Dirty is the seventh full-length studio album and second double album by American rock band Sonic Youth, released on July 21, 1992, by DGC Records. The band recorded and co-produced the album with Butch Vig in early 1992 at the Magic Shop studios. The sound on Dirty was inspired by the popularity of grunge music at the time, and has been described by Billboard magazine as experimental rock.

Dirty reached number 83 on the US Billboard 200 and number six on the UK Albums Chart. The album spawned four singles: the lead single “100%” charted well, but was not the crossover hit the label anticipated, followed by “Youth Against Fascism”, which did not chart as well. The last two were “Sugar Kane” and “Drunken Butterfly”, with the former performing better commercially than the latter. In support of the album, Sonic Youth embarked on the “Pretty Fucking Dirty” tour of 1992 and 1993, where they played most of the album during sets. In late 1992, they toured North America, and in early 1993, they toured New Zealand and Australia and released the Whores Moaning EP, which featured most of the “Sugar Kane” B-sides.

Following the release of Daydream Nation in 1988, Sonic Youth were interested in signing with a major record label. By the middle of 1989, the top contenders for the band’s new label were A&M Records, Atlantic Records and Mute Records.[2] Between late 1989 and early 1990, Geffen Records announced its interest in signing the band.[3] Sonic Youth eventually signed a five-album deal with Geffen for an estimated $300,000.[4] However, the band was disappointed when they discovered that the albums would be released on the newly created Geffen sub-label, DGC Records.[5]

In 1990, the band released Goo, which achieved moderate commercial success, peaking at No. 96 on the Billboard 200 in the United States and charting in the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Critical reception to the album was positive. To support its release, Sonic Youth toured Europe and North America twice in 1990. Preceding the mainstream breakthrough of alternative rock and grunge, the band toured Europe again in late summer 1991 with Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr, Babes in Toyland and Gumball. On this tour, they premiered “Orange Rolls, Angel’s Spit” and “Chapel Hill”, both of which would later appear on Dirty. The latter tour was chronicled in the documentary 1991: The Year Punk Broke, directed by Dave Markey. In November, the group began recording demos at their rehearsal space in Hoboken, New Jersey.