I rarely read autobiographies. Viv Albertine doesn’t think highly of the genre either, judging from her opening line. ‘Anyone who writes an autobiography is either a twat or broke.’
The Slits were one of the bands that changed my life as a withdrawn angst-ridden suburban teenager in the early 80s. They made me want to make loud, fuck-you music. They nurtured my emerging feminism. They were a lifeline.
I wanted to write to Viv and thank her, for The Slits, and for her painfully honest and completely inspiring book. I picked up my electric guitar instead, for the first time in decades. Thanks, Viv.
