r/sonicyouth • u/_Jub_Jub_ • 1d ago

Can someone succinctly explain the SY bassist evolution to me plz?

So I’m a major Sonic Youth fan, have been since high school, but I’m also fairly young and didn’t pay attention to the band when they started their mid 90s-2000s lineup changes.

I’ve read GIAB and Sonic Life, so I know that around the time of Experimental Jet Set, Kim focused on being tbe band’s third guitarist moreso than a bassist, and stayed that way. But, of course, songs like Bull in the Heather and The Diamond Sea had bass on them, before they ever adopted a 5th member.

I also think that around the SYR era, Jim O Rourke played bass sometimes? And was kind of in the band? And so was Mark Ibold until they disbanded? This is where my knowledge wanes; I have no idea what years after ‘94 who was playing what instrument. If someone could give me a short timeline or just info on what band members played what during and after (and a bit before) the SYR era, I’d appreciate it.

TLDR: Dumdum fan wants a timeline of the members and what instruments they played, as specific or general as you’re willing to get. Thanks!

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u/Barilla3113 1d ago

O'Rourke was a full member of the band from 2000 until 2005. He'd play bass when Kim played guitar and vice versa. Ibold was then their bassist from 2006-11.

As for who played bass on the pre-O'Rourke records when Kim had guitar parts, Kim. Unlike other Alternative bands Sonic Youth embraced post-production very rapidly. One person can play multiple parts and you just overlap the tracks in mixing.

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u/JuliusDiamond 19h ago

Didn't Thurston play bass on a couple early SY tracks? Can't remember which ones but seems like that happened?

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u/asktheages1979 10h ago

Yes, a number of them. Refer to these, which were done carefully by an obsessive fan who studied their parts and arrangements for years, to the point that the band has included all his analyses on their own site:
http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/tab/tuning.html
http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/tab/

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u/asktheages1979 1d ago

Wait, what's an example of a song where Kim plays both a complete guitar part and a complete bass part? I thought Sonic Youth generally kept the records fairly faithful to what they could reproduce live.

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u/_Jub_Jub_ 1d ago

Oh, I actually didn’t know they utilized post-production like that. I mean, I knew they would do more than two guitar tracks on songs, I guess I just didn’t add up that they had entire guitar lines dedicated to parts they feasibly couldn’t plag live as a 4 piece. Good to know, thanks!

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u/asktheages1979 1d ago

I'm not sure that they did tbh. If you look at the tunings page that someone else linked, or the tab archive at http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/tab/ , It seems fairly clear who's playing what. Dirty is a good album to refer to because all three parts are clearly separated in the stereo field - generally Lee is left, Kim is centre, Thurston is right. On "Swimsuit Issue", you can hear them all playing guitar, with no bass part that I can identify. On "Theresa's Sound-World", it's pretty clear that Kim is playing bass in the centre. I think they might have possibly layered some additional feedback but there aren't complete bass and guitar parts from Kim. And Dirty was one album where Butch Vig pressed them to accept more post-production stuff than they were used to. I'm not sure what the other poster is referring to, honestly - I don't think SY were ever into post-production to nearly the extent that a lot of other alternative bands (e.g. MBV) were.

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u/asktheages1979 1d ago

Or compare "Drunken Butterfly" and "Wish Fulfilment", which both have three guitars (though Kim's playing is more limited on the latter), with "Shoot" and "Sugar Kane", which both have two guitars plus bass, with all the parts crystal clear each time.

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u/gitty7456 1d ago

From my menory, and put in an easy way 😁Kim did play only bass until Dirty (included)… then she did play both guitar and bass until NYC Ghosts & Flowers, and after that mainly guitar.

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u/carsconvergeonparis 1d ago

She played only bass on Rather Ripped.

Exception of Rats, which was all Lee.

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u/cocogoldenpoo 1d ago

Thurston played bass on Rats

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u/carsconvergeonparis 19h ago

Maybe yeah. I read that.

I just don’t remember.

I recorded that album literally 21 years ago.

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u/Dreamer_Dram 1d ago

That’s why Rather Ripped slaps.

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u/carsconvergeonparis 1d ago

In about 2 weeks I’ll get to post my “it’s been 20 years since I recorded this banger of an album” if I remember, I’ll probably forget.

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u/LibraryShawn 1d ago

Contributors to Wikipedia have done the heavy lifting for you. Scroll down to Members and there's even a handy timeline graphic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_Youth

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u/SuperbParticular8718 1d ago

To add to this: http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/tab/tuning.html

On this chart, the person who played bass on each song from Goo onwards is indicated with the word ‘bass’ (except on the Eternal, which as you already mentioned was Mark Ibold)

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u/_Jub_Jub_ 1d ago

Perfect, thanks!!

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u/VomitingDuck 18h ago

I heard that part of the reason they brought in Ibold was because Kim's arthritis was getting worse and making it harder for her to play bass. That may be pure rumor though.