Goo

Goo is an album by alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on June 26, 1990. A remastered version was released in 2005.

Goo was the first album released after the band signed to major label Geffen Records. Their albums became more accessible and less experimental, but still retained elements of a trademark collage of noise. Many songs on Goo start and end abruptly; a departure from Daydream Nation which was known for its long, psychedelic guitar intros and outros.

Songs

The album’s lead track, “Dirty Boots”, evokes old blues slang in its declaration that “It’s time to rock the road/And tell the story of the jelly rollin’/Dirty boots are on/Hi de ho.”

The second track, “Tunic (Song for Karen)”, is about Karen Carpenter, a female rock drummer who died from anorexia nervosa. It imagines her in heaven, happy, playing the drums again and meeting new friends Dennis Wilson, Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin.

The album featured the single “Kool Thing”, on which Chuck D from the rap group Public Enemy guested. The song is purported to be about the disillusionment that Gordon experienced after interviewing LL Cool J for Spin Magazine the previous year. “Are you going to liberate us girls from male, white, corporate oppression?” Gordon asks in the song, but receives only hipster gibberish in return. “Kool Thing” became the song that many casual music fans associate with the band.