Hole

Background

Hole formed after Eric Erlandson responded to an advertisement placed by Courtney Love in The Recycler in the summer of 1989. The advertisement read: "I want to start a band. My influences are Big Black, Sonic Youth, and Fleetwood Mac." Erlandson recalled of their first meeting: "We met at this coffee shop, and I saw her and I thought 'Oh, God. Oh, no, What am I getting myself into?' She grabbed me and started talking, and she's like 'I know you're the right one', and I hadn't even opened my mouth yet." In retrospect, Love said that Erlandson "had a Thurston [Moore] quality about him" and was an "intensely weird, good guitarist". In his 2012 book Letters to Kurt, Erlandson revealed that he and Love had a sexual relationship during their...

1989–1991: Early work and indie success

In the months preceding the band's full formation, Love and Erlandson would write and record in the evenings at a rehearsal space in Hollywood, loaned to them by the Red Hot Chili Peppers; during the day, Love worked as a stripper to support the band and purchase amplifiers and their backline for live shows. Hole's first official rehearsal took place at Fortress Studios in Hollywood with Love, Erlandson and Lisa Roberts on bass. According to Erlandson, "these two girls show up dressed completely crazy, we set up and they said, 'okay, just start playing something.' I started playing and they started screaming at the top of their lungs for two or three hours. Crazy lyrics and screaming. I said to myself, 'most people would just run away from...

2009–2013: Reformation

On June 17, 2009, seven years after Hole's disbandment, NME reported that Love was re-forming the band with guitarist Micko Larkin for an upcoming album, on which Melissa Auf der Maur would be providing backup vocals. Days later, Melissa Auf der Maur stated in an interview that she was unaware of any reunion, but said Love had asked her to contribute harmonies to an upcoming album. In response, Eric Erlandson stated in an interview with Spin magazine that a reunion could not take place without his involvement, citing that he and Love "have a contract".

2019–present: Possible reformation and attempted reunions

In October 2019, Hole were photographed rehearsing in Los Angeles, with Love, Erlandson, Auf der Maur, and Schemel reunited.

Asking For It

"Asking for It" is a song by the American alternative rock band Hole. It is the fourth track on the band's second studio album, Live Through This, released on April 12, 1994 on Geffen Records.

The song was written by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love and lead guitarist Eric Erlandson.

Origin and recording

"Asking for It" was one of the many songs written by Love and Erlandson following the release of Hole's debut studio album, Pretty on the Inside, and the subsequent departures of drummer Caroline Rue and bassist Jill Emery.

Lyrics

The lyrical content of "Asking for It" is mainly about rape, however, it also deals with issues of feminism; one of the central themes of Live Through This. The song was inspired by an incident that occurred on August 16, 1991 at the Queen Margaret Union in Glasgow, Scotland, where Love stage-dived and was molested by members of the audience. Speaking of the incident in a 1995 interview, Love said:

Release

"Asking for It" was featured as the fourth track on Live Through This, released on April 12, 1994. Less than seven months later, the song was released, in its alternate form, to U.S. radio. and featured the additional verses, extended bridge and Cobain's backing vocals. There were rumours around the time of the album's release that Love was planning to release the version of "Asking for It" featuring Cobain as a single.

Celebrity Skin

"Celebrity Skin" is a song by American alternative rock band Hole, released on August 31, 1998, as the first single from their third studio album of the same name. It is their only single to peak at number one on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.

In October 2011, NME ranked it the 126th best track of the past 15 years.

Lyrics

The lyrics, written by Love, contain several literary references; the line "Oh, look at my face / My name is might-have-been" is directly lifted from the opening verse of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's poem, "A Superscription," (and also quoted in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night) while the phrase "pound of flesh" originates from William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

Release

"Celebrity Skin" was released as the debut single of its eponymous album, Celebrity Skin, on August 31, 1998, reaching the top 10 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. It spent a total of 26 weeks on the chart, peaking at number one on October 10, 1998.

Critical response and legacy

NME referred to the track's musical elements as featuring a "balls-in-the-air guitar riff the size of Australia, and a production sheen that was the sonic equivalent of looking directly at the sun." In 2011, the same publication ranked the song number 126 on a list of the "150 Best Tracks of the Last 15 Years." James Hunter of Rolling Stone wrote of the song: "Hole are immediately in your face with the cheese-metal riffs and cuddly dissolves," deeming it "a track full of cloudless energy that seems to explode the malaise that has surrounded Love." The song received two Grammy nominations for Best Rock Song, losing to "Uninvited" by Alanis Morissette and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, losing to "Pink" by Aerosmith.

