Courtney Love. Eric Erlandson. Patty Schemel. Kristen Pfaff and Melissa Auf der Maur. One of the most iconic rock bands of all time, and arguably the most iconic with a female front (Sorry, Bikini Kill), Hole is a pure glimpse into the grunge music scene of the nineties. With three studio albums released between 1991 and 1998, Love and her bandmates produced timeless hits such as “Teenage Whore,” “Violet” and “Dying”.
While their album “Pretty On The Inside” is scratchy and angry and “Celebrity Skin” is clever and powerful, Hole’s 1994 album “Live Through This” is my absolute favorite. It’s a no-skip thirty-eight minute listen that will make you scream, cry, laugh, and drive a little too fast.
I’m turning nineteen this month and I’ve decided to throw a (vaccinated) girls-only, Hole-themed birthday party. Listed below are my top four favorite tracks from “Live Through This” that I plan to play at my party:
“Doll Parts”
Toxic desire and reclamation are at the heart of this song. Essentially, you can’t own anyone and they can’t own you.
Favorite Lyric: “I love him so much, it just turns to hate”
“Credit In The Straight World”
A cover of Young Marble Giants’ song by the same name, Love serves up a far harsher and faster version which I easily prefer. Money or drug-driven, either way it all ends the same.
Favorite Lyric: “Leave your money when you die”
“She Walks On Me”
This song reeks of girl and it’s perfect. It touches on forced female self-image, suicide and comparison in about three minutes and thirty seconds.
Favorite Lyric: “We look the same, we talk the same”
“Gutless”
Digging at a false revolution that promised female empowerment but never materialized and left many women in the punk scene isolated, Love screams at those gutless leaders.
Favorite Lyric: “I don’t really miss God/ But I sure miss Santa Claus”
Here’s to Hole-themed gatherings, nineties slip dresses, and some of music history’s coolest band branding,
Silya Bennai