Melissa Auf der Maur is gearing up to release her own memoir, Even the Good Girls Will Cry: A ’90s Rock Memoir, which will be available on March 17 through Da Capo.
In her book, you’ll discover a wild mix of stories: a little bit of a rock journey, a travel notebook, and something like a trippy art project scrapbook. Melissa talks about her teen days in Montreal, where music and art filled every corner, then how she started working as a cassette DJ and selling tickets before her big leap. Everything changed when her group Tinker landed an opening gig for the Pumpkins, and suddenly, her world just exploded into something huge.
As the wild ride continued, she joined Hole right before the Live Through This tour in 1994, got close with Courtney Love—especially during heartbreaking times—and saw the backstage world of alt-rock bands up close. She did a lot more than play; she shot photographs, produced stuff, made friends, and watched her generation change.
Fans sometimes dream about hopping into a time machine to see all of that up close.
Auf der Maur herself describes the book: “This book is about the decade that defined me and my generation, 1991-2001, and my life in the rock bands which allowed me to have a front row seat to an incredibly visceral and unforgettable moment in the counterculture. It’s a love letter to the power of music and one-of-a-kind voices that make the world a cooler place; it’s also an ode to the analog, and what magic has been lost. Sharing what our generation witnessed, and what the world once was, in my hope of building a more livable future together.”
Oh, and by the way, if you’re curious about Live Through This, it’s listed at No. 8 in “The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s,” which probably says a lot on its own—though who knows how those lists are even made, right? Sometimes, a list is just a list, and other times, it totally shapes what people want to check out.
Here’s the cover of the book, but you’ll have to use your imagination for now because, for some reason, the penguins demanded the image.
