Daydream Nation

Shows where no wave's experimental instincts led, synthesizing the scene's whole legacy into songs that are both ambitious and accessible.

Daydream Nation, the 1988 double album, established Sonic Youth as alternative rock icons and proved that no wave's experimental instincts could produce work that was both ambitious and genuinely accessible. It synthesized everything the band had absorbed from Glenn Branca and the Artists Space generation—alternate tunings, prepared instruments, noise treated as a compositional tool—into songs that still sounded like songs, a balance the band had been working toward since Confusion Is Sex.

Where to start with NYC No Wave