Thurston Moore
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Kim Gordon
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Lee Ranaldo
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Steve Shelley
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X-Drummers
Profiles

Chan Marshall
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The Story of the Sonic Youth - The Mid 80's

During this period Sonic Youth developed
their distinctive style with a emphasis on the
sound textures. Bad Moon Rising, on which
Bob Bert drums, clearly marks this trans-
formation, with on the one hand the loud
Death Valley'69 but also the refined way in
which the greater part of the songs flow into
each other. Repetition and development
on themes become more predominent in the
music. After the European BMR tour Bob
Bert was replaced by Steve Shelley as the
drummer for the band. Steve had been a great fan of the band and his influence on their
development is apperant in the first album on which he drums EVOL. There is a much
greater variation of styles on EVOL than on previous albums. The name of the album is
a reference to the theme of accepting multiplicity, rather than expressing opposed dualisms
(EVOL spelling LOVE backwards). Thurston explains this as: 'Our nature is to bring together
good and evil in a single element'. The band had also moved to SST record label during this
period. This label was founded by Black Flag, Henry Rollans former punk band.