Celebrity Skin – Hole

This was the moment when we stopped and thought that maybe, just maybe Courtney Love was going to defy expectations and deliver something extraordinary. This song is simply spectacular.

Courtney Love – punk rocker, turned tabloid disaster-area turns on the celebrity culture that has so offended her and spits in its eye and kicks it in the nuts as she leaves. She takes aim at the culture of “hooker/waitress/model/actress” and the machine that sucks them in and spits them out. Of course nothing was achieved by her rant – the same machine still operates unabated today. It wasn’t gonna stop just cos Courtney Love decided to point out its obscenity.

The remarkable thing about this song is that is gets in spits its bile and is gone again in no more than 2.40, yet every time you hear it you feel like you’ve been dragged through a long and involved wringer. It feels like an epic rock track but in fact it’s a very punk rock styled single.

Billy Corgan clearly had a bit to do with the music and the big chords in the opening riff are very Pumpkins like but that’s hardly a drawback. This is probably the best vocal Courtney Love ever performs and alas she wasn’t destined to top this song for relevance or its ability to resonate in the moment.

It’s a cracking song though.