Reviews (page 6 of 10)
We were all really rude to Hole in the 90's.
I only really listened to the first tracks of the album, but think its pretty desent, and has a nice feel.
Definitely transports you straight to the 90’s. More of a fan of the earlier Hole albums.
so much heart in grunge or should i say hole. so much hole in grunge. classic. excellent excellent album. Hole just makes really fuckin good music.
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.
Still sucks.
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!
I won't listen to this band
Love this
Decent but blends in with 90’s grunge
Really good album.
wow, wait strong start because how did i not know that THAT was the titular track? overall, a fan, i am, i think!!
One of my faves
Can tell Kurt didn't write this one. After track 1 (Celebrity Skin), not much to get excited about.
I’ve somehow never heard this album before. It is much poppier than I would have expected. I’m pleasantly surprised. 4 star
I always loved “Malibu”. This is a nice album. 4*
So good
*** 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.
#122/1001. The album was playing on as I had a boating accident in my garden, failing to change my mood for the good or for the worse. Had to give it a second chance though. 2nd listen: solid playing, good production, ok songs, and music that just doesn't interest me at all.
Solid album.
There's plenty of controversy and debate surrounding the band Hole, but if one sets that aside and focuses purely on the music, then this album is amazing and one of the big surprises thus far that I enjoyed it as much as I did.
2/5
*1998. *Quintessential late 90s California rock. *Celebrity Skin and Malibu are top tier. *I really like Hole, but I've somehow never listened to this whole album. *I wasn't blown away by the album other than the well-known songs. Will revisit. RATNIG - 7/10
good but not my thing
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.
There's a few really great tracks on this album I really enjoyed a few listen throughs today - this would have been a good weekend album!
Ok, i owe an apology to Courtney. I have completely dismissed her work and thats my bad. Damn, what an album.
A tough one to rate. Celebrity Skin as a track is very good. The rest seems like a pretty good album. Petals is solid second. Probably a 3.5, but for consistency, rounded up.
# 🎸 In-Depth Review of Hole's "Celebrity Skin": A Polished Paradox of Fame and Despair ### 🎵 Album Overview - **Artist**: Hole - **Album**: Celebrity Skin - **Release Date**: September 8, 1998 - **Label**: DGC/Geffen Records - **Producer**: Michael Beinhorn - **Key Contributors**: Billy Corgan (co-writer on 5 tracks), Charlotte Caffey (Go-Go's), Jordon Zadorozny (Blinker the Star). --- ## 📜 1. Lyrics and Themes ### 📖 Lyrical Depth and Imagery - **Poetic Influences**: Courtney Love's lyrics were inspired by T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" and Shakespearean motifs, particularly the theme of fleeting beauty and decay (e.g., "Petals" references "darling buds of May" from Sonnet 18). - **Water and Drowning Motifs**: The album is dedicated to "all the stolen water of Los Angeles and to anyone who ever drowned," reflecting personal tragedies (e.g., Kurt Cobain, Kristen Pfaff, Jeff Buckley) and symbolic struggles with addiction and loss. - **Celebrity Critique**: Tracks like the title song ("hooker/waitress/model/actress/oh just go nameless") dissect the exploitative nature of fame, portraying Hollywood as a veneer of glamour hiding systemic rot. ### 🎭 Thematic Tensions - **Grief and Reinvention**: While expected to be a "widow's album" after Cobain's death, *Celebrity Skin* instead explores Love's transformation into a Hollywood figure, balancing self-reinvention with critiques of the same culture she inhabits. - **California as Metaphor**: Los Angeles symbolizes the American Dream's duality—a paradise built on stolen water and false promises, echoing the film *Chinatown*. --- ## 🎶 2. Music and Sound ### 🎹 Musical Evolution - **Genre Shift**: Hole moved away from the noise-rock and grunge of *Pretty on the Inside* and *Live Through This* toward a polished, power-pop alternative rock sound, drawing comparisons to Fleetwood Mac and The Byrds. - **Melodic Craftsmanship**: Songs like "Malibu" and "Heaven Tonight" feature shimmering guitars, lush harmonies, and infectious melodies, while retaining a underlying darkness (e.g., the sugary yet sinister "Boys on the Radio"). ### 🎸 Instrumentation - **Guitar Work**: Eric Erlandson's guitar parts blend jangly Californian rock with aggressive alt-rock riffs, using diverse equipment including vintage synthesizers and effect pedals. - **Rhythm