The band Hole was created by Courtney Love in late 1989. Since then, the band has gone through countless members and changes in their musical styles. The first original lineup consisted of Courtney Love (singer/guitarist), Eric Erlandson (guitarist), Jill Emery (bassist), and Caroline Rue (drummer). This first successful lineup lasted from 1990 to early 1992. Courtney Love had experienced failed attempts at putting together bands with friends in the past; now she had a band that wouldn't "kick me out." By placing ads in magazines Flipside and The Recycler, the first lineup for Hole to present to the world was formed. In March 1990, the band went into a Los Angeles studio called Rudy’s Rising Star and recorded their first few tracks. The result was the 7 inch EP Retard Girl. It consisted of three songs: Retard Girl, Phone Bill Song, and Johnnie’s In The Bathroom. One track left off the EP from the same recording session was Turpentine, which would later emerge on numerous bootlegs and finally later on The First Session EP and the compilation CD, My Body, The Hand Grenade. The EP was released in July 1990 on Sympathy For The Record Industry label. It was produced by Courtney Love’s then-husband Falling James Moreland.

Between this and their next single, Dicknail, Hole toured small Los Angeles punk clubs to gain more recognition. Noted for her screaming and ranting between songs on stage, Courtney and Hole soon attracted a small punk following. At the end of 1990, Hole returned to the studio for their next 7 inch release: Dicknail. The B-side track was Burn Black. This single was popular with punk enthusiasts in England, especially, and apparently got a lot of airplay by BBC disc jockey John Peel. The single was released on another label, the then unknown Sup Pop label.

For their real first album, Courtney sought out Kim Gordan of Sonic Youth and Don Fleming of an unknown band Gumball as producers. They had signed to Caroline Records for their debut. At the beginning of 1991, Hole were on a more widely traveled tour, and we getting ready to record their debut album. Recorded in several days, Pretty on the Inside was released in September 1991. It was critically acclaimed, especially in England and the UK. One single was released from the album, Teenage Whore backed with Burn Black and a new song, Drown Soda. One video was made to promote the album for the song Garbadge Man. Touring Europe at the end of the year, singer Courtney Love often ended up ditching her own tour to be with her then boyfriend, Kurt Cobain.

Hole then moved into 1992, on a U.S. tour and gaining popularity with the American public. Courtney Love discovered she was pregnant, and in February, married Kurt Cobain. Shortly after, Caroline Rue was fired for a poor performance at a recording session, and then Jill Emery gave her notice and quit the band. Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson have always been the two stable fronts that keep the band together. Courtney, now on maternity break, scoped out local clubs with Erlandson for a new bassist and a new drummer to complete the band. Kurt Cobain suggested Patty Schemel for a drummer, and she was quickly recruited for the spot. At one club Courtney and Eric spotted a band called Janitor Joe, and immediately asked their female bassist, Kristen Pfaff to join up. She declined at their offer. Courtney took her maternity break and heartbreak from the media when her daughter was born. A bidding war for Hole had began, and after being sought after by Virgin Records, Madonna’s label Maverick, and several others, Hole settled with DGC, Nirvana’s label. Finally, in late 1992, Hole took to the studio again. Having recruited temporary bassist Leslie Hardy, the group recorded 3 songs to be released as a single in 1993. 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. Hole started getting to work after their break in 1993. In March, the band, having convinced Kristen to join up, had a brief UK tour. The single from the late ’92 sessions were released in April 1993 in the Beautiful Son EP/single. The single was released on the City Slang label only in Germany. Hole spent the summer of ’93 on a Europe tour, debuting the songs that would fold together as their second album Live Through This live to the happily obliging Europeans. Hole started recording their second album for DGC in the late months of 1993. 14 songs were recorded for the album; only 12 were issued to the actual release. The two left out were Rock Star and Old Age. These songs re-emerged as b-sides on future singles and on numerous bootlegs. In the late months of 1993 and the early ones of 1994, Hole had numerous photo shoots for magazines and publicity lined up for the new album. Live Through This was released on April 12, 1994, unfortunately for the band, several days after the suicide of Kurt Cobain. The album has ever since been labeled cursed. Only 4 singles were released from the album, and 3 made into music videos: "Miss World," "Doll Parts," "Violet," and "Softer, Softest." Because of the recent tragedy, Hole ditched their tour scheduled to start in May. Then in June, Kristen Pfaff, who said she needed a break from the band, scheduled herself to return to her hometown. She was found the morning she was supposed to leave dead in her bathtub from an overdose of heroin. The band, or what was left of it, was again in a state of shock. Through their grieving time, an old boyfriend of Courtney’s found the band a new bass player, 22-year old Melissa Auf der Maur from Canada. With Melissa recruited, the band finally got themselves onto their feet and had their first show in months on August 26, 1994 at the Reading Festival in England. The show was a disaster, but given the circumstances at the time, that is understandable.

