Reviews (page 6 of 10)
Somehow I've not heard this before, which is odd because it's in my wheel house. Decent 90s alt rock, but Courtney was bigger than the band, and the MTV celebrity status was probably the reason this passed me by at the time. Heard before ❌️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit 🫳 Solid ★★★☆☆ (6/10) Total reviewed : 251 Already owned : 58 Purchased : 14 To buy list : 2 Nope : 177
Was really excited when I saw "Brimful of Asha" on the tracklist. Then I realized I only like the Fatboy Slim version and this original sounds like a xanned-out version.
Hmm. Kuuntelin tämän töissä, mutta en nyt tahdo muistaa mitään muutakuin naislaulajan jolla välillä vähän ärsyttävä ääni. Nyt katsoin wikipediajuttuja tästä ja hoksasin miksi Hole kuulosti niin tutulta, no tuon Courtney Loven takia(Seiskan jutuissa mainittiin aina Kurtin vaimona ja Hole-bändin solistina). Nänneröiset sillä nöpöttää kansikuvassa. Mutta itse levyyn: Perushöttöä joka ei tosiaan jäänyt mieleen. Kaksi tähteä sellaisenaan, mutta nöpöttävistä nänneistä yksi ylimääräinen tähti :rampathinking:
Vähän tällainen muutama tuttu biisi entuudestaan (Celebrity Skin ja Malibu) mutta muuten aika mitään tunteita herättävää grunge/pop rockia. 3/5.
Heard most songs from it separately before but this is my first time actually listening to it in full. I love all those female fronted grunge adjacent bands from the 90s, what can I say. For Hole this album is a bit more "commercial" and for that I think I prefer Live Through This but Celebrity Skin also has some proper bangers and is just fun to listen to 3/5
Fine
I remember Hole being really popular with the alternative girls that wore ripped jeans, Doc Marten boots, band t shirts, and flannels that I was way too shy and sheltered to talk to back in the day. It's a pretty good grunge/alternative album, but I've outgrown it. I should have probably talked to those intimidating girls too...
Good
Found it difficult to listen to her voice straight through the album, but individually enjoy the songs. Celebrity Skin by far my fave song, followed by Boys on the Radio. Several songs the lyrics were annoyingly repetitive.
3/2/26 - Listened during breakfast. I owned this cd but don't remember anything about it other than the singles. Sounded like a 90s rock album. Was fine, probably another 3.5 album but as always I round down. I also always thought the lyric was "now your really naked" in Celebrity Skin but that is never uttered. Top Song - Boys on the Radio (other than the singles)
Me gustó mucho el inicio (celebrity skin añadida a mi playlist) Es un álbum interesante en general
3- Stars (7/15)
first time listening to this album. actually first time even hearing of this band. nice discovery, glad to know about this late 90s courtney love-led grunge band. was excited to try this album out. it starts out fantastic. the title track is a great introduction to the record and i love the progression and the vocals. "awful" is also awesome and catchy, love it. then from there the album takes a bit of a turn for me. "malibu" is also great, driving riff is great and i especially love the backing vocals on the refrain. then from there the album takes a bit of a turn for me. the next three songs are a bit of a drag and are not really bringing anything distinct. i do like "northern star," probably my favorite singing on the album. "boys on the radio" is fun too, but other than those and the closer, the second half of the album is a dip in quality compared to the first. it's an alright overall album, but nothing i'll likely be coming back to after this first listen.
My take on this album is that it's solid, but there's a weird late 90s sheen on it that I don't quite like. The rawness of *Live Through This* is completely gone, and the band seems to have made an effort to sound more like Garbage (the band, not actual trash). I don't think it really works in that regard, but but I can't deny there's some catchy songs here including the title track, "Malibu", "Awful", and "Boys on the Radio". 3.5 stars.
3.5
I like a bit of Hole and some nice rubbing with celebrity skin. Don’t think I could have a ‘whole’ one though (at least not for 1001). Title track opener of course is a stone cold super nostalgic rock radio classic and 3rd track is pretty nice n cool I guess. Rest of the album is kinda bland and overproduced though. Overall a not too shabby 3 in the hole.
Some songs were pretty good, especially towards the beginning. There are just a couple of grunge albums I consider to be truly great and this is not one of them.
I do not own this one at all but my old band covered Celebrity Skin and Malibu. This is a decent album but ultimately too many mid tempo numbers and the lack of range in Courtney's voice makes many of these songs kinda blend together in blandness.
This album is classic 90’s grunge girl-style. It’s solid.
Easy to enjoy front‑to‑back. A couple tracks rise above the rest, but the whole record carries a fun, positive energy.
Some hits but otherwise forgettable
surprised how much i liked this, enough variety that i wasn't bored and more than just a few that i would come back to. i would really like to give it 3.5
I wish I had spent more time with this as a teenager. I had too much bias against Courtney Love and, well, women to really appreciate it. I’m going to come back to this one.
Saved? ✅ Would listen again? ✅ Would recommend to anyone? 🤔 Would buy on Vinyl? ✅
Not bad
I had no idea Billy Corgan is listed as a lyrics composer on the first song. Interesting. I much prefer the grimier early albums, but this one does take me back to my senior year. I don't know, I have never liked Love's voice. She's a great actress, though. This one is a 3
Grunge
Sometimes hard to give Hole a chance, always going to be overshadowed by Ms Love’s antics. Guilty of thinking they’re riding the Nirvana wave but they’re a good band in their own right. Decent album. Celebrity Skin and Malibu being very strong singles.
I forgot how good malibu is. I do prefer the other two hole albums but this was pretty good. A STRONG 3
Couldn't be arsed with this tbh, but still think it is a good album. Soild 3!
Yeah decent album. Nothing special mind. Celebrity skin the song carries the album
Hit and miss, some clear standouts, others were a bit grating.
It’s not as good as the album before. Not sure if this should be on the list.
Very mid. There are definitely stand out tracks, but mostly it's a lot of the same. After half of this album passes it seems like Courtney Love knows one vocal line that she endlesly recycles, which is a shame, because lyrically, this is a solid album. All in all, a 3/5 for me.
feel guilty abt not listening to last 3(!) albums...I will listen to and rate them eventually... nevertheless; celebrity skin (obviously), playing your song was ok
da gsehni mi als Amerikanische Teenie ide early 2000er i mim Kinderzimmer im suburban vonnere Millionestadt wo mer in Europa gar ned kennt, mit tüüfem selbstbewusstsii willi ned zude cool kids ih minder Highschool ghöre und min Crush mich gar ned kennt obwohl mer in History nebedenand sitzed. Eigentlich no es guets gfühl. 3 füechti träum über irgend en 2000er Pop-Star
American pie lässt grüssen. Da chumi mir vor wie 2004 uf em e US college. Mit allne verschiednige lüüt und gruppierige, aber öper vu de coole und rieche macht e chlini homeparty mit swimming pool und dere mukke. Aber ja 3 holes
I didn't pay any attention to them at the time. One of those I'm sorry I missed. It's identified as alternative rock (whatever that is). It's just great music to my ears.
pas mal 3
Meh. Kinda went on and on without any one track really standing out, but, it was alright
Sounds very much like a female Nirvana which probably makes sense
Just an ok album. Sounds like a lot of other albums in this time period.
