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

Francesca Battistelli

Francesca BattistelliSongwriter Interviews

The 2011 Artist of the Year at the Dove Awards isn't your typical gospel diva, and she thinks that's a good thing.

Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Greg talks about writing songs of "universal truth" for King Crimson and ELP, and tells us about his most memorable stage moment (it involves fireworks).

Steely Dan

Steely DanFact or Fiction

Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?

David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears

David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & TearsSongwriter Interviews

The longtime BS&T frontman tells the "Spinning Wheel" story, including the line he got from Joni Mitchell.

Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum

Dave Pirner of Soul AsylumSongwriter Interviews

Dave explains how the video appropriated the meaning of "Runaway Train," and what he thought of getting parodied by Weird Al.

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in Songs

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in SongsSong Writing

Elvis, Little Richard and Cheryl Cole have all sung about Teddy Bears, but there is also a terrifying Teddy song from 1932 and a touching trucker Teddy tune from 1976.