Formed in the fertile Los Angeles underground scene in 1989, Hole - or at least their force of nature leader Courtney Love - were always destined for greatness. Having served her alt. rock apprenticeship (briefly) fronting Faith No More, and in Pagan Babies (alongside future Babes In Toyland vocalist/guitarist Kat Bjelland and future L7 bassist Jennifer Finch), with Hole Love was the embodiment of female rage and expression, her band the uncompromising sound of female agency.
Willed into existence after lead guitarist Eric Erlandson answered a personal ad Love put in LA newspaper The Recycler - “I’m a musician looking for a band to play in. My influences are Big Black, Sonic Youth, and Fleetwood Mac”, they fanfared their arrival with two 45s - 1990’s Retard Girl on Sympathy For The Record Industry and 1991’s Dicknail on Sub Pop - both fatal collisions of abrasive noise and bruised pop that aligned them with Nirvana and Mudhoney.
With Love’s vocal exorcisms central, and recurring themes of sexual commodification and sexual violence in their work, their post feminist grunge pop also paralleled the riot grrrl movement, though Love was at pains to distance her group from the likes of Bikini Kill and Bratmobile, who had already formed friendships with Nirvana when Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl lived in Olympia, Washington, pre-Nevermind.
Love's story, as everyone knows, would become entwined with that of Cobain, and, as a consequence, too often her achievements have been under-played if not entirely disregarded by misogynists in the media and music industry. But overcoming vicissitude and tragedy, Hole's history is one of self determination, survival and, for the most part, exceptional music.
