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Courtney Love-Cobain born Love Michelle Harrison (complete name: Courtney Michelle Harrison Rodriguez Menelory Moreland Love-Cobain) in San Francisco, CA on July 9th, 1964. Born to Hank Harrison and Linda Carol. Hole began with simple advertisement. Courtney Love, a stripper and often movie extra (a struggling actress), and photographer for a magazine, placed an ad in the �Recycler�, trying to recruit musicians to start a band. The ad read, "I want to start a band. My influences are Big Black, Sonic Youth, and Fleetwood Mac." She already had a bass player, her neighbour Lisa, whom Courtney bought a bass for. The first response to the ad was from Eric Erlandson who Courtney wanted right away because of the "Thurston Moore quality" he had. Later Jill Emery joined on bass and Caroline Rue, whose trailer park upbringing attracted Courtney to her, was going to play drums. |
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| Hole and Courtney Love |
| Love had played with numerous bands before Hole, including early versions of both �Babes in Toyland� and �Faith No More�. �Sugar Babylon� (with a lesbian couple she met in a gay bar); �Babes In Toyland�, bass (Kat kicked her out); �Sugar Baby Doll� (with Kat and Jennifer Finch); �Faith No More� - keyboards (only played one gig and got kicked out); �Italian Whore Nuns�, and a fake band called �Nighty Nite� (it was with Patty and Kurt). . The original name of the band was �Sweet Baby Crystal Powered By God�, obviously that name was too long, and Courtney decided on �Hole�, which formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The name comes from two sources: her mother telling her she "shouldn't walk around with a hole in herself just because she had a bad childhood", and from the play �Medea�, which held the line "There is a hole that pierces right through me". In March 1990, Hole released their first single, "Retard Girl"/"Phone Bill Song"/"Johnnies in the Bathroom". It was released on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label and pressed on pale pink vinyl, as would most of Hole's 7"s yet to come. In early 1990, Courtney started making plans to make an album. She wrote letters to Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, requesting that she produce the album. She agreed along with Don Fleming to record what would be �Pretty on the Inside�. At the same time, "Dicknail" b/w "Burnblack" single was released on the Seattle based �Sub Pop� records. �Pretty on the Inside� was released in September 1991, on Caroline records. It sold very well in England and was highly praised in most reviews. A review in �The New Yorker� said it was one of the best albums of 1991. After the release of the first album, both Jill and Caroline left the band. Patty Schemel, of the Seattle band Kill Sybil, came to the rescue on drums and Leslie Hardy played only a few shows on bass. Kristen Pfaff, of the Minneapolis band Janitor Joe, later filled in on bass. In the meantime, Courtney became involved with Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Eventually, Courtney found out she was pregnant and the two were married February 24, 1992 in Waikiki, Hawaii. The two did a now infamous interview with Vanity Fair, which painted a bad picture of the soon-to-be parents revealing their excessive drug binges. Frances Bean Cobain was born in August 1992 and was taken away from her parents because of the article. She lived with Courtney's half-sister Jamie the first few months of her life. After long battles in court, Kurt and Courtney were given supervised visits and eventually full custody of their daughter. (Drew Barrymore is the godmother of Frances Bean) Courtney announced in the December 1992 issue of �Spin� that �Hole� was planning to release a second album. Nirvana were at that time putting the finishing touches on their third album, In Utero. Things were all downhill from here. |
In 1996, Courtney got her first lead acting role in The People vs. Larry Flint playing Flynt's strung-out wife Althea. She won raves by critics and won the New York Film Critic's Best Supporting Actress award. She was nominated for a Golden Globe, but lost in to Brenda Blethyn in Secrets and Lies. Much to her fan's disappointment, she wasn't nominated for an Oscar. But Courtney did show up as a presenter of Best Achievement in make-up. People also noticed her new "cleaned-up" look. She was wearing all designer dresses and modelling for Versace. She won the VH1 fashion award for Best Dressed Female in fall. A Hole rarities album was released in late 1997 entitled, My Body, the Hand Grenade. It contained old singles and songs from their MTV Unplugged performance. Rebelious, punk, riot girl, whatever you call them, Hole is one of the greatest bands of the 90's and will always be remembered for their outspoken frontwoman, Courtney Love. Throughout Hole's career, vocalist/guitarist Courtney Love's notorious public image has overshadowed her band's music. In their original incarnation, Hole was one of the noisiest, most abrasive alternative bands performing in the early '90s. |
