The world viewing women as inferior to their male counterparts is nothing new. Sadly, misogyny is still a rampant force within music, and often seeks to diminish, discredit or completely ignore the efforts of female or non-binary musicians. While most, if not all, of these performers will have experienced this unfair reality to some degree, Courtney Love is one individual who has certainly received an appalling share of it, with a common thread of this hatred stemming from her widowhood to Kurt Cobain.
One particularly harsh example of this treatment took form during an 1998 interview with Howard Stern, where Love was questioned by a disgruntled Nirvana fan on air over her alleged "stealing" of Cobain's lyrics after his death. In other words, the caller refused to believe that Love wrote her own lyrics.
Dripping with churlish passive-aggression, the fan asks, "What are you 'gonna do when you run out of all the lyrics Kurt left for you".
In response, Love and Stern wince together, yet approach the scathing question with a sarcastic coolness, as the host asks the musician, "What does that mean? Now what is the story, why are you getting that rap?" - referencing the disdain that Love receives from Nirvana fans, who often view her as living in the shadow of Cobain's legacy, or who even fail to take her seriously as a musician at all.
Turning up the nastiness with further insensitive probing, the caller adds: "I think killing himself is a gift that he did for your career".
As stern expresses his wish to end the call and stop from entertaining the fan further, Love bravely declares that she'll answer the inappropriate questioning, and challenges them on their sexist views; a perspective she deems as surprising from the caller, considering that they are also female.
"This is why I came [on the show]. Some of your constituency has this thing. You know, it's so misogynistic, especially from a girl. I'm so amazed at this, I mean, if you look at the lyrics from [Hole song] Pretty On The Inside, and you look at, even -".
At this point, the fan interrupts the grunge star, and suggests that the lyrics "sound exactly like Kurt's", before Love continues and quips, "well yeah, that was two years before I met him".
"And my ego is so big, sweetie!", she adds. "Why guys like me is because they get to steal from me! You know, I don't know if this is too intellectual for you, with your capacity, but no seriously, Kurt's lyrics - as wonderful as they were - were really kind of simple and linear, and mine tend to be a little more wordy. Take it to your English teacher and just compare."
The Nirvana fan, who becomes less confident with Love's every word, then gets another bemused bashing from Stern, who humorously asks, "How do you figure that she can play and sing, I mean is Kurt operating her from beyond?".
Signing off with the wonderfully feminist and empowering piece of advice, Love says, "You can't go back to school with this...I want you to get a guitar, I want you to plug it in, and I want you to feel liberation for the first time in your life, and you will understand."
Watch the full interview below:
@crystal_visions1 ♬ Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle - Nirvana
