'Daydream Nation' finds a new Hero

Man, was I psyched to hear about Hayden Panettiere's next movie. Not because I have especially strong feelings about Panettiere's work. Not even because the Hollywood Reporter is hyping it as "an intellectual comedy a la Juno and Election," two movies that I enjoy very much. No, I'm jumping for joy because of the new flick's title: Daydream Nation.

Perhaps this merits additional explanation. As a major Sonic Youth fan, I can't read that title without hearing the opening chords of their 1988 masterpiece of the same name. Now, I was sorta bummed when I saw Juno's Juno lash out at Sonic Youth on screen, calling one of my favorite bands "just a lot of noise." I knew that writer Diablo Cody probably wasn't wholeheartedly endorsing Juno's spur-of-the-moment diss — and I'm big enough to admit that a random SY album plucked off a Best Buy shelf might strike the unprepared listener as an abrasive mess. (I think Thurston, Kim, and gang would proudly agree.) But the implication stood: In Juno's world, Sonic Youth is the kind of band that creepy midlife-crisis dudes rock out to in their terminally pathetic basements. Have we really reached the point where counterculture kids see Sonic Youth as music for old fogeys? There wouldn't be any bands to blog about if it weren't for Daydream Nation, for cryin' out loud! (On this point, if perhaps no other, I am in agreement with constitutionally cranky Chicago Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis.)

All of which brings us to back to Hayden Panettiere's new film. If no less a fresh-faced post-millennial star than the cheerleader from Heroes is making movies named after Sonic Youth albums, the cause is not yet lost. The youth still dig the Youth! Forget superpowers; first-time director Michael Goldbach is my hero.

Conditionally. If that title turns out to be just a random cutesy phrase and the movie's score does not contain at least one verse of "Eric's Trip" (kick-ass live clip below!) or a similar substitute, I am going to be so destroyed. Please don't let me down, Goldbach. Any of you interested in picketing Daydream Nation's premiere with me, should such tactics become necessary?