As I was cruising teh internets "blog-o-sphere" over the weekend I happened upon a Dangerous Minds post reflecting on the time Sonic Youth masqueraded as Ciccone Youth.

In 1986, Sonic Youth teamed up with Minutemen/fIREHOSE bass player Mike Watt for a Madonna covers 7”. Having temporarily re-dubbed the band “Ciccone Youth” in a nod to Madonna’s disused surname, they recorded ridiculous travesties of the pop icon’s hits “Burnin’ Up” and “Into The Groove” (renamed “Into the Groovy”), with the latter introduced by way of “Tuff Titty Rap,” which gave Thurston Moore a fine forum in which to be a complete fucking goofball for 40 seconds.

Hmmmm. I can't help thinking the author kinda missed the point when he says Ciccone Youth is "some funny, funny shit." UH, Sure, it was a "funny" novelty side project, but in the '80s undergrounds bands often took the piss by bastardizing pop, and rock*; it wasn't '00s ironic, it was punk kids wanting to stick needles through the self-conscious anointed pop SUPERSTARS. By mocking pop and canonized rock songs/groups, these bands tossed a HUGE "Fuck you, jerks!" in the face of the squares. Oh well, I guess now as EVERYTHING is fucking inclusive and is automatically given merit, it makes sense for someone to recast Ciccione Youth as simply "funny," rather than noting it as a pointed piss up.

Anyway, tho' NO ONE I KNOW liked the CY single, about half the tracks on The Whitey Album, are really good. When it's serious The Whitey Album is atmospheric, weird, AND creepy, like early Chrome!!! Oh, um, "Addicted To Love," WAS recorded in a karaoke booth at a mall.

This album, before it was issued, had long been rumored to be a remake of the Beatles' Beatles album, AKA the White Album, thus its name.

* Other underground mockeries of note: the Butthole Surfers' cheeky Black Sabbath nod "Sweat Loaf" and their "offensive" album titled Hairway To Steven, Killdozer's amazingly brutal stab at Janet Jackson's "Nasty," Dinosaur Jr. blowing chunks all over Peter Frampton's "Show Me The Way," and Pussy Galore's glorious and fucked-up remake of the Rolling Stones album Exile on Main St..