 Cover of US edition | |
| Author | Kristin Hersh |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Autobiography |
| Publisher | Penguin Books |
Publication date | 2010 |
| Pages | 336 |
| ISBN | 0-14-311739-4 |
Rat Girl is a memoir published in 2010 by Penguin Books and written by Kristin Hersh, a guitarist, songwriter, and singer who has performed as a solo artist, and as guitarist/lead singer of the alternative rock band Throwing Muses. [1] In the U.K., it was released with the alternate title Paradoxical Undressing.
The book chronicles a year (1985–1986) in her life during which time Throwing Muses gained fame, signed a recording contract with 4AD, and recorded their eponymous debut album, Throwing Muses . [2] Other notable subjects discussed at length in the work are Hersh's friendship with actress Betty Hutton, her much-publicized [3] battle with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and hospitalization, her pregnancy with her first child, and the experience of the band in the local music scenes in Providence, Rhode Island and Boston, Massachusetts at the time.
The book provides further insight into Hersh's songwriting process, the internal dynamics within Throwing Muses in its first incarnation, and Hersh's childhood, including interaction with poet Allen Ginsberg [4] and mythologist Joseph Campbell.
Rat Girl was greeted warmly by critics upon release. Rob Sheffield described it in The New York Times Sunday Book Review as "Sensitive and emotionally raw… it’s also wildly funny". [2] In a starred review in Kirkus Reviews it is described as a "thoroughly engrossing work by an original voice". [5]
In 2012 Rolling Stone ranked it number 8 in their list of The 25 Greatest Rock Memoirs of All Time. [6]
Throwing Muses are an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, United States, that toured and recorded extensively until 1997, when its members began concentrating more on other projects.
Martha Kristin Hersh is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter known for her solo work and with her rock bands Throwing Muses and 50FootWave. She has released eleven solo albums. Her guitar work and composition style ranges from jaggedly dissonant to traditional folk. Hersh's lyrics have a stream-of-consciousness style, reflecting her personal experiences.
50FOOTWAVE is an American alternative rock band, formed in 2003. The band is fronted by Kristin Hersh, who writes the group's songs with collaborative efforts from the other group members in composing and arranging the music. The group's name is a reference to both an illustration and the term for the 50-foot sound wave of the lowest F tone audible to the human ear. The band sometimes abbreviates its name as L'~, using the Roman numeral for 50.
Country Life is the fourth studio album by English art rock band Roxy Music, released on 15 November 1974 by Island Records. It was released by Atco Records in the United States. The album is considered by many critics to be among the band's most sophisticated and consistent.
Veronica Yvette Greenfield was an American singer who co-founded and fronted the girl group the Ronettes. She is sometimes referred to as the original "bad girl of rock and roll".
Tanya Donelly is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist based in New England. She came to prominence as a co-founder of the band Throwing Muses with her step-sister Kristin Hersh. Donelly went on to co-form the alternative rock band The Breeders alongside Kim Deal in 1989, before leaving to front her own band Belly in 1991. By the late 1990s, she settled into a solo recording career, working largely with musicians connected to the Boston music scene.
"Down by the River" is a song composed by Neil Young. It was first released on his 1969 album with Crazy Horse, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Young explained the context of the story in the liner notes of his 1977 anthology album Decade, stating that he wrote "Down by the River," "Cinnamon Girl" and "Cowgirl in the Sand" while delirious in bed in Topanga Canyon with a 103 °F (39 °C) fever.
Martin McCarrick is an English cellist, keyboardist, guitarist and composer. Aside from being a live and recording artist, he is also a teacher and visiting lecturer in music.
The Real Ramona is the fourth studio album by Throwing Muses, released in 1991. It peaked at number 26 on the UK Albums Chart.
Hips and Makers is the debut solo album by Kristin Hersh, best known as the primary singer and songwriter of the band Throwing Muses. The album was released by 4AD in the UK on January 24, 1994, and by Sire Records in the US on February 1, 1994. In contrast to Hersh's rock-oriented work with Throwing Muses, the album is primarily acoustic, with Hersh usually playing unaccompanied. Other credited musicians include Jane Scarpantoni on cello and Michael Stipe of R.E.M., who sings backing vocals on the opening track, "Your Ghost." In addition to Hersh's own material, the album features a cover of the traditional song "The Cuckoo".
Hunkpapa is the third studio album by Throwing Muses, released in 1989. It peaked at number 59 on the UK Albums Chart.
Throwing Muses is the 1986 debut album of the band Throwing Muses, released on British independent label 4AD. This was the first album by an American band to be released on 4AD, which had concentrated primarily on British-based acts up to this point. The release marked a shift in the label's direction; a year later 4AD would sign Pixies based in part on the band's connection to Throwing Muses, and by the mid-1990s much of the label's roster was made up of American bands.
Learn to Sing Like a Star is Kristin Hersh's seventh solo album and was released in the US on Yep Roc Records on the 23 January 2007 and on 4AD for the rest of the world on the 29 January. The album was produced by Kristin herself and mixed in Nashville by two-time Grammy winner Trina Shoemaker. It features her Throwing Muses bandmate David Narcizo on drums and with strings by the McCarricks. The album peaked at #27 on the US's Billboard Top Heatseekers Album Chart.
Throwing Muses is the eighth studio album by the alternative rock band Throwing Muses. It was recorded over three weekends and released simultaneously with Kristin Hersh's solo record The Grotto on 17 March 2003. The album features Bernard Georges on bass and David Narcizo on drums as well as original bandmate Tanya Donelly on backing vocals.
University is the sixth studio album by the American alternative rock band Throwing Muses, released in 1995. It contains the single "Bright Yellow Gun", the band's first national hit.
Limbo is the seventh studio album by the American alternative rock band Throwing Muses, released on Rykodisc in 1996. It was recorded at the New Orleans studio where the band had recorded University. Following a tour for the album, Throwing Muses were dissolved, with Kristin Hersh continuing her solo career and David Narcizo and Bernard Georges working on several personal and music projects including Hersh's. The album, engineered by Trina Shoemaker, also features cellist Martin McCarrick and Robert Rust on piano.
Caroline Ryder is a writer, based in Los Angeles, California, known for her work with LA Weekly, Dazed magazine and the Los Angeles Times and for co-authoring Dirty Rocker Boys, named among the "50 greatest rock memoirs of all time" by Rolling Stone magazine.
Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness, Or, My Life as a Fabulous Ronette is a memoir by Ronnie Spector co-written with Vince Waldron, which recounts her roller-coaster career as lead singer of the Ronettes and her emotionally abusive marriage to Phil Spector. A film adaptation starring Zendaya as Ronnie was announced in 2021.
Sun Racket is the tenth studio album by American alternative rock band Throwing Muses. The album was released on Fire Records on September 4, 2020, and has received positive reviews from critics.
The Meaning of Mariah Carey is a memoir by Mariah Carey, released on September 29, 2020. It was written with Michaela Angela Davis, and was published by Andy Cohen Books, an imprint of Henry Holt, as well as in an audiobook format read by Carey herself on Audible. The book navigates the complex racial, social, cultural and familial tensions associated with Carey's upbringing as a biracial woman in Long Island, New York. This is framed alongside first-hand descriptions of the singer's personal and professional triumphs and struggles, and is interspersed with fragments of Carey's songwriting output.
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