89 Meanings
Add Yours
Share
Q&A

Teenage Riot Lyrics

[Kim]
You're it
No, you're it
Hey, you're really it
You're it
No I mean it, you're it

Say it
Don't spray it
Spirit desire (face me)
Spirit desire (don't displace me)
Spirit desire
We will fall

Miss me
Don't dismiss me

Spirit desire

Spirit desire [x3]
We will fall
Spirit desire
We will fall
Spirit desire [x3]
We will fall
Spirit desire
We will fall

[Thurston]
Everybody's talking 'bout the stormy weather
And what's a man do to but work out whether it's true?
Looking for a man with a focus and a temper
Who can open up a map and see between one and two

Time to get it
Before you let it
Get to you

Here he comes now
Stick to your guns
And let him through

Everybody's coming from the winter vacation
Taking in the sun in a exaltation to you
You come running in on platform shoes
With Marshall stacks
To at least just give us a clue
Ah, here it comes
I know it's someone I knew

Teenage riot in a public station
Gonna fight and tear it up in a hypernation for you

Now I see it
I think I'll leave it out of the way
Now I come near you
And it's not clear why you fade away

Looking for a ride to your secret location
Where the kids are setting up a free-speed nation, for you
Got a foghorn and a drum and a hammer that's rockin'
And a cord and a pedal and a lock, that'll do me for now

It better work out
I hope it works out my way
'Cause it's getting kind of quiet in my city's head
Takes a teen age riot to get me out of bed right now

You better look it
We're gonna shake it
Up to him

He acts the hero
We paint a zero
On his hand

We know it's down
We know it's bound too loose
Everybody's sound is round it
Everybody wants to be proud to choose
So who's to take the blame for the stormy weather
You're never gonna stop all the teenage leather and booze

It's time to go round
A one man showdown
Teach us how to fail

We're off the streets now
And back on the road
On the riot trail
Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.

89 Meanings

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Cover art for Teenage Riot lyrics by Sonic Youth

The wait is over. All the dumbshits can go crawl back into their stinkholes because it is time to actually DISECT and INTERPRET this song FOR REAL. Wow, who would've thought a place called songmeanings was really an emo debate forum or a collection of asspats saying "SNONIC YUOTH we LUV Yoooo!!!!"

Here we go:

[Opening Kim Section] This is a very mocking, sarcastic way to open a record and I love it. "You're it" is delivered in a sarcastic tone in order to poke fun at people who rate music or art, who think that certain styles are "it" are the most essential of the moment. SY is arguing that such evaluations are meaningless. The spirit desire repeated is much more serious however. It evokes a sense of lost spiritual values in America, a loss of desire for spiritual (this doesn't have to be organized religion) rehabilitation or enrichment.

[Thurston's section] This is a VERY long section with a ton of depth that I really cannot get into because of space and time constraints. However, to help in decoding individual pieces let me give you my opinion of the big picture. The song is called "Teen Age Riot" for a good reason: it is about the desire for rebellion, for free thinking, for excess in the lives of teenagers in the late 80s. Drugs (free-speed nation) lack of attention span (hypernation, an interesting play on hybernation) and a growing tension between the rebels and the establishment (stormy weather). Obviously the Youth identify with this rebellious subculture, they need a "cord and a peddle" in order to express there own version of rebellion: through music. Their music itself is like a riot, which is both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. So, in summary, Thurston's section is like a mission statement: we are Sonic Youth, we are the new generation of rebellious individuals who are embracing chaos (bound too loose).

Ok I know that is a bit of reading, but I think this song deserves a bit more thorough evaluation. Hope that helps others to decode this great song.

P.S.: I don't want to get into this debate but here's some info, Rites of Spring is considered the father of "emo" which is loosely defined as a hardcore punk musician ship melded with more introspective, emotional lyrics as opposed to the anti-establishment free thinking of punk's lyrics. Now this term is applied to nearly every teary-eyed emotional band on the planet. Labels have very little weight, so don't rely on them.

Ugh... this is obviously ironic and sarcastic, not identification of SY with "teenage riot". They are sarcastically commenting on the urge of youth to riot for the sake of rioting. I mean this part gives that away pretty obviously: "It better work out I hope it works out my way Cause it's getting kind of quiet in my city's head Takes a teen age riot to get me out of bed right now"

"City head" = bourgeois, Thurston appears "bourgeois" to the "radicals" and ironically comments that he needs to be waken up....

