Hole | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Throughout Holes career, vocalist/guitarist Courtney Loves notorious public image has overshadowed her bands music. In their original incarnation, Hole was one of the noisiest, most abrasive alternative bands performing in the early 90s. By the time of their second album, 1994s Live Through This, the band had smoothed out many of their rougher edges, also adding more melodies and hooks to their songwriting. Through both versions of Hole, Loves combative, assaultive persona permeated the groups music and lyrics, giving the band a tense, unpredictable edge even at their quietest moments. Love formed Hole in Los Angeles in 1989, recruiting guitarist Eric Erlandson through a newspaper ad. Love had played with numerous bands before Hole, including early versions of both Babes in Toyland and Faith No More. Erlandson and Love eventually drafted bassist Jill Emery and drummer Caroline Rue into the band, recording their first album with producer Kim Gordon, the bassist for Sonic Youth. The violent and uncompromising Pretty on the Inside, Holes debut record, was released on Caroline Records in 1991 to numerous positive reviews, especially in the British weekly music press. In early 1992, Courtney Love married Kurt Cobain, the lead singer/songwriter of Nirvana. For a couple of months, the couple was the king and queen of the new rock world; soon, that world came crashing in. Cobain became addicted to heroin and the couple fought to keep custody of their baby after a piece in Vanity Fair accused Love of shooting heroin while pregnant, charges which she vehemently denied at the time; she would later admit that she had taken small quantities of the drug. By 1993, their private world had settled down somewhat, with Cobain and Love recording new albums with their respective bands. Halfway through 1993, Love reassembled Hole with Erlandson, adding bassist Kristen M. Pfaff and drummer Patty Schemel. Hole was set to release their first major-label album, the more pop-oriented Live Through This, on DGC Records in April of 1994. Advance word on the album was overwhelmingly positive, with many critics calling it one of the best records of the year. Four days before the album was released, Kurt Cobains body was discovered in the couples Seattle home; he had died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound three days before. Two months after Cobains death, Kristen M. Pfaff was found dead of a heroin overdose in a Seattle apartment, with rumors swirling that Love (understandably distraught over the recent tragedies) was abusing the drug as well. Two months later, Hole began touring again, with bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur taking Pfaffs place. "Doll Parts" was released as a single late in 1994, climbing into the Top 60 by the beginning of 1995. Live Through This topped many critics polls at the end of the year, including Rolling Stone and the Village Voice. Shortly thereafter, Hole toured with the fifth Lollapalooza tour, staying on the road for the remainder of the year. Despite all the hardships, the album became the groups commercial breakthrough, spawning several MTV/radio hits and being certified platinum early the following year. The band went on an extended hiatus afterwards, during which time many assumed the band had broken up when it appeared that Love was focusing more on her burgeoning acting career (Feeling Minnesota, The People vs. Larry Flynt) than music. To satisfy their fans demand for new music, two rarities collections were issued -- the 1995 EP Ask for It and the 1997 import My Body, the Hand Grenade. After numerous delays, the band finally regrouped to work on a follow-up to Live Through This, with longtime friend Billy Corgan signed on to be a musical consultant. The album was finally issued in September of 1998 to favorable reviews, but Schemel left the band (for reasons unknown) around the same time. Former drummer for New York City alt-rockers Shift, Samantha Maloney, filled the vacant slot as the group embarked on their first substantial tour in two years. By the tours completion, Auf Der Maur had left to join the Smashing Pumpkins, while Maloney eventually served as a stand-in drummer for Mötley Crüe. Even though Skin was certified platinum shortly after its release, Love was unhappy with the way the album was handled by her record company and felt stifled by her contract, eventually bringing a lawsuit against the Universal Music Group trying to terminate her contract (she still owes five more albums under her current agreement), so she can release music via the Internet. The future of Hole became even more uncertain in early 2001, when Love announced plans to launch a new outfit, called Bastard. Signing with Epitaph, the band consisted of Love, former Veruca Salt guitarist Louise Post, former Rockit Girl bassist Gina Crosley, and to the delight of longtime Hole fans, Schemel is back on drums. In typical Love style, this lineup eventually dissolved into only her and Schemel and the group essentially broke up before it even began. Despite the lack of any substancial project, Love finally announced the end of Hole in May of 2002. Unlike her often bitter press situations, she claimed that the situation