Girl in a Band: A Memoir

Kim Gordon

Feb 2015 · HarperAudio · Narrated by Kim Gordon

About this audiobook

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.

Ratings and reviews

This Autobiography by the great Kim Gordan gives great insight in to the development of an artist and the drive to be in a rock n roll band. It is also insightful into the budding modern art world of the late 70's and 80's. The Book goes into her ups and downs with her relationship with Thurston Moore. Highly recommended.

Kim Gordon always came off as cool and aloof, which makes the extremely warm and candid nature of this book a really nice surprise.

About the author

Kim Gordon is an artist, musician, producer, fashion designer, writer, and actress. She is a founding member of the experimental post-punk band Sonic Youth. Following the breakup of Sonic Youth, Gordon formed the group Body/Head. A collection of her early critical art writing entitled Is It My Body? was released by Sternberg Press in January 2014. Recent art exhibitions include a show of paintings through the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles and the show The City Is a Garden at 303 Gallery in New York. She lives in New York and Los Angeles.