Kim Gordon memoir gets release date, cover

Little over a year ago we reported that Kim Gordon – co-founder of Sonic Youth, visual artist, feminist hero – was to release a memoir with HarperCollins imprint It Books and… that was all we knew at that point. No title, no release date, no idea of the period covered, nothing. That’s changed this past week, with the release date confirmed as 24 February 2015 (almost exactly 30 years after the release of Sonic Youth’s second LP, Bad Moon Rising), and further details revealed about the book’s contents, including the title – Girl in a Band – and the below cover art.

kim gordon

Now releasing through the rechristened Dey Street Books (‘an imprint of HarperCollins […] dedicated to publishing exceptional books in entertainment, music, fashion, design, art, celebrity, pop culture and sports’ says its Tumblr), the publisher’s blurb for Gordon’s book runs as follows:

Often described as aloof, Kim Gordon truly opens up in Girl in a Band. Telling the story of her childhood, her life in art, her move to New York City, her love affairs, her marriage, her relationship with her daughter, and her band, this is a rich and beautifully written memoir. At the heart of the book is the examination of what partnership means – and what happens when it dissolves. An atmospheric look at the New York of the 80s and 90s that gave rise to Sonic Youth, as well as the Alternative revolution in popular music that Sonic Youth helped usher in, paving the way for Nirvana, Hole, Smashing Pumpkins and many other acts. One of the most revered people in modern rock and roll, Kim Gordon is also a highly regarded fashion icon, visual artist, and the source of much fascination.

That line about partnership ‘and what happens when it dissolves’ suggests Gordon will focus on her 27 year marriage to bandmate Thurston Moore – a marriage whose 2011 demise effectively brought about the end of Sonic Youth and definitively brought about the end of at least two generations of indie kids’ notions of true love – in more detail than fans may have expected. Even without that candour though, this would obviously still sound capital-A Amazing, so even people without an unhealthy emotional investment in Gordon and Moore’s marriage should have something to look forward to come February.

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