TEEN QUEENS #1 - KIM GORDON

Ask any one of my friends to give you words that remind them of me and it's highly likely you'll get 'fringe' (i'm infamous for trimming it myself), 'the horrors' and 'sonic youth'. Sonic youth are just my fucking band, okay. They are the shit. So, I decided to combine my two favourite things (cool female role models and baggy nineties alternative rock) and write my first post about Kim Gordon. 

In case you're not familiar with the work of kim gordon/thurston moore/lee ranaldo/steve shelley, Sonic Youth were an experimental rock band from NYC that played together from 1981 to 2011. They practically led the experimental rock genre, creating twelve minute long songs filled with weird, dissonant guitar DIY and politically correct lyrics. Kim Gordon was the bass guitarist and vocalist (along with now ex-husband Moore) and was basically a fucking riot girl pioneer.

Everything Gordon has done is beautiful and strong and poetic. From the line 'Don't touch my breast/i'm just workin' at my desk' in 'Swimsuit Issue' to the interlude in 'Kool Thing' ('I mean, are you going to liberate us girls from male, white, corporate oppression?') and the wail of 'NOT YOUR SEX SLAVEEEE' in 'Anti-Orgasm' all her lyrics promote female empowerment and self love and general 'i'm fucking worth it and am totally in control'-ness (also check out her outfits in the Kool Thing video - jesus christ try and tell me she isn't queen).

 She honestly has taught me how to be myself but strong and self-possessed at the same time - a message that is quickly dying out in today's male dominated music industry. Sonic youth have soundtracked my teenage years and Kim Gordon is certainly everything that i aspire to be in life.

Posted by Avalon