“I’m not really a fan of Taylor Swift. When it comes to pop icons, I would choose Billie Eilish.” Ex-Sonic Youth alt. rock icon Kim Gordon risks the wrath of the Swifties, admits “I couldn’t tell you what her music sounded like”

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Since Taylor Swift's phenomenally successful, globe-conquering, records-shattering Eras tour kicked off on St. Patrick's Day last year, barely a single hour has passed without an online, print or video article hailing the omnipotent crushing power of her devoted fanbase, aka the Swifties. So it's a brave artist indeed in 2024 who will suggest that they're not actually a fully paid-up member of the Tay Sway fan-club.

Step forward then the fearless Kim Gordon, former Sonic Youth vocalist/bassist and all-round alt. rock icon who has admitted, on record, that she's "not really a fan".

In a new interview with The Guardian, Gordon is asked to reveal her most controversial pop culture opinion. The musician/artist/writer, replies, "I don’t know if it’s controversial, but I’m not really a fan of Taylor Swift. I couldn’t tell you what her music sounded like, actually. When it comes to pop icons, I would choose Billie Eilish."

We're staying out of this.

In the same interview, Gordon, who has been cited as an inspiration by so many musicians, admits that, she never had a 'Kim Gordon' figure of her own, ie a musician who served as the inspiration for her to follow a career in music.

"I never aspired to be a musician," she admits, "so in that way, no. As a teenager, I listened to Billie Holiday and Joni Mitchell but I never actually thought it was possible to become a musician. I didn’t study or know anything about music. There are certainly artists, but not necessarily female artists, who I was influenced by – artists like Lucio Fontana or Yves Klein, even Andy Warhol."

Gordon's second solo album, The Collective, is out now.

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.