In an exclusive in ELLE’s May issue, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon talks candidly about her next chapter, and what really happened between her and Thurston Moore.

This is almost certainly the first and last time I’ve ever linked to ELLE magazine, but it’s a great piece about an intense, iconic and extremely interesting woman.

I recall a surreal moment in which she and I got within two or three feet of each other; way back in 1988, Mudhoney crashed on my college rental house floor, and Mark Arm left his sweatshirt at our house.

That’s OK, the next night Mudhoney opened for Sonic Youth in Los Angeles at The Roxy, so I brought the shirt to the show, and the bouncers or whatever let me backstage.

I bounded up the stairs, turned the corner into a tiny room, and totally made a sitting-on-the-floor-indian-style conversation between Kim, Thurston, Lee Renaldo and Mark Arm crash to a halt, with me nearly stepping all over Kim with my clumsy, unbalanced entrance. Her eyes just locked in with mine, and it was clear that her expression was caught between “that’s so nice of you to return his shirt” and “who the hell are you?”.

I mumbled a hello, thanks, really glad you’re playing here in LA, OK, thanks, gotta go – and tripped back down the stairs, back with the common people, where I belonged. Great night – and that show was captured on a widely circulated bootleg as well. Anyway – totally love Kim (I can call her Kim, you see), and this article’s well worth a read.

Kim Gordon Sounds Off