Lana Del Rey, who remains a polarizing figure the longer she remains in the spotlight, has a new hater to contend with: Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon. The influential co-founder of one of alt rock’s most significant bands has been especially vocal regarding her opinions about other people of late (see: Courtney Love) due to an upcoming memoir, Girl in a Band, she’s been promoting and giving interviews for.
As excerpts from the book, out February 24th, continue to leak, Gordon’s vitriol becomes more apparent–lambasting everyone from ex-husband Thurston Moore to “non-punk rock” Billy Corgan. But the most out of left field insult seems to be directed at Lana Del Rey (perhaps to show that the modern female “rock singer” is paltry in comparison to Gordon’s day), as she seethes:
Today we have someone like Lana Del Rey, who doesn’t even know what feminism is, who believes women can do whatever they want, which, in her world, tilts toward self-destruction, whether it’s sleeping with gross old men or getting gang raped by bikers. Equal pay and equal rights would be nice. Naturally, it’s just a persona. If she really truly believes it’s beautiful when young musicians go out on a hot flame of drugs and depression, why doesn’t she just off herself?”
To quote Cher Horowitz, “Way harsh, Tai Kim.” Not that I believe women should all get along simply because they’re women (which is most assuredly a naive viewpoint), but Gordon’s ire seems rather uncalled for. If LDR wants to make videos about being maltreated by gross men, that’s her “artistic” choice. And if Gordon wants to write a smear campaign masquerading as a memoir, that’s her choice, too. But Christ knows you would never find that kind of shit in Patti Smith’s Just Kids.
[…] anyone in the music industry is allowed to throw shade, it’s Grace Jones. Unlike, say, Kim Gordon, who called out Lana Del Rey–“who doesn’t even know what feminism is”–in her autobiography, Girl […]