Born on April 28: Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth), the great feminist high priestess of American alternative rock

She was born in Rochester, New York in 1953 and has long claimed that women are "natural anarchists".

During her studies at the School of Fine Arts, she became more interested in the troublemakers of contemporary art than in well-known artists. Kim Gordon has always preferred to explore the fringes rather than follow more straightforward paths. In the early 80s, her growing interest in alternative rock was also marked by women who sought to break the industry's macho codes. In the United States, Patti Smith and Lydia Lunch were part of her universe. In the UK, it was The Slits, Raincoats, Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex) and, of course, Siouxsie Sioux who captured her admiration. A sisterhood of spirit thus developed from the outset...

She brought these musical references with her when she formed the iconic band Sonic Youth with Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo. This was 1981, and for three decades, her band made history with around fifteen albums, sometimes harsh but always uncompromising. Among these, "Sonic Youth" (1982), "Confusion Is Sex" (1983), "The Whitey Album," also known as "Ciccone Youth" (1988), "Goo" (1990), or "Dirty" (1992) contain their share of raw anthems and cutting electricity that are the band's trademark. As the Moore/Gordon couple gradually fell apart, the story of the mythical quartet also came to an end, as Kim Gordon reiterates in her autobiography "Girl In A Band" (2015).

In 2000, she reconnected with her passion for contemporary art by curating the traveling exhibition "Kim’s Bedroom," which was notably presented at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. It featured her own creations alongside those of other artists such as Mike Kelley or Raymond Pettibon. Always eager for new experiences, in 2005 she appeared in "Last Days" by Gus Van Sant, a film about the last days of Kurt Cobain (Nirvana). She has repeated the experience several times, notably for the French director Olivier Assayas. She also appeared in an episode of "Gossip Girl" and notably in "Portlandia." Perhaps remembering her mother who worked in fashion, she briefly partnered with the American brand Urban Outfitters and the French brand Surface To Air for small capsule collections.

And what about music, you may ask? It probably occupies a less central place than her work in the visual arts or on film sets. Alongside sometimes longstanding collaborations, notably with Free Kitten, Body/Head, and even Yoko Ono, her personal production ultimately comprises only two recordings, including the demanding "The Collective" (2024) partly inspired by writer Jennifer Egan's novella "The Candy House." It was even nominated twice for the venerable Grammy Awards; in the Alternative Music category, of course!

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Kim Gordon on stage at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels (Belgium) on 29 May 2022