Kim Gordon: ‘My most controversial pop culture opinion? I’m not really a fan of Taylor Swift’
The musician and artist shares the best advice her mother gave her, the words she hates and who she’d like to play chess with
Your name always comes up whenever we ask any female musicians about their influences. Is there a Kim Gordon for Kim Gordon?
I never aspired to be a musician, so in that way, no. As a teenager, I listened to Billie Holiday and Joni Mitchell but I never actually thought it was possible to become a musician. I didn’t study or know anything about music. There are certainly artists, but not necessarily female artists, who I was influenced by – artists like Lucio Fontana or Yves Klein, even Andy Warhol.
My mother once said, “Never give any money to political causes, because they won’t leave you alone after that.” I didn’t adhere to it. But it is true.
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Do you believe in extraterrestrial life?
No. Well, I guess I kind of do. There’s probably life in another galaxy, but I don’t have any interest in us starting life on another planet. I feel like we’re damn near destroying this one, and now we’re just gonna go to destroy another one?
What’s your favourite place to visit?
I like Paris and Berlin. Paris is just so beautiful, there is so much history everywhere you look. Berlin is such an interesting city because you can still see the east and west, you can tell by the buildings. I still feel a sense of freedom and bohemianism there. Unfortunately, it’s hard for artists to stay there now, they have to leave to make a living. But it might be the last free city. I really enjoyed going to Tasmania too. It was one of the most interesting, beautiful, pure-feeling places I have ever been, in terms of the air and water.
