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Just let me finish sweeping up all these names and I'll be with you...

Y'know how in high school it's cool to try and out-do each other by naming obscure or super cool people to show how cool you are? It seems that not everyone out grows that.

Although the title is ‘Girl in a Band�, there is very little written about being in a band. Instead, the title seems to come from the question Kim was asked the most during interviews.

I really like Sonic Youth's music, but always thought Kim and Thurston were a bit dull with how hard they tried to be cool (particularly Thurston). They never appeared effortlessly cool. Well, this book is exactly like that. Kim tries to shake off the ice-cold persona she’s been painted with, but unfortunately what we get instead is insecurity, brooding, and depression.

It comes across that men are either to blame or thank for the majority of things she has accomplished in her life.

A major part of the book deals with Kim blaming parts of her personality on her brother, particularly her personality with men. I feel that she confuses/blurs her brother’s schizophrenia with male power, which has gone on to have a negative influence on her life. I wonder how it would have played out if instead she had had an older sister with the same illness that caused the same aggression. Would Kim have used this experience as a grudge against women in her life, or accepted this for the illness it is and not assigned it to the person’s gender?

Her mother also gets a bit of a hard time from Kim, coming across as distant and cold. Kim assures us that she herself isn’t like that, but it didn’t come across that way to me.

I was hoping to hear more about her time in Sonic Youth, some interesting stories from the road or the studio, some funny anecdotes maybe. There aren’t any. In fact, there was no humour to be found. Art probably gets covered more than music does (even when music is discussed, a lot of it tends to be around the artwork and videos rather than the music). I guess this is because Kim isn’t really a musician, but an artist instead.

Drama/controversy was kept to a minimum. Kim took the high ground when it came to Courtney and also Kurt’s death, both of which Kim has spoken out about before. I guess the vitriol was all used up on Thurston.

I don’t know anything about art (particularly the NY art scene of the 80’s) so a good third of this book meant nothing to me.

I just wish this had been written when Kim was still in Sonic Youth and then we might have been given a more upbeat, interesting read. The ending was particularly bad (if this part wasn’t written just for Thurston, I’ll eat my hat). “I can still feel in my mind the sensation of making out with someone parked on a hill in front of the Echo Park house. [...] He was charming, and I was super attracted to him, too. […] He was a player, I knew that full well, and our good-night kiss turned into a full-on grope. I had to pull away, since I was catching a flight in two hours. He looked shocked, as if to ask, Gee—you don’t want to fuck me right here in the car? I know, it sounds like I’m someone else entirely now, and I guess I am.�

So, that’s that. How much more do I know about Kim Gordon? Not much. How much of my opinion has changed of Kim? None. How much has it ruined my love of Sonic Youth? A little.