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Originally Posted by luxinterior
And anyway, I think your problem is that you are mistaking familiarity for a genuine liking of the album. Just because you listen to an album hundreds of times, it doesn't mean it gets better with every listen. Surely you've heard that the definition of insanity is performing the same task over and over again, and expecting different results.
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I'm not confusing familiarity for genuine digging, for the simple reason that in most cases, for me, I get tired of most music that I listen to over and over again. In other cases, I'll love an album instantly and then it wears out. There are some exceptions for both these cases, and the most notable one (and, here, most relevant) is Sonic Youth.
I once read an early New York Times live review of Sonic Youth where the reviewer was talking about how all the dissonance allowed for people to hear different melodies, sounds and interactions within the same sonic moment. I thought such a statement was kind of an overly-intellectual approach to the music (it's the rock riffs and it's Kim, man!!! -- or whatever). Now, I kind of agree. I think there's so much non-tonal stuff going on in the early music, and such a high level of unconventional arrangement within a rockist sound in their post-DDN output that the music is really open to you hearing a lot of things with it. Therefore, even though I've liked Sister from day one and have heard it, god, I don't know how many times -- I still love it. It's not boring yet, and I've known it for four years. And then there's Rather Ripped, or some of ATL or EJSTNS and I didn't like it at first, and it's grown on me. So, for me, in Sonic Youth's case, familiarity doesn't explain it. I think finally understanding it explains it.
That said, I didn't mean to suggest that every Sonic Youth album is equal; I don't even know what that would mean, really. I just think that a lot more of their records deserve a lot more "respect" or whatever from their fanbase and especially, especially from the critical world. (Kind of funny that Christgau is their big booster these days and has been when others keep talking more and more about how "old" they are, huh?)
And also, I'll reiterate that my main goal for this essay was just to maybe (but probably not) turn some people on to some good experiences with music they may not have really given a chance to -- not to force my own tastes down their throat. I do think that almost everyone on here has a favorite SY album that they think is underappreciated by most other people/critics -- if so, you might disagree with me about Rather Ripped, but I hope you get my larger point(s).