Editing Kim Gordon (section)

===1979–1994: Sonic Youth and X-Girl===
{{main|Sonic Youth}}
After graduating from the [[Otis College of Art and Design|Otis Art Institute]], Gordon moved to [[New York City]] in 1980, hoping to pursue a career in art.<ref name=sidetracked/> There, she took art-related jobs to earn an income, such as working as a writer for ''[[Artforum]]'',{{sfn|Molon|2007|p=15}} and launched a "[[Do it yourself|D.I.Y.]] project called Design Office, doing low-fi artistic interventions" in friends' apartments.<ref name=sidetracked/> In 1981, she curated an exhibition at [[White Columns]] Gallery<ref name=sidetracked/> that involved contributions from [[Mike Kelley (artist)|Mike Kelley]] and [[Tony Oursler]], among others. Around 1981, Gordon became interested in "[[no wave|no-wave]]" bands, recalling: "When I came to New York, I'd go and see bands downtown playing no-wave music. It was expressionistic and it was also nihilistic. Punk rock was tongue-in-cheek, saying, 'Yeah, we're destroying rock.' No-wave music is more like, 'NO, we're really destroying rock.' It was very dissonant. I just felt like, Wow, this is really free. I could do that."<ref name="Lizzy"/>

[[File:Sonic Youth (1992).jpg|thumb|upright=1|left|Gordon performing with Sonic Youth in [[Leeds]], 1992]]
In 1981, Gordon joined the short-lived band CKM,<ref>{{cite web|work=The New York Times|title=A Lasting Experiment with Music|date=September 6, 2013|last=Ratcliffe|first=Ben|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/arts/music/kim-gordon-ex-sonic-youth-never-trained-for-this-career.html|access-date=August 15, 2018}} {{closed access}}</ref> with Christine Hahn and [[Stanton Miranda]], and met her future [[Sonic Youth]] bandmates [[Lee Ranaldo]] and [[Thurston Moore]] through Miranda. At the time, Gordon, then 27 years old, had never played an instrument.<ref>{{cite news|work=The World|title=Gordon sonic mentor, mother|date=June 14, 1995|page=9|location=Coos Bay, Oregon|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22877301/the_world/|via=Newspapers.com|last=Hall|first=Molly|publisher=Associated Press}} {{open access}}</ref> Gordon began dating Moore and, together with Ranaldo, the couple then formed Sonic Youth in 1981.<ref name="Lizzy"/> Originally the band released their first unnamed EP (considered by the band to be their first album) in 1982 and their first two albums, ''[[Confusion is Sex]]'' (1983) and ''[[Bad Moon Rising (album)|Bad Moon Rising]]'' (1985) on Neutral and Homestead Records, respectively, before signing with [[SST Records|SST]] to release ''[[Evol (Sonic Youth Album)|EVOL]]'' (1986) and ''[[Sister (Sonic Youth album)|Sister]]'' (1987). Gordon and Moore married in 1984, three years after beginning Sonic Youth.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Rolling Stone|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/sonic-youths-kim-gordon-and-thurston-moore-announce-split-173280/|title=Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore Announce Split|last=Nagy|first=Evie|access-date=August 15, 2018|date=October 15, 2011}}</ref> In October 1988, the band released ''[[Daydream Nation]]'' through Enigma Records.

In 1989, Sonic Youth signed onto [[DGC Records]], a subsidiary of [[Geffen Records|Geffen]], and released ''[[Goo (album)|Goo]]'' (1990), which became the group's first commercial hit.{{sfn|Robins|2008|pages=258–260}} Also in 1989, Gordon, Sadie May, and [[Lydia Lunch]] formed [[Harry Crews (band)|Harry Crews]], and released the album ''Naked in Garden Hills''.{{sfn|Foege|1994|p=266}} To promote ''Goo'', Gordon toured with Sonic Youth extensively between 1990 and 1991, and a documentary titled ''[[1991: The Year Punk Broke]]'' documented the band's tour with [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]], [[Babes in Toyland (band)|Babes in Toyland]], [[Dinosaur Jr.]], [[Gumball (band)|Gumball]] and [[Mudhoney]].{{sfn|Yarm|2011|pages=297–299}} In early 1991, [[Courtney Love]], who had been influenced by Sonic Youth and the no-wave scene, sent Gordon a letter asking her to produce her band [[Hole (band)|Hole]]'s debut record, ''[[Pretty on the Inside]]''. Gordon, along with assistance from [[Don Fleming (musician)|Don Fleming]], produced the album in March 1991, which received critical acclaim and later achieved [[cult following|cult]] status.<ref name="Lizzy">{{cite web|title=Kim Gordon Sounds Off|url=http://www.elle.com/pop-culture/celebrities/kim-gordon-sonic-youth-profile|work=Elle |access-date=September 20, 2013|last=Goodman|first=Lizzy|date=April 22, 2013}}</ref> Gordon commented on the recording sessions that Love "was either charming and nice or screaming at her band" but that she was "a really good singer and entertainer and front person."{{Sfn|Browne|2009|p=272}} In 1992, Gordon released a single, "Electric Pen," with Mirror/Dash, a short-lived project she formed with Moore.{{sfn|Foege|1994|p=306}}

Beginning in 1993, Gordon co-owned, with Daisy von Furth, a women's [[streetwear]] clothing company in Los Angeles, called X-Girl.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Age]]|location=Melbourne, Victoria|last=Harford|first=Sonia|title=Kim Gordon rocks a male music world|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22877173/the_age/|date=December 20, 1995|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref> The company was a spin-off of [[X-Large (clothing brand)|X-Large]], a men's streetwear company co-founded by [[Mike D|Michael Diamond]] of the [[Beastie Boys]].<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|date=May 30, 1994|page=50|title=The beauty of the Beasties|last=France|first=Kim|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p7oBAAAAMBAJ|issn=0028-7369|volume=27|issue=22}}</ref> The first X-Girl store was opened in Los Angeles in 1994.<ref>{{cite web|title=An Oral History of X-Girl|url=http://www.papermag.com/arts_and_style/2012/08/an-oral-history-of-x-girl.php|work=[[Paper (magazine)|Paper]]|access-date=April 29, 2013|last=Thompson|first=Elizabeth|author2=Swerdloff, Alexia|date=August 20, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130519122939/http://www.papermag.com/arts_and_style/2012/08/an-oral-history-of-x-girl.php|archive-date=May 19, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Actress [[Chloë Sevigny]] served as a model for several pieces in the clothing line.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]|url=https://www.vogue.com/article/x-girl-kim-gordon-skater-girl-style-90s-fashion-chloe-sevigny-beastie-boys|title=The X-Girl Factor: How the Cult '90s Label Set the Standard for Skater-Girl Style|last=Johnson|first=Rebecca|date=July 1, 2016|access-date=August 14, 2018}}</ref> Also in 1993, Gordon formed the musical project [[Free Kitten]] with [[Julia Cafritz]].{{sfn|Blush|2016|p=362}} On July 1, 1994, Gordon gave birth to her only child, daughter Coco Hayley Moore, with Thurston Moore.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Rolling Stone|title=The Rolling Stone Interview: Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore|last=Fricke|first=David|date=September 22, 1994|access-date=August 15, 2018|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-rolling-stone-interview-sonic-youths-thurston-moore-95811/}}</ref>