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Kim Gordon

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Kim Gordon

Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, vocalist, and artist. She sings, plays bass and guitar in the alternative rock band Sonic Youth. She also plays in the band Free Kitten with Julie Cafritz (of Pussy Galore), and she has collaborated with musicians such as Ikue Mori, Kurt Cobain, DJ Olive, William Winant, Lydia Lunch, Alan Licht, and Chris Corsano.

Early years

The daughter of a seamstress, Gordon was born in Rochester, New York, and grew up in Los Angeles. She attended UCLA's art school and York University in Toronto where she played in an experimental heavy metal art group.

Musical career

Main article: Sonic Youth

After graduating, she moved to New York and joined the short-lived band CKM with Christine Hahn and Stanton Miranda. Through Stanton, Gordon met her future Sonic Youth bandmates Lee Ranaldo, and Thurston Moore. When she began dating Moore, the three formed Sonic Youth in 1981.

In 1989, Gordon, Sadie May, and Lydia Lunch formed Harry Crews and released the album Naked in Garden Hills. She also was one of the producers of Hole's first record, Pretty on the Inside, released in 1991, and co-directed The Breeders' "Cannonball" video with Spike Jonze.

Art career

Gordon is also an established visual artist and curator. Her work has been exhibited across the U.S., Japan and Europe. She graduated from the Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles. In the early 1980s, Gordon wrote for Artforum and worked for several Soho art galleries. She curated an exhibition at White Columns gallery in 1982 in which Mike Kelley and Tony Oursler were among the participants. Dan Graham invited her to join in a performance of an all-female rock band, which marked the start of her first band CKM. In 1996 Gordon was involved in an exhibition entitled Baby Generation at Parco gallery in Tokyo.

Her exhibition titled Kim's Bedroom was shown at MU in the Netherlands and included drawing and paintings along with live music and special guests.[1] This resulted in a limited-edition book and CD published by Purple Books. In 2003, Gordon was featured in the Gothenburg Biennale, and exhibited Club In The Shadow, a collaboration with artist Jutta Koether at Kenny Schachter's Contemporary Gallery in NYC. In 2005 she took part in the Her Noise exhibition in London and did another collaboration with Koether.

An artist's book titled Kim Gordon Chronicles Vol. 1 featuring photos of Gordon throughout her life was published in 2005. In 2006, Kim Gordon Chronicles Vol. 2 was released, featuring her artwork.

Personal life

Gordon married Moore in 1984, and she gave birth to their daughter, Coco Hayley Gordon Moore, in 1994. Gordon, Moore, and Coco currently reside in Northampton, Massachusetts. They are frequently sighted in the area, and played a benefit concert with Cat Power for the Greenfield Center School in 2005. The band played a second benefit for the school in 2007.[2]

Other work

File:Sonic1991b.jpg
Live in the Netherlands (with Sonic Youth), 1991

Apart from her career in music and in arts, Gordon has also made appearances in films and television. She appeared in Gus Van Sant's Last Days, a fictionalized biopic of one of her close friends, Kurt Cobain. She is also the only close friend of Cobain's who has publicly claimed that he was murdered.[3]

In the season six finale of Gilmore Girls, she played a street troubadour along with Thurston Moore and their daughter Coco, performing the song "What a Waste" from the album Rather Ripped.[4]

Trivia

  • Fellow rock band Rapeman recorded a tribute to her on their album Two Nuns and a Pack Mule titled "Kim Gordon's Panties." The song has lyrical similarities to the song "Schizophrenia" on Sonic Youth's album Sister.
  • In the 1999 Sony PlayStation video game Silent Hill, Gordon, along with two other members of Sonic Youth, are mentioned in a teacher's directory in one of the levels. Later in the game, players can acquire a "K. Gordon" key and pass through her home. In a 2003 sequel, Silent Hill 3, she comes up again. Players pass through her classroom and learn a little more about the character.

References

  1. ^ "MU past exhibitions: Kim's Bedroom". Retrieved 2007-11-13.
  2. ^ Charron, Corey. "Sonic Youth to play benefit for Greenfield Center School". The Massachusetts Daily Collegian. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  3. ^ Dalton, Stephen. "Suicide Blond". Uncut Magazine, August 2005. From Beautifully Scarred. Retrieved 2007-11-12. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Terich, Jeff. "Gilmore Youth". Treblezine.com. Retrieved 2007-11-12.

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