Those of you who follow Madonna's every move may have heard about Hole -- they were the first band she wanted to sign when she acquired her own record label (but so far hasn't). Even though her musical style couldn't be more different from this 3-woman 1-man band's grungy punk, there's a similarity: they both push their limits as far as they can. Lead singer Courtney Love (who says, 'We're coming at things with a more feminine, lunar viewpoint. There's been so much white male posturing in rock that what's really important to me is getting across the female perspective -- and that includes both rage and vulnerability') has a voice from hell that you want to make love to and run from at the same time. This 1991 album's been compared to Patti Smith's
Horses -- it's a raw nerve, completely uncensored. Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth produced this gut-wrenching, pissed off piece of work; highly recommended for those that can handle it.
Pretty on the Inside is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band Hole, released on September 17, 1991. Produced by Sonic Youth member Kim Gordon and Gumball frontman Don Fleming, Pretty on the Inside was the band's first and only release through Caroline Records. The album was the group's first major label release after their formation in 1989 by vocalist/rhythm guitarist Courtney Love and lead guitarist Eric Erlandson; the band had previously released several singles in 1990 through local and independent music labels.
Pretty on the Inside is noted for being the band's only work to be predominantly influenced by noise rock and punk rock, due to its graphic lyrics, distorted guitar riffs, screaming vocals, and "sloppy punk ethics"— much in contrast with the band's second album, Live Through This (1994), which featured a more streamlined and accessible sound. In addition to the raucous musical composition of Pretty on the Inside, its lurid lyrical content was described by music critics as being confrontational and "genuinely uninhibited".
Upon release, the album was mildly successful in the United States, but received much more attention from music press in the United Kingdom, where its lead and only single, "Teenage Whore", entered the UK Indie Chart at number one.
Critical reaction to the album was by and large positive: the record was named "album of the year" by New York's Village Voice in 1991, and received favorable reviews in major music periodicals, such as Spin and NME. Critics also took note of the album's abrasive tenor, with publications such as Q Magazine calling it "loud, ugly and deliberately shocking", and NME placing it in "a class of its own." Collectively, the album has sold over 600,000 copies worldwide, and has gained a contemporary cult following among rock fans.
Background
Hole had formed two years prior the album's release in 1989 in Los Angeles, California when frontwoman Courtney Love, after years of fruitless attempts at forming bands, bought her neighbor Lisa Roberts a bass and posted an advertisement in local fanzine Flipside stating: "I want to start a band. My influences are Big Black, Sonic Youth, and Fleetwood Mac.". Eric Erlandson, along with over a dozen other musicians, answered the ad. Love would later say that she knew Eric was "the one" as soon as they met and that she picked Erlandson because he had a "Thurston Moore quality about him", and that he played guitar "like a girl."pg. 55
Erlandson has said that early in the band's career, they were more interested in "making noise" than achieving success and before drummer Caroline Rue joined the band that they had no percussion whatsoever. It was not until Love and Erlandson heard Mudhoney's "Touch Me, I'm Sick" that they began to think about taking the band to the next level. Early on, the band was most influenced by the New York no wave art and music scene of the 1980s, which featured visual artists, such as Richard Kern, as well as scuzz rock acts, such as Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Sonic Youth, and Pussy Galore.— The Hole Story The band also featured a third guitarist in its early days: first Mike Geisbrecht and second Errol Stewart. After the band's first four shows, the original lineup disbanded and Hole recruited bassist Jill Emery in 1990.
In the documentary film Not Bad for a Girl, Love, who had been in the erotic dancing industry for years prior, stated that she worked as a stripper to help support the band in its early incarnation. She also cited her work as a dancer as being one of many inspirations for the songs on Pretty on the Inside: "I was blonde, wore makeup, had to support my band by dancing, and had to play this ridiculous archetype at work... so I took, you know, high heels and white pumps, and I had a wiglet— I just took that and messed with it."
Recording and production
Hole had previously released two singles, "Retard Girl" on Sympathy for the Record Industry and "Dicknail" on Sub Pop. The band was reportedly planning to record their debut album for Sympathypg. 57 however, Love opted to ask Kim Gordon to produce the album. In January 1991, Love sent her letter, a Hello Kitty barrette, and copies of the band's early singles, mentioning that the band greatly admired Gordon's work and appreciated "the production of the SST record" (referring to Sonic Youth's EVOL or Sister). Gordon agreed to produce the record on the condition that her friend, Gumball frontman Don Fleming assist. The band decided to sign with the larger label Caroline Records in order to cover the cost of production. Hole Interview
Prior to several studio recordings of singles and b-sides, the band entered Music Box Studios with Gordon Fleming in March 1991 to record the album over a period of four days. During the recording sessions for the album, frontwoman Love was reported to have gargled whiskey and smoked excessively to "give a raw edge to her vocals." The sessions were said to be stressful in many ways, with an anonymous band member saying that Love was "on a total power trip"pg.57 the entire time, making sure she had the final say of "everything in terms of album cover design, order of musicians' credits in the liner notes, and even the spot where the price code went on the back." Fleming was impressed by Love's "focus and intensity" and especially while recording vocals for one song, Love "literally ripped her clothes off while she sang." Gordon noted that Love "was either charming and nice or screaming at her band" but that she was "a really good singer and entertainer and front person." The album was recorded over the course of four days and produced two newly-written songs, "Starbelly" and "Sassy", and recordings of songs that had rarely or never been performed live by the band, "Loaded" and "Good Sister/Bad Sister".
