“Teenage Riot” by Sonic Youth

"Teenage Riot" was the first single from Daydream Nation, Sonic Youth's 1988 album, and it's the moment the band met modern rock radio halfway: the first of their songs to get serious airplay there, and the one that pulled a much bigger crowd into their orbit.

Kim Gordon's voice drifts in over a haze of chiming guitars, then Thurston Moore takes over lead vocals and the band shifts into gear, Moore and Lee Ranaldo's guitars ringing, tangling and surging over Steve Shelley's steady drive and Gordon's bass. It's one of the most recognizable and straightforward things they ever did, a blissed-out anthem that never loses its edge. All four members share the writing credit, and Nick Sansano produced with the band.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later counted it among its 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll, and it showed up in the game Rock Band 2. It also had the last word: Sonic Youth closed their final show with it, at the SWU Music & Arts festival in Paulínia, Brazil, on November 14, 2011.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.