Would give it a 3.5
Pretty fun album
Soooo 90’s.
Strong 90s alternative rock. I've never listened to the full album, and was surprised (not in a bad way) at how pop-sounding some of the songs are. Good album, well representative of the era. I prefer Live Through This, however.
Surprisingly compelling at times but it never quite hit its stride for me. It felt like there was emotion bubbling away under the surface, either coming out in blasts of moody grunge but at other moments it was a bit morose. But there was enough going on to keep it interesting and a decent entry.
I guess a kind of folk grunge but has a heavy dose of pop about it too which confuses things slightly. The "jolly" pattern of pop emerges and is a little too intrusive for my liking overall. The theme is around celebrity and the "rot" that comes with it but that doesn't always translate. It's quite telling when you get a grungy injection with say "Playing Your Song" and prior a delight of a raw expression in "Norther Star" but songs like "Boys on The Radio" could just as easily be something you hear as a soundtrack to a sitcom like Friends. Just doesn't hit as hard as it could and it's a shame they didn't blast the folk grunge in my opinion. It's this glimmer that makes it worthy and interesting as a concept. Plenty of interest and merit on balance though and framed by this excellent female vocal expression. Makes we want to see what else they did. Didn't know I knew them but instantly recognised the opening track.
I can't say this album is actually bad in any particular way: The songwriting is fine, with some cool riffs here and there, and the studio crew put some A+ work on display here with the production/mixing. Unfortunately, I can't say anything in particular really wowed me? I'm just not the exact target demo for this late 90s grungy alt. rock, I guess. 7.5/10.
Strong sound but it doesn't really innovate past the halfway point. Favourite track: Celebrity Skin
Nothing special, it's okay
Huh. I don’t like punk and I don’t particularly like 80s power pop groups. This seems like a mix of those things… that I liked? I’m kind of surprised by this. Nothing too extreme but especially towards the front half, there was some good stuff.
There were parts of this album that sounded like what I had wanted the Go-Go's album to sound like. Walks the fine line of pop tunes and grinding alt-rock bleakness mostly with success. However, I'm not sure how often I'll be returning to this glorious Hole.
Title track was catchy, the rest didn't stand out
I anticipated this to be a rough listen, but actually ended up ok.
I always like Hole more than I think I will and less than I probably should. They have a good sound and some interesting lyrics. I'm bouncing between 3 and 4 about midway through with Dying pushing me higher. Naw, it's just a 3.
This was fine. I've heard some Hole songs before (including the singles from this album) but never a full album before. I think I had the impression they were more grungy, and there were some songs on here where I could feel that influences in the composition of the tunes. Production-wise, though, it felt very crisp and shiny. Not a bad thing, but I imagine this was an album where they decided to "level up" in some way, or take the next step in their progression as a band. I wish Courtney's singing voice was like %15 better. When she's belting lyrics out, she sounds great, but there are a lot of times where she just sounds... bored of this project. I guess a lot of grunge singers probably did too, and I'm trying to remember that it's easy to shit on Love and trying to be fair in my analysis. I generally like her, but it just didn't hit consistently for me here. It sounded nice, and I enjoyed it alright, but I probably won't listen to it again. I'd check out the earlier albums, though.
it's so 90's. As someone who was born in 1997, this was music that would come on the radio or teenagers above me would play this and everyone would jam out. It's punk, it's a bit rebellious, and it wants you to headbang. It's not my taste, but I can dig it for a day. Also, she was married to Kobain??? RIP
Du plaisir sur la 1ere pièce, ensuite c’est un style qui ne me rejoins plus. Un peu trop pop comme alternatif. Pas assez lourd et/ou rechercher comme musique.
Some good songs, but i wouldn't say it's a no-skip album. (def would revisit to see if my opinion changes) I didn't really like it cause it's just not my style, but if you're into that freaky friday, grundgy, singing slightly off key in your mom's garage type vibe, then this is a 100 % for you
This Hole album was definitely more well received by me. My previous album by them was "Living Through This" and I thought it was absolutely abhorrent music, with it earning the one of the few 1 stars I've given out up until this point, being 276 albums deep and all it's quite impressive and was exceptional in being horrendous. But this one is a ways better than the previous one. Even though this one is poppy, it's honestly not half bad. I'd previously liked and known "Malibu" so I suspected hat the Celebrity Skin album would sound a bit like "Malibu." And the suspicion was true (to an extent.) Highlight Song/s: "Celebrity Skin", "Awful" and "Malibu"
I knew who Hole were, and the backstory, but had never listened to the music. It’s not bad. The better tracks are the less hard-rocking ones.
Have to hand it to Love for carving out her own place in music history
Can see why leant on Kurt…
Definition of middle of the road. It’s “fine”. One really solid song but the rest of the album all sounds the same.
Okay
All I know of Hole is her association with Kurt and the fallouts with Dave Grohl etc. Celebrity Skin is an instantly recognisable track everyone's heard from the radio play back then, a well made pop song, it can't be denied! Notes for me: Second track well written pop too, I'd probably have more of an affinity to it if I had listened to it back in my teenage days, but this is first listen. Third track feels like Billy Corgans touch, I'd not be surprised if he's lent a hand on this one Hit so hard my favourite so far Malibu also decent with the guitar parts and cool engineering Thinking this is probably a good band I didn't give enough attention to because of all the negativity around them back then, but its a decent listen so far. Malibu into reasons to be beautiful great transition. Thoughts been put into this album as a work of art as an entire album, how tracks flow into each other Promised me has a lot of dynamic range, saves you from just walls of guitars blasting your ears off every track Use once and destroy feels middle of the road, little boring musically, funnily enough this is a track Corgan has not had his hand in, maybe the title of the track are actually instructions for what you should do with it? Northern star immediately reminds me of an REM track, like a bad cover with hints of tonight tonight by the pumpkins with its tom rolls. Overall enjoyable listen, nothing smashing it out of the park for me as a whole but thanks to the hell they had songwriting its hard to deny this has some bangers on it. I would have given it a 3 but I would bump up it to a 4 because of its influence its had, and 3/4 of the players on this record are women its influenced a lot of young girls to give this a go, but I'll stick with a 3
Did you like the 90's? Congrats, you'll like this album
Hole is pretty alright in my books.
Don't care for Courtney Love but this album is pretty good. Prolly a 3.5
90s sound. I enjoyed it then, but moved on. Pleasant to revisit it but that's it.
Ok.
Good girl rock
Springt mich an, wie schon Mal gehört. Wie The Offspring oder sowas. Das ist also immer noch Grunge? Dann sind The Smashing Pumpkins auch Grunge. Finde ich jedenfalls unterhaltsamer als kürzlich das MTV-Werk ihres verstorbenen Mannes.