Section**: Despite drummer Patty Schemel's demos being replaced by session player Deen Castronovo, the percussion remains tight and driven, though lacking some of the raw energy of earlier albums. --- ## 🎛️ 3. Production ### 💽 Production Style - **Polished Sheen**: Producer Michael Beinhorn (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Marilyn Manson) prioritized radio-friendly gloss, using early ProTools-like technology to achieve a "computerized perfection" that contrasted with the band's earlier lo-fi aesthetic. - **Controversies**: Beinhorn's treatment of Schemel—forcing endless takes and eventually replacing her—created internal rifts and ethical concerns, though the final drum tracks are technically proficient. ### 🎙️ Sonic Layers - **Textural Richness**: The album layers synthesizers (e.g., Duran Duran-esque sounds in "Heaven Tonight") with distorted guitars, creating a balance between accessibility and subversion. - **Vocal Performance**: Love's voice shifts from a raspy roar to a refined, almost Stevie Nicks-like croon, reflecting the album's themes of performativity. --- ## 🌟 4. Themes and Conceptual Depth ### 🎪 Fame and Identity - **Self-Mythology**: Love embodies and deconstructs archetypes like the "witch," "Medusa," and "evil widow," using her own celebrity as a case study in demonology. - **Authenticity vs. Sellout**: The album questions rockist ideals of authenticity, arguing that in a media-saturated world, embracing pop artifice can be a form of rebellion. ### 💔 Loss and Resilience - **Grief as Subtext**: While not explicitly focused on Cobain, references to his suicide note ("better to rise than fade away") underscore songs like "Reasons to Be Beautiful" and "Malibu". - **Empowerment**: Tracks like "Awful" encourage resilience ("If the world is so wrong / yeah you can break the mold with one song"), positioning music as a tool for survival. --- ## 📈 5. Influence and Legacy ### 🏆 Commercial and Critical Impact - **Chart Success**: *Celebrity Skin* debuted at #9 on the Billboard 200, went platinum in the U.S., and spawned three Grammy nominations, becoming Hole's most commercially successful album. - **Enduring Recognition**: It appears in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" and NME's "Greatest Albums of All Time" list (265th), influencing later artists like Ariana Grande in blending pop sweetness with dark themes. ### 🎨 Cultural Commentary - **Pre-Social Media Vision**: The album presaged reality TV and influencer culture, critiquing the commodification of identity before these phenomena peaked. - **Feminist Reassessment**: Love’s unapologetic ambition and flaws have been reevaluated as a proto-#MeToo statement, particularly her early criticism of Harvey Weinstein. --- ## ✔️ 6. Pros and Cons ### 👍 Pros - **Songwriting Craft**: The collaboration with Billy Corgan and others yielded hooks and arrangements that are both immediate and enduring, e.g., the iconic riff of "Celebrity Skin". - **Thematic Cohesion**: The California concept ties together personal and political critiques, creating a unified narrative arc. - **Production Quality**: The album’s sleek sound appealed to mainstream audiences without fully sacrificing edge, exemplified by the balance in "Reasons to Be Beautiful". ### 👎 Cons - **Over-Polishment**: Some fans and critics felt the producer’s zeal for perfection stripped away the band's raw energy, leading to a "sellout" accusation. - **Ethical Concerns**: The mistreatment of Patty Schemel during recording casts a shadow over the album’s legacy. - **Nostalgic Datedness**: Some guitar tones and production choices are firmly entrenched in the late-'90s alt-rock era, which may limit timelessness for modern listeners. --- ## 💎 Conclusion *Celebrity Skin* remains a complex, contradictory masterpiece—a album that critiques the very fame it courted. Its polished production and melodic sophistication broadened Hole's appeal but alienated some core fans. Lyrically, it is Love's most nuanced work, weaving personal grief with sharp cultural commentary. Despite its ethical and aesthetic compromises, the album’s exploration of identity, loss, and reinvention ensures its relevance in discussions of rock, feminism, and celebrity culture. As Love snarls, "I'm not selling cheap"—and indeed, *Celebrity Skin* demands to be valued on its own terms.
Great album and songwriting. Sounds like a hybrid of Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, and Alanis Morissette with more grit and agression and less vocal training (but not in a bad way in this case). This album came out at the end of the grunge era, and was definitely heavily influenced by many of the big bands of the era.