Ugh... this is obviously ironic and sarcastic, not identification of SY with "teenage riot". They are sarcastically commenting on the urge of youth to riot for the sake of rioting. I mean this part gives that away pretty obviously: "It better work out I hope it works out my way Cause it's getting kind of quiet in my city's head Takes a teen age riot to get me out of bed right now"

"City head" = bourgeois, Thurston appears "bourgeois" to the "radicals" and ironically comments that he needs to be waken up....

@couldBanyone - I just read this...

The song is about an alternate reality where J Mascis is President of the United States. In the deluxe edition of Daydream Nation liner notes Byron Coley quoted Thurston Moore:

"It was actually about appointing J Mascis as our de facto alternative dream president." the song was originally titled “Rock’N’Roll for President.”

Cover art for Teenage Riot lyrics by Sonic Youth

this song is a wake-up call; it's a call-to-arms to every young person who ever wanted to pick up a guitar. i'd been listening to daydream nation for almost 20 yrs before i read "teenage riot" was about j mascis. didn't matter. you only have to hear the song. the way it rocks: that IS the meaning.

my opinion--for what little it's worth--is that "emo" was once a term (rarely used except by a handful of rock critics, trying to achieve some kind of historical perspective) used to describe a very small subset of the punk-rock scene, of which Rites of Spring were the archetypal example. Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto being the singers & songwriters of Fugazi--and earlier having been members of Minor Threat and Rites of Spring (in that order)--well, this probably explains the confused attempts to tie them to something called "emo".

in 2008 most people use "emo" with an entirely different meaning. with the exception of the very earliest days of goth, I have difficulty thinking of a music scene or sub-genre which appears to have no adherents: either because it doesn't exist, or maybe because the tag is being applied as an insult, by those who aren't part of the scene.

by "no adherents" I mean how "emo" is such a commonly-used term, but you rarely hear someone say "I'm into emo." (except maybe among themselves?) or if a band is tagged as "emo" they never embrace the term; they explain why they're not "emo" or why they don't think it's a meaningful category.

usually these terms for sub-genres flourish because members of a scene adopt them as a badge of pride. which is how "goth" changed from being a kind of insult into an actual scene. not that the scene didn't exist before, but it has been affected in some ways by having a name (though in the UK "the anorak crowd" is fairly similar, and a term which predates "goth" by a long time)

this is perhaps not a great analogy, as "goth"--prior to being reclaimed as a self-chosen identity--was little more than a dismissive categorization. whereas calling someone or their band "emo", that's fighting words. so there is a difference, although it might be only a queston of degree.

history suggests the longer "emo" is used as an insult, the more likely it is to become embraced by those at whom it's being hurled, and thus turn into an actual scene. so if you hate emo, it's in your best interest to stop using the word.

this is even more divisive than the old "who is more punk" debates. "emo" has become an insult more stinging than "faggot". but if I were a musician--and someone implied my band (or worse, my singing) sounded like Bright Eyes--hey, I'd be insulted.

this too shall pass. but until it does, it's going to (continue to) be fucking annoying.

Cover art for Teenage Riot lyrics by Sonic Youth

i just came from sonic youth's show in central park. there were more people hanging out listening outside the main stage (which was filled to capacity and fenced off) than were inside. it was a great time. sonic youth rocks the house.

Cover art for Teenage Riot lyrics by Sonic Youth

hey retard boy, pretty sunset, iheartcornell was commenting on the idiot emo kid who has posted before him. Do please try to act more intelligent, it can only help you.

Cover art for Teenage Riot lyrics by Sonic Youth

peace and love

Cover art for Teenage Riot lyrics by Sonic Youth

this son is about j mascis (of dinosaur jr). how can you people dare to tar minor threat with the emo brush!

Cover art for Teenage Riot lyrics by Sonic Youth

Yea man, how is Minor Threat emo... I read that comment a week ago and I have been still trying to figure out how they could be emo at all...

Cover art for Teenage Riot lyrics by Sonic Youth

The majority of you people are absolute fucktards. Minor Threat are so far off being Emo, its not funny. Daydream Nation was released in 88, not 87. Why did i even bother coming back here? Haha..Minor Threat, emo....fuck you.

Cover art for Teenage Riot lyrics by Sonic Youth

90's rock kicks ass this song is better then any song ive heard since like the new millenium

Cover art for Teenage Riot lyrics by Sonic Youth

THis song actaully is about J Mascis. Imagine Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis as President of the United States.

And emo has been around for along time. Husker Du's Zen Arcade was the turning point but the 1st real emo band was Rites of Spring, in the 80s, but Fugazi was the main band of the emo scene.