Mislim da ima malo boljih angry girl bendova ali i ovo je sasvim ok za slušati.
Who would have thought the songs co-written by Billy Corgan would be the best? Me. I would think that.
I have fond memories of some of these songs but now the genre feels commercial
I think Hole is overall decent. But nothing more. I can see why they are on this list. But she still killed her husband
Sagde til hende at hun var en wannabe og tvivlede hendes kunstneriske udtryk efter at grungen døde. LAvede med power-pop som et angreb mod medier med giftige tekster og vrede. Kan godt lide guitaren og kan godt lide vokalen og jeg kan godt lide attituden så det er rigtig fint, men heller ikke rigtig mere end fint for mig.
I haven’t listen to a lot of Hole but I did enjoy most of the songs on this album. The musicianship was terrific.
I'm sure that I heard Hole back in the day, but only in a passive sort of way. This record comes off as a clearly second or third tier band. Not terrible, but there's really no reason to put this on if you have any of the better bands' albums around. Still better than I expected.
Ágætis 90s hart popp.
A bit uneven. There are some great tracks here (particularly on the A Side), but there's also quite a lot of generic-sounding filler. I'd be comfortable splitting the difference with a 3.
Not bed
It's a fucking shame that Courtney Love isn't a super famous rock star all on her own, she's made for this
This was better than I thought it was going to be. It was a fun listen for sure. I am not sure I would listen to it again but wouldn’t turn it off if a Hole song came on.
Pretty decent, good 90's stuff here
Me gustó, sabía quien era Courtney Love pero nunca habia averiguado sobre ella y fue grato saber que esta es su banda. Le pongo un 6/10 porque no creo reescuchar el álbum realmente a pesar de que es de mi géneros predilectos.
Was very pleasantly surprised by ‘Live Through This’ so curious to see how this one lands… What an opener to an album. Such a great song. Used to listen to this on repeat. Got a bit bored as the rest of the album played out. Okay enough, but just kinda standard (3.5)
One great song. One good song. Rest is fine
Not as bad as you think it might be
This was one of those where I knew one of the songs - the first track - but wouldn’t have been able to guess the artist. An interesting listen.
Celebrity Skin is the third and final studio album from Hole, Courtney Love's band. The album is generally well-regarded, and is the band's most successful work, both critically and commercially. It's a move away from the grunge/noise sound of their earlier work, towards a more produced, alt-rock sound. The album includes two of the band's biggest singles, "Celebrity Skin" and " Malibu." These songs feature Love's distinct voice, and the saturated guitars typical of 90's alt-rock. It is a collection of good songs, but a collection of fairly limited range.
This is a perfect example of why each artist should get one record on the list. Celebrity Skin is a very good 90s pop record. It’s also a fraction as good as Live Through This, an exceptional 90s rock album. So why do we have multiple albums by so many artists? It speaks to the narrow view of the authors imo. These are the artists we like and we must include every one of their good records. Sigh. It’s a good record but it doesn’t belong on this list
rock, melodiös gespielt. nichts ausserordentliches.
Solider Gitarrensound
Decent listen.
Good.
I liked that way more than I thought I would - more polished and less grungy than I expected.
Good, not great
I enjoyed this more than "Live through this", but besides the title track, nothing really stuck with me. Melissa Auf Der Maur's first solo album left a much more lasting impression on me than this ever could, for some reason.
First song is great. The rest is fine.
Enjoyed this from the jump. Great vocals and music.
= the Beatles Team Kathleen Hanna
This is a good but fairly generic 90s rock album. The songwriting is a step above the numerous crappy one-hit wonders of the era, but not as good as Alice in Chains or Soundgarden. They sound like a female-led Foo Fighters on this album. I am partial to this genre, but this album just lacks the "X factor" that makes a truly great band.
Again, an artist whose albums I have never listened to. I think it's a pretty decent album, it doesn't totally grab me but I do like it. I think I only recognized one song on this album.
Tycker det här rätt bra. Courtney är en betydligt bättre låtskrivare än hon får kredd för. Som sångerska och frontfigur har jag heller ingenting att invända. Det finns ingen indie eller ens nåt alternativt med Hole, i Bangles anda är det är kalifornisk rock rätt och slätt. Tom Pettyrock i trasiga strumpbyxor liksom, lyssna på "Malibu", hade platsat på vilket Pettyalbum som helst efter 1986. Singlarna funkar utmärkt och det finns fler låtar i samma "middle of the road-ådra" som är bra. Någon enstaka gång försöks det larmas på lite mer än nödvändigt och försöker vara något det inte är. Men mest hålls det i strama tyglar och när Hole bejakar att man är ett 90tals Bangles är man oväntat bra. Klamrar sig över trestrecket
Like admiring a perfectly airbrushed billboard that can’t hide the faint outline of rust beneath the paint this Alternative Rock album feels dated.
Not that bad
Just never really go into this vibe but it's not bad.
pretty good! lots of very good hooks. a bit too smoothed over for me to like a lot.
Courtney love could kill me and frame it as an overdose any day
Have listened to this one a lot. Celebrity Skin is unfortunately such a strong opening track that the rest of the album suffers but there are still real heaters thrown about here. Still, you're not beating the "hooker/waitress/model/actress/oh have you ever felt so used up as this?" bit. The whole thing has a generally agreeable 90s riot girl sound to it that is amenable to my ears. This is a regular throw it on and eventually it'll be over. Highlights: Celebrity Skin, Reasons to be Beautiful, Hit so Hard, Nothern Star
This entire album is very vanilla. Basic. Plain. Meh. The music itself is good, but there is little emotion (other than depression) to latch onto with the songs. This may be harsh to say, but if Courtney Love had never married Kurt Cobain, Rock & Roll wouldn’t know her and/or the band Hole.
Easy to roll your eyes when it comes to Courtney Love, afterall she is batshit crazy. Like, legit crazy to this day, but why is that bad? Lots of Rockstar's are batshit crazy, who cares. I didn't listen very closely this morning so I decided to listen to this album a second time (don't judge, i was traveling with more than a little time on my hands). This second listen with no prejudice toward Courtney and I ended up liking Celebrity Skin far more than I expected to. Not a great album, but there are certainly some very high points, and the lows are not the worse you'll hear. It's imperfect, but this isn't American Idol, it's okay to be a bit pitchy dog, or flat, as is the case here. I say big fat hairy deal to that, the passion is there and that matters most. This is good grunge, and that's enough for me.
The grunge is real. Dug it.
Ms. Love continues to impress. This album is poppier & less raw than the previous Hole album I rated. But it’s still very strong with interesting lyrics and characters. It’s a 3, but could become a 4.
3/5 i don't remember this outside of i think one song
Nice
Enjoyed it, felt 90s teen film at the start but was ready for it to finish by the end. One of the songs made me think of Smelly Cat, the dubbed version.
Ok but not something I’ll listen to regularly
good enough! Nothing that made me feel moved, but i think it had some good stuff
This album was a lot more alternative than grunge. It is a decent album but I thought it started strong and waned. I also got bored with Courtney's singing as it went on. This is not one I would seek out to listen to again and if I did would just use streaming.