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| Kurt and Courtney were having problems. With her career, his depression and drug addiction, things weren't going very well. The end of it all came on April 8, 1994 when the whole world found out that Kurt Cobain, 27, rock star, husband, father, had committed suicide a few days earlier in the apartment above the garage in the Cobain's residence in Seattle. And Courtney Love became the person who most of the fans put the blame on. Only days after Kurt's death, Hole's major label debut album was released, ironically titled �Live Through This�.. The album was highly praised in reviews and topped many critics' polls at the end of the year, including Rolling Stone and the Village Voice. By the time of the release of Live Through This, the band had smoothed out many of their rougher edges, also adding more melodies and hooks to their song writing. Through both versions of Hole, Love's combative, assaultive persona permeated the group's music and lyrics, giving the band a tense, unpredictable edge even at their quietest moments. |
| Despite her grieving over her husband's death, Courtney and her band decided to join the 1994 the fifth Lollapalooza tour, staying on the road for the remainder of the year.. Frances joined along with her nanny, Jackie. Courtney's antics on stage were what made her famous that year. Constantly flipping the bird and simulating her husband's death were common at most of the shows. During Lollapalooza's stop at the Gorge at George in Washington state, Kathleen Hanna of the band Bikini Kill allegedly made a rude comment about Courtney's daughter and the two got into a punching match. Hanna brought assault charges against her, and other times fans say she hit them. Another tragedy hit the band that summer. In June, two months after Cobain's death, while visiting friends and family in Minneapolis, Kristen Pfaff died of a heroin overdose in a Seattle apartment. Kristen's father blamed Courtney's influence on his daughter. Determined not to let this tragedy bring her to far down, Courtney and Hole rejoined the tour along with new bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur. "Doll Parts" was released as a single late in 1994, climbing into the Top 60 by the beginning of 1995. |
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| Despite all the hardships, the album became the group's commercial breakthrough, spawning several MTV/radio hits and being certified platinum early the following year. The band went on an extended hiatus afterwards, during which time many assumed the band had broken up when it appeared that Love was focusing more on her burgeoning acting career (Feeling Minnesota, The People vs. Larry Flynt) than music. To satisfy their fans' demand for new music, two rarities collections were issued -- the 1995 EP Ask for It and the 1997 import My Body, the Hand Grenade. After numerous delays, the band finally regrouped to work on a follow-up to Live Through This, with long-time friend Billy Corgan signed on to be a musical consultant. The album was finally issued in September of 1998 to favourable reviews, but Schemel left the band (for reasons unknown) around the same time. Former drummer for New York City alt-rockers Shift, Samantha Maloney, filled the vacant slot as the group embarked on their first substantial tour in two years. By the tour's completion, Auf Der Maur had left to join the Smashing Pumpkins, while Maloney eventually served as a stand-in drummer for M�tley Cr�e. Even though Skin was certified platinum shortly after its release, Love was unhappy with the way the album was handled by her record company and felt stifled by her contract. Eventually bringing a lawsuit against the Universal Music Group trying to terminate her contract (she still owes five more albums under her current agreement), so she can release music via the Internet. The future of Hole became even more uncertain in early 2001, when Love announced plans to launch a new outfit, called Bastard. Signing with Epitaph, the band consisted of Love, former Veruca Salt guitarist Louise Post, former Rockit Girl bassist Gina Crosley, and to the delight of longtime Hole fans, Schemel is back on drums. In typical Love style, this lineup eventually dissolved into only her and Schemel and the group essentially broke up before it even began. Despite the lack of any substantial project, Love finally announced the end of Hole in May of 2002. Unlike her often bitter press situations, she claimed that the situation was friendly and she would still remain friends with the previous members of the band. |