Sonic Youth

Not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Eligible since: 2008

First Recording: 1982

Previously Considered? Yes  what's this?

Sonic Youth
HALL OF FAME INDICATORS
Rolling Stone 500 Albums
Rolling Stone 500 Songs
🔲Rolling Stone Cover
🔲Saturday Night Live
Major Festival Headliner
🔲Songwriters Hall of Fame
🔲“Big Four” Grammys
500 Songs That Shaped Rock & Roll
Nat'l Recording Registry
Rolling Stone
100 Greatest Guitarists
Rolling Stone
50 Greatest Bassists

Inducted into Rock Hall Revisited in 2008 (ranked #131) .

R.S. Top 500 Albums (?)RankVersion
Daydream Nation1712020
Goo3582020
Daydream Nation3282012

R.S. Top 500 Songs (?)RankVersion
Teenage Riot (1988)1572021

Essential Albums (?)WikipediaYouTube
Evol (1986)
Sister (1987)
Daydream Nation (1988)
Goo (1990)
Dirty (1992)
Sonic Nurse (2004)

Essential Songs (?)WikipediaYouTube
Starpower (1986)
Schizophrenia (1987)
Teenage Riot (1988)
'Cross the Breeze (1988)
Kool Thing (1990)
Dirty Boots (1990)
100% (1992)
Bull in the Heather (1994)

Sonic Youth @ Wikipedia

Will Sonic Youth be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?
"Musical excellence is the essential qualification for induction."
Yes: 
No :


Comments

11 comments so far (post your own)

Hugely productive and beyond seminal band that has done a great job making sure their legacy will stand up over time. Daydream Nation is one of the great musical statements of the last 25 years, the Library of Congress has codified it in its "American music" classics catologue, and the 25th anniversary is coming up fast -- October 2013. This anniversary will be a great hook for them next year.

As much as I like bands like Janes Addiction, Yes, KISS or Cheap Trick, New York Dolls (not in any order), I have a feeling Sonic Youth just might be recognized before them all. Maybe along with Deep Purple next year? Can you imagine the mind-blowing version of "Smoke on the Water" that would erupt out of that? Can't wait to see it ...

Although I might have to.

Posted by JDM on Monday, 05/20/2013 @ 20:29pm


Uh oh - Janes' Nothing's Shocking 25th anniversary release date is coming up, too -- in August 2013. Nirvana's Bleach is then in June 2014. Wonder how all this is going to flesh out. Hopefully, not with Sonic Youth getting the snub, but it seems the most likely thing.

Nirvana's first single would be in November 1988, Love Buzz, but then, not too many people heard it until a couple of years later. Cripes, Dave Grohl wasn't in the band until 1990. Is Nirvana really going to be eligible on the next/current ballot?

I would have them wait a year, until 2015 ceremony.

Posted by JDM on Monday, 05/20/2013 @ 20:44pm


Better than your favourite band and long overdue.

Posted by Chalkie on Saturday, 09/7/2013 @ 12:20pm


It be a shame if a band like Radiohead gets inducted before Sonic Youth. KISS proved the whole thing is kind of a farce. The future of this thing will be more about ticket sales and eyeballs for HBO.

Posted by Channing on Sunday, 06/1/2014 @ 12:09pm


I can't believe they haven't been inducted yet. Nirvana's in and SY not? What, Thurston Moore should have died at 27 to make it?

Posted by BulmaPunkRocker on Sunday, 07/6/2014 @ 22:48pm


Daydream Nation is such a great album. It just leaves you Thurston for Moore.

Posted by Max on Wednesday, 10/19/2016 @ 21:53pm


What's worse than Nirvana beating Sonic Youth in to the RRHOF? Frickin' Pearl Jam beating Sonic Youth in. At least Nirvana was a great band. Pearl Jam is warmed over Bad Company riffs for drunken frat boys and Cubs fans to feel "deep".

Posted by David on Friday, 12/23/2016 @ 14:39pm


Song Project Essential Song Snubs. (Food for thought if someone needs something to nominate)

Schizophrenia (1987)
Candle (1988)
Dirty Boots (1990)
100% (1992)

Posted by Paul K. on Sunday, 11/12/2017 @ 15:00pm


Sonic Youth doesn't get enough credit for shaping the alternative music scene of the late 80's-1990s. Although they are one of the rare female fronted bands. There's much more to them than female eye candy. Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore are like the Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham of the 90s, and not because they're a woman and a man performing songs together. Like Nicks/Buckingham, they have chemistry while they perform. So, give SY a chance, Rock Hall.

Posted by Liam on Monday, 06/15/2020 @ 13:00pm


In my opinion they'll probably get in within the next decade.

Posted by David on Wednesday, 02/24/2021 @ 09:02am


Just another WTF moment, brought to you exclusively from Rock Hall!?

Posted by Tim on Tuesday, 12/28/2021 @ 18:58pm


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Future Rock Legends is your home for Sonic Youth and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, including year of eligibility, number of nominations, induction chances, essential songs and albums, and an open discussion of their career.


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