It's good: just listening to the music, it's solid 90s alt rock and she has a great, raspy voice.
Patiko. Geras balsas, geras rokas. Žinojau vieną dainą, bet kitos irgi neblogos.
Quite listenable
Tämmöistä köyhän naisen garbagea. Muutama viisu oli jopa ihan hyvää, mut meni aika läpisoittona läpi. Kyllä tässä taas kuuluu tämän ajan kuva
Bändin toki aina tiennyt koska Kurtin vaimo Courtney "Kurtin vaimo" Love, mutten oikeestaan koskaan kuullut jotain random biisiä enempää. Tämä oli yllättävän mukiinmenevää shittiä töiden ohessa. Paiskataan siitä hyvästä kolmosella
Varmasti epäsuosittu, ja kenties jonkun mielestä provosoivakin mielipide, mutta itse olen vilpittömästi sitä mieltä että Courtneyn bändi on paljon parempi kun edesmenneen miehensä bändi. Ihmisenä varmasti enemmän perseestä kuin vähemmän, mutta tässä on jo Kanyen ja Jerry Lee Lewiksenkin ansiot humaanilla puolella unohdettu, niin tehdään se rouva Lovenkin kohdalla. Oikeasti ihan kivaa peruspoppista vähän raskaammalla poljennolla. Helppoa kuunneltavaa, ja en näe mitään syytä miksi en tätä jatkossakin kuuntelisi. Ei ehkä koko levyä, mutta esimerkiksi Malibuhan on ihan soittolistakamaa. Tarttuva biitti ja hyvä melodia. Helppo kolme tähteä.
This was nice to have in the background playing. Nothing in particular was mind-blowing or bad. Overall, I feel pretty neutral to this one.
Good alternative rock/power pop album by the Hole, a lot less grungy and more radio friendly but nevertheless a fun album from a time where alternative rock wasn't really 'in' in the late 90s. 3.5 stars.
Expected something mediocre but it's actually pretty good. Would listen to it again.
Album starts off strong, but then meanders around and loses the edginess.
Fine enough. Hole's Live Through This was profound, much more "real," and a really tough act to follow. I enjoy Celebrity though it doesn't knock my socks off, even though I quite enjoy a couple cuts (Northern Star, Boys On the Radio).
A couple of great tunes - celebrity Skin and Malibu. CL being very meta-CL. I preferred Live Through This but I was into this. Not a 4 but a high 3.
I had higher hopes for this.
Quintessential 90s sound. I sort of recognized one song, but knew it was from the 90s before I looked them up.
Listened a couple times, pretty good. Oscillated between more intense and less intense which gave my ears a little break. Not sure what any of it was about.
5/10
Some good tracks, some not so good, but overall not bad. 6/10
Solid songs, solidly performed. I prefer the live through this rawness. Anyway, lady had some talent, and did bald billy cowrite some of this. Anyway shit's tight. Swing low.
Ça fait plaisir d'entendre une voie féminine sur du rock ! Le timbre était cool, et la vibe m'a parfois un peu fait pensé aux Cramberries - j'ai trouvé quelques éléments très intéressants mais au global ça me manquait un peu d'une signature propre, j'ai trouvé l'ensemble un peu "soupe" ; un 2,8 dans son genre je dirais.
un type de rock que j'apprécie mieux, même si (i) j'ai toujours du mal à distinguer les éléments qui font le "bon" rock pour ceux qui s'y connaissent plus, et (ii) je suis pas méga fan du timbre de Courtney Love. l'album rappelle un peu l'ambiance qu'on peut trouver dans Mauvais Joueurs de Joan Didion --mais le ton presque monotone (et prévisible) sur lequel sont posées les paroles pourtant intéressantes (peut-être dû à la métrique souvent courte) rend le tout un peu trop lisse pour moi. dans l'ensemble une écoute plutôt agréable, même si pour moi Petals est le son qui ressort le plus en termes de sonorités par rapport aux autres sons qui ont tendance à se confondre entre eux.
Album’s namesake quite good, but apart from that just OK.
courtney! erste song e huuuere wand. grunge aver bitz poppiger. awful au echli so. mega catchy rock. grunge gitarre mit meh tempo und schellechranz? malibu sehr 90s standard alternative rock. d bridge isch super d gitarre töned sehr cool. aber chli soft das ganze. ui sie zitiert de kurt bi reasons to be beautiful. its better to (..?..) that fade away. glaub. boys on the radio slappt zimli. petals au no cute. sehr edgelord. aber glaub s album git nume e 3 i'm sorry courtney. isch nöd so musig wo viel mit mir macht. aber da het meh mitem genre ztue.
This is what grunge arrived at in the late 90s: overproduced, commodified crap that was the point of grunge in the first place. This feels a long ways away from the raw power of “Live Through This.”
An alright alternative album, sounded kind of generic for the 90s.
Magnificent opening track, great swaggering bass and chopping riffs, snarling vocals - but the rest of the album is rock ordinaire 3 stars, just - elevated by the bass on Celebrity Skin itself.
Mid in comparison to Live Through This. Not bad
Kind of average 90s pop rock…couple of good songs in there.
Not bad
Nice
While I didn’t recognize by name, the opening track was familiar and I realized I know Doll Parts by this band as well. Enjoyed the listen and style.
It’s ok, not sure why this needs to be here considering their other album though
I owned this as a teenager but rarely listened all the way through, and now I understand why. There are a few standouts (the singles mainly), and it's remarkable the difference between this and their older stuff, but overall I'm puzzled why this is on here.
We can thank Billy Corgan for making this not suck.
I only really listened to the first tracks of the album, but think its pretty desent, and has a nice feel.
Weirdly has some really catchy melodies, but otherwise sounds like a stereotypical punk album
Geht so
I have heard the title track before but not the others. Title was the most catchy and the rest was decent.
A grunge album with a lot of bounce, which makes for a fun listen. Only downside is this falls off a bit in the back half.
The Good: It’s about celebrities! The Bad: We don’t like tabloids… The Ugly: Trying to listen to skin… Reading Courtney Love’s bio, I did a little cheer for the girl, as she’s not had it easy… however, what an interesting, and sometimes depressing, life she’s had! One thing she’s not had, in my humblest of opinions, is a quality singing voice, which makes listening to an entire album feel like I am being forced to listen to a Neil Young album, or, god forbid, Morrissey… The album, in and off itself, isn’t bad at all. Kind of pop. Could have been a record produced by Dave Grohl, as one too many songs sounds like it is a cover of a Foo Fighters song… And you can tell the Billy Corgan influence in the guitar sound… So what to give this album? Technically, I should be giving it a 4*, howevr, as I know that I will not be listening to the entire album ever again, I will have to stick to a downgraded 3 1/2* Sorry Courtney, and the rest of the Hole band <—see what I did there!
Decent but blends in with 90’s grunge
*** Not bad but also doesn't blow me away!
A strong rock album, though it often feels a little stiff and commercial for reasons I have trouble identifying. Lacking the grungier edge of Live Through This, for better or worse.
