Trilogy: The Wonder, Hyperstation, Eliminator Jr.

The final track on Sonic Youth's 5th LP Daydream Nation is a three song jam called "Trilogy." The three segments are titled The Wonder, Hyperstation, and Eliminator Jr.

How do you end one of the most influential albums in music history? What was going through the bands head when deciding on the track listing for what could have potentially been the bands last and final record? How do you bring everything you have spent building for the last 6 years to a grinding halt? Easy, take three songs that were not going to be on the album, and make it one song. 14 minutes......

By the end of the recording process, the band had many untitled jams that were not going to be used for the record. Sonic Youth managed to peice together three of Thurstons contributions because they all sounded veyr similar to each other and flowed neatly. If the band had not distinguished the three sections, the listener would never know. Ending on a long, yet high note is something the band is known to do. So far, "Expressway To Yr Skull" had been the only record ending opus, but this way of ending an album will repeat several times in the next 20 years.

The album gets is name from "Hyperstation." The line "day dreamy day in a day dream nation." Thurston enjoys rhyming random words together, even if he is not making any real clear sense. Kim explained that the title was going to come from a line in a song, so they jsut wrote out a list of potential titles derived from all the songs. "Daydream Nation" won the vote.

The "Trilogy" manages to take everything the band had worked towards and lump it into a 14 minute opus. Daydream Nation is the top of a mountain. After 5 records, the music had evolved the place they wanted to take it. Art punk became the Sonic Youth sound. ANy band that can take noise and turn it into pop music deserves recognition. And that is why Daydream Nation was added to the United States Library of Congress Popular Music Preserve List in 2006. It's just that good people!

"Trilogy" was played nightly during the 1988'89 tour. It was retired, never to be heard again until 2007 when band decided to do a tour playing the album from start to finish. All 14 minutes of it.

Daydream Nation is the end of an era and the start of a new one. By the end of 1989, the band went around world and began going in a brand new yet obvious direction. Music was about a to change in a way Sonic Youth would have never imagined in 1982. In just under a year, their cult-like status will change to god-like, with help of a guy named Kurt.