"Death Valley '69" is a song by the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...

 and is the eighth and final track on their 1985 album Bad Moon Rising

Bad Moon Rising (album)

Bad Moon Rising is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on the New York independent record label Homestead Records in 1985. The album is loosely themed around the dark side of America, and includes references to obsession and insanity, Charles Manson,...

. The song was written and sung by Thurston Moore

Thurston Moore

Thurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside of Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label...

 and fellow New York musician Lydia Lunch

Lydia Lunch

Lydia Lunch is an American singer, poet, writer, and actress whose career was spawned by the New York No Wave scene...

, and recorded and produced by Wharton Tiers

Wharton Tiers

Wharton Tiers is an American audio engineer, record producer, drummer and percussionist.- Biography :Diplomed from Villanova University , he moved to New York City in 1976 and was part of the No Wave scene.As an audio engineer and record producer, he has worked on projects such as Sonic Youth,...

 in July 1984. A demo version of the song was released in December 1984 on Iridescence Records, and it was released again in single format with different artwork in June 1985. The Flaming Lips' Finally the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid

Finally the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid

-Disc two:This disc contains all of the tracks from Oh My Gawd!!! as well as five bonus tracks.-Disc three:This disc contains all of the tracks from Telepathic Surgery as well as seven bonus tracks....

includes a live cover of the song.

Music video

The video for "Death Valley '69" was filmed in 1985 and was the first music video by Sonic Youth, directed by Richard Kern

Richard Kern

Richard Kern is a New York underground filmmaker, writer and photographer. He first came to underground prominence as part of the underground cultural explosion in the East Village of New York City in the 1980s, with erotic and experimental films featuring underground personalities of the time...

. The video features the majority of the band in various states of bloody dismemberment interlaced with live footage of the band. The video is the only one to feature both the recently departed drummer Bob Bert

Bob Bert

Robert Bertelli, better known as Bob Bert, is an American rock drummer.Bert is the son of the quarterback Angelo Bertelli. Based in Hoboken, New Jersey, Bert initially came to prominence as drummer for the experimental rock band Sonic Youth during the early to mid-1980s. Bert played on the Sonic...

, and then new member Steve Shelley

Steve Shelley

Steven Jay Shelley is an American drummer, best known as the drummer of alternative rock band Sonic Youth.-Biography:...

.

July 1985 single

1. "Death Valley '69"
2. "I Dream I Dreamed"
3. "Inhuman"
4. "Brother James"
5. "Satan Is Boring"