Several of the band's previous singles and b-sides, including "Dicknail", "Burn Black", "Retard Girl", and "Phonebill Song" were originally considered for placement on the album.
Composition
Music
The musical content of Pretty on the Inside is most often noted for its extreme abrasiveness, and almost contradictingly, it is also noted for its sophisticated use of melody which is buried under arrangements. Elizabeth Wurtzel wrote in The New Yorker that "Pretty on the Inside is such a cacophony...that very few people are likely to get through it once, let alone give it the repeated listenings it needs for you to discover that it's probably the most compelling album to have been released in 1991."
The music is characterized by overt use of feedback, experimental playing techniques, extreme dynamic shifts both in speed and volume, and forward-looking use of sampling and sound collage. Love's singing style ranges from whispers to violent screaming. Love has openly admitted that the main riff to "Mrs. Jones" was copied from "Dark Entries" by Bauhaus verbatim.— The Hole Story The album's two experimental noise collages, "Sassy" and "Starbelly" are evidence of the band's admiration for Sonic Youth.Love, Courtney. July 1989. Flipside. Advertisement: "My influences are Big Black, Sonic Youth, and Fleetwood Mac."
"Starbelly" is based on the main riff of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl" and features a cassette-played excerpt from "Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac and an early recording of "Best Sunday Dress" by the Pagan Babies, one of Love's earlier bands with Kat Bjelland. The latter song would be reworked and re-recorded by Hole in 1997 during the Celebrity Skin sessions. "Sassy", the other noise track featured on the album, includes snippets from a derisive message left by Nymphs singer Inger Lorre on Courtney Love's answering machine, with Love inaudibly screaming and singing, "Sit back down / She's sassy / She's walking down". Lorre wrote a song titled "She's Not Your Friend" in response to the track.
In a 1991 Canadian television interview promoting the band, Love commented on the album, saying that since the band lived in Los Angeles, the "metal capital" of the US, they thought they were making a "pop record with an edge", and were surprised by people's reactions when they were told it was "violent" and "extreme".
Love noted the album's abrasiveness and lack of apparent melodies, but also said that "it was all about the expression of my experience. I was not coming from a black void; I was trying to create light... I was trying to heal." In an interview with Spin magazine several years after its release, Love said that she was "posing in a lot of ways" with the album: "It was the truth, but it was also me catching up with all my hip peers who'd gone all indie on me, and who made fun of me for liking R.E.M. and The Smiths. I'd done the whole punk thing, sleeping on floors in piss and beer, and waking up with the guy with the fucking mohawk and the skateboards and the speed and the whole goddamned thing. But I hated it. I'd grown out of it by the time I was seventeen." In a 1994 interview with Kurt Loder, Love admitted to having been "consciously self-conscious" when making the record due to her feeling the need to compete with her peers at the time.
Lyrics
The album is often lauded for its literate, confessional-like lyrics, which were heavily drawn from Love's personal life and experiences in her teenage and young adult years— specifically from her work as a stripper in the 1980s. The lyrics often describe shocking scenes of human-caused violence, and, particularly, violence against women. Other themes largely discussed in the lyrics include beauty and self-image, as well as the more disconcerting themes of abortion, prostitution, suicide, "red lights", and self-destructiveness.
The Seattle publication The Stranger noted that ""Mrs. Jones" is a particularly rattling sketch of what appears to be a rape scene, with Love seamlessly handling three perspectives: the ugly attacker ("Look into the bloodrot, you suicide bitch / It takes an hour with you to make me want to live"), the vengeful victim ("The abortion left an abscess / Don't ever talk to me like that again"), and the supportive narrator ("Just like a pro, she takes off her dress / And she kicks you down in her snow white pumps"). Another of the album's notable songs, "Garbadge Man", discusses abandonment and alienation, as well as crisis of spirituality. Musically, the song is one of the few on the album to feature a verse-chorus-verse composition.
The final track on most editions of the album, "Clouds" opens with the band's "Pretty on the Inside" and transitions into a noisy, "spectacular mutilation" of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides, Now" with altered lyrics that appear to reference drug abuse and self-hatred. "Pretty on the Inside", the preface to "Clouds", was also noted for its vitriolic lyrics as well as its allusions to vanity and cultural definitions of human beauty.
Several of the songs on the album had alternate titles at one point; a set list published in Courtney Love's semi-autobiography, Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love, reveals this. "Pretty on the Inside", which the album was named after, was originally titled "Pretty from the Back" in its early incarnations.: Set list composed by Love with song titles and order, likely in arrangement of the album. Likewise, the song "Berry" had the working title "Bury Me"; "Loaded" was originally named "Weird Red Light"; and "Garbadge Man" was simply titled "Garbadge". In the book, Love also writes that the album was "our tribute to Black Sabbath and Leonard Cohen."
