Sonic Youth

Though their roots are in New York's downtown art-noise scene alongside self-consciously "serious" artists like Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham, Sonic Youth match their weird guitar tunings and impenetrable lyrics to an unfeigned fondness for trash culture and a solid rock'n'roll beat. It's no coincidence that guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo and bassist Kim Gordon only achieved greatness after Steve Shelley, one of rock's most underappreciated drummers, joined the band. While they played a crucial role in the alternative rock explosion of the early '90s -- Nirvana signed to Geffen Records primarily because Sonic Youth already had -- and flirted with mainstream stardom during this era (even guesting on one of the all-time greatest Simpsons episodes, "Homerpalooza"), the group reverted to their experimental tendencies by the middle of the decade and never suffered the burnout or diminished credibility of so many of their peers. Releasing a solid new album every two or three years while generations of post-rock outfits from Slint to Explosions in the Sky craft entire careers out of ideas they had first, Sonic Youth have achieved the kind of productive maturity more associated with jazz musicians, authors or film directors than rock bands.