Hole
"Pretty On The Inside"
1991, Caroline Records
Fans that jumped on the Hole bandwagon after hearing "Celebrity Skin" may be inclined to vomit after hearing this putrid burnt offering from the band's early days. Back then, Courtney Love and her rancid cohorts played nerve-wracking avant/metal crap (Incidentally, this record was produced by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon. Ick!), which I dare say is probably the most harrowing batch of "compositions" ever released by a predominantly female band. While the CD is rather loud, the droning feedback and sludge supersede actual riffs on basically every song. Eric Erlandson's riffs are the worst I have EVER heard, and quite possibly the worst ever committed to tape. Meanwhile, Courtney Love shrieks, stutters, mumbles, bitches, and does just about everything imaginable with the human mouth EXCEPT sing. She manages to rant quite explicitly about girls she dislikes, calling them bitches, whores, and other hypocritical names. The irony of it all is that Courtney Love (whose utterly disgusting lifestyle has either escaped the minds of her "historically ignorant" fans, or is completely dismissed by them as some kind of propaganda) has no right to call ANY girl a whore. Read about her antics on the '94 Lollapalooza Tour and keep a barf bag handy!
RATING: 1.5
"Live Through This"
1994, DGC(?)
Album #2 from the grunge doll juggernaut is light years ahead of their shovel-to-the-head debut, but is still pretty mediocre. Our grotesquely over-rated heroine, Courtney Love, has now learned to sing (somewhat) and has revamped the line-up of her band which is inching mainstream. Still, the annoyingly cynical and lackluster songs won't please anyone that didn't live and die for the grunge movement (that audience is now all but evaporated). However, the odd song about the girl that pees on herself is a must-have for any collection of "weird music".
RATING: 5.5
"Celebrity Skin"
1998
Now that Hole's original core audience has either grown up or overdosed on drugs, Courtney & Co. have managed to find a new young (and vulnerable) audience of sassy teenage girls (sans the body odor and tackily dyed hair). Unlike the band's previous muddled releases, "Celebrity Skin" is a power-pop monster that makes Hole much more accessible than they used to be (everyone should at least grudgingly admit that Hole's 2nd album wouldn't have sold hardly any copies unless MTV had played the videos 24/7). The title song, "Awful", "Malibu", and "Heaven Tonight" (an odd Cheap Trick cover) all leap out with gargantuan pop hooks, while the rest of the album lags behind. "Dying" harkens back to the band's "messed-up" days, but the song isn't that impressive. While this is definitely my favorite Hole album, I was more than a little disappointed at its inconsistency.
RATING: 7.5
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