Dirty

Dirty is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released on July 21, 1992, through record label DGC. In 1991, the band sent a series of cassettes of instrumental demos they had made, which would later have lyrics added. Most of these demos were featured on singles from the album. The band recorded and produced the album with Butch Vig in early 1992 at the Magic Shop studios. The album's songs had to be trimmed down from eighteen tracks, and they agreed that Ranaldo's "Genetic" and Gordon's "Hendrix Necro" would be omitted, though these were featured on the "100%" single. The sound on Dirty was inspired by the grunge scene of the time they were in. Some songs on the album mark the first appearance of three guitars in Sonic Youth songs. The album was remastered and released on quadruple vinyl and double CD in 2003.
The album spawned four singles, the first one was "100%", but it was not the crossover hit the label anticipated; Geffen Record executive Mark Kates admitted the single "was not a great radio song", however the single did chart well. The next was "Youth Against Fascism", although it didn't do very well. The last two were "Sugar Kane" and "Drunken Butterfly", released in 1993. "Sugar Kane" did better commercially than "Youth Against Fascism". The album did exceptionally well, going at number 6 in the UK Albums Chart, being their highest charting album in the UK, and 83 in the US.
In support of the album, the band went on the "Pretty Fucking Dirty" tour of 1992 and 1993, where most of Dirty was played. In late 1992, they played in North America and in early 1993 they played in New Zealand, Australia and released the Whores Moaning EP which featured most of the "Sugar Kane" B-sides.