The album's lyrics were deemed explicit enough to garner it a Parental Advisory logo in the United States. Female-aimed curse words, such as "bitch", "slut", and "whore" are prominent in the songs, though in a presumably subversive manner. Q Magazine referred to the album's lyrical content as "confrontational" and "genuinely uninhibited".Q Magazine Review: Pretty on the Inside by Hole. October 1995. p. 138
Packaging and artwork
POTI Interior.pngthumbrightalt=An open CD insert featuring a chaotic assemblage of typed and scribbled song lyrics, accompanied by photo cutouts of Catholic art, storybook images, and women in bondage.270pxInterior artwork from the CD version of the album, featuring a volatile collage of images and lyrics which mimics the album's unorthodox musical content. The artwork for Pretty on the Inside is abstract in comparison to Hole's later album artwork. The front cover of the album features a pink-saturated press photo of the band amidst forest underbrush, taken by photographer Vickie Berndt. The photo is similar to several others taken during the same shoot, one of which was featured in a Spin article in 1991.
The back side of the album features a painting by bassist Jill Emery, showing an abstract image of a topless woman looking at herself through a hand mirror, with two disembodied hands reaching toward and away from her head, while tears spill from her eyes. On her chest is a red heart surrounded by arrows, and below, her ribs protrude from her sides, possibly a reference to anorexia and/or body image issues, a heavy theme on the album and its successor Live Through This. The painting is likely tied to Love's lyrical content in the album, and her "preoccupation with feeling plain and feeling ugly, and the vanity and competition amongst women."
The interior artwork, presented in a booklet on the CD version of the album and on the record sleeve on the vinyl releases, reflected deeply the disturbing and raw nature of the music, with its booklet and liner notes being described as looking like "the scrapbook of an incest victim." The artwork features a chaotic assemblage of scribbled and typewritten lyrics, personal "thank you" notes, cutouts of Catholic and Renaissance artwork, as well as childlike drawings and storybook pictures juxtaposed with photos of women in bondage.Pretty on the Inside (1991) artwork, Caroline Records
The album was released solely on CD and tape cassette in the United States, but received a release on vinyl LP throughout Europe by City Slang Records, based in Berlin, Germany. The first 3,000 pressings of the LP featured blue vinyl, while the following pressings were in standard black.Pretty on the Inside. Hole. . City Slang Records. Catalog number 04071-08.
Release
Pretty on the Inside was released worldwide on September 17, 1991 by Caroline Records in the United States and City Slang in Europe. The album's lead single, "Teenage Whore", was released a month prior for promotion. The single's eventual success in the United Kingdom lead the band to perform a twelve-date tour of the country in August 1991 with Mudhoney supporting. The subsequent success of both the album, single, and tour saw Hole embark on a further three tours of the United States, Germany and Western Europe in the latter half of 1991, with the band ending touring supporting The Smashing Pumpkins.
GarbadgeManHole.pngthumbleft205pxCourtney Love featured in the music video for "Garbadge Man", filmed in 1991.
The album was an underground success, especially in the United Kingdom, where it reached number 59 in the official charts in October 1991. The album failed to chart in the United States despite extensive touring, though it was known to be outselling Nirvana's output before the band's release of Nevermind the following week. According to Billboard, the album had sold 27,000 copies by 1994. It ultimately went on to sell 204,000 copies in the United States alone, and sold an additional 400,000 copies internationally, bringing the approximate worldwide total sales to over 600,000.
Although no promotional music video was recorded for the lead single "Teenage Whore", a music video for "Garbadge Man" was filmed in 1991, although the song itself was not released as a single. The video is fairly abstract and a reflection of Hole's no wave influence at the time, with shots of Courtney Love in a car interspersed with shots of the band playing outside the window. It was known to be broadcast on MTV twice in 1994 and 1995 as part of 120 Minutes but was never as popular as the band's later videos. For the music video, an alternate mix of the song by Gordon was used to eliminate profanity.
In response to some of the remarks regarding the album's aggressive nature, Courtney Love said, "It's a lot of violent stuff on top, but there's a lot of melody underneath it. You know, we made this record, and all of sudden people are like, "It's so extreme, it's so violent", but we didn't really know. We just thought we were making a pop record with an edge... we live in LA, the metal capital, so there's really nobody that relates to us."
Critical reception
Pretty on the Inside, at the time of its release, was received by the British and American alternative press with prevailingly positive critical acclaim. In a review by NME, the album was positively compared to Patti Smith's Horses, as well as the debut albums of The Ramones, Television, and New York Dolls, and was branded as being in "a class of its own", while Elizabeth Wurtzel wrote in The New Yorker that Pretty on the Inside is "probably the most compelling album to have been released in 1991."
