Death Valley '69

Album: Bad Moon Rising (1984)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Death Valley '69" is a collaboration between Sonic Youth and Lydia Lunch, who worked in a subset of punk rock known as "no wave" - very loud and discomfiting. She wrote and performed the song with the band.

    The song is filled with disjointed images - a Chevy, someone named Sadie - and takes place in Death Valley, California in 1969. The word "death" and musical tone lead many to believe it's a rather evil song, but Lunch says it isn't. "That's a happy pop song," she said in a Songfacts interview. "Read into it what you will. Evil? I guess. I have far more malignant material than that. More terrifying, that's for sure."
  • Appearing on Sonic Youth's second album, Bad Moon Rising, "Death Valley '69" was their first single. The group never aimed for mass appeal but found a devoted audience and earned steady airplay on college radio. Many bands cited them as an influence, including Nirvana, Pavement, and My Bloody Valentine.
  • The first Sonic Youth music video was for this song. Directed by Richard Kern, it's filled with gore, as we see the band members if various states of dismemberment. The lead in the video is Lung Leg, the actress/model who appears on the cover of their 1986 album Evol.
  • The album was named after the 1969 song "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. "The Creedence song 'Bad Moon Rising' was all about the negative energy of America around the time of Vietnam and to revisit that was exciting and subversive," vocalist Thurston Moore told Mojo magazine. "It allowed us to continue our interest in nihilism."

Comments: 1

  • Clif from The Mountains Of The WorldBeen a listener of Sonic Youth from their first releases. I'm a professional artist. oil painter. I've heard that Gerhard Richter had something to do with album.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.

Richard Marx

Richard MarxSongwriter Interviews

Richard explains how Joe Walsh kickstarted his career, and why he chose Hazard, Nebraska for a hit.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

John Doe of X

John Doe of XSongwriter Interviews

With his X-wife Exene, John fronts the band X and writes their songs.

Yoko Ono

Yoko OnoSongwriter Interviews

At 80 years old, Yoko has 10 #1 Dance hits. She discusses some of her songs and explains what inspired John Lennon's return to music in 1980.

Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennittSongwriter Interviews

The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.