Sonic Youth were formed in the same downtown New York City cauldron that gave the world Swans, The Contortions, and Suicide. They learned their punk chops from Ramones and New York Dolls, and their arty inclinations from Glenn Branca and The Velvet Underground. But Sonic Youth were also classic rockers at heart, with plenty of love for artists like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, whom other punks disdained.