Additionally, Q Magazine called the album "loud, ugly, and deliberately shocking", and Spin noted in their review that it "revolves around a fascination of the repulsive aspects of L.A.— superficiality, sexism, violence, and drugs. Love is the embodiment of what drives the band: the dichotomy of pretty/ugly... The pretty/ugly dynamic also comes across in Hole's music... a song like "Teenage Whore" at first comes across like a ranting noisy rage, but underneath is a surprisingly lush melody." Melody Maker columnist Sharon O'Connell said the album was "the very best bit of fucked up rock 'n' roll all year", while a press release from City Slang records cited the album as a work where "the extremes of abjection, obsession, trauma, atrocity and, most importantly, humanity collide."Press release, City Slang Records. 1991. Also available in the My Body, The Hand Grenade liner notes. The album also earned a spot in Spins "20 Best Albums of the Year" in December 1991, as well as being voted album of the year by Village Voice magazine.
Legacy
Pretty on the Inside has had an influence on several female-fronted alternative acts, being specifically mentioned by Spinnerette frontwoman Brody Dalle in an interview as a seminal album in the development of her music. Contemporarily, the album has also gained a cult following among rock and punk music fans.
The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock called the album a "surly milkshake of broken rock shards... from the artistic misspellings of song titles to the lyric collage on the inner sleeve and the abrasive, abstract guitar noises on the songs, Pretty on the Inside reveals the band's fascination with the New York no wave art and music scene of the '80s."
Chart positions
Musicians and personnel
;Hole
*Courtney Love - vocals, rhythm guitar
*Eric Erlandson - lead guitar
*Jill Emery - bass
*Caroline Rue - drums, backing vocals
;Technical personnel
*Kim Gordon - producer
*Don Fleming - producer
*Brian Foxworthy - engineer
*Vicki Berndt - photography
*Jill Emery - artwork (back cover)
References
Category:1991 albums
Category:Caroline Records albums
Category:Debut albums
Category:Hole albums
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This text has been derived from Pretty on the Inside on Wikipedia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0Artist/Band Information
Hole is an American alternative rock band that originally formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The band is fronted by vocalist/songwriter and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love, who co-founded Hole with former songwriter/lead guitarist Eric Erlandson. Hole achieved considerable commercial and critical success throughout the 1990s.
The band made a splash in the underground rock scene in 1991 with their debut album, Pretty on the Inside, which was musically and lyrically abrasive, noted for its predominant punk and noise rock influence. Their second studio album, Live Through This (1994), which featured a more streamlined and grunge-oriented sound, received vast critical accolades upon release and has been regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, as well as the group's most notable work.
As the band progressed into the later 1990s, they incorporated elements of pop rock into their sound; the band's third album, Celebrity Skin (1998), fused hard rock with various pop elements, contrasting to their rougher punk rock-oriented past. Celebrity Skin went on to be the band's most commercially successful album, garnering them immense critical attention as well as several Grammy nominations.
In 2009, seven years after disbanding in 2002, Love announced she was reforming Hole with former Larrikin Love guitarist Micko Larkin. Erlandson, however, stated that no reunion could take place contractually without mutual involvement between Love and Erlandson. On January 1, 2010, a website promoting Hole's latest release, Nobody's Daughter, was launched, with links to various social media pages including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace. The album was released on April 27, 2010.http
Overview
Hole released three official albums before their split, Pretty on the Inside (1991), Live Through This (1994) and Celebrity Skin (1998), each of which reflect a distinctive and progressive sound and approach. The band's first release, Pretty on the Inside was a no wave, noise rock and punk-influenced record, experimenting with alternate tunings. The band's second release, the critically-acclaimed, Live Through This showcased a more power pop, and grunge-influenced approach, still infused with a punk rock sound. The band's third release, Celebrity Skin was prominently powerpop and pop-influenced. Hole also released a number of EPs during their career.
Hole also experienced a number of line-up changes for each album. Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson were the only constant members throughout the group's career. Pretty on the Inside was recorded with original drummer Caroline Rue and bassist Jill Emery, both of which left the band in 1992, to be replaced by Patty Schemel and Kristen Pfaff, respectively. This new line-up recorded Live Through This. Seattle musician Leslie Hardy was also a touring member for a short time, however did not contribute to any studio work, despite some reports. After Pfaff's death in 1994, Melissa Auf der Maur was recruited, at Billy Corgan's suggestion, as bassist. Prior to the recording of Celebrity Skin, Schemel left the group for reasons which remain disputed, and was replaced by Samantha Maloney, who left the group after the band's tour in 1999. Auf der Maur also left in late 1999, leaving Love and Erlandson the only two remaining members. After attempts at a fourth album, Love and Erlandson announced the split of Hole less than three years later.
In June 2009, Love – via a blog by music magazine NME – announced Hole was reforming with former Larrikin Love guitarist, Micko Larkin and Melissa Auf der Maur. Auf der Maur later said she had "no clue" of plans for a reunion, and co-founder Eric Erlandson stated via Spin magazine that no reunion could take place without his involvement, legally. Despite this, Hole has been signed to Mercury Records (Island Def Jam) and released Nobody's Daughter on April 26 and 27, 2010 worldwide. The first single is "Skinny Little Bitch".
