“The one rock star that makes me know I’m shit”: The musician Courtney Love felt grossly inferior to
Grunge took hold of America during the early 1990s, with Hole becoming one of the most successful members of the genre. Sitting alongside other celebrated names like Nirvana and Alice in Chains, the band helped to craft a sound that came to define American alternative rock, full of ferocious guitars and powerful, often strained vocal performances.
Courtney Love, as the leader of Hole, became one of the faces of grunge, with her girly dresses, messy hair and dark lipstick – a style that came to be known as kinderwhore – becoming instantly recognisable. Love’s way of presenting herself, evoking the image of innocence destroyed, reflected her lyrics, which often dealt with themes such as the harsh criticism she faced from the media, the complications of motherhood and sexual harassment.
Hole’s second album, Live Through This, quickly became a grunge staple – easily one of the genre’s greatest outputs. Love channelled equal parts rage and tenderness as she discussed wanting her baby back or feeling unworthy of being loved. It’s an incredibly vulnerable record that cemented the band as such a vital force in alternative rock. This was a group of women who used their music to explore important topics, presenting a messy yet honest view of womanhood that few female artists had dared to dissect with such striking potency until then.
However, Love wasn’t immune to feeling as though she wasn’t good enough. Just a year before Hole’s sophomore album was released, Love stumbled upon PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me, the English artist’s second album following her stunning debut, Dry. Produced by Steve Albini, the album was heavier than her previous effort and could be best described by the word “raw.” From the pummelling riffs to Harvey’s impressive vocal performance, she often pushed herself to the limit, allowing her voice to sound desperate, seductive or angry.
On tracks like ‘Man-Size’ and ‘50ft Queenie’, Harvey asserted herself as a powerful, dominating woman, singing on the latter, “Force ten hurricane/ Biggest woman/ I could have ten sons/ Ten Gods/ Ten queens/ Ten foot and risin’”. Blending violence and sexuality, Harvey showed a real knack for writing visceral lyrics, particularly on the opener ‘Rid of Me’, where she taunts, “I’ll make you lick my injuries” and “Lick my legs and I’m on fire.”
While England was fixated on Britpop battles, PJ Harvey was busy constructing a world of her own, drawing from classic folk, blues, jazz and rock and roll artists. Her distinctive sound was different from the other movements emerging in the United Kingdom’s alternative rock scene, like shoegaze or trip-hop, making her an unforgettable icon, an ever-changing genius.
Love was impressed by the record, which, like Hole’s music, features a similar level of vulnerability, with Rid of Me and Live Through This both blending femininity with a sense of grotesqueness, brutality and intensity. She was once quoted saying, “The one rock star that makes me know I’m shit is Polly Harvey. I’m nothing next to the purity that she experiences.”
The Hole leader has even covered ‘To Bring You My Love’ from Harvey’s 1995 album of the same name, a testament to her love for the artist.
