During the 1980s Sonic Youth brought the fringe a little closer to the mainstream, editing the inspiration of Glen Branca's noise symphonies into rock songs of a most unconventional nature. Nationally recognized rock critic David Browne writes knowingly and interestingly about the band's husband-wife core of Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon (who have led an orderly life in the eye of their own musical storm), the sources of the band's sound and the alternative scene that embraced it. Browne ranged widely for contemporary observations on the band, including a 1981 review from Milwaukee's Express by Paul Host, now better known as a WMSE DJ, comparing Sonic Youth to The Cure.
Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth
(Da Capo), by David Browne