Even the Good Girls Will Cry: A ’90s Rock Memoir

Billy Corgan and Courtney Love figure heavily in musician Auf Der Maur’s illuminating debut reflection on the rise and fall of the “incestuous” 1990s alternative rock scene. The author met Smashing Pumpkins frontman Corgan at a small Montreal club in 1991. At the time, she was a photography student immersing herself in her hometown’s music scene, and Corgan offered her mentorship. A few years later, he connected her with Love, whose band, Hole, needed a new bassist. Auf Der Maur initially hesitated to accept Love’s invitation to join the group, wary of being sucked into the “dysfunctional Hole underworld” as the band reeled from the overdose death of bassist Kristen Pfaff and the suicide of Love’s husband, Kurt Cobain. She accepted, though, determined to help set an example for strong women in rock and hoping to manifest a memorable dream she once had of creating a new “three-dimensional sound.” Here and elsewhere, Auf Der Maur’s writing can be overwrought, but she’s refreshingly pure of heart, especially when describing her disgust with “the corporate takeover” of alt-rock and painting an empathetic portrait of the oft-maligned Love. It’s a rollicking look at a bygone era. Photos. Agent: David Kuhn, Aevitas Creative Management. (Mar.)