History
Formation and early years (1989–1993)
Hole 1991 ad.pngthumbleftFlyer made by Courtney Love promoting a Hole show in Los Angeles, August 1991.
Love has joked that she took the name for the band from "my husband's favorite drinking spot", but this claim is dubious since she met Kurt Cobain, her second husband, the year after Hole was formed. Love, during in an interview on Later... with Jools Holland, claimed the name was inspired by a quote from Euripides' "Medea" which read "there's a hole that pierces my soul." Additionally, Love has cited a conversation with her mother as being a primary influence for the band's name. In an interview with Flipside magazine in fall 1990, Love said of the band's name:
Hole formed in Los Angeles in August 1989, after Eric Erlandson replied to an advertisement, placed by Courtney Love, in punk rock fanzine, Flipside. The advertisement simply read: "I want to start a band. My influences are Big Black, Sonic Youth, and Fleetwood Mac." Love had several responses to the ad, but chose Erlandson. In retrospect, she said: "He had a Thurston quality about him. He was tall, skinny, blonde. He dressed pretty cool, and he knew who Sonic Youth were... he's an intensely weird, good guitarist, and he's the glue that kept me together."
The band's first rehearsal took place in Fortress Studios in Hollywood, where Love, Erlandson and original bassist Lisa Roberts "played something noisy" while "they started screaming their poetry at the top of their lungs for two or three hours." After this, the band would recruit drummer Caroline Rue, and a third guitarist, Mike Geisbrecht. Hole's first show took place at Night Moves – a small club in Huntington Beach – in mid 1989. The band played another three shows in California in 1989 before they began to develop a fanbase. Geisbrecht left in 1989 and was replaced briefly by Errol Stewart, who left a few weeks later. Roberts also left the group at some point in early 1990.
After Geisbrecht and Roberts' departure, Hole recruited Jill Emery on bass and began recording studio material, as well as touring frequently— the band also released several singles: "Retard Girl" and "Dicknail" on Sympathy for the Record Industry and Sub Pop, respectively. The band became known at the time for Love's wild onstage behavior, and her ability to really "rile up" the crowd. As the group began to make decent money as an underground band, A&R reps and music labels started to appear at their shows. After one show, the band was approached by a major music label representative, who told Love they needed a more "full sound", to which she replied "fuck off".
Pretty on the Inside and tour (1991)
Hole released their first full-length album Pretty on the Inside (1991) – produced by Sonic Youth member Kim Gordon and Gumball musician, Don Fleming – on Caroline Records. In searching for a label to release the album, the group was approached by Sub Pop and Sympathy for the Record Industry, who had previously released singles for them, but Love declined their offers. Instead, the band signed onto Caroline Records, and Love sought Kim Gordon to produce the album for her. Sending a letter, a Hello Kitty barrette, and copies of the band's early singles to Gordon, Love mentioned that the band greatly admired Gordon's work and appreciated "... the production of the SST record" (either referring to Sonic Youth's album Sister or EVOL).
Pretty on the Inside received praise from underground critics, especially in the UK, where the band did an extensive tour with Daisy Chainsaw and Mudhoney. Love was touted as a "darling" of the UK alternative rock scene. Hole also toured North America and the rest of Europe in support of the record. Upon the album's release, it was branded by underground music critics as "loud, ugly and deliberately shocking." A 1991 review in Spin said that the album "revolves around a fascination of the repulsive aspects of L.A.— superficiality, sexism, violence, and drugs. Love is the embodiment of what drives the band: the dichotomy of pretty/ugly... The pretty/ugly dynamic also comes across in Hole's music... a song like "Teenage Whore" at first comes across like a ranting noisy rage, but underneath is a surprisingly lush melody." The album spawned one single, "Teenage Whore", as well as the band's first music video for the song "Garbadge Man".
While playing in London with Mudhoney at their final show, Love had her clothes torn off of her while stage diving; an incident that would later become the inspiration for the song "Asking for It".
According to Love,
Mainstream success and Live Through This (1993-1995)
Following the success of Pretty on the Inside, Hole began working toward a second album. In the midst of this, Courtney Love had begun dating Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain (the two had initially met in 1989 in Portland, Oregon). In 1992, they were married, and gave birth to a daughter, Frances, in the summer of that year. In terms of the band, Love had purportedly wanted to transition from Hole's dirty punk rock style to a more melodic, pop-influenced rock format, which bassist Jill Emery did not want to partake in. "Courtney wanted to be pop, she wanted to change. I don't mind changing, I love it, but I didn't want to go from A to Z— it just felt fake", said Emery.Behind the Music: Courtney Love. Episode 212. VH1 Networks. 22 June 2010. Emery left the band shortly after Love married Kurt Cobain, and drummer Caroline Rue followed. In an advertisement to find a new bass player, Love wrote: " someone who can play ok, and stand in front of 30,000 people, take off her shirt and have fuck you written on her tits. If you're not afraid of me and you're not afraid to fucking say it, send a letter. No more pussies, no more fake girls, I want a whore from hell."
