Do you like books? Do you like music? Do you like books about music? Then you’re in luck, because we’ve partnered with beloved Bay View bookstore Lion’s Tooth (2421 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.) for the Lion’s Tooth + Milwaukee Record Music Book Club!
How does it work? Just stop by Lion’s Tooth on the third Thursday of the month, from 6-8 p.m., and discuss a new music-related book. That’s it! The Club has been going strong for a full year now; here are the remaining 2026 installments:
Thursday, June 18
Girl In A Band: A Memoir by Kim Gordon
“For many, Kim Gordon is the epitome of cool: vocalist, bassist/guitarist and founding member of Sonic Youth—one of the most successful bands to emerge from the post-punk New York scene–despite being famously reserved.
“Ten years ago, Gordon distilled that coolness into her groundbreaking memoir, Girl in a Band, speaking openly about her life. From her childhood in the sunbaked suburbs of Southern California, growing up with a schizophrenic sibling, to New York’s downtown art and music scene in the halcyon days of the 80s and 90s and creating Sonic Youth—a band that would go on to pave the way for acts like Nirvana and inspire the Riot Grrrl generation. Girl in a Band is an edgy and evocative portrait of a life in art.
“A decade on, Gordon’s exploration of the artists, musicians, and writers who influenced her, and of the relationship that defined her life for so long, remains a deeply intimate self-portrait of a woman who became an icon, and whose stature continues to evolve in and grow. With a new foreword by Rachel Kushner and new chapter from Kim herself ruminating on her career as a solo artist and her two 2025 Grammy nominations, her connection to touring after nearly forty years, and the death of her brother Keller.”
Thursday, July 16
Alternative For The Masses: The ‘90s Alt-Rock Revolution – An Oral History by Greg Prato
“Get the definitive story of the ’90s alt-rock movement straight from the musicians and figures who lived it.
“No period in the history of rock music offered such an abrupt shift in prevailing tastes as the 1990s. While just a short while before, radio and MTV were clamoring for hair metal bands, suddenly alt-rockers such as Jane’s Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, Faith No More, Primus, Smashing Pumpkins, and of course, Nirvana, brought a sea change not just in what the most popular bands sounded like, but also in fashion, politics, and seemingly all aspects of pop culture.”
Thursday, August 20
Spanish Punk: Screaming For Democracy In A Postdictatorial State by David Vila Diéguez
“In 1975, Spain emerged from the long shadow of Franco’s dictatorship, stumbling toward democracy amid uncertainty, unrest, and unhealed wounds. In the same moment, a raw, raucous, and radically irreverent cultural force exploded onto the scene: punk.
“Spanish Punk: Screaming for Democracy in a Postdictatorial State is the first in-depth study to trace the uniquely political trajectory of punk in post-Franco Spain. Far from just a musical genre, Spanish punk became a rebellious cultural matrix–a defiant, DIY response to the contradictions of a state trying to reinvent itself. Through fanzines, lyrics, testimonies, and subcultural style, punks posed urgent questions: What kind of democracy was being built? Who was being left out? And how do you scream dissent in a newly “free” society?
“Blending historical, philosophical, musicological, and textual analysis, this book shows how punk served as both a glue for oppositional movements and a generator of alternative political identities. It’s a long-overdue exploration of how cultural resistance helped shape a generation’s answer to dictatorship–and its uneasy aftermath.”
Thursday, September 17
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History Of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
“Ranks up there with the great rock & roll books of all time.”–Time Out New York
“This book tells it like it was. It is the very first book to do so.”–William S. Burroughs
“Does for the Ramones what the disciples did for Jesus.”–LA Weekly
“Dishes the crud on everyone . . . candid, inside, and detailed.”–New Yorker
“Lurid, insolent, disorderly, funny, sometimes gross, sometimes mean and occasionally touching.”–New York Times
“The riotously funny story of New York punk told by those who were there.” –Daily News
“A gripping and unfiltered glimpse into the birth and evolution of one of the most nihilistic movements in popular culture . . . With firsthand accounts and insights, this oral history delves into the music, fashion, and attitude that defined punk, offering a raw and authentic perspective on the individuals who shaped this subversive and influential cultural phenomenon.”–Kennie M., The Review Geek
Thursday, October 15
The Upcycled Self: A Memoir On The Art Of Becoming Who We Are by Tariq Black Thought Trotter
“Today Tariq Trotter—better known as Black Thought—is the platinum-selling, Grammy-winning co-founder of The Roots and one of the most exhilaratingly skillful and profound rappers our culture has ever produced. But his story begins with a tragedy: as a child, Trotter burned down his family’s home. The years that follow are the story of a life snatched from the flames, forged in fire.
“In The Upcycled Self, Trotter doesn’t only narrate a riveting and moving portrait of the artist as a young man, he gives readers a courageous model of what it means to live an examined life. In vivid vignettes, he tells the dramatic stories of the four powerful relationships that shaped him—with community, friends, art, and family—each a complex weave of love, discovery, trauma, and loss.
“And beyond offering the compellingly poetic account of one artist’s creative and emotional origins, Trotter explores the vital questions we all have to confront about our formative years: How can we see the story of our own young lives clearly? How do we use that story to understand who we’ve become? How do we forgive the people who loved and hurt us? How do we rediscover and honor our first dreams? And, finally, what do we take forward, what do we pass on, what do we leave behind? This is the beautifully bluesy story of a boy genius’s coming-of-age that illuminates the redemptive power of the upcycle.”
Thursday, November 19
A Man Called Destruction by Holly George-Warren
“A brilliant and influential songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist, the charismatic Alex Chilton was more than a rock star–he was a true cult icon. Awardwinning music writer Holly George-Warren’s A Man Called Destruction is the first biography of this enigmatic artist, who died in 2010. Covering Chilton’s life from his early work with the charttopping Box Tops and the seminal power-pop band Big Star to his experiments with punk and roots music and his sprawling solo career, A Man Called Destruction is the story of a musical icon and a richly detailed chronicle of pop music’s evolution, from the mid-1960s through today’s indie rock.”
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