Alright 3/5
Nostalgic but tiring to listen to, Still good, but not a easy listening, Okay!
I’m struggling to reconcile this one, it’s not as good as Live Through This, which I gave 3 stars, yet I don’t think this deserves only 2 stars. I don’t think LTT is quite at 4 stars for me either so I’m essentially giving them the same score. On the whole this was fine, there are some good songs on here and they are spread across the album catching my attention now and again, but the album did feel like it dragged a little.
I love sad girl music
This sounded like a ‘more accessible’ (commercial) version of a Hole album. Trip down memory lane, and from a challenge perspective, just a little too close to the previous Hole album.
Album is okey…but they look so cool wtf
The songs are fine and Courtney Love was a figure of that era but I'm not sure how this album made the list. It's not groundbreaking or remarkable or really that influential, but still some fun tracks if you liked 90s alt rock. Doesn't hit as much as it did when Love was in the tabloids or on MTV all the time.
Good enough. but I wouldn't care to listen again.
While the title track gives a taste, this one doesn’t quite hit the highs of Live Through This. Courbet Love is criminally underrated and it’s a shame Hole wasn’t more prolific in these days as this was a good sign of where they were headed.
Pretty good starting out, falls off hard on the B side. Solid rock and roll music.
Its a decent album, for some reason I'd mostly only ever really listened to Live Through This before. Its not quite as good as Live Through This but its still a solid album.
One massive song that was everywhere and a bunch of songs I have never heard. Not quite one hit wonder but almost as the other songs on the album are not bad just a bit forgettable. 6/10
An interesting sound with a sense of rock. Feels nostalgic and old. I can potentially like this.
Some of interesting.
Ok
Je connaissais de nom, mais n’avais jamais écouté. C’est bon, ça pourrait être pour moi, mais pas tout à fait.
enjoyable!! think this is a really solid album with a bunch of good songs, and i'm partial to the pairing of hole's sound to california as a theme. leaves a lot to be desired though, so: three gross melted plastic palm trees from a movie set that fell out on a truck and are now condemned on "the 5," out of five. highlights - celebrity skin, boys on the radio
I like this album, but I prefer their previous, more grungey one. I don’t have much to say about this one. This’s pretty basic alternative rock, but I like alternative rock, so I like this. 7/10
It's hard to believe this album is over 25 years old. I remember that first song was played on the radio a LOT. It's a very different album than the previous ones, and there's a lot more polish to it, I think. A lot of the songs feel kinda same-y, but maybe it's just Courtney's voice. I dug it, but since a lot of the songs sounded similar to me, I don't know if a whole album relisten for me is necessary, and that's never good for an album. Top tracks: "Celebrity Skin," "Malibu," "Use Once & Destroy"
Slick and poppy. Starts super strong (and awesome) with the song Celebrity Skin, but then is mostly slick, polished pop rock, which is honestly shocking after the hard edge of Live Through This (which itself was apparently toned down from their first album, which admittedly I haven't heard). Heaven knows Courtney Love went through a lot between these two albums, but this album just isn't as strong without that edge. One big difference is that the lyrics, even though they're often about drowning and loss, aren't as cutting as the lyrics on Live Through This. Those lyrics made me truly appreciate Hole after being dismissive of Courtney Love for a long time. This album doesn't make me want to go back to being dismissive, but it definitely lost something (which could easily be due to her personal loss, which I wouldn't wish on anyone). I'd call is a 3.5 but I'm rounding down to differentiate the score from the 4 I gave Live Through This. Favorite tracks: Celebrity Skin (rocking song - and the bass sounds fantastic), Use Once & Destroy, Boys on the Radio, Playing Your Song.
Quite unremarkable if i'm being honest. There's not much here that makes it stand apart from every other 90s rock record, or that makes it uniquely deserving of a place in the canon. Only the title track stood out to me. But i'm all for Courtney Love getting her flowers. Fair enough
I started out liking it a lot, but eventually I got so tired of Courtney’s voice
It was a mid album for me with some highlights like the title track but overall I felt like I heard this beat a million times (it wasn’t bad though) and the singing was not too good.
wasn't really my jam
I think I prefer the other hole album I know by a good bit. But the title track and petals are really awesome songs. Glad to listen to the rest of it finally.
My review of Garbage (by Garbage) mentioned how much I've always had Garbage & Hole linked in my head, so I feel it's appropriate to also bring it up here. While I was impressed by how much Garbage seemed to be a alt/industrial band that borrowed some pop sensibilities for its singles, this album feels like it's doing the opposite - leaning hard into pop and only periodically retreating back to their grunge roots (a lot like the Oasis album I reviewed yesterday). If you managed to look past the lingering Courtney/Kurt "did she, didn't she" speculation and consider yourself a Hole fan before this album, I imagine the power pop turn felt pretty jarring. Others of us were less conflicted about our feelings and resisted this album without needing to consider whether they were selling out. I generally don't love the idea of a "California album", because it feels the same as having a friend who just got a new car and has to constantly mention how great their new car is. We get it, it's neat, but like… what's the point? Are you taking money from the CA tourist board to get me to go there? Or is the idea to make an album that reminds you of California that you can listen to while you're in California? Sounds like the audio version of wearing the band t-shirt to the concert. As an pop (alt pop? indie pop? idk) album, this is an extremely tight and well produced album built to be a smash hit. I read that they brought in a bunch of mercenaries to produce this, and it shows. In retrospect, it was good to have an anti-hero female pop star right before the Britney/Christina era, not that I would have given Courtney that kind of credit twenty years ago. This was big enough that I trust it found its audience and resonated with the alt girls who needed to hear it (I'll stop short of saying "needed a role-model"). So, personal feelings aside, I can respect this album's place on the list and in pop music history.
Ohhhhh so these are the guys that did THAT song. Had zero idea. Rest of the album is less like the first song and I found it kinda faded in my mind and I forgot I was listening to it. Some good some bland tracks
I wasn't too impressed but interesting to know Courtney Love was in
It was honestly a great album, started off as a 4 with celebrity skin and awful, but the songs lots originality and there weren't many original melodies to keep it fresh so it fell to a 3 for me
Alright but didn't grab me
I find Hole just okay.
Half iconic songs, half generic rock songs that could be part of the "Cars" soundtrack.
It's Courtney OK.
The nineties in a can, and fair play to CL and crew for not sticking out there in noiseland but making a bid for some mainstream alt-rock action. Video by David Fincher surely. Would prefer listening to this to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers for example, but it does smack of a lesser Smashing Pumpkins vibe at times.
