Sonic Life
A Memoir
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Narrated by:
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Thurston Moore
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Written by:
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Thurston Moore
About this listen
From the founding member of Sonic Youth, a passionate memoir tracing the author's life and art—from his teen years as a music obsessive in small-town Connecticut, to the formation of his legendary rock group, to thirty years of creation, experimentation, and wonder
"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
Thurston Moore moved to Manhattan’s East Village in 1978 with a yearning for music. He wanted to be immersed in downtown New York’s sights and sounds—the feral energy of its nightclubs, the angular roar of its bands, the magnetic personalities within its orbit. But more than anything, he wanted to make music—to create indelible sounds that would move, provoke, and inspire.
His dream came to life in 1981 with the formation of Sonic Youth, a band Moore cofounded with Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo. Sonic Youth became a fixture in New York’s burgeoning No Wave scene—an avant-garde collision of art and sound, poetry and punk. The band would evolve from critical darlings to commercial heavyweights, headlining festivals around the globe while helping introduce listeners to such artists as Nirvana, Hole, and Pavement, and playing alongside such icons as Neil Young and Iggy Pop. Through it all, Moore maintained an unwavering love of music: the new, the unheralded, the challenging, the irresistible.
In the spirit of Just Kids, Sonic Life offers a window into the trajectory of a celebrated artist and a tribute to an era of explosive creativity. It presents a firsthand account of New York in a defining cultural moment, a history of alternative rock as it was birthed and came to dominate airwaves, and a love letter to music, whatever the form. This is a story for anyone who has ever felt touched by sound—who knows the way the right song at the right moment can change the course of a life.
©2023 Thurston Moore (P)2023 Random House AudioYou may also enjoy...
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What the critics say
Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Fall by Vogue, The Chicago Tribune, and The Guardian
"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’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
What listeners say about Sonic Life
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Anonymous User
- 2024-01-11
Amazing trip through Thurston’s life!!
I had been looking forward to this book since it was announced and it didn’t disappoint! Having Thurston read the entire thing was fantastic and it was like he was sitting there telling me the unreal story of his life with candid takes on everything from the early days of punk rock in NYC in the 70s, to the noise rock scene that he became a part of through the grunge-y 90s alternative rock scene and into the new millennium! Having seen Sonic Youth more than a few times I wasn’t sure if this book could live up to my own hype but it truly did. Although the story ends with the release of the final Sonic Youth album (which seemed abruptly to me), the detail he writes about will make anyone feel like they’re right there on the road and on stage with one of the best “underground” bands of all time.
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