Girl in a Band - by Kim Gordon (Paperback)

About the Book

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."

Book Synopsis

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.

From the Back Cover

"Unconventional. . . . Not a garden-variety rock memoir . . . [but] a strange and lovely book about a woman finding and losing herself onstage and off and crafting a complicated creative life when none of the molds quite fit."--Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Engaging and surprisingly intimate."--Vanity Fair

"More than a memoir, though one of the most riveting music biographies ever penned."--Examiner.com

For many, Kim Gordon, vocalist, bassist, and founding member of Sonic Youth--one of the most influential and successful bands to emerge from the post-punk New York scene--has always represented the epitome of cool. And almost as celebrated as the band's defiantly dissonant sound was the marriage between Gordon and her then husband, Thurston Moore. When it was announced that the couple was splitting after twenty-seven years of marriage, fans were devastated.

In Girl in a Band, this famously reserved superstar speaks candidly about her past and the future. From her childhood in the sunbaked suburbs of Southern California, growing up with a mentally ill sibling, to New York's downtown art and music scene in the eighties and nineties and the birth of a band that would pave the way for acts like Nirvana, as well as help inspire the Riot Grrl generation, here is an edgy and evocative portrait of a life in art.

Exploring the artists, musicians, and writers who influenced her, and the relationship that defined her life for so long, Girl in a Band is filled with the sights and sounds of a pre-Internet world and is a deeply personal portrait of a woman who has become an icon.

Review Quotes

"Kim Gordon writes the way she plays. Fiercely, honestly, and with the creative abandon of a singular artist." -- AMY POEHLER, actor, producer, writer

"I've always admired Kim Gordon. She is cool, smart, and dignified. Girl in a Band is a fascinating and honest memoir full of raw emotion and insight." -- SOFIA COPPOLA, filmmaker

"The best thing one of your heroes can do is make you feel heroic yourself. Kim Gordon has done just that in her memoir; it is full of beauty and power, inspiration, kindness, boldness and hope." -- CARRIE BROWNSTEIN, writer, actor, musician CARRIE BROWNSTEIN, writer, actor, musician

"Written with the same cool passion she brings to her lyrics, Gordon delivers a generous look at life inside the punk whirlwind." -- Kirkus Reviews

Everybody loves Kim Gordon. So it's pretty much my bet that everybody will be hanging on the words of anyone who's read her forthcoming memoir (which is reportedly phenomenal). [Ed. note: It's even better than you're probably expecting.] -- Flavorwire

"From beginning to end, the icon chronicles the evolution of music, art, and herself, set in and out of an ever-changing New York." -- Interview

Gordon's career as a musician, artist, critic, performer, producer, and designer spanned the last truly hip era of downtown New York. The names and the nostalgia-for those who remember or who wish they did-are well worth the price of admission. -- Booklist

An intriguing memoir. . . [Gordon's] unique sensibility never fades. -- Publishers Weekly

"heartbreaking, raw, articulate, and inspiring." -- Bust Magazine