Courtney Love
Biography
Love her or loathe her, the opinionated, brutally straightforward, and seemingly always controversial Courtney Love is one of the most notable figures in alternative rock. Born on July 9, 1964 in San Francisco, CA, Love was raised in Oregon. As a teen, Love began listening to new wave and punk, musical styles that would influence her band Hole. After traveling to countries like Ireland, Japan, and England, Love moved to Los Angeles, CA. In 1986, Love appeared as Nancy Spungen's best friend in Sid and Nancy, director Alex Cox's film about Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his lover Spungen. Love was also cast in Cox's Straight to Hell. Neither picture brought Love the stardom that she craved. Love then relocated to Minneapolis, MN, and formed the all-female post-punk group Babes in Toyland with Kat Bjelland. Bjelland eventually tossed her out of the band. After working as a stripper in Alaska, Love returned to Los Angeles and started Hole in 1989 with Eric Erlandson (guitar), Jill Emery (bass), and Caroline Rue (drums). Hole released their debut album, Pretty on the Inside, in 1991. A year later, Love married Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Rumors of drug use between the two began surfacing in the press, and a Vanity Press article revealed that Love was using heroin while she was pregnant with their daughter, Frances Bean Cobain.
In April 1994, Kurt Cobain committed suicide; two months later, new Hole bassist Kristen M. Pfaff died from a heroin overdose. Although it was recorded before those personal tragedies, Hole's second album, the ironically titled Live Through This, captured the searing pain and violent anger of somebody undergoing a tragic loss. Rumors persisted that Cobain co-wrote a large portion of the album, a claim that Love vehemently denied despite claims to the contrary by many of Cobain's closest friends. No concrete evidence was ever released to back those claims, and she maintained a semi-professional relationship with his former bandmates by formering a partnership with them called Nirvana L.L.C. The organization would control all Nirvana related releases and try and protect the interests of the three parties, but strife between Love and the rest of the band developed through nasty press comments made by both sides. Meanwhile, Hole released Celebrity Skin in 1998, but the album came nowhere near the popularity of her previous effort. Despite the band's best promotional efforts (which Courtney dove headfirst into, as always), sales were discouraging enough for band members to start dropping off, essentially dissolving the group while her acting career was taking off. In 1999, Love was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the movie The People Vs. Larry Flynt. She would stay relatively quiet for a few years, making a few film appearances and bragging up various projects with Louise Post and Kat Bjelland that never surfaced. But when former Nirvana members Kris Novoselic and Dave Grohl announced a 45 song Nirvana retrospective that would include two never released tracks, Love immediately brought them to court in an attempt to wrestle away the rights to the material. Manager/boyfriend Paul Barber tried to become the peacekeeper in the situation, even showing up to the studio for the mixdown of one of the unreleased songs. But Love moved to dissolve Nirvana L.L.C. and managed to stop the release of the album until the matter could be brought to court. The box set was aborted and the three individuals began to hype the upcoming court hearings like a boxing match, inviting the press out and making sharp barbs at one another in interviews. She announced her intentions to spearhead a Nirvana "greatest hits" album a la the Beatles' #1's, and claimed that she had hundreds of home tapes to go through and a journal that she planned on publishing. Love also began to speak out on musician's rights, suing her record company and bringing to light unfair business practices on the part of the industry. She began making her interviews and speeches platforms for her newfound cause, and created quite a stir at the South by Southwest Conference in the spring of 2002 when she directly announced her intentions of starting a music-industry revolution. All that was forthcoming, however (beside more eccentric publicity), was a solo album, 2004's America's Sweetheart, released on Virgin. ~ Michael Sutton and Bradley Torreano, All Music Guide
Selected Discography

America's Sweetheart
2004
America's Sweetheart is a great f**king album I don't care what anybody says. I need another copy because I played the CD so much it has beer and dog hair all over it.
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Love Love Love Courtney and Frances Bean. Reminds me of my daughter and myself. Much Love and PEACE from Salt Lake City!
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Thanks for taking out Kurt my love. He managed to start an emo culture but you ended it before it got way out of hand!
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Kurt Cobain wishes he could write a half decent lyric, let alone the lyrics his wife was able to write.
Both Kurt and Courtney were s**tty guitar players, capable of not much more than some simple power chords... but Kurt killed himself young and became the face of a generation. Courtney Love was always the superior lyricist. |
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Don't think she really cares what Nirvana fans think. Or anyone else for that matter. One of a kind
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She is just not a person that i think deserves to exist she is a just all around bad person i mean she did heroin while pregnant thats kinda f**ked up.
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I f**king hate her but thats just me. She isnt talented and i think thats she is a drugged out whore.
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I wish she would tour, I am so there. I have gotten tickets to see Hole three times before, and each time, something happened to prevent me from seeing them, relationship ending, death in family, car broke down....I must see Courtney live before I die.
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I love her music and wish she was sober more often... how many times have you thought that about a really good artist- only to wonder if their vices help or hinder their talent? Sigh ;-)
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Its hilarious that only 5 people have bothered to leave any comment at all!
She truly is a waste! |
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