3.5 07.31.2025
I’d never heard this whole album before but I’ve heard the singles, including one of the best pure pop songs of that era, Malibu. This album came out after the death of Kurt Cobain & his ghost haunts a lot of the lyrics on this album, some sweet, some sad, others angry. As I listened to the music & read the lyrics, I kept thinking, we were pretty damn crappy to Courtney Love, a grieving widow with a child who had just lost her husband, but I digress. Celebrity Skin isn’t a perfect album, but for Hole and Love, it was their best work up to & beyond that point. It helped that 5 of the songs, including Malibu and Celebrity Skin, were written by the alt hitmaker Billy Corgan, & he’ll gladly tell you. One of the many unions of Love's that ended up playing out in the press. Beyond the Corgan songs, there are other highlights on the album and Love wrote all the lyrics, proving she can hold her own in that department. The album has a California theme and contains several songs about Hollywood and how it can chew up & spit out women looking for stardom. The standouts on the album are, of course, my personal fave, Malibu; Celebrity Skin; Awful; Reason to Be Beautiful; and Heaven Tonight. If you’ve never heard this album, it’s worth checking out just for Celebrity Skin & Malibu.
I like Hole but Courtney's voice can get grating after a while
Thought this was really fun! Giving it a 3 because it's not usually my type of music, but this is an album I'd be happy revisiting!
Started super strong but by the end I was tired of it. I didn't think anything was that bad however, just too similar.
Oooh, that Courtney Love...But not quite my musical style.
Wanted to like it but didn’t really
I can understand if this is someone's favorite album. A lot of cool stuff going on. Not really for me, but if it's on in the car I won't ask to change it.
Interesting and more diverse than I thought it would be.
Тот самый звук 90-х, который не очень люблю.
Not as bad as I thought it would be, but likely would never listen to again.
pretty standard 90s alternative album. enjoyable but not great. would probably get a four if it were 10-15 minutes shorter
I forgot while listening that this is actually my second Hole album. The first was "Live Through This," which I gave a solid three stars. I'm glad that I forgot about that album though, because it meant I could go into this one without any biases. The first track is one I recognized immediately from countless MTV and VH1 promos and ads from the 2000s. The number of times I heard that opening vocal in shows like "Rock of Love" and "The Surreal Life" is unquantifiable. It's a great track though, and it opens the album showing us that this band has something to say. Settle in, they tell us, because we're coming at the industry and culture and telling you what we think. From the tone of "Celebrity Skin," I expected the rest of the album to follow the same kind of attitude - heavy, somewhat dark, and with the potential to go darker. But as it went, it revealed a slightly more radio-friendly tone than I expected it to. Certainly still off the beaten path for most mainstream listeners of the time, but I'm sure a lot of this found airtime on alt rock stations, whever Nirvana was being played. This was cool. Definitely better than the last Hole album, for sure. Courtney Love's voice is expressive, rough, genuine, and yet can have a softness to it when it's called for. The rest of the band really holds it together, too. No complaints here. Three solid stars. Standout Tracks: Celebrity Skin, Use Once & Destroy, Heaven Tonight
Starts strong, some real bangers here. The nasal 90's grunge vocals get tedious after a bit.
I don't think I've listened to this band in 25 years, but I have a lot of time for Courtney Love. "Celebrity Skin" is a fantastic song and I really rate "Use Once and Destroy". But grunge gets really samey for me after a few songs and this album is no different. Still, leaps and bounds better than Liz Phair and far more inventive than Soundgarden. Courtney, it's not you. It's me. A three.
Best nice
Mid-low 3, some fine enough moments but mostly middling
3.3
Classic grunge album; great opening song. Thought all else was fine. 7/10
Mucho mejor que Live Through This. También tengo cariño por el primer tema. Al final se vuelve medio repe. Nota: 3.5
Very familiar to me. Love how poppy they take their sound on this one - so fun but doesnt lose any of their bite. Malibu could be my fave grunge song ever
I've always wondered why Hole wasn't more successful. I think it was probably because of Kurt Cobain and how Courtney Love was overshadowed by him while he was alive and then she was kind of villainized after his death. Had she not been involved with him at all and made the same records with Hole, I think they would have been a much bigger band. This album is still pretty solid nearly 30 years later. I remember hearing this album a lot when it came out and liking it back then too. I don't think it's anything that is going to change your life but it's a great pop-rock/grunge mashup that is still fun to listen to. I don't think Courtney Love has the greatest voice of all time but it works with the music well enough. This is a good album, not a great one. 3/5
3.2 I can't quite put my finger on why there's something slightly off around this. Let's ignore Courtney love and that controversial completely, imagine it's an unknown empty. It's full of catchy pop-grunge(?!), but most of the time it feels as though they're trying too hard to be catchy that it doesn't work very well. It's like if Foo Fighters kept missing the mark, but only just. Part of me thinks "this is actually quite good", but another part of me thinks "this is manufactured shite trying to hook you in". I'm not sure which or these two is correct so I'm going to go down the middle
A solid effort from Hole. The first half is great, I'd even argue that 'Awful' and 'Reasons to Be Beautiful' are better than the big hits and Corgan-penned tracks. But for whatever reason I just don't dig the second half nearly as much. Maybe it's more fatigue than a genuine drop in quality, but I also find the vocals are more grating, the lyrics less interesting.
Powerrock van drie juffrouwen en één meneer. Hm, ja, wel aardig, beetje vergeetbare nineties-muziek. O, het is de weduwe van Kurt Cobain? Tja, die kennis beïnvloedt het oordeel niet echt.
"It's better to rise than fade away". Sorry Courtney. je bent inmiddels behoorlijk uitgedoofd. Dit was mode muziek in de jaren '90. Zelfs zo erg mode, dat nu geen DJ het in zijn hoofd haalt om dit af te spelen op een '90's party.
Not sure that I would call this album an essential listen - there are much better albums in the same vein - anything by Joan Jett, for example. Celebrity Skin is a great track, but just a decent album.
A couple of great stand out songs, the rest pretty meh
When it’s near greatness ‘good’ seems quite average.
Nirvana-like with a female Kurt Cobain
One great song but the rest of the album could be any other grunge band.
nice album - I like it more than Live Through This... 3/5
I will admit this was better than I thought it would be.
Pretty cool
Quite a bit poppier than I expected, every song sounded like it could be on the radio in the 90s. I listened to some of their earlier stuff and it kinda sounds like they sold out in this album. Pretty decent listen nonetheless, Courtney’s a compelling front woman.
Better than the other Hole album. Some good songs, some were ok.
