The first time Sonic Youth toured England in the early 1980s they ambled onstage garbed in Bruce Springsteen and Madonna T-shirts. The assembled brainy hipsters assumed the avant-garde noise-rockers were just "taking the piss," having a sly, knowing chuckle at the expense of the world's biggest pop stars and the hordes who loved them. But, according to guitarist/vocalist Thurston Moore, they were actually making a different point, because the band genuinely liked Madonna and the Boss. They were merely doing their part to bridge the seemingly unbridgeable gap between the worlds of mainstream pop and experimental music.

Sonic Youth's two decades-plus career has existed in that gap. Moore formed the band with bassist/vocalist/girlfriend (and soon-to-be wife) Kim Gordon, guitarist Lee Ranaldo, keyboardist Ann DeMarinis and drummer Richard Edson in New York in 1981. They were inspired by avant-garde composers like John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen, British post-punk outfits like the Slits and the Raincoats, and the artsy, downtown rock scene that had cemented itself around clubs like CBGB's and artists like Patti Smith, Television and the Ramones. DeMarinis quit before the band recorded their first EP, and Edson was soon replaced by Bob Bert, who in turn handed the sticks to current drummer Steve Shelley in 1985.

Sonic Youth's early releases helped redefine the roles of noise, feedback and dissonance in rock. In the hands of Moore and Ranaldo, the guitar was no longer just a tool for ringing out melodies or keeping rhythm. It was a blunt weapon that could wrench emotions from a listener. Records like Sister, Daydream Nation, Goo and Dirty became touchstones in the underground music community, helping to bring an adventurous sensibility to rock music and kick-start what later became known as "alternative rock." It was, quite famously, on Sonic Youth's recommendation that Geffen Records signed Nirvana, one of countless artists, including Radiohead and Beck, who would imbibe Sonic Youth's lessons and spit them out in a more commercially palatable form.

Too bad vast riches and mainstream acceptance continue to elude Sonic Youth. In recent years, the band has undergone some relatively radical changes. After years of being so closely identified with New York City, Moore and Gordon moved from SoHo to the bucolic confines of Northampton, Massachusetts. And before recording their 2002 album, Murray Street, the shockingly stable quartet added a new member, multi-instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke. This month the band will reissue its 1992 classic, Dirty, in expanded form. It's the first of three special project reissues that will include 1988's Daydream Nation and 1990's Goo. With his dog barking in the background, Moore spoke to Playboy.com about decades of eluding mainstream success, what it's like being in a band with your wife and his new appreciation for the Powerpuff Girls CD.