was friendly and she would still remain friends with the previous members of the band. Love released her first solo album, Americas Sweetheart, in 2004. The following year she began working on new songs, despite battling an alleged eating disorder and a stay in rehab after violating her probation by using drugs. Working with artists including producer Linda Perry, Billy Corgan and guitarist Micko Larkin, formerly of Larrikin Love, the album Nobodys Daughter began to take shape over 2006 and 2007. In mid-2009, Love announced that Nobodys Daughter would in fact be a Hole album. She began promoting the album in earnest in early 2010, performing shows in Europe and the U.S. -- including gigs at the South by Southwest Festival and on The Late Show with David Letterman -- before its release. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 8 Title: Teenage Whore Released: Tracks: 3 Duration: 12:27 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Teenage Whore (03:53) 2 Drown Soda (02:58) 3 Burn Black (05:35) |
 | Album: 2 of 8 Title: Pretty on the Inside Released: 1991-07-01 Tracks: 11 Duration: 38:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Teenage Whore (02:57) 2 Babydoll (04:59) 3 Garbadge Man (03:19) 4 Sassy (01:43) 5 Good Sister/Bad Sister (05:47) 6 Mrs Jones (05:25) 7 Berry (02:46) 8 Loaded (04:19) 9 Star Belly (01:46) 10 Pretty on the Inside (01:28) 11 Clouds (03:57) |
| Pretty on the Inside : Allmusic album Review : With the assistance of producers Kim Gordon and Don Fleming, Hole recorded a brutally uncompromising debut with Pretty on the Inside. The jagged white noise and buzzing guitars articulate Courtney Loves pent-up rage as well as her lyrics, and while that might make the album difficult to absorb in one sitting, it also makes it a singular achievement. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 8 Title: Live Through This Released: 1994-04-08 Tracks: 12 Duration: 38:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Violet (03:24) 2 Miss World (03:00) 3 Plump (02:34) 4 Asking for It (03:29) 5 Jennifer’s Body (03:41) 6 Doll Parts (03:31) 7 Credit in the Straight World (03:11) 8 Softer, Softest (03:27) 9 She Walks on Me (03:23) 10 I Think That I Would Die (03:36) 11 Gutless (02:15) 12 Olympia (02:42) |
| Live Through This : Allmusic album Review : Courtney Love completely revamped Hole before recording their second album, keeping only Eric Erlandson in the lineup. That is one of the reasons why Live Through This sounds so shockingly different from Pretty on the Inside, but the real reason is Loves desire to compete in the same commercial alternative rock arena as her husband, Kurt Cobain. In fact, many rumors have claimed that Cobain ghostwrote a substantial chunk of the album, and while thats unlikely, theres no denying that his patented stop-start dynamics, bare chords, and punk-pop melodies provide the blueprint for Live Through This. Love adds her signature rage and feminist rhetoric to the formula, but the lyrics that truly resonate are the ones that unintentionally predict Cobains suicide. For all the raw pain of the lyrics, Live Through This rarely sounds raw because of the shiny production and the carefully considered dynamics. Despite this flaw, the album retains its power because it was one of the few records patterned on Nevermind that gets the formula right, with a set of gripping hooks and melodies that retain their power even if they follow the predictable grunge pattern. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 8 Title: Ask for It Released: 1995-10-26 Tracks: 6 Duration: 18:04 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Over the Edge (02:47) 2 Pale Blue Eyes (03:56) 3 Drown Soda (03:50) 4 Doll Parts (02:21) 5 Violet (03:36) 6 Forming / Hot Chocolate Boy (01:32) |
 | Album: 5 of 8 Title: The First Session Released: 1997-08-26 Tracks: 4 Duration: 12:53 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Retard Girl (04:48) 2 Phonebill Song (01:48) 3 Turpentine (04:00) 4 Johnnies in the Bathroom (02:17) |
 | Album: 6 of 8 Title: My Body, the Hand Grenade Released: 1997-10-28 Tracks: 14 Duration: 55:49 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Turpentine (04:00) 2 Phonebill Song (01:48) 3 Retard Girl (04:46) 4 Burn Black (04:59) 5 Dicknail (03:37) 6 Beautiful Son (02:28) 7 Twenty Years in the Dakota (02:54) 8 Miss World (demo) (03:29) 9 Old Age (04:22) 10 Softer, Softest (03:47) 11 He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss) (03:44) 12 Season of the Witch (03:42) 13 Drown Soda (live) (06:10) 14 Asking for It (live) (05:58) |
| My Body, the Hand Grenade : Allmusic album Review : As Hole were dragging their heels working on the follow-up to Live Through This, their British label, City Slang, released My Body, the Hand Grenade, a collection of outtakes, live cuts, and rare tracks. Most of this material dates from the days of Pretty on the Inside, when Courtney Love was tagged as a riot grrrl, since she screamed over sludgy, heavy guitars, but there are also cuts from their anticlimactic MTV Unplugged appearance in 1995. While the rarity value of this music certainly makes it interesting, the music itself is pretty average, with the dreck outweighing the good stuff (including a rewrite of the Nirvana rarity "Old Age," for which none of the members of Nirvana are credited) by a wide margin. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 8 Title: Celebrity Skin Released: 1998-09-02 Tracks: 12 Duration: 50:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Celebrity Skin (02:42) 2 Awful (03:16) 3 Hit So Hard (04:00) 4 Malibu (03:50) 5 Reasons to Be Beautiful (05:19) 6 Dying (03:44) 7 Use Once & Destroy (05:04) 8 Northern Star (04:58) 9 Boys on the Radio (05:09) 10 Heaven Tonight (03:31) 11 Playing Your Song (03:21) 12 Petals (05:29) |