As a result of Pretty on the Insides success and the furious press coverage around Courtney Love and husband Kurt Cobain, Hole was signed to Geffen Records with an eight-album contract in late 1992, around the time they recruited Janitor Joe bassist, Kristen Pfaff and drummer Patty Schemel. After another well-praised tour of Europe and the United States in 1993 – the first leg of which was for promotion of their single, "Beautiful Son" – Hole began work on their major label debut, Live Through This (1994) in Triclops Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. The final result included the singles "Doll Parts", "Violet", "Miss World" and "Softer, Softest". The album went multi-platinum and was hailed "Album of the Year" by Spin magazine.http Kurt Cobain is also known to have contributed to the album, however, his only audible work is found on the tracks, "Asking for It" and "Softer, Softest." Incidentally, Love has revealed that the alternate mix of "Asking for It" featuring Cobain, was planned to be released as a single, however after Cobain's death the idea was scrapped. The extent of Cobain's overall involvement in the album is unconfirmed.
Almost immediately prior to the album's release, the final song, "Rock Star", was removed from the album and replaced by the outtake "Olympia". It was widely believed at the time that this was because its lyrics, which included the lyrics, "How'd you like to be Nirvana?/so much fun to be Nirvana/barrel of laughs to be Nirvana/say you'd rather die", and appeared inappropriate in the wake of Cobain's suicide in April 1994. By the time the decision to remove "Rock Star" was made, the album artwork and various other inserts had already been printed, and since "Olympia" was put in its place, "Olympia" is labelled as "Rock Star" on "Live Through This", and serves as its official title. Live Through This was released on April 12, 1994, four days after the discovery of Cobain's suicide, and two months prior to Kristen Pfaff's death on June 16 of an apparent heroin overdose. Hole pulled out of the upcoming Lollapalooza festival, which was also going to include Cobain's band, Nirvana.
On September 1, 1994, Hole played their first headlining show since the album's release at the Phoenix Theatre in Toronto, and dedicated it to Kristen. The band, now with Melissa Auf der Maur on bass, recruited by Love at Billy Corgan's suggestion, toured extensively throughout 1994 and 1995. Appearances included the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Saturday Night Live, the Big Day Out festival, MTV Unplugged, Lollapalooza 1995 and the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, at which Hole performed "Violet" and were nominated for awards. During this time period, Love's stage antics had grown wild, garnering much attention. At Lollapalooza on July 4, 1995, Love punched Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna in the face and pelted her with candy and a burning cigarette, after Hanna had allegedly made a drug joke about Love's two-year-old daughter. Love went to court over the case and was sentenced to anger management classes.
The band released their first EP, Ask for It in September 1995; it featured live versions of "Doll Parts" and "Violet", as well as covers of The Wipers' "Over the Edge" and "Pale Blue Eyes" by The Velvet Underground. After the band's tours in 1995, Hole entered the studio to record a follow-up to Live Through This. There were multiple attempts to record Hole's third album, and one such attempt was in New Orleans in winter 1995. Interviews with Erlandson have confirmed the authenticity of this session, and the style is thought to have been a transition between the alternative style of "Live Through This" and the band's later pop-influenced sound, however no material from the sessions has surfaced. It is believed that one result of these sessions was an extremely early version of "Awful". Erlandson has also denied a rumor that what was to be the band's third album had been completed only to have the masters stolen on an airplane.
Hiatus and My Body, the Hand Grenade (1996–1997)
Hole was thought to be on hiatus in 1996, due to Love's rising movie career. Despite the reported hiatus and Love's movie career, the band recorded and released a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman" for The Crow: City of Angels. This served as the first studio recording with Auf der Maur as bassist. During the supposed hiatus, Hole also released a second EP, The First Session in August 1997, which includes a complete version of the band's first recording session at Rudy's Rising Star in Los Angeles in March 1990, some of which had been bootlegged widely years prior. The band's final release before 1998's "Celebrity Skin" was the compilation album, My Body, the Hand Grenade, which was composed of early singles, mid-period b-sides and recent live tracks. One outtake from the "Live Through This" recording sessions which was included on this release was the controversial song, "Old Age". The history and writer of this song was the subject of controversy among Courtney Love detractors who believed Kurt Cobain had written Hole's second album, an allegation for which no evidence has ever surfaced. It was eventually learned "Old Age" had been written by Kurt Cobain for the Nevermind sessions in 1991, then given to Hole, whereupon its lyrics were rewritten by Love. Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic confirmed that "Old Age" was indeed "a Nirvana song" in an interview with UK music newspaper Melody Maker in 1997. The unfinished Nirvana version was released on the Nirvana box-set With the Lights Out in 2004. Another song on the My Body the Hand Grenade collection was "20 Years in the Dakota", which touches on Yoko Ono's struggles in life as John Lennon's wife, a position which Love herself has been frequently compared to, due to the perception that Ono drew Lennon away from The Beatles and that Love drew Cobain away from Nirvana.