Pretty solid. I didn't care much for Hole or Courtney Love when I was a kid back in the 90's, but giving a fair shake today as an adult, I do see the appeal and the artistry she had.
peak I love hole!!
Proof that reprehensible people can record great songs.
Album is okey…but they look so cool wtf
Really really cool
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.
Me ha gustado un montón. Había escuchado antes la primera canción del disco. Le doy un 8,5 sobre 10.
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.
Generic 2000’s sounding album. I suppose it gets points for being first as it’s a 90’s album but it did not age well.
1. Skin - 1 2. Awful - 0 3. Hard - 1.5 4. Malibu - 1.5 5. Beautiful - 1 6. Dying - 1.5 7. Destroy - 1 8. Star - 1.5 9. Radio - 1 10. Tonight - 1 11. Song - 1 12. Petals - 1
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.
Learned Courtney Love was founder of hole. Good 90s alt and grunge vibes. For when Alanis just won’t do and you’ve heard every Nirvana song ever lol Knew the songs and had no idea I did lol
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.
2 at the most.
Ok
Je connaissais de nom, mais n’avais jamais écouté. C’est bon, ça pourrait être pour moi, mais pas tout à fait.
The vocals were so well mixed on this album! Plus I love Hole!
Courtney Love is criminally underrated as a songwriter and musician, for reasons that probably have nothing to do with a loud, cantankerous woman who happened to married to one of the biggest rock stars in the world. Unfortunately, Hole was not exactly prolific - that would be the cantankerous bit - but those albums had crazy range on them. This one is quite good! It's a move towards power pop, and light years away from Pretty On The Inside - hilariously so. That said, it falls short of the heights of Live Through This. It just doesn't hit quite as hard as that record. Still, there are some phenomenal tracks here. The title track, of course, Reasons to be Beautiful, and Playing Your Song all stand out. It's good!
Courtney Love has a mind blowing career. At 21, she acted opposite Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb in one of my all-time-favorite movies, Sid & Nancy. Here she is--a rock star--13 years later with one of the 1001 albums you must listen to before you die sandwiched between starring roles in The People vs. Larry Flynt and Man on the Moon, opposite Woody Harrelson and Jim Carrey, respectively. Like, she made it in the entertainment business, on two fronts. Yet, she is remembered as an addict, an afterthought, a punchline. Of course, there is...Everything. Else. But still, it feels like she does not get enough credit for her accomplishments. Having said that, the real star of this album, for me, is Courtney Love's crop top on the cover.
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
4/5
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
I don't think that I've ever listened to this album before, despite knowing their first album fairly well. Not really a fan, but found it listenable.
Just a solid rock album, artistically light years away from where they started. Compare Pretty on the Inside, Teenage Whore, and Babydoll from the first album to Reasons to be Beautiful and Boys on the Radio on this one. That being said, Celebrity Skin merges the raw feel with strong musical talent and thoughtful lyrics. Elevates the whole album.
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"
I wasn't really a fan of Hole in the 90's but I have really come to enjoy them since. That said, I think Live Through This is the superior or more trailblazing album so kind of surprised to see Celebrity Skin pop up on this list. Maybe the other album is coming? The title track is a showstopper - brash, energetic, melodic. It probably is their best song even if this isn't their best album. Awful and Malibu are two other solid rockers; probably why they were singles too. But I think the best song next to (or on par with) the title track is Dying. It's different - slow and haunting - but it is damn good. It also shows Courtney Love was a good lyricist and/or wasn't relying on Kurt Cobain. I don't think there are any other really good songs on the album, but there are a few solid ones in Use Once and Destroy, Boys on the Radio, Heaven Tonight, and Playing Your Song. 3.5 with a roundup for good 90s rock.
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.
