An Animated Interview With Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth About Growing Up in Los Angeles

In the latest episode of the California Inspires Me series (previously) by Google Play and The California Sunday Magazine, musician Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth talks about her childhood in Los Angeles and how her family helped to shape her taste in music.

When my dad was teaching high school, a couple of his students who were beatniks turned him onto jazz. So I grew up listening to a lot of singers like Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and some West Coast jazz like Chet Baker. …Growing Up, I really looked up to my brother. When I was 14 he took me to see Pierrot le Fou, and that film is still ingrained in my brain. He would read Baudelaire’s The Flowers of Evil to me. He was always reciting Shakespeare, and we would listen to plays on records.

The episode features animation by Freddy Arenas.