Sonic Life

August 15, 2023
The Sonic Youth guitarist and songwriter delivers a literate, absorbing account of life in the New York of CBGB, no wave, and affordable spaces for artists. Born in Florida and raised in Connecticut, Moore was surrounded by classical music--"at least until 'Louie Louie' came breaking and entering in." Then, he began a surreptitious campaign of sneaking into his older brother's room to play his guitar until finally getting a "noise machine" of his own. While his young peers favored such things as prog rock or "the denim-shirt balladry of America," Moore fell in love with David Bowie, Kiss, and especially Patti Smith. Nearby New York beckoned with seedy clubs where first-wave punk bands lurked. It was "a new vanguard of punk rock destruction," he writes, and he "wanted in." He got there, hanging out with the likes of Suicide and Television, taking the stage at some of those dingy clubs, and haunting bookstores such as the Gotham Book Mart. In time, he found Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo and formed Sonic Youth, a band that never exactly smashed the charts but nonetheless earned a highly devoted following. Moore is insightful on many aspects of the scene. For example, he writes that even though the Ramones and the Sex Pistols were all the rage, it was the "women-centric groups [that] struck the era's most significant, radical, and fascinating chords." He also remains insistent on the virtues of what he calls "sonic democracy," whereby everyone's ideas deserve a chance to find their way to the stage or dance floor. Not that the whole tale is halcyon. Moore allows that his breakup with Gordon was untidy, and his New York may have been affordable but also a touch dangerous, with "low-level heroin dealers [who] skulked about the neighborhood" and heat waves that threatened to fell those who couldn't afford air conditioning in the days when it was possible to be poor and live in Manhattan. A self-aware, charmingly rough-and-tumble tale of the rock 'n' roll life.

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September 18, 2023
Sonic Youth cofounder Moore (Lion) documents the birth of the band and the postpunk scene in this fascinating if occasionally lumbering memoir. Born in Coral Gables, Fla., to classical music–loving parents, Moore became enamored by the Kingsmen’s raucous 1963 cover of “Louie, Louie” at age five. After the family moved to Connecticut, where Thurston’s father taught humanities at Western Connecticut State University, Thurston began stealing away to his older brother’s room to pluck at his Fender Stratocaster guitar, frequently breaking the strings. He began studying the instrument in earnest during high school, and in 1978, at age 20, he moved to New York City’s East Village to immerse himself in the neighborhood’s vibrant music scene during punk’s twilight years. It’s there, while working odd jobs, that he met future Sonic Youth bandmates Kim Gordon (whom he married in 1984 and divorced in 2013; both events get brief mentions) and Lee Ranaldo. When Moore’s in teenage fan mode, he’s incendiary, writing with infectious urgency about seeing live acts including Kiss, Blue Öyster Cult, and especially Patti Smith, who embodied “punk rock as art, both beautiful and ugly, a timeless expression of convulsive energy.” Gossipy bits about meeting Madonna, Basquiat, and Keith Haring before they became famous are also fascinating, and Moore conjures the grit and atmosphere of 1980s New York with ease, but the pace—particularly in the book’s midsection—can drag. Still, there’s plenty here to entertain Sonic Youth fans and readers drawn to New York’s downtown milieu. Agent: Luke Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.

October 15, 2023
An expansive autobiography from singer, songwriter, and guitar player Thurston Moore, Sonic Life is replete with the legends of late-1970s and early-1980s Manhattan. Punk rockers the Ramones, art rockers Television, and the "darker, stranger, and dirtier" No Wave artists Lydia Lunch and Glenn Branca mingle here with William Burroughs, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and David Wojnarowicz. Moore landed fortuitously in the center of this cultural tsunami as an open-minded, music-loving teenager, and a decade later he was an established fixture on the American music scene in the era-defining indie rock band, Sonic Youth. He became known for his experimental guitar playing, performing with such velocity and abandon that he regularly sliced open his hand, spraying blood. His prose style is similarly unbridled, yet he is also a patient and methodical storyteller, providing rich context for the artists who shaped and intersected with his career. Moore's dual perspective as both music industry insider and obsessive fan and collector results in a vibrant piece of cultural history.

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