Although Hole as a band did not perform during 1996 and 1997, members of Hole performed separately, including Love's guest appearance at a Smashing Pumpkins' show in February 1996, at which she performed "Silverfuck" and "Farewell and Goodnight", with Smashing Pumpkins' frontman, and former boyfriend, Billy Corgan. Auf der Maur and Schemel also performed a show in Toronto in July 1996. Erlandson also collaborated with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and director Dave Markey in the short-lived project, Rodney & the Tube Tops, with whom he released one single.
Celebrity Skin and breakup (1997–2002)
Hole's third studio album, Celebrity Skin adopted a complete new sound for the band. Featuring a more pop-oriented sound, the album was a critical success with strong sales and successful singles, including the title track, "Celebrity Skin", "Malibu", and "Awful". Eric Erlandson told Rolling Stone, "I still think a lot of Celebrity Skin is my Johnny Thunders influence coming up – which Courtney just fucking hates."
The album was recorded in Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles throughout 1997, after many "fruitless attempts" in Miami, London and New York. Although Patty Schemel is listed as drummer in the liner notes of the record, she did not actually appear on the record as she had left the band prior to the main recording sessions and was in turn replaced by a session drummer. The studio work took almost a year and a half. According to Erlandson, Courtney was more focused on song-writing and singing and "did not care about her instrument". Eric also noted that Billy Corgan, who co-wrote a large portion of the album, played bass on "Hit So Hard". In reaction to public speculation that Kurt Cobain had written the band's second album, Celebrity Skin's liner notes listed explicitly every musician's contribution to the record, specifying authorship for every song. Love wrote a comprehensive amount of the lyrics, while Erlandson, assistant-producing alongside Michael Beinhorn, had a hand in every song. Co-songwriters on the album also included Melissa Auf der Maur, Patty Schemel, Jordon Zadorozny of Blinker the Star, and Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go's, each contributing pieces to a number of songs, however the most notable contributor was Billy Corgan, who co-wrote five of the twelve songs on the album. After the album's release, Hole recruited Samantha Maloney as a touring drummer, who left in 1999.
After a winter tour in 1998 to promote Celebrity Skin, Hole made further appearances at festivals throughout 1999 after an extensive American and European tour. Hole and Marilyn Manson toured together, with Manson promoting his then-recent album, Mechanical Animals. Hole dropped out of the tour nine dates into the tour, due to both the majority of the fans being Manson's, who were not very interested in the Hole performance, and the financial arrangement for the bands (50/50 cost and revenue splitting) as a reason for discontinuing the tour (Hole had relatively little production costs and ending up paying a large amount for Manson's high cost production)".http On June 18, 1999 during Hole's set at the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden, a 19-year old girl died after being crushed by the mosh pit behind the mixing board. The band did not comment on her death. Hole played its final show at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver on July 14, 1999. A few months later, Auf der Maur quit Hole and went on to become a touring bassist for the Smashing Pumpkins. Despite being the only two remaining members of the group, Love and Erlandson still continuted Hole. The band's final release was a single for the movie Any Given Sunday. "Be a Man", released in March 2000, was an outtake from the Celebrity Skin sessions, and was another song co-written and included bass-work by Corgan.
Love and Erlandson officially disbanded Hole via a message posted on the band's website in 2002. Their more than decade-long run as a band produced three studio albums that generated sales of 8 million in total. After the split, the four musicians each took on projects of their own. Erlandson continued to work as a producer and session musician, eventually forming the experimental group RRIICCEE with controversial artist, Vincent Gallo and Love began a solo career, releasing her debut, America's Sweetheart in 2004. Melissa Auf der Maur also embarked on a solo career, and released her self-titled debut album in 2004, which also included Erlandson on lead guitar on the track, "Would If I Could." Her second album, Out of Our Minds, was released on March 30, 2010.
Hole's original body of work includes thirteen singles, six Grammy nominations, three LPs, three EPs, one compilation album and 10 music videos.
Reunion and Nobody's Daughter (2009–present)
Hole 2010 Seattle.pngthumbrightCourtney Love and guitarist Micko Larkin performing in Seattle, Washington in September 2010.On June 17, 2009, NME posted two in-depth blogs, and links to two interviews, of Courtney Love announcing the reunion of Hole. The article was primarily focused on Love's upcoming solo release, Nobody's Daughter, yet it claimed with the "rock Courtney back in action, this music could only come out under one name, HOLE". According to the blog post, Melissa Auf der Maur would once again be bassist, with Micko Larkin replacing Eric Erlandson, and a drummer was not mentioned. There was also mention of "tours next year". However, days later, Melissa Auf der Maur, interviewed in Toronto where she was appearing at the North by Northeast music festival, said she had "no clue" about the band's reported reunion and denied the NME claim she had, or was asked to, contribute vocals to the album or had been asked to tour with the purportedly reunited band saying, "I actually don't know ...I arrived at and I heard that Hole were getting back together from people sending me links," she said.
