Landmark Fem-Rock Album

When Kurt Cobain commited suicide, Live Through This, or more correctively, Courtney Love, was under careful consideration for the legend's death. Picking and poking into the Hole frontwoman's mind had already had a devastating effect on her because of her marriage-versus-media syndrome the couple suffered. Love's music was put on hold for 2 years, while much change occured in the Cobain-Love household. The grunge couple had their feast of tabloids, and much to Courtney's demise, Kurt followed through on the public eye: something Love has always ridden herself of. Her extreme pop-savviness has lead her down different paths than Nirvana's drudgery and sterling angst-ridden songs; therefore Courtney Love possessed the ability to change where Nirvana could -- or should -- not have.

This all worked in favour for Hole necause their status as indie superstars was confirmed and things were more or less better . Their band was revamped: Courtney Love, Eric Erlansin, the Late Kristen Pfaff, and Patty Schemel were the new Hole. They cornered the pattern of many great grunge albums and added a polished surface to make a more alternative version than the original recordings of Live Through This. Kurt's voice is audible on a few of Live Through This's songs and rabid Nirvana fans began rumouring that our dearly departed Nirvana vocalist had written all of Hole's songs for them. It was the frontier for some nasty speculation and it almost single-handedly destroyed Hole's reputation. Of course, as usual, Courtney Love ran around in a manic depressive fashion, spreading Kurt's ashes across psychics' tables askign for straight answers. You can understand why many people could, well, disagree with these ethics, even if she had just lost her husband. Love was out of hand and soon Live Through This had dropped of the charts with only a few singles hitting the top ten, "Doll Parts," the album's most heart-wrenching song about Cobain's depression.

"Gutless," "She Walks On Me," and "Plump" are gut-punched, guitar-hewn, cookie-cutter Hole songs and, although these are similar to Pretty On The Inside due to their punk undertone, they retain that essential attitude that made this album such a treasure.

Even though it's flawed by it's shiny coat and somewhat Nirvana-infected persona it does deserve recognition as one of the only female grunge acts around in the 90's. Oh yeah, it also features premium music, too. I highly recommend this album.