Sonic Youth entered the 1990s with their place in music history assured. By applying standards of cacophony cribbed from their original No Wave peers and concepts of alternate tuning pioneered by avant-garde classical composers Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca to ferociously rocking songs, the NYC-based quartet had already renewed the potential of guitar-based rock music. But on Goo, their second major label release, they determined to seize the brass ring of pop stardom without giving up their abrasive sound and owned by no one stance. The hooks of "Dirty Boots" and "Kool Thing" may have been bigger and bolder, but the rackets they churned up on "Mote" and "Scooter and Jinx" (which is composed of the sound of Thurston Moore's guitar amp blowing up) were as dense as ever. All three of the band's singers brought indelible melodies, but a pair of tunes voiced by bassist Kim Gordon most effectively managed to both embrace pop culture and subject it to skeptical analysis. The subject matter of "Tunic (Song For Karen)"—Karen Carpenter's death from anorexia nervosa—was bound to grab attention. But instead of a punk trashing of an MOR figure, it delivers an astute and compassionate view of the family dynamics that contributed to Carpenter's illness. The song's image of Carpenter jamming in a heavenly band with Jimi Hendrix pushed back against sexist diminutions of her talents. And "Kool Thing" simultaneously celebrated the rapper LL Cool J, took him to task for his sexism, and poked a little fun at Gordon's own politics. Grand Funk Railroad may have proclaimed, "We're an American Band," but Goo may be the most American record album ever. For what could be more American than wanting to have it all? © Bill Meyer/Qobuz