Eric Erlandson has also stated in Spin magazine that contractually no reunion can take place without his involvement, therefore Nobody's Daughter would remain Love's solo record, as opposed to a "Hole" record. Love then responded to Erlandson's comments in a Twitter post, claiming that "he's out of his MIND, Hole is MY band, MY name, and MY Trademark". Shortly after this quarrel Love began posting new Hole logos, stage ideas, and guitar pick ideas on her Facebook page, implying, though not confirming, that Hole had reformed.
In December 2009, three upcoming shows were announced in New York, Milan and Amsterdam, at The Standard Hotel's Boom Boom Room, the Magazzini Generali and Paradiso respectively,http though flyers from the New York show credit the performer solely as Courtney Love. The official Paradiso website issued a press release the same month stating Melissa Auf der Maur would partake in the show, but when asked by a fan on her official Facebook fan page, Auf der Maur claimed that " mysterious press release is news to me putting my detective hat on now more on this soon." The Paradiso's website claimed in January 2010 that "many quarrels are settled."
Auf der Maur stated in an interview with New York Magazine in April, 2010:
"Even in rock and roll, I believe there's a right and wrong. I'm still close friends with Eric , and he's the only one who can do anything on his end about it. He's a peaceful man who has made great efforts in his own life to find peace. I feel protective of the legacy of Hole and my memories in it. It wasn't even so much about doing a reunion. I told Courtney, 'I support the retrospective of everything done in that time. If and when you're ready to look at that, I'll support it.' What's so funny is that she can come out and say that I asked her to do a reunion. That's not exactly what was said. What I said was that I think a retrospective would be incredibly valuable right now and that's obviously not where she's at. ... I've always wished the best for her. I want her to be happy. I want her to be musical. I care about her well-being. When she gets an idea in her mind, that's what she stays with regardless of what other people think or feel. I put my foot down when she shockingly declared Hole was playing its first shows. All I was really trying to say was that I hope it doesn't blow the opportunity for a real reunion and retrospective. You can’t just do Hole Two again later."
Hole launched a new website, and an official Facebook page on January 1, 2010. The band played its first performance since the reunion on February 12, 2010 on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross playing "Samantha". On February 17, 2010 they played a full set at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, with support from Little Fish. Further shows were performed at 02 Academy Brixton and SPIN's annual SXSW music festival, with further dates being added for the United States and United Kingdom in April and May 2010. Television appearances, in efforts to promote the upcoming album, include performing on Late Show with David Letterman on April 27, Jimmy Kimmel Live! on April 29 and on Later with Jools Holland on the 4th of May.
On March 16, the first Hole single in ten years, and first from Nobody's Daughter was released. "Skinny Little Bitch" was the most added song on alternative radio and the second most added song on active rock in early March in the United States, debuting at #32 on Billboard's Alternative Singles Chart. "Pacific Coast Highway" is expected to be the second single from the album. On April 14, Eric Erlandson confirmed the contract he had mentioned in SPIN in 2009, stating that "in the agreement, she agreed that she would not use the name Hole commercially without 's approval. She was intent on using her name at that point, figuring it had more value than the name Hole." He also claimed "'s management convinced me that it was all hot air and that she would never be able to finish her album. Now I’m left in an uncomfortable position" and disputed claims that he and Love reached a financial settlement over the name Hole, stating that " haven’t settled the issue. There’s been no financial settlement. sure what she meant to say is that she hoped for a settlement in the future. But nothing’s happened yet. Courtney and her management continue to roll along with their plans to, in my opinion, ruin the Hole legacy, just for some cheap thrills."Erlandson, Eric. Interview with GrungeReport.net, from April 14, 2010. http Retrieved on April 16, 2010.
Nobody's Daughter was released on April 26 and 27 worldwide via Mercury Records (Island Def Jam). Hole is now being managed by Crush Management which manages other groups such as Fall Out Boy, Train and Panic! at the Disco.
Members
Current lineup
* Courtney Love – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1989–2002, 2009–present)
* Micko Larkin – lead guitar (2009–present)
* Shawn Dailey – bass (2009–present)
* Stu Fisher – drums, percussion (2009–present)
Former members
* Eric Erlandson – lead guitar (1989–2002)
* Samantha Maloney – drums, percussion (1998–2000)
* Melissa Auf der Maur – bass, backing vocals (1994–1999)
* Patty Schemel – drums, percussion (1993–1997)
* Kristen Pfaff – bass, backing vocals, piano (1993–1994)
* Leslie Hardy – bass, backing vocals (1992)
* Jill Emery – bass (1991–1992)
* Caroline Rue – drums, percussion (1989–1992)
* Lisa Roberts – bass (1989–1990)
* Errol Stewart – guitar (1989 1990)
* Mike Geisbrecht – guitar (1989)
Discography
* Pretty on the Inside (1991)
* Live Through This (1994)
* Celebrity Skin (1998)
* Nobody's Daughter (2010)
US & Canada Billboard Chart Peak Positions
US & Canada Billboard Album Chart Peak Positions
US & Canada Billboard Singles Chart Peak Positions
Awards and nominations
Grammy Award
References
This text has been derived from Hole (band) on Wikipedia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0
