant to them, that’s the best part of my day.
“I think we said quite a bit, and I feel really proud of it.” — Thurston Moore, on Sonic Youth