When it comes to music in 2025, Sonic Youth remains one of the coolest acts in the business.

Despite breaking up over 10 years ago in 2013 following Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon's marital split, the band has remained as popular as ever, with a slew of post-breakup releases on Bandcamp plus mountains of merch to keep fans old and new engaged.

And yet, while the musical landscape may have changed considerably since Sonic Youth was headlining Lollapalooza in the 1990s, that doesn't mean Moore has given up on the industry he's grown up in. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Moore noted that he is a fan of modern pop stars like Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan, who are using their music to create something interesting for fans.

"I think all of those musicians are completely credible. Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan are great artists," Moore explained. "I just went to see Lana Del Rey, and it was kind of amazing. There was a stage set of a farmhouse, and she was walking in and around it and had dancers everywhere, and she was using AI video. It was something to see. I liked it. I like her music, and I like what she's up to aesthetically."

Asked if modern acts are as worried about being labeled "sellouts" in the same way as artists from his era like Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Moore said no, but noted that even major pop stars like Roan or Rodrigo have found ways to use their platforms for good, which makes their artistry all the more engaging.

"Yeah, it doesn't really matter anymore. But I would never say that Olivia Rodrigo or Chappell Roan are selling out, because what they're doing is really smart. Chappell Roan's promotion of human rights and the LGBTQ community is massive," Moore said. "That's amazing for her to be able to have that voice, to that many people, or for Olivia Rodrigo to talk about literature on her social media and say put your phones down and start reading a book. It's not just crass entertainment. More power to them. It's not really my kind of music. And I certainly don't strive for that kind of mass acceptance at all."

Post-Sonic Youth, Moore has remained busy, scoring the HBO miniseries Irma Vep in 2022, writing a book, Sonic Life: A Memoir, in 2023, and releasing his latest solo album, Flow Critical Lucity, in 2024. With three-fourths of Sonic Youth reuniting last December for a show at The Stone in New York, it's clear Moore will remain an important figure in the music industry, even if, by his own admission, he isn't shooting for the same reach as Rodrigo or Roan.