Customer Reviews
My favorite SY record - By: holdyourlight, 31 May 2008 
This is the first SY record I've heard (about another 10 followed), & it's still my personal favorite. This time there are actual "songs"in here! Sometimes you can even sing along!! Isn't it strange for a SY record? There are a lot of songs, & a lot of GOOD songs (if not all). It's groovy, heavy, & it's got a definite 90's sound.
That's a good place to start, if you haven't heard anything else by Sonic Youth. It's not "that" weird as the rest of their albums. For me, Sonic Youth never did better than that.
A revelation - By: T. Engan, 26 Dec 2007 
Dirty was the first album i bought with this great band.Never heard the music before or the band.So when i started to listen, i imidiately fellt that this was something really special. Now i have heard the album over & over, & the music grows & grows, its getting better & better. I cant hear anythingin this cd, to critizize, to complain about.The mucicianship are on the highest level, Kim Gordons voice stunning, & the other singing too. I think i have found a treasure. The energy, the darkness, a great drummer,the walls of noise---i could go on....If the other albums of the band are good as this, it would be sensational.BUY IT.
I love you, I love you, I love you, what's your name? - By: Cuban Heel, 26 Aug 2007 To be fair, Sonic Youth are a bit of an acquired taste. I don't agree that they produce tuneless music, but their melodies are not as immediate as some of the other bands of their ilk - not as harmonious as say The Pixies or Nirvana. But this is a great album, straight from the New York school that bridges the gap between the Velvet Underground & the grunge scene they briefly became a part of.
'100%' is pure garage rock, swampedin a wall of feedback; 'Sugar Kane' is a churning epic that blusters along nicely; 'Theresa's Sound World' is more reminiscent of Neil Young or REM for some reason - it just has that rural American indie feel to it. The highpoint is perhaps 'Drunken Butterfly' which sounds almost like a lost Velvet Underground classic with a deranged Nico giving vent to some twisted stream of consciousness.
This album is definitely one to check out. But play it loud - it makes more sense that way...
Excellent as usual - By: Klingy, 08 Aug 2006 Dirty is one of Sonic Youth's more accessible records & as such it's an ideal starting point for new listeners looking to get into this hard-rocking band.
The songs on Dirty are short, angry, lean, tight & muscular. They are shot through with an urgent, breathless energy. The whole album has a punchy, chunky, straightforward sound & a clean Butch Vig production that admittedly sets it closer to Lollapalooza-era alternative rock than to previous Sonic Youth albums like EVOL, Sister or Daydream Nation. My only slight reservation is thatin straying so close to Nirvana's grunge/punk territory, they don't sound as instantly distinctive as they do on, say, Sister, so it's not necessarily the most representative album of what Sonic Youth are about.
By the Youth's avant-garde art-rock standards these songs are relatively catchy, poppy & radio-friendly, but please don't let snobbery getin the way of a great rock album. There is so much to enjoy here, & there's still plenty of hard-rocking white noise for feedback fanatics to savour. Highlights include Kim Gordon's seductive, menacing Shoot; the brutal, hard-as-nails punk tantrums Swimsuit Issue & Drunken Butterfly; & the classic singles 100% & Sugar Kane.
Rock on!
dirty delight - By: C. DOUGHTY, 23 Mar 2004 In all honesty this isn't SY's greatest record but as all the recordsin their brilliant, diverse & ecclectic back catalogue go this surpasses most alt rock records of the 90's.from beginning to end this record oozes with classic track after genius guitar riff intertwined with lush feedback & wonderous vocal performances.Maybe not the extreme experimental avant innovation of bad moon rising or evol but still a pure & mesmerising record. youth against facism & j.c are excellent examples of the drive sonic youth posses once they sit behind the wheel of the unknown. to the point nothing new really here from Sonic Youth but still exciting enough to make you stop listen, admire, praise & then worship.in other words a fine offering of grunge, avant garde post punk pre rock revolution madness.
