The “most realistic depiction” of playing a gig for the first time in cinema, according to Kim Gordon
Music films and biopics often get a bad rap from film and music fans alike for being overblown, far-fetched, and ultimately unrealistic. Particularly within the world of grassroots and DIY music, it is difficult—if not impossible—to foster the same atmosphere in a sweaty gig room while filming in a big-budget movie studio. Nevertheless, these DIY shows are second nature to someone like Kim Gordon, who has spent much of her adult life performing in venues big and small around the globe.
Art, music, and a defiant DIY sensibility have followed Gordon throughout her life. During the late 1970s, while studying at the Otis College of Art and Design in California, she became more and more interested in grassroots music thanks, in part, to the blossoming punk scene. After relocating to New York City in 1980, the artist found a natural home among the vibrant underground no-wave scene, which encapsulated art, music, and film. It was during this movement that Gordon was introduced to some truly revolutionary figures, and she set about forming her own revolution with Sonic Youth.
Sonic Youth were, arguably, the defining band of the American alternative, pioneering styles of no-wave, experimental, and noise rock over the course of their long and illustrious career. Gordon’s band also helped to bring these fringe styles into the mainstream through successful records like Goo or Dirty during the early 1990s. The band were most often noted for their legendary live performances, which saw the New Yorkers bring their unique sonic menagerie to countless venues around the United States and abroad.
So, for somebody like Gordon, who has spent a considerable portion of her existence in grassroots music venues, spotting phoney biopic performances is child’s play. The songwriter has always been a keen film fan, so it makes sense that she would have some strong opinions on music films, like 2007’s Control. Directed by Anton Corbijn, the film follows the life and struggle of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis and is rightly hailed among the greatest music biopics of recent times.
Joy Division, like Sonic Youth, were born from the underground art scene of an industrial city, you merely have to substitute New York with Manchester. It goes without saying that Gordon and Sonic Youth were fans of Joy Division. After all, Curtis’ band changed the sound, image, and ethos of the post-punk movement indefinitely. However, during Curtis’ lifetime, the band were never particularly successful, which meant Control had to feature multiple scenes of small DIY concerts.
Although these scenes are famously difficult to pull off, especially when there are music obsessives like Kim Gordon looking on, Control pulled them off expertly. In fact, the ‘BYE BYE’ singer once told Le Cinéma Club, “This movie has the most realistic depiction of playing music on stage before an audience for the first time,” adding, “Amazing!” The film likely owes these accurate depictions of grassroots gigs and first performances to the reliability of its source material.
The film was based upon the memoirs of the Joy Division singer’s wife, Deborah Curits, with input from the surviving members of the band, too. Couple that with an incredible performance by Sam Riley and you are left with an utterly compelling, true-to-life portrayal of a DIY band like Joy Division.
Ironically, Gordon’s complex journey through music is a story worthy of a biopic in its own right, charting her success from art school, to Sonic Youth, to the brilliance of her recent solo material. While it is perhaps unlikely that such a film will be made anytime soon, any director who took on the project would only need to look to Control to suss out how best to represent the many grassroots gigs performed by Gordon over the years.