83% Best: Celebrity Skin; Reasons To Be Beautiful; Use Once & Destroy; Northern Star Must-Hear? Sure
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
Garbage
I started out liking it a lot, but eventually I got so tired of Courtney’s voice
Radical
“It’s good but I mostly like pop music” - Erin This album made me want to watch Sabrina the teenage witch for some reason. 3.5
Averag bar one song
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
HELL YEAH! So fucking good god damn. The hooks are fucking syrupy as hell with such a sadness underlying it. Some skips which is why it’s 4.5 but god damn so fucking good. I put this on over nirvana anyday
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 gut instinct was to refuse to listen to anything that features Courtney Love. Then I looked at the reviews and this album got an overwhelming number of 5 stars. Maybe I missed something. First track, a reminder of how much I hate her voice. Skipped immediately to track two. Sounds like she infused grunge, or by this time post-grunge, with pop. That is a horrible combination, an affront to all that grunge was. Skipped. Listened to bits of the next couple tracks before I remembered that I could listen to virtually anything else in the world and its absence of Courtney Love would make it much better. I don’t know if I wasn’t listening to the same album as those reviews or I just can’t get past the visceral response I have to Love, but this was awful.
Courtney Love is an authentic, really good rocker/ grunger! This album is really nice.
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.
The title track is the strongest track in my opinion on first listen along with Northern Star and Boys on the Radio, and some of the other songs are a little too 90's alt rock for me to love, but I feel a 4 would be fair. None of this is anywhere near bad.
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
An exceptional cup of tea ☕
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 enjoyed this, do we really need two Hole albums on the list of 1001 albums you must listen to before you die? Probably not, but there are some serious bangers on this one.
I find Hole just okay.
Another great hole album. Never paid attention to this band until doing this list
This is a pretty fucking excellent album to capture one of the 90s greatest rock / grunge acts in their more mature phase. Courtney Love is one of the most genuine rock stars of our time and deserves to be shouted. But this does not belong in my precious remaining 1001 days before I die!!!! Two stars only for that, three stars otherwise in terms of musicality, performance, songwriting, emotion (I would rate Live Through This higher).
Half iconic songs, half generic rock songs that could be part of the "Cars" soundtrack.
while i enjoyed some tracks, i felt like it all sounded the same
Surprisingly good! I thought it’d be ok, a few good singles and then filler, but it’s a complete album.
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.
I am a fan of Hole. This album is so much more mild than they’re pretty on the inside album which was truly punk. This album has a lot more harmonies and musicianship on it. Courtney Love was a rockstar more than a musician. It’s crazy that as great as she was as a front person for this band, she’s probably known more for being Kurt Cobain’s wife or for smacking Kathleen Hannah. Great listen.
3.5 07.31.2025
More American drivel that don't, and will never know how to do music. Yet another album that I didn't need to hear before I die. Dig a HOLE, place this album at the bottom, fill with earth, get on with life.
Never actually listened to hole. Everyone says Kurt cobain wrote a lot on it, the opening track was like a nirvana love letter. Didn’t feel the album struck me like nirvana does, not bad, not great
Courtney Love has been on the receiving end of a lot of misogynistic snobbery from the music press and a particular demographic of male music fans, who saw her as some sort of Yoko figure riding on the coat tails of Kurt Cobain and even wild conspiracy theories blaming her for his death. In response, she put out a string of excellent albums, of which this is probably the best - assured, polished and confident post grunge indie rock with some real bangers. My highlight was probably the final track Petals which is insanely catchy.
Really good alt-rock album with grit. I prefer the earlier, grungier albums but this is still top notch and better than 90% of the rock albums of this time.
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.
Dig.
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.
Я очень сильно пресильно люблю Риту!!! После этих слов скажу, ЧТО МНЕ ОЧЕНЬ ПОНРАВИЛСЯ ЭТОТ АЛЬБОМ!!! Я слушал первые два альбома до этого и для меня Celebrity Skin стал самым любимым альбомом Hole!
Ibland bra, ibland rätt jämntjockt, både i produktion och sång. Men sen dyker en bra melodi upp och då blir det bra, men sen slår det över i gnälligt och då blir det tråkigt. 2-3 starka toppar sen albumspår typ. Lyssna igen?: bara hitsen Bästa spår: d - Malibu Dw- Northern star Betyg: d - 5 av 10 (2 av 5) Dw - 5 av 10 ( 2 av 5)
Meh. "Celebrity Skin" is a great song but the rest of the album is a bit of a dud.
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.
Oooof
Hole became popular when I was not fully invested in rock unfortunately. I was headfirst in the line-dancing, concrete-cowboy country scene. I knew Hole’s hits, but that was all. Too bad I missed this album in 1998, but I think music meets you when you need it most. Courtney’s voice alone sounds like what the voice of perimenopausal rage would sound like and I’m here for it. It was interesting to find that Billy Corgan wrote on this album. I can definitely hear his influence. A solid album that I’d definitely listen to again and picked up another couple of favorite songs from.
