Go to your CD collection right now. Pull out "Nevermind" by Nirvana and "Live Through This" by Hole. Listen to them both all the way through. Does the former really blow the latter out of the water?
Which one sounds more dated?
I've been digging on "Live Through This" lately, and it hit me that right smack in the middle of this self-righteous 90s male feminist movement - in other words dudes who went to Lilith Fair and listened to 10,000 Maniacs and Indigo Girls just to get laid - Courtney Love was ravaged as some kind of talentless doppelgänger, a veritable Nancy to Kurt's Sid.
Most importantly: Has there ever been a one-two punch of albums on this level of excellence, both authored by spouses leading different bands, in the history of rock?
I bought the fiction. Courtney stole Kurt's tunes, Courtney got Kurt high. Courtney got Kurt killed. Courtney killed Kurt.
If Joan Jett (who I love don't get me wrong) is in solely for her breaking of barriers for women in rock (because it wasn't for her tunes; her hits were all covers) then Love gets big numbers for the enormous push she gave to the 90s Grrrrlll rock revolution (and no I'm not just saying that to get laid).
Plus, if you stack up Hole's big three albums ("Pretty On The Inside," "Live Through This" and "Celebrity Skin") against Nirvana's ("Bleach," "Nevermind" and "In Utero") it's actually a pretty close call.
But what if the exact opposite is true?
What if Courtney actually brought out the best in Kurt? What if she kept him from becoming a drooling idiot? What if she didn't kill Kurt but actually kept him alive way longer than he would have been without her?
Actually her involvement with Kurt is irrelevant to whether she and her band Hole should be in the Rock Hall.
If Joan Jett (who I love don't get me wrong) is in solely for her breaking of barriers for women in rock (because it wasn't for her tunes; her hits were all covers) then Love gets big numbers for the enormous push she gave to the 90s Grrrrlll rock revolution (and no I'm not just saying that to get laid).Plus, if you stack up Hole's big three albums ("Pretty On The Inside," "Live Through This" and "Celebrity Skin") against Nirvana's ("Bleach," "Nevermind" and "In Utero") it's actually a pretty close call.
I think if "Celebrity Skin" had been the "Appetite For Destruction" that Love wanted it to be, or if she had one more awesome album in her, Hole would be a lock. As it is, we are in a race against time to see who gets in first: Hole, or Nirvana spawn Foo Fighters, whose push is being led by the blatant and pathetic campaigning by one Mr. Dave Grohl.
Go on, Dave, take everything.
No comments:
Post a Comment