Books About Girls in Bands

I’m ashamed to admit it but we’re five months into the year and I’ve only completed reading two books. TWO. This is coming from someone who would regularly smash out a book a week back in the day. I blame Netflix. As such, I’ve made it my mission to get into the habit of reading more books on the reg. Right now my list of books to read is filled with stories about female musicians. It all started when I read Just Kids by Patti Smith, which quickly earned its spot as one of my favourite books of all time. I’ve recently bought M Train and Girl in a Band, which I cannot wait to get stuck into (the difficult part is deciding which one to read first). In the interest of grrrl power, and maybe starting an ad hoc book club of some sort, I’ve compiled a short list of books about or by girls in bands. Feel free to add any more in the comments section.

Just Kids by Patti Smith – “the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal days of New York City and the Chelsea Hotel in the late sixties and seventies”.

M Train by Patti Smith – “M Train is a meditation on travel, detective shows, literature, and coffee. It is a powerful, deeply moving book by one of the most remarkable multiplatform artists at work today”.

Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon – as a “founding member of Sonic Youth and role model for a generation of women… she writes frankly about her route from girl to woman and pioneering icon within the music and art scene of New York City in the 1980s and 90s as well as marriage, motherhood, and independence”.

Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein – “this book captures the experience of being a young woman, a born performer and an outsider, and ultimately finding one’s true calling through hard work, courage and the intoxicating power of rock and roll”.

Girls to the Front by Sara Marcus – “the first-ever history of Riot Grrrl, is a gripping narrative with a sound track: a lyrical, punk-infused chronicle of a group of extraordinary young women coming of age angrily, collectively, and publicly”.

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