Everything about Hole Band totally explained
Hole was a
alternative rock band that formed in Los Angeles in 1989 and disbanded in 2002. The band was fronted by
Courtney Love, and co-founded by Love,
Eric Erlandson (lead guitar) and
Lisa Roberts (bassist and Love's neighbor who dropped the project very early on). The band had a brief period as a three-guitar lineup, with the musician
Errol Stewert, but the lineup that recorded the first album included only Love, Erlandson, bassist
Jill Emery and drummer
Caroline Rue. Rue was fired in 1992 and Emery left soon after, to be replaced by
Leslie Hardy and
Patty Schemel, respectively. Hardy left after recording just one single with the band, "
Beautiful Son", and was subsequently replaced by
Kristen Pfaff in 1993. After Pfaff died of an apparent drug overdose in 1994,
Melissa Auf der Maur took her place from 1995 until the band's dissolution in 2002. When Schemel left the band in 1998,
Samantha Maloney took her place as drummer. On
VH1's countdown of the 100 Greatest Hard Rock Bands Hole was number 77.
Overview
Hole has released three official albums,
Pretty on the Inside,
Live Through This and
Celebrity Skin. Each of these albums reflect a distinctive sound and approach. The first release is often described as a raw,
punk-influenced record. Experimenting with alternate tunings, the guitar parts are chaotic and distorted. Most themes (musically and lyrically) seem to be inspired by the title of the record: harsh, brutal and violent on the outside, but melodic underneath. The second release showcased a more
power-pop approach, still infused with a raw punk rock edge. The lyrics and guitar parts are less abstract but increasingly powerful in their simplicity. The third release can be seen as a full embrace of power pop. The theme of architecture is present throughout, the attempt to build something from nothing and create a lasting monument. Erlandson's guitar style has been innovative and complex and the lyrics of Love have been multi-layered and sophisticated throughout. Hole has been credited with bridging punk to pop, making the connection between various styles and approaches to reveal the way in which they don't exist independent of one another. Having challenged the underground/indie aesthetic and having put forth the notion that pop music can be complex and sophisticated, Hole has been heralded by many prominent music critics as having made a significant contribution to the canon of rock.
History
Early years and Live Through This era
Sympathy for the Record Industry and
Sub Pop, Hole released their first full-length album
Pretty on the Inside on
Caroline Records, which received praise from underground critics. Hole toured North America and Europe extensively in support of the record.
As a result of the albums success and the furious press coverage around
Courtney Love and her husband
Kurt Cobain, Hole was signed to
Geffen Records with an eight-album contract. Then, in 1993, Hole entered the studio to record their major label debut. The result was the album
Live Through This, which included the hit singles "Doll Parts", "Violet" and "Miss World".
Almost immediately before the album's release, the final song, "Rock Star", was deleted from the album and replaced by the outtake "Olympia". It was widely believed at the time that this was because its lyrics, which included the lines "How would you like to be Nirvana? / So much fun to be Nirvana / Barrel of laughs to be Nirvana / I'd rather die", appeared inappropriate in the wake of Cobain's suicide. However, it was later revealed that the band and the Geffen label had already deemed the track unfitting of a major label debut for Hole, as the song had a very "non-artistic" character which fit poorly with the rest of the album. After the decision to remove "Rock Star" was made, the album artwork and various other inserts had already been printed, and since "Olympia" was put in its place, "Olympia" is called "Rock Star" on the artwork.
Live Through This was released on April 12th 1994, one week after the suicide of Love's husband,
Nirvana frontman
Kurt Cobain. Two months later, on June 16th, Hole bassist
Kristen Pfaff died of an apparent overdose. On
September 1, 1994, Hole played their first headlining show since the album's release and dedicated it to Kristen. The band, with
Melissa Auf der Maur now on bass, toured extensively throughout 1994 and 1995. One of the highlights during these years of touring was the band's appearance on
MTV Unplugged on
Valentine's Day 1995.
My Body, the Hand Grenade
Three years after the release and success of
Live Through This, Hole released an album of early singles, mid-period
b-sides and more recent live tracks. Featured on the cover, under the title
My Body, the Hand Grenade, was one of Courtney Love's babydoll dresses, sealed for posterity in a museum behind glass. The inside art showed a brutally demolished car on the CD itself, opposite the booklet's backside where an image of
Anne Boleyn had been positioned to appear headless. The record starts with the first tracks Hole ever cut, contained an unreleased demo from the
Live Through This sessions, and ended with live recordings, including Hole's Valentine's Day 1995
MTV Unplugged performance.
One outtake from the
Live Through This recording sessions which was included on this release was the song "
Old Age". The history and writer of this song was the subject of controversy among
Courtney Love detractors who believed
Kurt Cobain had written Hole's second album, an allegation for which no evidence has ever surfaced. It was eventually learned "Old Age" had been written by Kurt Cobain for the
Nevermind sessions in 1990 or 1991, then given to Hole, whereupon its lyrics were rewritten by Love.
