Teen Age Riot

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The opening track of Sonic Youth’s 1988 opus Daydream Nation, “Teen Age Riot” is a sort of call for the underground audiences of New York to unite, according to Pitchfork. … Read More

Oct. 18, 19881 viewer104.5K views

Teen Age Riot Lyrics

[Intro: Kim Gordon]
You're it
No, you're it
Hey, you're really it
You're it, you're it
No, I mean it, you're it
Say it, don't spray it
Spirit desire (Face me), spirit desire (Don't displace me)
Spirit desire, we will fall
Miss me, don't dismiss me
Spirit desire
Spirit desire, spirit desire
Spirit desire, we will fall
Spirit desire
We will fall
Spirit desire, spirit desire
Spirit desire, we will fall
Spirit desire
We will fall

[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 1: Thurston Moore]
Well, everybody's talkin' 'bout the stormy weather
And what's a man to do but work out whether it's true?
Looking for a man with a focus and a temper
Who can open up a map and see between one and two

[Chorus]
Time to get it
Before you let it get to you
Here he comes now
Stick to your guns and let him through

[Verse 2]
Well, everybody's comin' from their winter vacation
Takin' in the sun in an exaltation to you
You come runnin' in on platform shoes
With Marshall stacks to at least just give us a clue

[Verse 3]
Ah, here it comes
I know it's someone I knew
Teenage riot in a public station
Gonna fight and tear it up in a hypernation for you

[Chorus]
Now I see it
I think I'll leave it out of the way
Now I come near you
And it's not clear why you make the way

[Verse 4]
Lookin' for a ride to your secret location
Where the kids are settin' up a free-speed nation for you
Got a foghorn and a drum and a hammer that's rockin'
And a cord and a pedal and a lock, that'll do me for now

[Verse 5]
It better work out
I hope it works out my way
'Cause it's gettin' kind of quiet in my city head
It takes a teenage riot to get me out of bed right now

[Chorus]
You better look it
We're gonna shake it up to him
He acts the hero
We paint a zero on his hand

[Instrumental Bridge]

[Verse 6]
We know it's down
We know it's bound too loose
Everybody's sound is round it
Everybody wants to be proud to choose
So who's to take the blame for the stormy weather?
You're never gonna stop all the teenage leather and cooze

[Chorus]
It's time to go 'round
A one-man showdown, teach us how to fail
We're off the streets now
And back on the road, on the riot trail

About

The opening track of Sonic Youth’s 1988 opus Daydream Nation, “Teen Age Riot” is a sort of call for the underground audiences of New York to unite, according to Pitchfork.

The song imagines what would happen in an alternate reality if J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. were President of the United States, alluded to by his famous use of Marshall stacks and platform shoes.

Given these factors, it would seem the overall message the song is trying to convey is that it’s time for the various underground scenes of New York to come together and make themselves known to the mainstream. Sonic Youth, beyond the shadow of a doubt accomplished this, as they would go on to have the most recognizable careers of the 90s.