The “biggest hoax” in rock history, according to Courtney Love
Courtney Love is no stranger to controversy. It feels like at any turn of her career, people were there and eager to pin scandal onto her, often overshadowing her musical legacy by focusing on her fights and feuds. But her quick and vocal judgements have never helped her case as the Hole singer has never been shy about delivering her opinion in whatever cutting words she wants. In this instance, Kathleen Hanna was the target.
On the flip side, there is an incredibly supportive streak in Love. She played a role in the hype surrounding Picture Parlour after giving the band a shoutout on social media. She’s regularly spotted lingering in the back of shows, checking out new artists and passing down sage wisdom backstage.
But that’s forgotten in the fiery nature of her feuds. It seems that no artist, no matter how big or impactful they are, is safe from Love’s critique. She recently brushed off Taylor Swift as “not important”, took shots at Beyonce’s most recent country album and said that Lana Del Rey should “take seven years off.”
Her flames thrown towards the pop world make sense. Love is an icon of the rock world. She’s one of the most famous grunge singers ever, and as the widow of Kurt Cobain, she was married to another. Her wild antics and readiness to fight come with the territory, and she plays the role of the raging rockstar well when she shrugs off pop as rubbish. But one of her most surprising feuds went down between Love and another deeply influential woman of rock. Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill found herself on the receiving end of Love’s vitriol.
It would probably be expected that the two figures would love each other. Love fought for her place in the music world and has spent her career demanding respect as a woman in a male-dominated genre and industry. As a key part of the riot grrl movement, Hanna has done the same, as her band merged the punk wave with feminism to create a powerful new sound.
Yet still, the pair don’t see eye to eye. When the news broke that Bikini Kill were reuniting in 2019, Bust magazine posted a statement of excitement around the comeback. Unprompted, Love commented, “Speak for yourself. Biggest hoax in history of rock and roll.”
After calling the troupe a “hoax”, Love doubled down on her thoughts as she replied to another user, “Two of that band total amateurs.” Of Hanna, specifically, she saw her as a weak mouthpiece for an important message. She said, “Hanna is a good hype man. But her persona is such a diy nonsense dilettante.”
The feud between the two goes back way further than in 2019. It was reported that back in 1995, at Lollapalooza, a fight broke out between the two backstage. It’s unknown what spurred on the tussle, and reports differ on how it went down, but it’s clear that ever since the two musicians have held onto disdain for each other.
On Hanna’s side, she sees Love’s ongoing hatred of her as a kind of obsession. She said to NME in May of 2024, “I’ve had interviewers be like, ‘So have you worked it out with Courtney?’ And I was like, ‘Have you worked it out with your stalker?’” She claimed that she wouldn’t accept an apology from the Hole singer as she continued, “I don’t need that person in my life. I don’t want to work things out.”
Yet on Love’s side, the issue is with Hanna and Bikini Kill’s message, or specifically her thoughts that they can’t handle the message of feminism. She called it a “A big idea they cannot convey, because they suck,” concluding simply, “That’s all!”