Music video

The music video for "Celebrity Skin" was directed by Nancy Bardawil. The video features the band performing the song on a stage, women wearing pink-purple ball gowns hanging from the ceiling and the women later lifting up their skirts as they amble around the stage. The video design bears resemblance to a key sequence in the Marilyn Monroe film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). As well as performance footage, there are also a number of close-ups of Courtney Love and Melissa Auf der Maur lying in coffins. Patty Schemel, although still a member of the band at the time of shooting, does not appear in the video. Schemel was replaced by a lookalike (Samantha Maloney using red hair to emulate Schemel) and only informed a music video was planned...

Doll Parts

"Doll Parts" is a song by American alternative rock band Hole, written by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love. The song was released as the band's sixth single and second from their second studio album, Live Through This, in October 1994 to accompany the band's North American tour.

It was also the first single to be released following the death of bassist Kristen Pfaff in June 1994.

Background and recording

Courtney Love is known to have written "Doll Parts" as early as November 1991, performing it acoustically at a Hole concert in Massachusetts. The song developed into its final form less than two weeks later and became a regular number on setlists during the band's tour of Europe and the United Kingdom the following month. Journalist Everett True also noted that Love performed an acoustic version of the song to him over a telephone at 4 a.m. during the band's tour.

Composition

"Doll Parts" thematically focuses on love, rejection, and fear of unrequited romance. Speaking to Uncut magazine in 2010, Love stated that the song was specifically about Kurt Cobain, who she thought "didn't like [her]." Love divulged that she wrote the song while staying at the Cambridge, Massachusetts apartment of Joyce Linehan, a music executive, and that she had written most of it while locked in a bathroom. Love has said that the line "dog beg" was worked into the first verse because there was literally a dog in the apartment begging for food.

Release

"Doll Parts" was released on October 10, 1994, in Australia and on November 15 in the United States as the second single from Hole's second studio album, Live Through This (1994). In Australia, a CD single and a cassette single were issued through Geffen Records, while in the US, it was released as a CD, cassette, and 7-inch single on DGC Records, with alternate track listings for each pressing. Upon its release in Europe, three CD singles were released on DGC, Geffen, and City Slang, with additional live recordings.

Music video

The music video for "Doll Parts" was directed by Samuel Bayer—who had also directed music videos for The Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana—and who Hole commissioned following the death of bassist Kristen Pfaff. Jennifer Finch of L7 is featured as the bassist in the video. Bayer has said that he wanted it "evoke the feeling of death" and used ideas conceived by Love throughout the video.

Miss World

"Miss World" is a song by the American alternative rock band Hole, written by frontwoman Courtney Love and lead guitarist Eric Erlandson. The song was released as the lead single from their second studio album, Live Through This, on March 21, 1994.

Origin and recording

Erlandson and Love wrote "Miss World" in summer 1992 after the departure of former band members Jill Emery and Caroline Rue. An early version of the song, recorded with drummer Patty Schemel and Love's husband and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, was recorded in BMG Ariola Ltda in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on January 21, 1993. Featuring Love on lead guitar and vocals, recently recruited drummer Patty Schemel, and Cobain on bass, the trio recorded the song, alongside others such as "She Walks on Me", "Softer, Softest" and "Closing Time", during breaks in Nirvana's session. Sound engineer Craig Montgomery stated that though some songs were "half-baked ideas", "'Miss World' was a fairly complete song at that point" and "'the most fleshed out song'...

Composition and lyrics

"Miss World" is known to deal with themes of self-image and substance abuse. Speaking of the song, reviewer Tim Grierson stated that "'Miss World' ties a deceptively candy-coated melody to a sad tale of drug abuse and distorted body image as Love hits upon a familiar theme of the album: the dichotomy of how ugly you feel on the inside while trying to appear beautiful to others." Select's Clark Collis observed: "'Miss World' treads similar ground to Juliana Hatfield's 'Supermodel' – only, naturally, about 10,000 times more virulently."

Music video

Prior to the single's release, a promotional music video for "Miss World" was recorded in Los Angeles, California, in February 1994. It is the only music video by Hole that features bassist Kristen Pfaff. Directed by Sophie Muller, best known later for No Doubt's "Don't Speak" video, the video features the band performing the song at a beauty pageant, in which Love is seen as the title character, Miss World; pampering herself, receiving flowers, being crowned, adored by fans and eventually crying onstage. The video is heavily influenced by the style and decorations of the 1976 film Carrie. Much of the latter image bears striking resemblance to the cover of Live Through This.