Melissa's memoir "Even the good girls will cry" put me right back into the 90's in such a great way. Easily one of the best memoirs I've read. Alternative/grunge rock of the 90's holds my heart and this was such a fresh read smack dab in the scene. I loved it!

This book felt like stepping back in time to the magic of 1990s music. Melissa Auf der Maur is a compelling guide and storyteller whose artistic life has unfolded through a mix of luck, determination, and sheer force of will. Often positioned between two larger-than-life figureheads of ’90s alternative rock, her story offers a fascinating perspective from someone who lived both within and just outside the spotlight.

Melissa’s Pisces energy and her unwavering fight to remain true to herself come through as both refreshing and deeply honest. I loved learning more about her as a person—her remarkable upbringing in Montreal, as well as her friendships with other artists and musicians within the scene.
A true multi-disciplinary artist, Melissa has conquered several creative mediums, and her story makes it clear that she has always been far more than “the bassist for Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins.”

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC.

I love the details and the fact that she shaped my childhood.I love listening to these bands when I was growing up.

Even the Good Girls Will Cry is a raw, poetic, and emotional memoir that reads more like a stream of consciousness than a traditional rock autobiography. Melissa Auf Der Maur invites the reader directly into her inner world—one shaped by creativity, grief, ambition, love, and the complicated realities of being a woman in male-dominated world.
It’s not a conventional memoir, but that’s also its strength.

As a teenager of the nineties, this book is everything I ever wanted. Melissa Auf der Maur grew up independently minded in Montreal and went on to play bass for Hole and Smashing Pumpkins…and she also dated Dave Grohl for two years. This is nineties grunge gold material. There are a lot of good stories here and Melissa is a great writer. At time, I tired of her “above it all” attitude towards the darker side of grunge but she ultimately approached all the major players with grace and open mindedness. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

Referring to Melissa Auf Der Maur as xMADMx in this review, because I always loved that stylization!

When I saw the ARC available for this I don’t think I’ve ever hit “request” so fast. I’m not a huge memoir/non-fiction reader but if xMADMx was putting out a book, I was 100% reading it. The marketing/descriptions are pretty spot on - a love letter to a beautiful chapter in music history.

I came of age in the 90s. 90s alt-rock was the soundtrack to my formative years. I was a teenage musician myself, playing the cello, bass and guitar. Naturally, xMADMx was a musician I watched and admired.

I was also a Smashing Pumpkins super fan, I suppose I still am to a degree.When D’arcy departed the Pumpkins I felt like there was a void, but finding out xMADMx was going on tour with them really felt right.

I thought xMADMx did a great job telling HER story, as she worked alongside some really big personalities. She always kept it from her perspective and it was obvious she was making a point not to tell the stories of others.

Of course I enjoyed the Billy Corgan and Pumpkin-centric parts a bunch, I learned a couple things. But reading about xMADMx’s early years and her upbringing in Montreal was very interesting. The experiences she had there as a young adult were fun to read about. What xMADMx helped to do for women in music is extraordinary and the world is a better and richer place with her art in it.

I really appreciate that this book hit square into a niche of rock history I love, appreciate and even got to live a little. I saw xMADMx play with the pumpkins quite a few times.

The way xMADMx wrote about love and loss regarding her Dad was very well done, too. I can imagine writing about his passing was both therapeutic and heart wrenching - I know the feeling. I feel like any Dad would be proud of the way she tackled it.

Any 90s alt kids out there who liked Hole and/or Smashing Pumpkins, and a number of bands in that circle will enjoy this one. Its nostalgia isn’t overbearing or cheesy. It made me truly miss and highly appreciate what I was fortunate enough to live a little.

So interesting and nostalgic, Read in one sitting, great detail and personal introspectiveness.
Really enjoyed this read,

As a fan of many of Auf der Maur's projects and musical creations, this book wasn't so much a revelation as it was a confirmation: of her unique, uplifting, holistic and earth-centric, heart-centric world view of all things, not the least of which is creation itself! The stories behind a lot of her work with Hole (and some Pumpkins) and her loves therein were great, but it's her off the cuff musings about art that really make this book an absolute must have.

Really interesting look at Melissa Auf der Maur's career and the 90's grunge scene. As a 90's kid, this was a really cool background look into the music of a period of time that holds a really strong hold on my heart.

Thank you Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing | Da Capo for the ARC!

Pretty interesting story of someone I never would've thought of reading a memoir from. Pretty captivating look into the rock scene in the 90s, which I followed closely. Some harrowing stuff.

A must-read for any fan of 1990s alternative rock, Melissa Auf Der Maur finally gets her time in the spotlight after being best-known for her supporting role as a bassist in Hole and the Smashing Pumpkins, with occasional solo releases (I love "Followed the Waves.") She seems unusually levelheaded and introspective for a rock star, and remains protective of her former bandmates, while expressing a need to follow her own creative path.