Sonic Life

Praise

“Downtown scientists rejoice! For Thurston Moore has unearthed the missing links, the sacred texts, the forgotten stories, and the secret maps of the lost golden age. This is history—scuffed, slightly bent, plenty noisy, and indispensable.”
—Colson Whitehead, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Underground Railroad and Harlem Shuffle

“I thoroughly enjoyed Thurston Moore’s trip down the gauntlet of memory lane, dodging beer bottles and pools of blood as he balances the demands of art and survival. Plus I’m a sucker for anyone who name-checks Saccharine Trust. A raw, rollicking document.”
—Nell Zink, author of Avalon and Doxology

“Thurston Moore has always been a great artist, expansive in his knowledge of, and commitment to, new sounds and visions. Now, added to his expert musicianship, are his very real gifts as a memoirist and cultural historian. Filled with wonderful insights about the New York–based cultural landscape that made him, Moore’s Sonic Life is essential reading—a moving meditation by a creative force.”
—Hilton Als, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of White Girls

“Sonic Youth was the lodestar of alternative rock, pushing boundaries and providing inspiration to a generation of renegade, free-thinking bands. In this candid memoir, Thurston Moore traverses his journey from ardent fan to revolutionary instigator, sharing his love of transgressive soundscapes and finding ever new guitar tunings for his celebration of song.”
—Lenny Kaye, guitarist, producer, and author Lightning Striking: Ten Transformative Moments in Rock and Roll

“All rock-n-roll begins in the thrall of fandom.  Thurston Moore shares his origin story, a love story like no other, about the ‘mystic deliverance’ of music and art.  It is a moving portrait of an artistic life, but it is also an inspiring and astute insider history of New York as the epicenter of so much outsider and subversive culture. Generous, joyful, beautifully written, this book is a heart ripper.”
—Dana Spiotta, author of Wayward and Stone Arabia

“Thurston Moore’s all-embracing memoir Sonic Life works the way Sonic Youth did, with raging appetite for experience, with velocity and nerve, with a total devotion to making art from the resolute stance of starry-eyed fan and unabashed permanent novice. His recall is as amazing as his generosity.”
—Jonathan Lethem, National Book Critics Circle Award–winning author of Motherless Brooklyn

“Were you there? Well this is as close as it gets! Thurston Moore’s compelling and spirited account of the streets, the songs, the clothes, the clubs and the contenders! A sensitive and authentic testimony to Moore’s commitment to life lived through art and music. Beats with the heart of a true artist and mutineer.”
—Viv Albertine, author of Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys

“[An] exuberant and widescreen memoir…that details Sonic Youth’s New York City origin story in a fascinatingly fine-grained way—and fans will devour every page… A vivid recollection of a lost world.”
—Vogue

“The best kind of music memoir, an act of cultural excavation.”
—Chicago Tribune

“A literate, absorbing account… A self-aware, charmingly rough-and-tumble tale of the rock ’n’ roll life.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“Fascinating…Moore conjures the grit and atmosphere of 1980s New York with ease.”
—Publishers Weekly