Editing Kim Deal (section)

== Early life ==
Deal was born in [[Dayton, Ohio]], United States. Both her parents were from coal mining areas of [[West Virginia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_RpvwsGqbw |title=WTF with Marc Maron - Kim Deal Interview |website=YouTube |publisher=WTF with Marc Maron |date=January 2018 |access-date=April 7, 2024}}</ref>{{sfn|Frank|Ganz|2005|p=4}} Her father was a laser physicist who worked at the nearby [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]]. Kim and her identical twin sister [[Kelley Deal|Kelley]] were introduced to music at a young age; the two sang to a "two-track, quarter-inch, tape" when they were "four or five" years old,{{sfn|Frank|Ganz|2005|p=5}} and grew up listening to [[heavy metal music|hard rock]] bands such as [[AC/DC]] and [[Led Zeppelin]]. When Deal was 11, she learned [[Roger Miller]]'s "[[King of the Road (song)|King of the Road]]" on the acoustic guitar. Attending [[Wayne High School (Ohio)|Wayne High School]] in suburban [[Huber Heights, Ohio|Huber Heights]], she was a cheerleader and often got into conflicts with authority.{{sfn|Frank|Ganz|2005|p=5}} "We were popular girls," according to Kelley. "We got good grades and played sports." Still, growing up in Dayton was "like living in Russia," according to Kim.<ref name="LesInrocks">{{cite web |last=Beauvallet |first=JD |title=The Amps – L'état de garce |url=http://www.lesinrocks.com/1995/11/22/musique/the-amps-letat-de-garce-11236639/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140409184747/http://www.lesinrocks.com/1995/11/22/musique/the-amps-letat-de-garce-11236639/ |archive-date=April 9, 2014 |url-status=dead |work=Les Inrockuptibles |language=fr |date=November 22, 1995 |access-date=July 6, 2016 |quote=Kelley had a girlfriend in California who sent us tapes of James Blood Ulmer, Undertones, Costello, Sex Pistols, Siouxsie... In Dayton, it was like living in Russia, these cassettes were our most treasured possession, the only link with civilization.}}</ref> A friend of Kelley's living in California sent the Deals cassettes of artists such as [[James Blood Ulmer]], [[the Undertones]], [[Elvis Costello]], [[Sex Pistols]] and [[Siouxsie and the Banshees]]. "These tapes were our most treasured possession, the only link with civilization," Kim later recalled.<ref name="LesInrocks" />

As a teenager, she formed a [[folk rock]] band with her sister. She then became a prolific songwriter, as she found it easier to write songs than cover them. Deal later commented on her songwriting output: "I got like a hundred songs when I was like 16, 17 ... The music is pretty good, but the lyrics are just like, OH MY GOD{{sic}}. We were just trying to figure out how blue rhymes with you. When I was writing them, they didn't have anything to do with who I was."{{sfn|Frank|Ganz|2005|p=6}} The Deals bought microphones, an eight-track tape recorder, a mixer, speakers, and amps for a bedroom studio. According to Kelley, the two "had the whole thing set up by the time we were 17." They later bought a drum machine "so it would feel like we were more in a band."{{sfn|Frank|Ganz|2005|p=8}}

Deal attended seven different colleges following high school, including [[Ohio State University]]<!-- Wikipedians do not use "The" as part of Ohio State's name; it is considered a marketing gimmick and routinely deleted -->, but did not graduate from any of them. She eventually earned an [[associate degree]] in medical technology from [[Kettering College]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-863-kim-deal |title=Episode 863 – Kim Deal |website=WTF with Marc Maron Podcast |date=November 13, 2017 |access-date=October 19, 2019}}</ref> and took several jobs in [[cellular biology]], including working in a hospital laboratory and a [[biochemistry|biochemical]] lab.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://osumarion.osu.edu/academics/majors.html |title=Academic Majors and Programs |website=The Ohio State University at Marion |access-date=March 21, 2017}}</ref>