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Book Review: ‘Sonic Life, A Memoir’ by Thurston Moore
‘Sonic Life’ is the story of Thurston Moore, Sonic Youth guitarist, vocalist, musical innovator/assassin — turns out that he’s a pretty decent writer too.
The goal of any book jacket is to make it so appealing, that it literally flies off the shelves.
And when it comes to autobiographies, Sonic Life by Thurston Moore comes replete with no less than four book of the year acknowledgements. My initial reaction was to consider this unsurprising — Sonic Youth was a phenomenal band — but then I reminded myself it’s a book, not one of his records.
But! Despite Thurston Moore’s cryptic lyrical style, his writing presents him as a relatable character you’d like to see succeed. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll appreciate that he accomplished everything on his own terms.
People don’t always appreciate that distinction. If your goal was to be famous, fine. But if you arrive at that juncture with your integrity intact, that’s a whole other plane of accomplishment. Sid Vicious wasn’t the only guy to do it his way, you know.
Sonic Life, A Memoir — what’s great about it