Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Disconnection Notice

The second song on the album Murray Street is called "Disconnection Notice."

While the band was making murray Street, the placed a webcam in the studio so you could watch them recording. It was on at all hours of the day and night and was pretty cool when you flipped it on and saw Jim, Lee or Thurston sitting at the mixing board. Pretty cool stuff.

In late 2001 Thurston told Rolling Stone that they were under no obligation to deliver a new record but have not heard from the label since the end of the previous year. Even with no label interest in a new record, the band went ahead on recording, after all, Geffen gave them the money to build Echo Canyon, the studio that sits on Murray Street.

I have always thought that this song was about Sonic Youth's relationship with Geffen. The 90's were over and the ever evolving music business has cast a shadow on on the early nineties, but the world has had a taste of Sonic Youth long before 1991. Part of me wants to think this song was about getting dropped with the line "did you get your disconnection notice? Mine came in the mail today." The next few lines "they're telling me that i'm disconnected" which could refer to Sonic Youth's place in popular culture or mainstream music. On paper the band looks terrible, but in eyes of the fans and record buyers, Sonic Youth were rock and roll gods. This explains Thurstons "what if" approach to the record.

"Disconnection Notice" was debuted in September 2001 as an instrumental. It has been played sporadically since the 2002-03 tour.

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