(Thurston, Kim, Lee and Steve celebrate the pre-O’Rourke Era by inventing the wheel, discovering fire and publishing the Steve Guttenberg Bible).

Far be it for me to take issue with any opinions expressed in a magazine devoted to selling $350 pairs of jeans, especially a publication as terrific as the new Nylon For Men (which could also be called “Nylon With The Same Typography As Vice”). Musicologist April Long, however, is on shaky ground when she says the following of New York’s Sonic Youth :

“Source point for pretty much every band that has ever done anything creative with a guitar.”

So fuck off Television, Derek Bailey, Sonny Sharrock, the Ramones, My Bloody Valentine, Yo La Tengo, Gang Of Four, the Jimi Hendrix Experiece, John Fahey, the Yardbirds, Velvet Underground and the Grateful Dead, then. And that’s the shorter than short list.

Even taking into account the number of widely influential guitar bands pre or post-Sonic Youth, the above claim takes typical hyperbole into the What The Fuck stratosphere. Surely there are enough positive things about Sonic Youth that are actually true that could be cited, (ie. the way they all released solo albums on the same day) even in the limited space alloted?

This issue of Nylon For Men wasn’t a total waste of time, however — and I do applaud the publishers for finally putting out a magazine especially for men —- for instance, I learned the more a pair of jeans looks like someone threw up all over them, the more the retailer can charge.