Celebrity Skin


"If you like it, fuck you. If you hate it, fuck you." --Courtney Love

Well, what can I say..... I didn't like the album when I first listened to it yesterday. I thought it was good, but it sounded like a totally different band. Which kind of ruined it. I am quite partial to "Live Through This" and this album is a total departure from their old sound. But, I must say that now that I have listened to it more, it is growing on me. Everyone has to grow and change, and I think Courtney Love as well as the rest of the band have done that beautifully. And I could go into more detail, but I won't. One final thought, I think that anyone who buys the album will be surprised at the difference, but you have to give it a chance. VmpMaharet@aol.com

Personally i think this album is really good. To tell you the truth its my favorite CD i own. Hearing other peoples opinions on the new album angers me, they hate it! I do not understand why. And it makes me question, Did you really listen? After hearing other peoples opinions [on those who did not likeit] also made me realize that you are not true fans and you dont understand courtney, like she said herself, shes tired of being cool, she's been cool all her, life, her sudden change in her life was real good for her, it was good for frances, a final note to you "Fans" who did not appreciate it, "Fuck You" -- dont say your a "Fan" if the new album is not "good" to you. - Mike Seppa (The Immaculate Fix)

Annie McKendy's review of Celebrity Skin

I love the new album. I can't stop listening to it. I think that the pop style is wonderful. I think that this was the best thing they could have done after Live Through This (It was leaning towards the pop side anyway). Also I cannot hear hardly any Billy Corgan/Smashing Pumpkins influence so NOBODY ELSE TELL ME THAT IT SOUNDS LIKE A SMASHING PUMPKINS ALBUM BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT REAL FANS. That's all. from stephanie skelskey@msn.com

Celebrity Skin...when I first put it in my cd player, I of course played the song Celebrity Skin first,because I already knew it from the radio(though it was track #1 anyway), and loved it..then I skimmed the other songs and was angered because Courtney's voice was too smooth, too Barbie-dollish. Then and there, I figured Live Through This would always be my favorite album from Hole. But then, I began to listen to it more and more, and I could hear Courtney's raw, wonderful voice and emotions coming through the songs-I broke to tears when I heard Dying..(and no one understa-a-ands, you leave with everything, you leave with everything I am..memories), which made me think of Kurt. I realized the band plays beautifully, the songs are great. It's now my favorite album by Hole. I think Pretty On the Inside and Live Through This is more angry, and Celebrity Skin is more sad and emotional.I can see many relations to Kurt throuh the lyrics, especially "Playing Your Song".There's other feelings in the songstoo, though, like Heaven Tonight-very upbeat and happy..If you don't have CS, you should get it..you'll be suprised at how much Hole has changed, but it's a good suprise.

Ok. Celebrity Skin is definately a progression from Live thorugh this and any comparision between the two would be unfair. Celebrity Skin is more commercial and that does not mean they have sold out, etc.. I love the new album for the reasons many are going to hate it.. Because its melodic pop with hooks, riffs, .... at first it sounded dodgy but once i listened to the album for a while i got to appreciate the compromise between the old hole and the more 'easy' to like style they have developed. for example celeb skin and playing your song are classic riot/rebel type songs that hole had been known for 5 years ago.. while awful and boys on the radio are soo pop, but have that edge to it that doesnt make it something that 10 year olds could appreciate and listen to and this new pop image is a great thing that was bound to come out.overall i think this wont be remembered as hole's main album but the progression from their past is something that all hole fans should love if they are loyal to the goddess and her band. --kevins_hole@hotmail.com

I have to admit the first few times I listened to Celebrity Skin I was disappointed, I felt like something was missing in the music. The lyrics were great, I fell in love with them automatically, but the passion in the music seemed lacking, maybe lost in production once Big Bad Billy got his hands on it. Now that I've listened more it's growing on me, getting stuck in my head. Courtney's voice haunts me in any form. I LOVE "Reasons to be Beautiful" and "Dying". I don't like the sound of "Awful" and when I hear "Boys on the Radio" I miss "Sugar Coma".But time will tell. I've been living on and loving the same old Hole songs from the past five years. The more I hear of this album the more I find to like. I admit, I am transfixed by Courtney and couldn't dislike her if my life depended on it. -Spellbound in Springfield (OH)

Hole - "Celebrity Skin"