Don’t mention Nirvana challenge: Impossible. Three words in baby. New record. Let’s get this out of the way. I definitely think that the depressed drug addict who was actively suicidal was in fact, murdered. Classic scenario. It’s the perfect crime. Anyway. Time for some Hole. Wait, that didn’t come out right. Time to dive into Hole. Fuck. This isn’t working out for me. Let’s uhh listen to this band. Celebrity Skin - Any song that was in Rockband immediately got fried into my brain as a Rockband song. It’s a certain feel. Trying to listen to it as a normal song. It’s too hard, I can still see the word “slut” flashing across my parent’s TV before my 12 year old eyes. This is their hit, and it’s pretty good. Awful - Well the review of this track writes itself doesn’t it? Go ahead. Start writing. Ugh. Anyway, this song reminds me of Avril Lavigne. That’s not something I would consider a positive. This would “slap” if I was a 16 year old girl in 1998. For now, I can only thank my lucky stars that wasn’t the case. Hit So Hard - Now the songs are lying. This song does not hit hard. It “goes hard on mute” as the unfunny nerds on the internet regurgitate. Wait a second I just regurgitated it uhhh. Well. There’s your confirmation. Malibu - Where is the edge? No, that isn’t a flat-earther takedown, but rather a plea to Courtney et al for some roughness to the music. I beg of you. Oh there’s a little growl. The music is just so weak here. Bleh. Reasons to be Beautiful - Finally a riff that contains something. The previous few tracks were severely lacking iron. Anemia was setting in. Get them a steak posthaste. We’ve got something in this track. This one grooves pretty hard. Very simple rock song with a dose of that punk lethargy of the 90s. Dying - This chorus/entire song was pretty obnoxious and I kind of hated it. Makes me pine for Obituary’s version of the song (it’s a different song). Use Once & Destroy - We’ve returned to the “boring songs” portion of the album. Very controversial of them to include boring songs. Perhaps a statement against the state of modern music at the time. No? They intended this to be a good album? Oh. Northern Star - Ughh this one is killing me. Maybe she did do it. Boys on the Radio - This is so dull. Just another three chord rock song but with this gross sort of melody. Heaven Tonight - Is this going to be another one that is tinged with radio accessible sadness? This rips a riff from Spirit of the Radio, and is again, pretty boring. I don’t think I’m the target audience here. Not offensive, but so middling. Playing Your Song - Solid song. Trying to save this thing near the end. Good to hear a little more vitriol. The riff kind of sounds like that one song I remember from “Disney Skate Adventure,” which is a wild pull. I played a lot of video games as a child. Petals - What a sleepy closer. We get a hey ey ey ey reprisal to close this sucker out, but referencing an earlier, better track won’t save this puppy. Man this was not as vibrant as I expected. Sure, vibrant might be the wrong word but Celebrity Skin was just so listless. It used that slacker energy to its advantage a few times, but mostly they just seemed to put very little effort into the riffs and it felt like the whole thing was just to fulfill a label requirement. Very little about this felt urgent. The lyrics were obviously very dense (in a good way) and spoke to some genuine emotion, but the actual music was not great for too much of this. Back into the hole, ladies. Time is money and we’re running dry on both. 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Celebrity Skin, Reasons to be Beautiful, Playing Your Song
So I never really listened to this album. After listening I think it's criminally underrated! You can have opinions on Cortney Love...but man, these songs were right in my early to mid 90s grunge sweet spot even if I was really only familiar with the song Celebrity Skin (which continues to be an absolute banger and phenomenal song).
Interesting and more diverse than I thought it would be.
Boring. Babes in toyland for me any day of the week.
I love Courtney Love
3.75/4- guess I'm discovering that I'm really into the 90s grunge sound. There's something so nostalgic about this sound, even though I was not partying in the 90s. Makes me wish I was haha
Meh.
Not for me.
Тот самый звук 90-х, который не очень люблю.
Eh
Not as bad as I thought it would be, but likely would never listen to again.
