A Vanity Fair Favorite Book of 2023
Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Fall by Vogue, The Chicago Tribune, and The Guardian
"Both a herculean work of research and a love letter—to Moore’s youth, to underground rock, and to a band that formed in downtown Manhattan in 1981 and went on to change music forever... an exuberantly detailed account... Sonic Life is a big book and it feels like a whole life is poured into it."
—Vogue
“Electrifying… At its most evocative when describing the downtown music scene of the late 1970s and ’80s New York.”
—Mark Yarm, The New York Times
"An edgy valentine to ’80s punk... Few musicians have more indie rock credibility than Thurston Moore... Moore writes self-assuredly and aware but without conceit."
—The San Francisco Chronicle
"Vivid… This memoir finds its room tone when [Moore] meets Kim Gordon… It’s a terrific love story…. He’s a good observer of other people, always a good sign in a memoirist… [An] excellent memoir.”
—Dwight Garner, The New York Times
"A rich and strange tableau of the music world . . . Sonic Life roars along with the runaway-freight-train passion of a true believer."
—The Wall Street Journal
"Moore’s nightlife testimony becomes a memorial to the lost petri dish of a downtown scene that made Sonic Youth possible."
—The Washington Post
"The tale of a record collector geek made good, a seeker after new sounds who in turn became a key architect of experimental rock in the two decades that followed. . . an engaging memory piece through a golden era of busted toilets and secondhand smoke that now seems as distant as Montparnasse in the 1920s."
—The Los Angeles Times
"In taking readers along his musical trajectory—from idolizing the likes of Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, and Ron Asheton to sharing stages with them—Moore simultaneously charts rock’s decades-long evolution through punk and hardcore, new wave and no wave, indie and grunge."
—Vanity Fair
"A microscopic look at how [Moore's] interests in punk, art, and guitar experimentalism fueled his contributions to one of alt-rock’s most daring bands. . . Moore’s memories of being a New York band on SST, the Year Punk Broke, and the horror he felt following Kurt Cobain’s death document turning points both in his life and in the evolution of underground rock with vivid detail."
—Rolling Stone, Best Music Books of 2023
"Sonic Life is a deeply researched account of the music and culture that formed Moore’s persona as the godfather of the alt-rock movement."
—Shondaland
"[Sonic Life] is perhaps as subversive as Sonic Youth themselves were: the memoir of a well-read, thoughtful music fan, unsaddled by drugs 'n' drink, who came out the other side synapses intact. God bless him (and them) for that."
—Clinton Heylin, Spectator (UK)
"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
"Sonic Life is an absolute joy, a memoir populated by misfits and magicians, the dreamers and the demented, full of vivid imagery and fabulous anecdotes, fired by an insatiable appetite for adventure, experiences and new noise. For anyone similarly consumed by music, it offers a fascinating documentation of the genesis and growth of America's alternative rock scene, by one of its key players. It's also an unabashed love letter to New York, in all its messy, chaotic magnificence, and the best book about rock music in the city since Please Kill Me."
—Louder
“Moore is a rock historian and a brilliant writer. His poetic sentences evoke New York’s East Village from 1980 through 2000 perfectly. We experience East Village diners and delis, historical music venues, tenement buildings, and railroad apartments. He also writes mellifluously about the commitment required to be in a band. He places us right there with him in vans, planes, and trains to experience a Sonic Youth tour. In Sonic Life, Moore not only tells the story of a burgeoning music scene and an original band, but he also transports us to a time when artists lived their lives on their own terms, just like Sid Vicious and Joey Ramone did.”
—Alternative Press
"Moore, a founding member of Sonic Youth, is among the more creative guitarists (along with bandmate Lee Ranaldo and Kim Gordon) during a period in rock music filled with folks exploiting sonic possibilities... Moore’s word choice remains measured, thoughtful... a book for the Sonic Youth fan."
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Moore’s meticulous new memoir uses unvarnished, highly readable prose... Pages whiz by with jolting anecdotes."
—Under the Radar
“Fascinating...Moore conjures the grit and atmosphere of 1980s New York with ease.”
—Town & Country
"Sonic Life largely reads like a post-punk coming-of-age story, tracing its protagonist’s journey from scrawny Connecticut fringe kid to New York alt-rock titan... Reading through Sonic Youth’s as-it-happens process made me want to pick up my guitar and create something weird... Sonic Life succeeds in the places where it conjures this effect: of walking through hell alongside someone who has survived it."
—Pitchfork
“A love letter to to the New York underground music and art scenes of the 1970s and 80s...Moore's prose suggests he could have had an alternative career as one of the few great music journalists to have become a household name.”
—The Wire
“[Moore] writes about music in a breathless gush of hyperbole that proves almost too infectious… Moore’s depiction of pre-gentrification Manhattan’s post-punk bohemia is richly evocative and Sonic Life’s highlight."
—The Guardian (UK)
“Sonic Life will be every alt-rocker's binge-read this winter.”
—Mojo (UK)
"A fascinating chronicle of music, art, life on the road—and a vanished New York City."
—The Millions
"A literate, absorbing account... A self-aware, charmingly rough-and-tumble tale of the rock ’n’ roll life."
—Kirkus Reviews (starred)
"Vivid... Encyclopedic and capacious, Sonic Life is no less than a history of U.S. underground arts and culture... a prismatic view on the musical democracy that was Sonic Youth."
—BookPage (starred)
"Fascinating...Moore conjures the grit and atmosphere of 1980s New York with ease.”
—Publishers Weekly
"An expansive autobiography... [Moore is] 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."
—Booklist
“Vastly entertaining . . . Sonic Life’s enthralling anecdotal content should easily earn it a spot on your bookshelf—especially its main course: a vivid and elaborate slideshow of Thurston’s coming of age in late-70s No Wave Manhattan. A more mythic artistic adolescence-slash-storybook New York success story couldn’t be imagined. . . a punk, hardcore, no- and new wave Library of Alexandria.”
—SPIN
09/18/2023
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. (Oct.)
09/29/2023
Sonic Youth is the band most identified with noise rock, the genre known for its electric cacophony and disregard for traditional song structure—an early offshoot of punk that came out of New York City not long after the Ramones and Talking Heads. Sonic Youth's seminal 1988 album Daydream Nation is an iconic example of what later became alternative rock and helped pave the way for the late '80s/early '90s grunge movement. Guitarist/singer/songwriter Moore, who founded Sonic Youth with bassist/guitarist/singer (and then-wife) Kim Gordon, recounts his part in the revolution in this lengthy, absorbing memoir. Moore's ability to recreate on the page scenes and moments from his life makes much of the reading engrossing. He recalls with sharp detail the highs and lows of his life as a young musician making his way towards notoriety or, at the very least, his next meal. He shares unique encounters with several notable musicians and artists throughout the book in a way that feels natural, not pompous. VERDICT Moore's compelling (if lengthy) memoir covers an era in rock music that is just beginning to get its due.—Brett Rohlwing
★ 2023-07-26
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.