| Celebrity Skin : Allmusic album Review : From the moment the Pyromania guitars herald open the title track on Celebrity Skin, its clear Hole no longer is tortured. Gone are the roaring guitars and noise, the pain and the anguish that informed Pretty on the Inside and Live Through This. Some angst remains, but its buried under a glaze of shiny guitars and hazy melodies, all intended to evoke the heyday of Californian pop in the late 70s. Conceptually, its a bold move for a band thats nearly synonymous with grunge, but the makeover doesnt quite work. Part of the reason is that Holes music was always compelling as nakedly cathartic spectacle -- and thats exactly what has been excised on Celebrity Skin. In the past, Courtney Love pushed her emotions to the forefront, and the sheer forcefulness of her personality disguised the anonymity of her bandmates. A toned-down Love still may not be able to carry a tune, but theres little grit to her performance on Celebrity Skin, so she effortlessly blends with the faceless musical support -- which is strange, considering her overpowering public image. Walking the line between soft rock and confessional grunge was a difficult task regardless, and to its credit, Hole -- with the assistance of producer Michael Beinhorn and consultant Billy Corgan, who is credited with co-writing five songs and essentially pioneered the very sound of Celebrity Skin with his Smashing Pumpkins albums -- has created an album that sounds like an arena rock monster, but the hooks sink only halfway in, so it doesnt have much impact. It is a complete makeover, but instead of metamorphosing into a new band, Hole has unwittingly neutered itself. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 8 Title: Nobody’s Daughter Released: 2010-04-27 Tracks: 11 Duration: 47:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Nobody’s Daughter (05:19) 2 Skinny Little Bitch (03:10) 3 Honey (04:19) 4 Pacific Coast Highway (05:14) 5 Samantha (04:16) 6 Someone Else’s Bed (04:26) 7 For Once in Your Life (03:34) 8 Letter to God (04:04) 9 Loser Dust (03:25) 10 How Dirty Girls Get Clean (04:54) 11 Never Go Hungry (04:28) |
| Nobody’s Daughter : Allmusic album Review : Resurrecting the Hole moniker for 2010’s Nobody’s Daughter is simply a matter of business for Courtney Love: her 2004 solo album, America’s Sweetheart, flat-lined, so her assumption is that the name Hole carries some cachet and will raise her profile and, in turn, her sales. That neither Love’s chief collaborator Eric Erlandson nor her lieutenant Melissa Auf der Maur is to be found on this purported reunion is of no serious commercial consequence -- for most observers, Courtney Love was Hole just like Debbie Harry was Blondie, her supporting cast seemingly meaning little to the end product. Of course, the ironic thing is that Love is more dependent on the kindness of others than most singer/songwriters, her work taking on the characteristics of her collaborators -- and in the case of Nobody’s Daughter, they include longtime (and now former) friend Billy Corgan and Michael Beinhorn, two of the architects behind 1998’s Celebrity Skin, the one time Courtney came close to being the genuine crossover rock star she so desperately craves to be. Trace elements of the SoCal sheen of Skin can catch the light on Nobody’s Daughter, but despite its billing as a Hole album, this record wasn’t conceived as a band effort: its genesis is as the second Love solo album and it can’t shake its inward-leaning singer/songwriter roots no matter how many times a “Skinny Little Bitch” is grafted onto the final product. That affected snarl was pulled as the first single in hopes of selling the album as a return to rock, but it’s impossible to disguise the turgid tuneless folk-rock swirl at the heart of Nobody’s Daughter. By swapping guitar armies and clobbering hooks for muddled midtempo ballads, Courtney is placing more weight on her lyrics than she perhaps should given that she’s plowing familiar fields, painting herself as either a martyr or survivor (going so far as to quote Scarlett O’Hara in the concluding “Never Go Hungry”), two personas that don’t quite jibe with the image she’s relentlessly pushed into the spotlight. Naturally, art should stand separate from the artist, but Courtney Love has never made that easy, blurring all lines between the public and private, turning all judgments on her art into a referendum on her. And in the case of Nobody’s Daughter, the tattered, ragged survivor in the gossip rags is no different than the one on record, both capturing Courtney in an inevitable, not so romantic decline, inadvertently turning every cliché into truth as she slowly slips into her final role as alt-rock’s Norma Desmond. | ||