Melissa Auf der Maur – and her inimitable bass lines – was a key force of the ’90s alt-rock movement, and defined the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins and Hole, two bands she ended up lending her bass chops to.
Speaking about her journey to picking up the instrument, Auf der Maur recounts on Greatest Basslines, “I had begun to notice girl bass players, of course, you know Kim Gordon, obviously, and then Kim Deal from the Pixies – and, like I said, all in one week, I saw the Pumpkins and Hole, and they both had girl bass players who seemed really cool and stoic.
“They're just fucking cool girls who were wallflowers, who just wanted to be in a band,” she continues. “I don't even know if I looked at their fingers. Those women seemed like they could be me, and the moment I discovered what it feels like to teach yourself a fucking riff that you love, I was hooked. Feels like you're riding the universe, like you're in with the magic.”
In last year's interview with Bass Player, Auf der Maur recalled how her stints with the two bands were distinct – yet equally formative.
“Courtney and Billy were both very different,” she divulged. “But I have so much respect for both of them. My time with Hole was more character definition, creating me as a person, and then my crash course in music, one on one, was with the Pumpkins, who refined and defined my musicianship.”
Auf der Maur captures intimate, never-before-told stories of this pivotal decade in music in her upcoming memoir, Even the Good Girls Will Cry: A '90s Rock Memoir, out in March 2026.