Finally, the long awaited followup to Hole's amazing and critically-applauded 2nd album, "Live Through This", has arrived. Is it worth the wait? It depends on how you adjust to change and your tolerence for pop. "Celebrity Skin" bares little resemblence to Hole's previous album. The first time I heard the title track on the radio, I was in shock at their new, poppy, fresh sound. And to my dismay, most of the album was like that too (damn you, Billy Corgan!). Yes... the Pumpkin King helped write 5 out of 12 songs on the album. While most of the songs are on the happy-pop, radio friendly side, there are a couple gems. "Northern Star", the only song with the trademark Courtney screams, is a wonderful, dark song that is probably a shout-out to Kurt Cobain. "Petals", which rips off a line from their old song "Asking For It", is another one that grabbed my attention. "Dying" is a beautiful song that replaces "Sugar Coma" as the best Hole song to slow dance to. Speaking of "Sugar Coma", a song they performed on MTV Unplugged, on the album they have a new revamped version of this song, now titled "Boys on the Radio". However, it lacks the strong passion the original had. Of course, after getting over the initial shock and listening to the album over and over again, I got used to their new sound. I even like the title track now. The problem is while I realize now that it's not that bad, it's really not that great either. I think the line from their song "Awful" sums up how I feel about most of their songs on "Celebrity Skin": "It was punk. Yeah, it was perfect, now it's awful."

3 out of 5 stars - it's not great, it's not bad, it's just good
-Vicki
i2ohmygod@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/i2ohmygod

I personally miss the old Courtney Love, with her grunge appetite for hardcore. Although this c.d. is really cool, I like the critically acclaimed, Live Through This(1994), which was more of a screaming nature. --CorriAT@aol.com

What can I say? I love Hole's new album. Yes, I am a new Hole fan, so? Pretty On The Inside is a good album, but it seems like Courtney is angry. Live Through This is a great album. Courtney "got back" at all the critics who called her bad names and put her down. But I really like Hole's new sound. And I must say that I used to not like Courtney AT ALL! I had absolutely NO respect for her. I like her new image. It seems to me that they have grown up and matured quite a bit. One last thing, Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan did not write any of the songs. Courtney wrote ALL the lyrics. Billy Corgan only helped on the MUSIC on five tracks. That was it. CherubWhir@aol.com

1998, and Courtney has succeeded in pissing off pretty much everyone and a movie comes out which intimates pretty strongly that she was maybe more than just an innocent bystander to Kurt's "suicide" and Hole's follow-up to "Live Through This" keeps getting pushed further and further back...by the time it's finally for sale, I'm purchasing it not so much because I'm a Hole fan but because I have a sick fascination for witnessing grand disasters, which is what I'm expecting. What's this we've been hearing? A "slick-grunge-pop" album? Has Hollywood really gone to Ms. Love's head? Those of us who prefer our object d'amour to be semi-clean are finding Courtney kinda sexy in the designer rags, but we don't want our MUSIC all dressed up with no place to go... Besides which, it's been a bad year for big bands returning... Pearl Jam Yielded. The Pumpkins were no longer adored. R.E.M.'s Up went down, down... I took Celebrity Skin home and expected bad things. Very bad things.

Then I placed it in my multi-disc changer with some other new stuff and played tracks at random. The first song from the new Hole that I heard was "Heaven Tonight", which is where I went when I heard the tune. The California Car Pop guitars and sugary melodies, but Courtney's too raw to let it all turn to sap. Punk Pop in the best sense: like the first Pretenders album, like Blondie on "Parallel Lines". I discontinued the random play mode and programmed this new Hole in, so that I could hear the whole thing, and what did I hear? The album of the year. The women sang about "Boys on the Radio" and made you cry. Courtney asked for "Reasons to be Beautiful" and you could offer up just 12: The number of songs on this incredible CD.

I looked at your website. Too many people wanting "Live Through This II". "Courtney's not grunge anymore", they're stupidly saying. As if Kurt Cobain himself wasn't an acknowledged Abba fan. As if the whole point of TRUE grunge, before tone-deaf Pearl Jam came along and fucked it up for everyone, wasn't that incredible power chords could be played behind high harmony choruses. Courtney didn't get ungrungy, she got grungier. And more new wave. And found Heaven and Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" album. She found good things, great things.

I'm a bigger Hole fan than ever.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jeff Hughes

When i first got Celebrity Skin, I only liked Celebrity Skin, Awful,Hit So Hard, Malibu, Reasons.., and Dying. Then I actually listened to the whole cd and realized it was a really good cd. One of my favorite songs is Boys on the Radio. If you dont like Celebrity Skin then dont even call yourself a real Hole fan because anything that hole does is awesome!!!!!Just because Courtney isnt screaming doesnt mean it is a bad cd. Her new image is actually better because she isnt all drugged up. Now she cares what she looks like and (hopefully) doesnt lay in the floor acting like The Wicked Witch of the West anymore. Celebrity was voted #1 worst cd of 1998 in some newsletter i get and i just wanted to say they are full of it. Clebrity Skin is one of the BEST albums of 1998 if not one of the best albums EVER (along with Live Through This and Pretty on the Inside)