I wasn’t connecting to it at all maybe until Dying came up, I liked that song. The first part has some of the most popular songs of the record, but I didn’t really enjoy it, it sounded very monotone for me, kind of boring. I liked a lot of the lyrics, but the melodies didn’t keep me interested. The second part of the record, I liked much better. It sounded more dyamic, with slower songs and all. It’s not a bad record at all, but it didn’t exactly stand out to me. I don’t think I’d play it full again except for some songs like “Dying”, “Northern Star” or “Petals”
Middle of the road mid 90's grunge(lite)
# 483 : Celebrity Skin : 19/05/2025 Wow ok! Didn't realise Hole was this good. Way better than I expected Starts off very strongly with "Celebrity Skin and Awful", but gets a bit lost in the middle of the album. I liked it. Favourite Track ; Awful
(Just barely a 3)
-wow this is actually really good. some seriously catchy and well-done tracks. ik everyone hates on Courtney Love for various reasons that I can Speculate About but damnnn she knows how to make a song exciting -not a huge fan of every song on here necessarily but high points like Awful make it deserving of at least 3.5 if not 4 to me -Favorites are Celebrity Skin, Awful, and Boys On The Radio
A good power-pop/punk album. Songs are overlong and album is overstuffed. I like the general texture and some great hooks
Was expecting this to be a pop album, but I was quite pleasantly surprised
A solid grunge album with Courtney Love’s signature raw energy. Malibu and Petals my personal highlights
I was excited about this album cause I was surprised by “live through this” which I didn’t expect to be so good. And I knew the song Malibu which is definitely my favorite song by hole. But the problem is not a lot in this album stood out other than Malibu and a few other tracks like dying, and awful. But the rest of the album I found to be forgettable and on the second listen I found a lot of the songs to be skippable. Idk it feels weird to give this album sort of a underwhelming review when one of the tracks on the album I think is their best. But yah if I’m being honest about the album as a whole (no pun intended) I’d say this album is pretty forgettable. Just listen to those 3 songs I listed and then put on Live Through This.
3 stars
One great track the rest so so.
Pretty good!
I liked their Grunge records a bit more but it’s still not bad. But I’m not sure if I need to listen to it again.
3.5
The self-titled track is something I've heard before but didn't know it was Hole. It's basic rock but pretty good. 5 tracks in and the alt rock is pretty bland, repetitive, and forgettable. It's not bad, just nowhere near interesting. Northen Star is a decent ballad song with some subtle strings. Decent album for background music.
Ya know I think this one is better than I thought it would be. Grungey, weird, and alt rock to the core. Not typically a genre I'd be gravitating towards, but it wound up being something I found upside in.
# Album Name: Celebrity Skin # Artist: Hole # Rating: 3/5 # Comments: Celebrity Skin. Im pretty sure everyone has heard the track. ALways reminds me of love and cobain, even though it came out many years after it. Its a great song. The rest of the album is very mediocre imo. Billy corgans stamp is all over this. You can feel it. Courtney loves voice really grates on me. I normally love a femal vocalist but she is average. The only other song to note is malibu. This is a very 90's alt-pop album. Forgettable. Didnt hate it, def dont think its good. # Top Tunes: CS / Malibu # Would I listen to it again? No
Very mid
I like the snarl and violence of Live Through This more than Celebrity Skin, which feels like it drags a bit. That said, it’s not a terrible album by any means-pretty much what you’d expect from a more mature-sounding Hole. Really would give it a 2.5, as I’d likely not revisit this album, but I don’t hate it.
Gosh, I’m conflicted here. I absolutely loved and devoured “Live Through This” in 1994. And then didn’t hear this album until now, 2025. I can hear how the band evolved and strengthened (and I know there are other players and contributors, like Billy Corgan.) The music is undeniably more interesting and complex. The songs are well-crafted. But on this first listen, Courtney’s (deliberately?) ugly and ragged voice is too distracting to me, and the overall wall of buzzing sound isn’t engaging me.
It's fine. Not terrible. Not great. Middle of the road to my ears.
Hard rock but it’s pop - didn’t enjoy this very much, was too distorted and too much of everything
meh grunge
Sorry I don’t like Punk sorryyy But if I did, I actually really like the production here
Did you know that Courtney Love's dad was the tour manager for the Grateful Dead? A lot of people in the 90s dismissed her as just riding Kurt Cobain's coat tails, but I'd say that she probably had the more credible rock and roll resume. In fact, Kurt apparently ODed the night of Nirvana's first appearance on Saturday Night Live and she had the wherewithal to revive him by sticking ice cubes up his ass to get the adrenaline flowing, something she'd seen it done so many times in her youth. Anyway- "Hole was definitely not overrated" is something you don't hear a lot of gen-X males saying, but not me. I thought their first two albums were great. This one is alright.
Hole - Celebrity Skin Decent 90's sounding like album that's fun to listen to. Thought it was going to be yet another insignificant 90's band, but I researched a bit and saw that the vocalist used to be Kurt Cobain's girlfriend, so that was something I didn't expect, which made the album feel different knowing that. It usually offers a bunch of catchy choruses and melodies that make you want to dance to it, even though some of those songs do tend to have dark lyrics on them. Overall, this is good. 1.- Celebrity Skin = 8/10 2.- Awful = 9/10 3.- Hit So Hard = 7/10 4.- Malibu = 8/10 5.- Reasons To Be Beautiful = 9/10 6.- Dying = 8/10 7.- Use Once & Destroy = 7/10 8.- Northern Star = 8/10 9.- Boys On The Radio = 7/10 10.- Heaving Tonight = 7/10 11.- Playing Your Song = 6/10 12.- Petals = 8/10 FINAL SCORE: 7.6/10
Brilliant opening song (and a big hit). Then… it’s fine. It’s consistent. But it keeps me at arm’s length, not sure why. I don’t want to fight too hard to get closer, and move on.
What a curve ball. Hole is generally more assaulting to the ears, so I expected something a little more edgy than this foray into alt-pop. It was enjoyable, but I kept feeling like it was a ploy and at any moment it would go off the rails. I enjoyed it, but unsure of what to make of it. Alt-pop Hole seems a little inauthentic. Walking away cautiouslt
Celebrity skin his pretty hard for the first song, and whole the album doesn't quite reach that height of power, they still rock pretty hard.
Courtney Love did not deserve all the shit she caught
Radio hit is Celebrity Skin. I also like Use Once And Destroy and Northern Star. I was pleasantly surprised by this album. I like Courtney Love's voice, and some songs are alternative rock as you'd expect, but some songs were softer with acoustic guitar. Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, contributed to five songs on the album.
Ah Courtney Love's alt-rock band. But I guess there are 3 tracks I remember, Celebrity Skin and Malibu, rest is very generic 90s alt-rock.
la band di Cortney love. carino
Good songs on this. What Courtney lacked in singing ability, she more than made up for it with the conviction and attitude she sang with. Not that being a great singer ever mattered much, so long as the songs are good.
A few great songs. A lot of average songs. Overall a fine album. Too bad she might have killed CK. 3.5
Super strong opening couple of tracks. The rest is just ok.
This shit banged more than I thought it would!
Hyggligt album. Bättre än jag förväntade mig.
Not my favorite by them but still pretty good
Oh Hole's one big album, it has celebrity skin on it which is a great song! But the rest of the album was pretty much just meh nothing really stood out to me beyond that, but it was a decent album
This was fine. It's really weird because celebrity skin came played earlier this week, and now I listened to it again. 3/5
Look, I love Courtney Love as much as the next person (jk, I actually do like her), but this is not a great album by any means. Yes, it’s got a few bangers/jams/slappers(?), but overall? Come on, guys. When I see all the albums that are NOT on this list it makes it really hard to overly appreciate the mediocre.
