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Kim Gordon has discussed both Courtney Love and Billy Corgan in her memoirs - and she pulls no punches.
The extracts come from Gordon's Girl In A Band, a book that collates Gordon's memoirs, detailing her time in Sonic Youth and her marriage to Thurston Moore. She also shares innermost thoughts on her contemporaries.
She recalls that when she first met Courtney Love, when co-producing Hole's Pretty On The Inside, she thought that she was mentally ill:
"No one ever questions the disorder behind her tarantula LA glamour – sociopathy, narcissism – because it’s good rock and roll, good entertainment! I have a low tolerance for manipulative, egomaniacal behaviour, and usually have to remind myself that the person might be mentally ill."
As for Love's "secret affair" with Billy Corgan...
"Courtney asked us for advice about her ‘secret affair’ with Billy Corgan. I thought, Ewwww, at even the mention of Billy Corgan, whom nobody liked because he was such a crybaby, and Smashing Pumpkins took themselves way too seriously and were in no way punk rock."
Gordon also discusses her first meeting with future ex-husband Thurston Moore:
"The rhythm guitarist was special. He was very tall and skinny, six feet six, he told me later, charismatic and confident-seeming, with pillowy lips.
He had a glow about him I liked, and he also seemed extremely sure about what he wanted and how to get it too, though it was more a quiet self-confidence than anything brash.
There was something wild, but not too wild, about Thurston. His guitar-playing may have been free and untamed but we came from similar middle-class academic backgrounds."
As well as the discovery of the affair that led to the end of their marriage:
"No one could understand how Thurston, who always had a good nose for the user, the groupie, the nutcase or the hanger-on, had let himself get pulled under by her. I did feel some compassion for Thurston … but that’s a lot different to forgiveness."
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