Sonic Youth were formed in the same downtown Manhattan cauldron that gave the world Swans, The Contortions and Suicide—bands that, like Sonic Youth, saw no problem combining noise music with high theory and fine art. They learned their punk chops from homegrown bands like Ramones and New York Dolls, plus the L.A. hardcore kids in Black Flag; their artier inclinations traced back through Glenn Branca and The Velvet Underground. But Kim, Thurston and company were also classic rockers at heart, with plenty of love for artists like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, whom other punks disdained.