Melissa Auf der Maur, the bassist who powered Hole and the Smashing Pumpkins to the top of the indie charts, is slated to release a memoir of her alternatively joyful and harrowing experiences in the ‘90s rock scene. The book, titled EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY: A ’90s Rock Memoir, will be released on March 17, 2026, by Da Capo, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing (GCP) and the Hachette Book Group.
Auf der Maur states: “This book is about the decade that defined me and my generation, 1991-2001, and my life in the rock bands which allowed me to have a front row seat to an incredibly visceral and unforgettable moment in the counterculture. It’s a love letter to the power of music and one-of-a-kind voices that make the world a cooler place; it’s also an ode to the analog and to the magic that’s been lost. Sharing what our generation witnessed, and what the world once was, in my hope of building a more livable future together.”
“Melissa Auf der Maur’s eyewitness account of rock and roll counterculture in the last days of the 20th century is spellbinding, harrowing, heartbreaking, and redemptive,” stated Ben Schafer, Executive Editor, Da Capo. “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY is a truthful testament to the humanity of the artists who made the music that soundtracked the era, one that Da Capo is thrilled to publish.”
EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY begins with Auf der Maur’s bohemian upbringing in Montreal, where her early, deep connection to art and music gave her entry to the colorful and thriving local creative scene. Working as a cassette DJ and ticket girl, she would see (and sometimes meet) the luminaries who’d pass through town—Nirvana, Jane’s Addiction, Pavement, Sonic Youth. Thanks to a thrown beer bottle and a long-shot fan letter to a PO Box, her band Tinker scored a life-changing opening slot for The Smashing Pumpkins and, sensing her natural talent on bass, Billy Corgan recommended her to Courtney Love, just one of the many uncanny threads that weave destiny throughout this riveting memoir.
Whisked from her local scene and thrust into the eye of a hurricane of grief on a global stage, Melissa joined Hole for the band’s 1994 Live Through This world tour just after the deaths of Kurt Cobain and Hole’s prior bassist, Kristen Pfaff, with Courtney Love at the center of it all. It was a tour of passionate intensity, as a chaotic yet stunningly powerful band constantly threatened to spin out of control. Melisa draws the reader into the action with raging intimacy, offering a heroic portrait of the unforgettable Courtney Love as she howled into the darkness as if to keep grief at bay.
That was only the beginning of Melissa’s journey through alternative rock. Part rock memoir, part travel diary, part psychedelic scrapbook, EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY is a behind-the-scenes rock ’n’ roll memoir with a soulful intimacy and mystic undertone that sets it apart from memoirs by her peers. It is a vivid dispatch from the last analog decade, artistically capturing that bygone era in all its messy, angsty glory.
Melissa Auf der Maur was born and raised in Montreal, Canada with a fine arts education. She is an acclaimed musician, photographer, curator and producer, best known as the former bassist of rock bands Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins. In 2010 she co-founded Basilica Hudson, a multidisciplinary art center in Hudson, NY, where she lives with her family and magic cats.
For more on her life and other rocker now living in the in the Hudson Valley, check out this story penned for The New York Times.
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