Girl in a Band

Girl in a Band

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Kim Gordon, founding member of Sonic Youth, fashion icon, and role model for a generation of women, now tells her story—a memoir of life as an artist, of music, marriage, motherhood, independence, and as one of the first women of rock and roll, written with the lyricism and haunting beauty of Patti Smith's Just Kids.

Often described as aloof, Kim Gordon opens up as never before in Girl in a Band. Telling the story of her family, growing up in California in the '60s and '70s, her life in visual art, her move to New York City, the men in her life, her marriage, her relationship with her daughter, her music, and her band, Girl in a Band is a rich and beautifully written memoir.

Gordon takes us back to the lost New York of the 1980s and '90s that gave rise to Sonic Youth, and the Alternative revolution in popular music. The band helped build a vocabulary of music—paving the way for Nirvana, Hole, Smashing Pumpkins and many other acts. But at its core, Girl in a Band examines the route from girl to woman in uncharted territory, music, art career, what partnership means—and what happens when that identity dissolves.

Evocative and edgy, filled with the sights and sounds of a changing world and a transformative life, Girl in a Band is the fascinating chronicle of a remarkable journey and an extraordinary artist.

Title : Girl in a Band
Edition Language : English
ISBN : 9780062295897
Format Type :

    Girl in a Band Reviews

  • Sgossard

    I finally understand why they say you should never meet your heroes. I thought (just like you) that Kim was the coolest ever in the hippest band ever. If you want to keep thinking that, don't ever rea...

  • Lauren

    Interesting and at times even moving, but mostly, there is a distance there and whether or not it's because there are places she doesn't want to go or doesn't care to take you, I'm not sure. There is ...

  • Jane Settles cigarran

    A very fast read and quite illuminating though not for the reasons one might expect. I was pretty dismayed at how Kim's elitism and namedropping goes hand in hand with her playing punk rock contests a...

  • J.L. Sutton

    Kim Gordon's Girl in a Band offers interesting insights, especially on the formation of Sonic Youth, how the band approached songs and albums (what they had in mind while writing specific songs and wh...

  • Anhelo

    This book really reminds you to Kill Yr Idols. I was disappointed by this book for several reasons. I didn't find interesting to learn about Thurston Moore's affairs in detail. Gordon can use the book...

  • Lynx

    Kim Gordon's life has certainly taken her to fascinating places. Growing up in the sixties, traveling, infiltrating the NYC art scene, Sonic Youth's formation and success, starting her own fashion lin...

  • Vanessa

    True to her stage persona Kim Gordon has the effortless cool detached rock thing happening, what you see is what you get. Kim is a hard nut to crack, you can see that she truly struggles to open up bu...

  • Ettore Pasquini

    This book gave me a different view not just on Kim Gordon herself, but also on women's rights and the role of visual arts post-1960s.I listened to the audio book, main reason being that she is reading...

  • Jim

    I think its telling that after spending 270 pages with the author I don't really have a sense of her as an artist, musician, or a person. I know a lot more about her projects and things that happened ...

  • Jayne Lamb

    I'm hoping that this will turn out to be the biggest literary let-down of 2015, because I can't think what could be worse. You know how Gordon is famous for being icy, opaque, inscrutable? This memoir...