Starbucks to Release Sonic Youth Celebrity Compilation
Thurston: "We asked all these different people to choose their favorite Sonic Youth song. Jeff Tweedy, Beck, Marc Jacobs, Portia de Rossi, Michelle Williams ... Starbucks is the new record store, right?"
When Pitchfork called up Thurston Moore for an interview, we expected to chat about his forthcoming solo record, as well as Sonic Youth's legendary 1988 album Daydream Nation, recently reissued and being taken on tour this summer (including, as you know, a stop at the Pitchfork Music Festival).
And we did chat about that-- a whole lot-- and we can't wait to let you know everything Thurston said. But you're just going to have to wait until Monday, because in the middle of our interview, Thurston dropped a bomb...
Pitchfork: Is Sonic Youth working on any new material right now?
Thurston Moore: No, no. We kind of need to record a song for this Starbucks record that's coming out.
Pitchfork: For, uh, Starbucks?!
Thurston Moore: Yeah. We sort of devised this idea of a Sonic Youth record where we asked all these different people to choose their favorite song, people like artists and actors and other musicians and what have you. So all these people, from Jeff Tweedy to Beck to Marc Jacobs to Portia de Rossi to Michelle Williams [laughs], they all chose their favorite songs and wrote a little thing about it. So it's a compilation record of artists choosing songs of Sonic Youth. There's going to be one exclusive song of ours that we'll record, so that's something we have to record.
Pitchfork: So it's going to be one of those things up at the counter along with the biscotti and the disc of Elton John's favorite Christmas songs?
Thurston Moore: [laughs] Yeah, something like that. I wish Starbucks would ask me to compile a mixtape record.
Pitchfork: That would be ... interesting.
Thurston Moore: I love doing that stuff. But you know, it's so funny, because Starbucks is the new record store, right? [laughs]
Pitchfork: Yeah. I guess if you're in there buying a four dollar cup of coffee, the idea of throwing down a few more for the CD seems like no big deal.
Thurston Moore: Exactly, or getting the Paul McCartney gift card, you know. It's attractive, in a way [laughs]. I like these underground bands that only make records and stuff that they sell only at gigs, and it's only available if you go to the gig to their merch table and they advertise it on their site and at different blogs and they'll list all these things like "edition of 50, only available on this little tour we're doing." So if you're a fan you kind of got to go to get the merch.
Well, there you have it. A Sonic Youth album... for Starbucks.
We'll give you the weekend to think that over. Stay tuned for much, much more from Thurston on Monday, when we'll run the full interview.