Pretty forgettable run-of-the-mill alternative rock. I kept waiting for something interesting or different to happen, but it was a fruitless fifty minutes of nothingness. Cut-and-paste melodies, totally expected instrumentation, and below average vocals. Difficult to understand why this would be an album anyone must hear, unless it's just to get Courtney Love on the list or perhaps as an example of the yawnsville American alt-rock scene of the late 90s. 2.0/5.0: Disappointing
pretty standard 90s alternative album. enjoyable but not great. would probably get a four if it were 10-15 minutes shorter
I remember really enjoying this one. I’ll have to return to confirm.
Celebrity Skin 4 Awful 3.6 Hit So Hard 3.3 Malibu 3.7 Reasons to Be Beautiful 3.9 Dying 3 Use Once & Destroy 4 Northern Star 3 Boys on the Radio 3.4 Heaven Tonight 3.2 Playing Your Song 3.6 Petals 3.5 Score: 3.516666667
I like “Malibu”. That’s about it.
Was surprised at how much I liked this album!
Good vibes, not really my thing though
I'd say this is a no skips album. Top three would be Reasons to be Beautiful, Northern Star and Boys on the radio
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.
★½
Decent album with an iconic opener.
This is a solid alt rock album! I’ve listened to some songs by Hole before but not an entire album. Courtney Love’s voice is very raw and unfiltered which I like and it fits in well with the vibe of the album and the alt rock feel. I would give this a listen again and recommend it to others!
I really enjoyed this! I have never heard of them, but adding this to my regular rotation. Good vibes.
One of the best on the list so far. Really eclectic mix from classic 90s loud singing with acoustic guitars to sweeping instrumentation, really showing off the Billy Corgan collaboration.
Hole (and more specifically, Courtney Love) was such a polarizing and controversial entity in 90s music. While she gave teeth to the Riot Grrrrl movement, I found her tiring.
Favorites: Celebrity Skin, Awful, Malibu Yeah, I'll be honest... I wasn't a fan of this one. I love Live Through This, I think it's one of the rawest and most interesting grunge records to come out of that genre's boom. Unfortunately, their follow-up is so much weaker, with only a few songs I found myself interested in. Very disappointed.
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
Wow. This is my first time listening to a whole Hole album (heheh) and my expectations have been exceeded. I've heard Celebrity Skin many times, but it hit differently in the context of the album. And what a great choice for an opener. There are some really solid head-banging rock songs here, but my favorite is the beautifully acoustic Northern Star. (I immediately thought of Smashing Pumpkins. Interestingly, Billy Corgan was involved with some songs on the album, but NS was not one of them.) Really enjoyed this!
Mid-low 3, some fine enough moments but mostly middling
3.3
Not a grunge gal but this album is peak grunge and should receive way more attention. Exceptional.
Classic grunge album; great opening song. Thought all else was fine. 7/10
Starts out with a total banger, Celebrity Skin. Awful was also pretty fun. Hit So Hard and Reasons To Be Beautiful were nice and chill. Northern Star was a great example of that 90s angst, and it was a nice switch to acoustic guitar. The rest of the songs close out the album nicely. I had a lot of fun with this one. The songs average around a high 3, but the album as a whole pulls up to 4. Best song: Celebrity Skin
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
There were very few holes in this album. This sounds like the late nineties and smells a little bit like teen ... angst?
Liked that way more than expected - Celebrity Skin, Boys on the Radio, Awful, Hit So Hard, Malibu all bangers. 4.5
Pretty hot
Mich better than I remember. Very varied and good mix of slower and hard rock songs. Courtney love can rock and song at this time
Great record.
everything this album is striving towards has been done better before them.
Fantastic and underrated grunge album by a fantastic frontwoman.
Geweldig album! Kende ik nog niet zo goed, buiten Celebrity Skin. 3.8
I liked this! :) Definitely will go back to it! :)
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.
Great
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.
Bij Hole denk je aan Courtney Love en bij Courtney Love denk je gelijk aan Kurt Cobain. Die twee zijn onlosmakelijk met elkaar verbonden en je vraagt je af of dit album in de 1001 had gestaan als ze niet Kurt de vernieling in had geholpen door hem te introduceren met heroïne. Maar wellicht doen we mevr Love daar iets mee te kort. Het feit dat ze een soort vrouwen(rock)band leidde vind ik niet per se heel vernieuwend, want die waren er daarvoor toch ook wel. Maar dit album is wel een typisch product van de 90s, en veel mensen kennen het wel. Aan de muziek werkte Billy Corgan mee en dan krijg je wel een kwaliteitsimpuls. Neem verder bassiste Melissa Auf der Maur, die nog een geniale soloplaat maakte overigens, ga die vooral luisteren (Auf der Maur), en het zit muzikaal wel snor. Ik heb niks met de extravagante Courtney Love, maar dit is een prima albumpje dat je zo nog een keer kan draaien. 4 sterretjes
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.