The band moved into late 1994 on a U.S. tour, and their new album went gold at this time. In early 1995, Hole toured Australia, with Courtney getting into trouble along the way. In February, Hole filmed their Unplugged performance for MTV, a memorable and enjoyable performance with a new stance: Hole completely acoustic. That spring Hole went back to Europe for a brief tour. That summer Hole was a headlining act at the 1995 Lollapalooza tour; again Courtney got into some trouble along the way. In August Hole headed back to the UK areas for the ’95 Reading festival, a performance that definitely surpassed the year before’s. In September, Hole played Violet at the MTV VMA’s. Courtney had an amusing run in with Madonna at the show. After a year and a half of touring for Live Through This, an album that made many magazine’s Album of the Year award polls, the band took a long break, supposedly writing rough material for their third album. An EP was released in the meantime, a CD containing radio sessions from 1991, called Ask For It.

In 1996, Hole had one new song out, a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Gold Dust Woman on the Crow soundtrack. A video was made and played often on MTV that summer. That fall, Courtney’s movie The People VS. Larry Flynt was released, and so began Courtney’s Hollywood venture. All through 1997, Hole were in the news, stating that the new album was being written and recorded. To keep the fans happy, two CDs of unreleased material were unleased: My Body, The Hand Grenade, a compilation of rare and unreleased tracks, and The First Session a CD of Hole’s first 4 recordings ever.

At the beginning of 1998, the media stated that the new Hole album, called Celebrity Skin was to be released in June. That date was pushed back to September 8, 1998. Two days later Hole played on the 1998 MTV VMA’s with newly recruited drummer Samantha Maloney. Patty Schemel had left the band for various reasons: problems in the studio and apparently drugs. Hole had a brief UK tour that fall and then a U.S. tour. In January 1999 Hole left once again for the friendly country of Australia and played memorable Big Day Out shows. That spring they came back to the U.S. touring for Celebrity Skin and that summer played a lot of dates in Canada. They stopped the tour in July. Only 3 singles were taken from the album, all three made into music videos: "Celebrity Skin," "Awful," and "Malibu." "Hit So Hard," the third track on the CD was supposed to have been a single at some point. That October, Melissa Auf der Maur gave her notice to leave the band. Various reasons were reported: she wanted to be solo, work on her photography, etc. She ended up touring as a replacement bassist for the Smashing Pumpkins in late 1999 and early 2000. Hole now are left with three members; the search for a new bassist continues. In January 1999, Hole released an unreleased song from the Celebrity Skin studio sessions: Be A Man for the movie soundtrack of the movie Any Given Sunday. Another song from the CS sessions, Best Sunday Dress has been released as a b-side. Even though it was rumored in October 2000 that they were heading back into the studio to record their fourth album, most of 2000, 2001, and 2002 saw Hole through yet another period of speculation and inactivity. In May 2002, Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson announced the official disbanding of Hole on the official Hole website. Courtney is now working on her own material for a solo album due sometime in 2003.