After gaining a large underground following and critical praise through releases with SST Records in the late 1980s, the band experienced mainstream success throughout the 1990s and 2000s after signing to major label DGC in 1990 and headlining the 1995 Lollapalooza festival.

The band disbanded in 2011 following the separation and subsequent divorce of Gordon and Moore with their final live shows taking place in Brazil.

[4] Shortly after guitarist Thurston Moore moved to New York City in early 1977, he formed the group Room Tone with his roommates; they later changed their name to the Coachmen.

[6] Moore and Gordon formed a band, appearing under names like Male Bonding,[7] Red Milk,[7] and the Arcadians[8] before settling on Sonic Youth[9] in mid-1981.

Their performance impressed Moore, who described them as "the most ferocious guitar band that I had ever seen in my life",[6] and he invited Ranaldo to join Sonic Youth.

[13] Anne DeMarinis was in Sonic Youth for a brief period in 1981 as a keyboardist when they performed for the first time at the Noise Fest at the White Columns art space.

The material was released as the EP Sonic Youth which, while largely ignored, was sent to a few key members of the American music press, who gave it uniformly favorable reviews.

[18] During a second tour with Swans the following month, tensions ran high and Moore constantly criticized Bert's drumming, which he felt was not "in the pocket".

[19] Bert was fired afterwards[20] and replaced by Jim Sclavunos,[21] who played drums on the band's first studio album, 1983's Confusion Is Sex, which featured a louder and more dissonant sound than their debut EP.

Eventually, as the press began to take notice of the genre, Sonic Youth was grouped with bands like Big Black, the Butthole Surfers, and Pussy Galore under the "pigfucker" label by Village Voice editor Robert Christgau.

[24] Closing a second European tour in late 1983, Sonic Youth's disastrous London debut saw the band's equipment malfunction and Moore destroying it onstage in frustration.

[26] The following year, Moore and Gordon were married, and Sonic Youth recorded Bad Moon Rising, a self-described "Americana" album that served as a reaction to the state of the nation at the time.

Bad Moon Rising featured an appearance by Lydia Lunch in "Death Valley '69", which was inspired by the Charles Manson Family murders.

[29] While the New York press ignored Bad Moon Rising upon its 1985 release, now viewing the band as too arty and pretentious, Sonic Youth gained critical acclaim in the United Kingdom, where the new album sold 5,000 copies.

Robert Palmer of The New York Times declared that Sonic Youth was "making the most startlingly original guitar-based music since Jimi Hendrix" and even People reviewed EVOL, describing the album as the "aural equivalent of a toxic waste dump.

[39] Sister sold 60,000 copies and received very positive reviews, becoming the first Sonic Youth album to crack the Top 20 of the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll.

In 1993, the band contributed the track "Burning Spear" to the AIDS benefit album No Alternative, produced by the Red Hot Organization.

[50] By that time, alternative rock had gained considerable mainstream attention, and the festival was parodied in The Simpsons episode "Homerpalooza" in 1996, which featured voiceovers from the band.

[53] The album Washing Machine was released in 1995 and represented a shift in Sonic Youth's sound, away from their punk rock roots and toward experimental and longer jam-based arrangements.

[58][59] Forced to start from scratch with new instruments, they released the album NYC Ghosts & Flowers in 2000 and opened for Pearl Jam during the east coast leg of that band's 2000 tour.

[61] The following year, Sonic Youth participated in the first outing of the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival and curating the ensuing compilation album.

[63] During this period the band participated in the production of the documentary film Kill Your Idols, directed and produced by Scott Crary and covering the history of punk rock in New York City.

Rather Ripped was released in 2006 and was noted as a return to the band's earlier sound, due both to the departure of O'Rourke and the recovery of some of the instruments that had been stolen in 1999.

[69] On May 9, 2006, Kim and Thurston made a special guest appearance on WB teen drama show “Gilmore Girls” (season 6, episode 22), performing an acoustic version of their new song, “What a Waste”, alongside their daughter Coco.

[77] In 2010 the band scored and composed the soundtrack of the French thriller-drama Simon Werner a Disparu, which premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival.

[79] Sonic Youth's label Matador explained that plans for the band remained "uncertain", despite previously hinting that they would record new material later in the year.

[80] Sonic Youth performed their final concert on November 14, 2011, at the SWU Music & Arts Festival in Itu, São Paulo, Brazil.

[88] Sonic Youth was heavily influenced by the Velvet Underground,[89] the Stooges, MC5,[90] Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, La Monte Young,[91] Neil Young, Yoko Ono, French avant-gardist Brigitte Fontaine,[92] Patti Smith, Wire,[93] and Public Image Ltd.

Members of the band have also maintained relationships with other avant-garde artists from other genres and even other media, drawing influence from the work of John Cage and Henry Cowell.

Black Emperor,[103] Shane Embury of Napalm Death,[104] Slowdive,[105] Dinosaur Jr.,[106] Teenage Fanclub,[107][108] Mogwai,[109] Placebo frontman Brian Molko,[110] Quicksand and Rival Schools frontman Walter Schreifels,[111] Ride,[112] Jawbreaker,[113] ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead,[114] Polvo,[115] Something for Kate,[116] Superchunk,[117] Metz,[118] Jawbox,[119] Pg.