Early American

The third and final song on side-B of Kill Yr Idols is song called "Early American."

Even though the band was trying to move away from free form jamming, Early American represent an "orchestrated" jam. This track could have easily been left over from the "Confusion" sessions but recorded during the 2 track sessions months later.

Thurston has commented that this is one of favorite recordings the band has done, strangely, it was only performed on the European tour of November 1983. It was used as a segue into "Burning Spear" and can be heard on the Live In Venlo Holland bootleg.

Brother James

The second song on side B of the Kill Yr Idols EP is called "Brother James."

Not much information in this song exists and I'm not really sure what it is about. Sonic Youth has been known to draw influence from other outside sources but "Brother James" has some surreal lyrical content. "Take my hand he said to me" starts the song. I have always thought this song was about drugs and being seduced into the power of being in an altered state of mind.The line "brother james gave it to me" being repeated leads me to believe this when the next line says "take my hand you might as well, were going straight to hell!"

"Brother James" has remained in the live set since 1983. Out of the 9 shows I have attended, the song has been played 5 times. Pretty constant huh? "Burning Spear" is the only other song from this era that has survived throughout the years but does not get as much play as "Brother James." Reason? lets face it, its their best song from this era and represents evverything the band was trying to accomplish in its early years.

This video is from 8-27-04 from the Sonic Nurse Tour in Paris.

Kill Yr Idols

Shortly after finishing the LP "Confusion Is Sex", Sonic Youth went back to Warton Tiers to record 3 brand new songs. The sessions were done in two days with a complete live take that was recorded straight to 2 track. The end result was the Kill Yr Idols EP.

With a European release of Confusion looming ahead, a German label called Zensor decided to release the EP ahead of time in order to get some hype for the LP. "Protect Me You" and "Shaking Hell" were offered up on the A-side as a preview of Confusion. The song "Kill Yr Idols" was the first song on side B.

Its all about press. Thurston prefers any press wether its good or bad but after a slandering remark saying that avant garde music is good in theory but never comes to life put Thurston is a tale spin. He then wrote a letter to the Village Voice saying "before every show we walk down 32st street and suck Glenn Branca's dick to take in all the genius"

The song says "i don't know why you want to impress Christgua, let that shit die, kill yr idols, sonic death, its the end of the world your confusion is sex!" Thurston meant this as a come back to Christgua writing and wrong assessment of the band and of the whole art scene in general. Sort of a "we're not gonna take it" done in a SONIC way. The original title was "I Killed Christgua With My Big Fucking Dick"

"Kill Yr Idols" quickly became one of Sonic Youth's defining songs. The verse chorus structure shows the band moving in a more "song" structure and not relying on extended noise jams. The song was done in two takes live, a method Lee wished they had done for the entire Confusion record.