Sonic Youth Offer Reward For Return of Gear

Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo has posted urgent messages on a number of websites stating that all of the band's equipment had been stolen from a Ryder truck parked at a Ramada Inn in Orange County, Calif., sometime during the night of July 3. To the band's credit, they performed their show at Orange County's This Ain't No Picnic using borrowed equipment, but much of the seminal art-noise band's sound is derived from modifications they've made to their own gear.

The band is offering a reward for the recovery of their instruments, and they can be contacted via email at Mascaras66@aol.com, or call their representative, Aaron Blitzstein, at 212-343-2314. The band still has three more shows before they return home to New York City, including two nights in Austin, Texas, on July 7 and 8, and a performance in Santa Fe, NM, on July 10. The band will play those final dates with rented equipment, according to their spokesperson.

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Star Trek' Is Crazy Good
• 
  TV 10 Shows to Watch This Summer
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter