In 1989, Courtney Love placed a classified ad in a rock magazine titled "Recycler". It read "I want to start a band. My influences are Big Black, Sonic Youth and Fleetwood Mac. Women musicians preferred". Eric Erlandson responded to the ad. Eric later says, "She called me back about two weeks later and talked my ear off until three in the morning...I met her and thought, this is not going to work. She didn't know how to play, and she had a really crazy lifestyle. I didn’t think she would get her shit together."
Together, Courtney and Eric found a bassist named Jill Emery and a drummer, Caroline Rue. They called themselves "Hole", which, Courtney says, came from a conversation she once had with her mother.
Now that she had a band, she needed a record label. Courtney called up a man named Long Gone John who had a small L.A. record label called "Sympathy for the Record Industry". He liked what he heard when he saw Hole play and gave the band $500 to record their first single which they called "Retard Girl".
After releasing two singles with "Sympathy for the Record Industry" ("Retard Girl" and "Dicknail"), Caroline Records signed the band and they released their debut album, "Pretty On The Inside", in 1991. To give the album a raw edge, Courtney would chug whiskey before laying down the vocals. "Pretty On The Inside" was an album full of screaming and hissing about everything from teenage prostitution to abortion. The album was a perfect display of Courtney’s angry and emotional life. When Kat Bjelland heard the record, she found it "ironic because Courtney always said she preferred new wave pop music next to punk". The New Yorkers Music Critic, Elizabeth Wurtzel, wrote the following about Hole’s debut album; "Pretty On The Inside is such a cacophony-full of such grating, abrasive, and unpleasant sludges of noise. 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 is probably the most compelling album to have been released in 1991".
Courtney was able to persuade Peter Davis to be Hole's manager. They went on a National tour and played in small clubs across the U.S. Courtney had become an underground legend for her impressive business manoeuvres and her onstage screaming. Everett True wrote Hole’s first rave review in the popular British music magazine, Melody Maker. It reads; "Hole is the only band in the world right now and they’re going to be so huge six months from now you’re going to wonder how you survived without them".
Hole later signed to a major label, DGC, in 1993. Courtney fired their drummer, Caroline Rue, and Jill Emery later quit as well. After a few months and a long break (due to Courtney's marriage to Kurt Cobain and the birth of their daughter, Frances Bean), Hole finally found another drummer, Patty Schemel, and, after being declined by Janitor Joe's bassist from Minneapolis, Kristen Pfaff, Leslie Hardy became Hole's bassist. In March, however, Kristen Pfaff decided to join Hole and became their new bass player.
In 1993, Hole put out a single called "Beautiful Son", a song Courtney wrote about her husband, Kurt Cobain. The cover had a picture of seven-year-old Kurt surrounded with pills, bows, and candy.
Hole then started to record their second full-length album, which would be called "Live Through This". The raves from critics got bigger and Courtney felt that she was finally getting the credit she deserved. Hole started to get lots of interviews, lots of publicity, and lots of photo shoots. "Live Through This" was released in April of 1994, four days after Courtney's husband, Kurt Cobain, committed suicide. Just a few weeks later, Hole's bassist, Kristen Pfaff, died of a heroin overdose in her bathtub. Though this created much sorrow and tragedy for Courtney and the members of Hole, somehow, they were able to pull through it, and become on of the biggest bands of the 90's.
In 1994, Kristen Pfaff was replaced by Melissa Auf Der Maur. That summer, Hole went on tour for their second album. Eric Erlandson said about the beginning of this tour; "The first show was a mess, the second show was even a bigger mess, but the third time we played it all came together".
On Valentine's Day of 1995, Hole performed on MTV Unplugged and proved that, though slathered with hideous punk, they had a soft side covering. Seven months later, they released an EP titled "Ask For It", which featured six rare songs of which included demo versions of "Violet" and "Doll Parts", cover songs, and the hard-to-find "Drown Soda". In 1996, Hole recorded a cover of Stevie Nick's song, "Gold Dust Woman" and released it as a single. "Hole: The First Session" and "My Body, The Hand Grenade", both albums full of rare, unreleased tracks, live versions of songs, and songs from 1995's Unplugged, were both released in 1997. These releases, however, did not require much work from Hole, and the time between the end of the "Live Through This" tour and the release of their next album, the members of Hole took a rest while Courtney pursued her acting career.
In September of 1998, Hole's last album, "Celebrity Skin", was released. This album goes back to Courtney’s first love in music, new wave pop music. This album differs the most between every other album Hole has made. Due to tragic deaths, emotional stress, and hard times, this album shows a slow, sad side covered with cherry pop. In every song, Kurt Cobain's face shines. Courtney expresses her anger, hurt, sadness, and feelings about her husband's death. In some way, Courtney blames herself.
Patty Schemel is replaced by Samantha Maloney for the "Celebrity Skin" tour. Hole has once again, swarmed themselves with success, and begins playing to sold out crowds. "Celebrity Skin" produces overly huge success and popularity for Hole, and soon they are in every magazine, on every show, and in every sentence you can imagine. After being nominated for six Grammys, winning awards, and gaining every ounce of fame they could carry, Hole winds down. They release their very last single in January of 1999, "Be A Man". This song was put on the "Any Given Sunday" soundtrack and was made into a video, which featured only Courtney Love. That year, bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur leaves the band to join the Smashing Pumpkins. Hole forms a website for their fans while looking for a new bass-player. In 2001, drummer Samantha Maloney leaves Hole to join Motley Crue on their tour. Courtney and Eric are left behind. They wanted to continue Hole's career but soon came to the conclusion that Hole's time was up. As of now, Eric has gone off to work with various other bands and Courtney is in the process of forming a new band with former Hole drummer, Patty Schemel, and former Four Non-Blondes singer-turned-Pink producer Linda Perry. Courtney says that this band should be releasing an album early in 2003, and that the band is named Bastard.
Interesting Facts:
*One video was made to promote the album, Pretty On The Inside, for the song Garbadge Man.
*In January 1993, Kurt Cobain, Patty Schemel, and Courtney Love formed a joke group called Nighty Nite. They went into a studio drunk and recorded a Courtney/Kurt duet, "It’s Closing Soon", and an early demo version of the Hole song, "Miss World". These tapes are referred to as the Rio Tapes.
*"I Think That I Would Die" was co-written with Love's old friend and sparring partner, Kat Bjelland
*Hole did a cover version of the Young Marble Giants', "Credit In The Straight World" and released it on their second album, Live Through This
*Live Through This was recorded in Atlanta, Georgia
*Billy Corgan co-wrote a couple of the songs from Hole's last album, Celebrity Skin
*In April of 1999, Billy Corgan had told SonicNet, "I thought the album [Celebrity Skin] was a smash and I still think that... it's gonna be a fantastic album."
*Billy Corgan referred to himself as the "Svengali" of Celebrity Skin and told Select, "there would not be a new Hole album without me," So Love sent out a statement to USA Today, reading, "Eric and I co-wrote 5 songs of the 12 on Celebrity Skin with Billy Corgan. Billy does not have a majority of publishing percentage on any 1 of those songs... Billy did, however, spend quality time mentoring and teaching me a craft that I really needed to learn in order to make the record I wanted to make, much like a brilliant music teacher, and that was what was so invaluable to me... I feel it's silly and somewhat sexist to credit Billy Corgan with things Billy Corgan did not do based on the assumption that accomplished male musicians are somehow superior to accomplished female musicians..."
*In 1998, Hole was nominated for 2 Grammy Awards for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (Celebrity Skin) and Best Rock Album (Celebrity Skin).
*Other awards during the year of 1998 included a California Music Award for Outstanding Album (Celebrity Skin) and Orville H. Gibson Guitar Awards for Melissa Auf Der Maur (Best Bassist - Female) and Courtney Love (Best Rock Guitarist - Female)
*In 1999, Hole was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography ("Malibu").
*Yet again, in 1999, Hole was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group ("Malibu")
