Kim Gordon

Kim Althea Gordon (1953 Apr 28) is an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth.

Kim Gordon in 2009

Quotes

• The image a lot of people have of me as detached, impassive, or remote is a persona that comes from years of being teased for every feeling I ever expressed.
  • A passage from Kim Gordon’s autobiography Girl in a Band (as mentioned in “Unconventional Idol: Kim Gordon's Girl in a Band in Pitchfork – 2015 Feb 26)

• Your life is hard to change. But at the same time, I've also always felt that I'm the same person now as I was at five, so I've been sort of reaching out to that too, in a way.
  • On life after divorce and a health scare in “Fabulous at Every Age: Kim Gordon, 60s” in Harper’s Bazaar (12 Mar 2015)

• I don’t, really. I mean, the one thing is more women playing music. That allows you to have different personalities, so it kind of cuts through the clichés about how women are perceived. But I don’t really think things in the mainstream have changed so much. In the underground, it seems like there’s a lot more women involved in the scene, which mostly comes out of male record collectors, so it was surprising in the late ’80s to start seeing more girls and women involved with experimental music as that scene grew. That’s pretty cool.”
  • On her view of female musicians in the underground scene vs. the mainstream in “'I’m Not a Musician': An Interview with Kim Gordon” in She Shreds (2016 Apr 13)

• I don't wanna think that I'm influential or an icon or blah blah blah blah...Ultimately, I feel most confident when I'm just working. Thinking about ideas. That's how I'm most comfortable. Or performing in a group situation.
  • On how she regards her musical impact in “We Talked to Kim Gordon and She's Just Like Us (Not Really)” in Vice (2016 Oct 16)

• Well, it sort of bothers me that if a man is doing it, then it's fine. Like, if a woman had Bob Dylan's voice, how far would she have gotten? Or Leonard Cohen? And men can get away with saying more things that are—I don't know, it's kind of like, everyone could sit around and pat each other on the back. And that's not very interesting.
  • On how her singing voice was criticized for its rawness during her time with Sonic Youth in “'THERE'S NOT A LOT OF REALLY RAW MUSIC OUT THERE': KIM GORDON'S NEW NOISE FRONTIER” in Newsweek (2016 Oct 31)

• I never think of myself as famous anyway, like, if anything, it’s barely famous.
  • On how she perceived fame in “Kim Gordon: ‘I never think of myself as famous – I’m barely famous’” in The Irish Times (31 Jul 2019)

• I like a certain amount of tension in music…I like the kind of music that maybe makes you think about the status quo.
  • On her ideal music in “Kim Gordon unmasked: a natural instinct of going against the grain” in The Sydney Morning Herald (2019 Aug 9)

• It was the tip of the iceberg…There’s some unseen wall of faceless men that I have to climb over…as if on a mission.
  • On how her experiences with sexual harassment influenced the song “Hungry Baby” on her solo album No Home Record in “Kim Gordon: 'There's a wall of faceless men I have to climb over'” in The Guardian (4 Oct 2019)

• If people are listening, you can feel this intense concentration, and it builds a level of trust…I can be vulnerable in a way that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to be if I was just talking. There’s something about music and electricity and the free-flowing, less-contained aspect – it’s like being in the ocean. What’s the inside and what’s outside?
  • On how being a female influences her musical connection with the audience in “Kim Gordon: 'There's a wall of faceless men I have to climb over'” in The Guardian (4 Oct 2019)

• When I was growing up in the seventies, there were more open spaces. There weren't McMansions really. L.A. always had an interesting array of architecture in the houses. Like one would be a ranch house, another could be a Tudor house. It is fitting that there are all these different styles that almost were predetermined by L.A. being a place where different people moved.
  • On how Los Angeles has changed since her upbringing in the 1970s in “Kim Gordon Doesn't Want to Be Called an Icon” in GQ (2019 Oct 10)