Nirvana bassist
Krist Novoselic confirmed that "Old Age" was indeed "a Nirvana song" in an interview with UK music newspaper
Melody Maker in 1997. The unfinished Nirvana version was released on the Nirvana box-set
With The Lights Out and on the compilation album .
Another song on the
My Body the Hand Grenade collection is "20 Years in the Dakota", which touches on many themes, including
Yoko Ono's struggles in life as
John Lennon's wife. The title of this song refers to the apartment building outside which Lennon was killed. Courtney Love has herself been frequently compared to Ono, due to the perception that Ono drew Lennon away from
The Beatles and that Love drew Cobain away from Nirvana.
The New Orleans sessions
There were multiple attempts to record Hole's third album. One such attempt was in New Orleans. Interviews with Erlandson have confirmed the authenticity of this session. No demos have surfaced from these sessions, but it's believed that one result of these sessions was an extremely early version of "Awful". Erlandson has denied a rumor that this album had been completed only to have the masters stolen on an airplane.
Celebrity Skin era and breakup
Hole's
third album had a completely new sound for the band. Featuring a more "
pop" sound, the album was a critical success with strong sales and successful singles.
Eric Erlandson told
Rolling Stone, "I still think a lot of
Celebrity Skin is my
Johnny Thunders influence coming up – which Courtney just fucking hates." The group at the time consisted of
Courtney Love, Erlandson,
Patty Schemel and
Melissa Auf der Maur, although in interviews Love later said Schemel's drumming was replaced by a session musician.
The second single from the album, "Malibu", received two
Grammy nominations, for Best Rock Vocal and Best Cinematography.
When journalists asked the subtext to the record, Love refused to offer up explanations for the lyrics, as in her 1998
Spin magazine interview: "I won't talk about it because it's none of your business...because you'll never know." Years later in 2005, she spoke of
Celebrity Skin to journalist
Phoebe O'Reilly, saying, "I didn't want to make the
widow record. I still haven't made the widow record."
Perhaps in reaction to public speculation that
Kurt Cobain had written the band's second album, Celebrity Skin's liner notes listed explicitly every musician's contribution to the record, specifying authorship for every song. Love wrote every lyric, while Erlandson, assistant-producing alongside Michael Beinhorn, had a hand in every song. Co-songwriters on the album included bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, drummer Patty Schemel,
Jordon Zadorozny of
Blinker the Star, and
Charlotte Caffey of
The Go Go's, each contributing a bit to one or two songs, but perhaps the most notable contributor was
Billy Corgan of
The Smashing Pumpkins. The songwriter stopped by, according to Love, to help with phrasing, to deconstruct the songs on the piano, and in the end was given songwriting co-credit on five of the record's twelve tracks.
Despite the open-handedness of the album's liner notes, some controversy still hit the press regarding the album's authorship. Reviewers of the record frequently referred explicitly to Corgan's contributions (unlike the endless records of other bands who receive outside input during songwriting). Then, some time after the album's release, Corgan appeared on
Howard Stern's show, talking about how he wrote the main riff in the album's titular lead single and complaining of the poor sales for his own band's latest record. "He's crazy...he thinks I stole his mojo," Love told
Spin in an interview that year. Privately, their dispute was only temporary: Corgan and Love still maintain friendly and professional relations, working together on Love's forthcoming second solo album. Corgan also played bass on one track from the
Celebrity Skin sessions, a song called "Be A Man", which didn't make the record, but ended up appearing on the
Any Given Sunday soundtrack in 1999 and was Hole's last proper single/video.
Love and Erlandson officially disbanded Hole via a message posted at the band's
website in 2002. Their more than decade-long run as a band produced three studio albums that generated sales of 8 million. After the split, the four musicians each took on projects of their own. Auf der Maur joined The Smashing Pumpkins and later recorded and toured a solo album titled
Auf Der Maur; Erlandson continued to work as a producer and session musician; Maloney has worked with
Mötley Crüe,
Scarling.,
Eagles of Death Metal and
Peaches; and Love began a solo career, releasing
America's Sweetheart in 2004, and is currently writing and recording her second solo album with first solo album collaborator
Linda Perry. (In September 2006 a documentary of this was filmed for Bristish television station
More4. It's US debut was on
VH1 in January 2007)
Hole's final body of work includes 13 singles, 6 Grammy nominations, 3 LPs, 2 EPs, 1 Compilation and 10 music videos.
Hole's song "Celebrity Skin" was added to the Rock Band Song List in 2007.
Members
Discography
»
Awards and nominations
Grammy Awards
1999 - Best Rock Album (for Celebrity Skin, nomination).
1999 - Best Rock Song (for Celebrity Skin, nomination).
1999 - Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group (for Celebrity Skin, nomination).
2000 - Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group (for Malibu, nomination).
2000 - Best Short-form Video (for Malibu, nomination).
MTV Video Music Awards
1995 - Best Alternative Video (for Doll Parts, nomination).
1999 - Best Cinematography in a Video (for Malibu, nomination).Further Information
Get more info on 'Hole Band'.
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