Song · Sonic Youth
“Bull In The Heather” by Sonic Youth
From the album Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star (1994)
“Bull In The Heather” by Sonic Youth appears on 19 radio countdowns from 15 stations between 1994 and 2025. It was first released in 1994 on the album Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star. Its best result is #58 on the Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1994. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #68 alternative song of 1994 and #3,164 alternative song of all time.
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"Bull in the Heather" went to radio in April 1994 as the lead single from Sonic Youth's eighth album, Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star, and it's the band at their most slyly minimal. Kim Gordon wrote the words and half-speaks, half-breathes them. She has described it as a song about passivity as a form of rebellion, a flat refusal to take part in a male-dominated culture, and the title nods to a racehorse, Bull Inthe Heather, that won the Florida Derby in 1993.
The whole band wrote the music: Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo's guitars chime and scrape in a tight, tangled loop, while Gordon's bass and Steve Shelley's drums keep a cool, loping pulse. Butch Vig produced, recorded and mixed it, with John Siket engineering. Rolling Stone's Barbara O'Dair called it enigmatic, which is about right.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 65 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1994 | 107 |
| 1994 | 77 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1994 | 91 |
| 1994 | 58 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1994 | 106 |
| 1994 | 80 | Q101 Chicago, IL | Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1994 | 101 |
| 1994 | 90 | WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD | WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1994 | 100 |
| 1994 | 65 | Triple J Australia (national) | Triple J Hottest 100 of 1994 | 100 |
| 1994 | 84 | Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) | Radio & Records Top 94 Songs of 1994 | 94 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 296 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995) | 500 |
| 1999 | 776 | Q101 | Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1017 |
| 1999 | 775 | 107.7 The End | The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1077 |
| 1999 | 917 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) | 1002 |
| 2002 | 1630 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2004 | 311 | 107.7 The End | The End Original Alternative 500 (May 2004) | 500 |
| 2005 | 608 | 99X | 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) | 1000 |
| 2007 | 284 | KROQ | KROQ Top 500 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 2007) | 500 |
| 2021 | 873 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s | 908 |
| 2022 | 285 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s | 900 |
| 2023 | 715 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s | 893 |
| 2025 | 326 | WFPK | WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '90s | 500 |
Also listed as: Bull in the Heather.
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