Brings back some nice memories from the early 2000s.
some good songs and some not
Not my favorite Smashing Pumpkins record but right up there
Average album, average singles underwhelming sound. Just not as interesting as hoped for.
Having heard the song Celebrity Skin on the radio I didn’t expect much out of it, but being able to hear all the lyrics in my AirPods I got a new appreciation for it. I enjoyed Malibu more than I thought I would as well. The rest of the album is mediocre but not unlistenable.
OVERALL: I think that most if not all of the songs here are pretty basic songs for the radio, but some of these do a much better job at this than others. The guitar is consistently basic for a lot of the songs, but when it isn't it's either really good or horrible. I can't help but feel like basically every single song is about Kurt Cobain in some way, shape, or form. Anyways, nothing was really too memorable, but that doesn't mean they don't sound good. I like Celebrity Skin, Dying, Use Once & Destroy, most of Playing Your Song, and Petals, but I can't really remember what some of them sound like after a while. Overall, I don't think this was anything that special. Good songs were pretty forgettable after a while, but were good nonetheless. The lyrics and vocals were either good or nothing special, and sometimes the vocals were kinda bad. I probably wouldn't listen to this as an album again, but there are some standalone songs that I would definitely add to my playlist. SONG AVG: 7.65/10 PERSONAL RATING: 6/10 Celebrity Skin: Banger. This is probably the whitest, most basic rock song to ever exist, but I like it. I guess the chorus could be a bit annoying and is a bit bad, but I kinda like it. Very catchy. 8/10 Awful: Pretty solid vocals, and the lyrics sound very personal to Courtney Love. The guitar is pretty good, and is overall really nice. I guess it's a little basic. 7.75/10 Hit So Hard: It sounds good, but it's kinda boring. The instrumental is pretty solid and sounds fine, but it's a little boring and basic. The lyrics are pretty good I guess, and I think it's about either Kurt Cobain, an orgasm, or domestic abuse. Everything else is fine. 6.5/10 Malibu: Same review as the last song, but the lyrics are about drugs and the vocals are pretty good. I guess the chorus is good. Nothing else is too interesting, overall pretty average. Works well as a song for the radio 7/10 Reasons To Be Beautiful: The lyrics are pretty good, but the vocals go from being pretty good to kinda bad. Although the vocals ruin some of the song, basically every other part of it is really good. I dislike the ending for the vocals, but everything else about it sounds good I guess. 8/10 Dying: Pretty good, but I don't like Courtney Love's vocals in some parts of the chorus. Other than that, basically everything is incredible, especially after the second chorus. I think the guitar may be just on a loop for like 30 seconds, but I don't really mind it too much. Very good overall. 9/10 Use Once & Destroy: Actually really good. I don't have anything negative to say about it. Very good lyrics, very good vocals, and very good instrumental. I guess it drags on a bit? 9.75/10 Northern Star: I don't like the vocals or most of the instrumental that much. I guess the lyrics are good. After each chorus, the instrumental becomes much better, which is pretty good if it weren't ass for the first minuteish, and after the first chorus the instrumental is slightly improved. 3.5/10 Boys On The Radio: Nice little pop song. It sounds as good as basic gets, and the tribute to dead people is pretty good. I can't really hear the lyrics over the instrumental, but I think the vocals are good from what I can hear. The lyrics aren't too interesting or deep, but since I can't really hear them it doesn't make too much of a difference. 7.75/10 Heaven Tonight: Once again, a nice little pop song. I guess the lyrics are good, pretty standard stuff. Overall above average, sounds like a song designed to be popular. 6/10 Playing Your Song: I don't like the guitar riff, which is a shame because everything else is basically perfect. Incredible instrumental and the vocals have lots of emotion. The guitar riff singlehandedly prevents this from being the best song on the album. 8.75/10 Petals: THIS is the best song on the album. As an album outro, it's not the best but it gets the job done. The instrumental is probably my favorite on the album, just really good overall and the string section at the end is perfection. The lyrics are just really good. The thing I don't like is when Courtney Love says whore, it sounds awkward and doesn't really flow well. Other than that the vocals are great. 9.8/10
Actually nice to listen to, enjoyed it but nothing stood out.
Reminds me a lot of a soundtrack to a 90s/00s teen comedy/drama. Len actually made a teen film. Wrote, produced and recorded the soundtrack! It was called Wild Teens: Coming of Age. He also starred in it as the main protagonist Age Cruz. It went straight to VHS, I never got to see it. Couldn’t find it in any video stores and Len kept his cards close to his chest with it. Always said it was a passion project. Difficult time for Len. One of his marriages was breaking down - but he was so engrossed with making this film. Determined almost. 2.6
Another added to the list of albums heard through my brothers bedroom wall. This seems like grunge but trying for mainstream appeal? Its okay, nothing really stands out to me, anytime I hear Celebrity Skin it reminds me of a girl I knew singing it over and over again whenever our friend group would play Rock Band.
This must have been a “you had to be there” kind of album because there is just nothing that stands out on here to me. Competent music and Courtney Love sounds just fine. I only know her as a walking disaster though so it’s hard to take this “F U entertainment industry” stuff seriously. But again… at the time I get why it would have been edgy and popular. Plus there’s kind of nips on the cover!
album itself is.. fine. celebrity skin is an absolute banger three stars just because that song is on it
An album that sounds exactly like one would think the Widow would make
When I wake up, in my makeup...
It's ok but nothing special.
Didn't think I would like it but can't keep my head from bopping to the beat
Wasn’t a big fan
Decent. Like her or loathe her, she's blockbuster. I never like it when an album starts with your most famous song, but it's still a banger. There are some lovely songs on here that move Hole into a more poppy-grunge sound that I dig. There are some pretty melodies that pair well with her voice. There are not enough dynamics, though, and the album trails a bit.
I did like it a little better than I thought, pretty classic grunge/90s alternative. But I did feel as the album played on each song had the same sound and the same feel.
Hole were a decent band operating in a pretty tumultuous timeline. Some crackin songs on this, more power pop than grunge. Courtney has the 'riz', the songs are tight and some good low end on the bass. Few fillers in there, but the hits are great.
3.5
I was already pretty familiar with Live Through This, but Celebrity Skin is definitely more slick sounding. It's the late 90's and alternative is now mainstream, so it seems the established trend is to just take those bands and polish enough of the edge off off them to be commercially successful. Despite the toothless production, the Hole songs are still good. This is a more mature band, but also a band that has been seduced by celebrity and its trappings. This is also the album with the most outside collaboration; Billy Corgan composed 5 songs. There are parts of the record that just feel so insincere and phoned in. It always appears as a red flag when a band requires new blood (outside help) in order to do what they've always done sucessfully. Couple that with a "California" concept and you have the makings of trite and vapid product. As I alluded to before, despite the warning signs, it seems like all the outside help actually worked. While not as inspired as some of their earlier works, Love and Co. managed to release a pretty enjoyable record.
Surprisingly quite enjoyed this album. I appreciate Courtney Love as an angsty artist and lyricist.
Cool! Bisschen zu monoton, um das Album nochmal anzuhören.