Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and rapper best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth.

Sonic Youth released its 15th and final studio album, The Eternal (2009), on Matador Records before disbanding in 2011 after Gordon and Moore separated.

After the dissolution of Sonic Youth and her divorce from Moore, Gordon formed the experimental duo Body/Head with Bill Nace, which releasing its debut album, Coming Apart, in 2013.

[6][7] Her mother, a descendant of American pioneers of the West Coast,[8] learned to sew during her upbringing in the Great Depression, and worked as a seamstress throughout Gordon's childhood.

"[3] Gordon has one older brother, Keller (1949–2023),[3] whom she described as "brilliant, manipulative, sadistic, arrogant, almost unbearably articulate," and "the person who more than anyone else in the world shaped who I was, and who I turned out to be.

[14] After graduating high school, she attended Santa Monica College for two years[15] before transferring to York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

[21] While she was a student at Otis, Gordon's older brother Keller suffered a psychotic episode on the day of his graduation from the University of California, Berkeley, where he had earned a Master's degree in classics.

[29] In early 1991, Courtney Love, who had been influenced by Sonic Youth and the no-wave scene, sent Gordon a letter asking her to produce her band Hole's debut record, Pretty on the Inside.

Gordon, along with assistance from Don Fleming, produced the album in March 1991, which received critical acclaim and later achieved cult status.

[12] Gordon commented on the recording sessions that Love "was either charming and nice or screaming at her band" but that she was "a really good singer and entertainer and front person.

[31] Beginning in 1993, Gordon co-owned, with Daisy von Furth, a women's streetwear clothing company in Los Angeles, called X-Girl.

[37] Free Kitten released their debut studio album, Nice Ass, in 1995, followed by Sentimental Education (1997), both on the independent label Kill Rock Stars.

[38] In 1993, Gordon co-directed The Breeders' "Cannonball" music video with Spike Jonze,[39] and was also involved in an exhibition entitled Baby Generation at Parco gallery in Tokyo.

Gordon's exhibition Kim's Bedroom was shown at MU in the Netherlands, and included drawing and paintings alongside live music and special guests.

[40] As a part of Sonic Youth, Gordon released several albums in the mid–late 1990s, including Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star (1994), Washing Machine (1995), and A Thousand Leaves (1998), all on DGC Records.

[43] The band appeared on the 2002 compilation Fields and Streams, though their contribution was deemed "annoying" and the project "self-indulgent" by critic Adrian Begrand of PopMatters.

[43] In 2003, Gordon was featured in the Gothenburg Biennale and exhibited Club In The Shadow, an installation art collaboration with artist Jutta Koether, at Kenny Schachter's Contemporary Gallery in New York City.

[47] Beginning in 2005, Gordon began appearing in minor or supporting parts in films, first as a record executive in Gus Van Sant's Last Days.

[48] She then had a small role portraying a textile exporter in the 2007 French thriller film Boarding Gate,[49] and in Todd Haynes's I'm Not There (2007), inspired by the life of Bob Dylan.

[50] The same year, she played a street troubadour in the season six finale of the television series Gilmore Girls, along with husband Moore and their daughter Coco, performing the song "What a Waste" from the album Rather Ripped.

[51] In September 2008, Gordon launched a limited-edition fashion line called Mirror/Dash (also the name of a musical side project that was created with Moore),[31] inspired by Françoise Hardy and based on the idea that "there's a need for clothes for cool moms.

[53] Rolling Stone journalist Will Hermes wrote of the album: "It's amusing to think that the fiercely freaky Sonic Youth were a major-label act for nearly 20 years.

"[54] The same year, Gordon, along with the rest of Sonic Youth, made an appearance in the television series Gossip Girl and performed an acoustic version of the song "Starpower".

[63] Around 2012, Gordon formed a noise guitar project with Nace, entitled Body/Head, and a single called "The Eyes, The Mouth" was released in 2012 on Belgian label Ultra Eczema.

[22] She held several art exhibitions in 2013, including "The Show Is Over," at Gagosian Gallery in London, and the survey "Design Office with Kim Gordon–Since 1980," at White Columns, New York,[12] the latter a revival of a project she had begun in 1980.

[73] Also in 2015, Gordon formed the experimental musical group Glitterbust with guitarist Alex Knost, releasing a self-titled debut album in March 2016.

The exhibition features a commissioned score for Andy Warhol’s 1963–64 silent film Kiss in conversation with text paintings, figure drawings and erotic sculpture.

[91] While observations were made by the media of Gordon being "dauntingly impressive and self-assured" during her tenure with Sonic Youth, she commented in a retrospective interview that she was "pretty insecure about my image and where I fitted in.

"[89] Upon the release of her 2015 memoir, Gordon received some criticism for comments made about other musicians,[92] among them Lana Del Rey: "Naturally, [she]'s just a persona.

I was in a punk underground scene dominated by hardcore dudes who yelled mean shit at me every night, and journalists routinely called my voice shrill, unlistenable.