The first record Courtney Love fell in love with
In the 1990s, the landscape of mainstream alternative rock was incredibly masculine, with genres like grunge emerging with very few women in sight. The genre has routinely been defined by bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, but Hole, led by Courtney Love, was equally as important. Formed in 1989 by Love and Eric Erlandson, the band was inspired by punk, no-wave and noise rock, with Love citing artists like Sonic Youth and Patti Smith as vital influences.
Various musicians were employed to complete Hole’s lineup, with the band releasing their first album, Pretty on the Inside, in 1991. At the request of Love, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon produced the record, which proved to be a commercial success. Over the decade, Love and her bandmates found widespread acclaim, and Hole became one of the most successful female-led bands of all time.
Love has been a significant source of inspiration for many budding female musicians, with artists from Brody Dalle to Lana Del Rey citing the Hole singer as an influence. Her blend of abrasive music and vocal style with ultra-feminine outfits and feminist lyrical themes helped prove that alternative rock didn’t have to be ultra-masculine.
Before Love was a musician, she tried her hand at various other jobs, such as stripping, exotic dancing and acting. However, after starring in a few movies, notably Alex Cox’s Straight to Hell, Love decided to focus solely her attention on music. She had attempted to launch a musical career a few years prior, although she could not play the guitar. Thus, she taught herself to play and formed Hole – evidently unable to abandon her deep admiration for music.
The daughter of the Grateful Dead’s tour manager, Hank Harrison, Love was instilled with an intense appreciation of music from a young age. As a teenager, she discovered artists like The Pretenders and The Runaways, which inspired her to pursue music. However, there was one record that shaped her perception of music as a child, which she detailed on BBC Radio 6 Music’s The First Time With. Speaking to Matt Everitt, Love explained that she stole Leonard Cohen’s Songs of Leonard Cohen from her mother’s collection, making it the first record she ever owned.
When asked what drew her to Cohen, she said: “Everything really. The lyrics. I mean, he was so lyric-conscious and morbid. I was a pretty morbid kid”.
The folk artist’s debut album featured beautiful songs such as ‘Suzanne’ and ‘So Long, Marianne’. Although Hole’s music is predominantly heavy and abrasive, their more tender moments like ‘Doll Parts’ bear clear folk influence, a genre introduced to Love by the work of Cohen.
Revisit Cohen’s iconic album below.