Rounding up from 3.5 stars. Good songs, late 90's production, and tight playing from Courtney Love and crew. Big Smashing Pumpkins influence with several songs written by Billy Corgan. Not having heard much of them beyond a few songs, I was surprised by this one.
The stuff I can remember people saying and writing about Courtney Love is just unhinged misogyny. Any male punk/alt artist with bad behavior is glorified, but I've seen her name dragged through the mud way too often. Hole is a great band, and this is a great, pop-tinged grungy rock album. Some songs are kinda samey, but plenty of cool stuff. Liked Malibu and Boys on the radio especially, pure 90s alternative
A couple of great stand out songs, the rest pretty meh
When it’s near greatness ‘good’ seems quite average.
gronge
147/1089 - Sounds like alternative rock with a hit or miss vocalist. Why is this on the list? Maybe lyrically it has something going on but that's not music, that's literature. Musically it's nothing special at all.
Nirvana-like with a female Kurt Cobain
Glossier than Live Through This but it really works out well. Courtney Love’s vocals really shine on this and the band backs it with a tight performance. At a runtime of 50 mins it does feel just a little bloated. After what I think are 3 really great tracks of Malibu, Reasons to Be Beautiful and Dying, Use Once and Destroy Settles falls a bit flat. I think this album rips though it’s poppy, it’s grungy. It has a bit of a Pumpkins vibe at times and I’m a fan of the Pumpkins so I like that. Courtney Love deserves a bit more respect for what she did in music and I stand by that. 4 stars
I love this album. I'll defend Courtney at all costs, and I really think that she'd be so much more revered if she was able to exist in her own steam, rather than in the Nirvana Universe. Anyway, just banger after banger after banger.
One great song but the rest of the album could be any other grunge band.
1 good track but Courtney Love still sucks
Starts strong then descends into utter trash
nice album - I like it more than Live Through This... 3/5
What an interesting album. I must say, Hole has been slandered by me because of Kurt and Courtney. But this album is an alt rock masterpiece.
I will admit this was better than I thought it would be.
Actually kinda liked this.
We love to see some female fronted rock on here. It’s a good album
I positively enjoyed this. The instrumentation and vocal harmonies are strong and overall it’s quite earwormy. Standout Tracks are: “Awful” and “Malibu”
That was a nice rocker - really enjoyed it!
Pretty cool
Really liked it; a sharp, catchy album with big energy and bigger attitude. Could’ve shaved off 15 minutes and been even tighter
Nothing interesting for me here. I probably wouldn't skip a song on a random playlist, but it's nothing remarkable. Listened to the album and couldn't remember one piece afterwards.
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.
2.4 Murderer
Better than the other Hole album. Some good songs, some were ok.
Enjoyed the whole thing
7/10 - I enjoyed this more than expected. I liked boys on the radio and heaven tonight the most even though it kind of sounded like smashing pumpkins I liked it more.
Billy corgan having a writing credit on this makes sense. Liked it more than the other hole album; high 4 or low 5
Kind of just sounds like indie pop of the 90s. I would probably have been really into them if I heard this in middle school.
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”
Better than expected, but aside from a solid opening to the album and a few songs that made me nostalgic, there's not much here.
Terrible singing, ok music
You know, I've been a Nirvana fan for as long as I can remember, but I'm embarrassed to admit that until today I have never actually listened to a Hole album. And you know what, I don't know why because this is really great stuff. It's just everything you could want out of a grunge album still with lots of sounds and influences from various other subgenres of rock.
Middle of the road mid 90's grunge(lite)
already returning to this frequently, just as with some other Hole albums. very nice release
Przyjemnie sie slucha, zapisuje. (ale nie jest idealne ale nie daje czworek, a to rzeczywiscie bede jeszcze sluchalaxd)
The lineage of the coolest family of white people ever really delivers here. Best Song: Playing Your Song Rating: 8.5/10 (Excellent) Stars: 4/5
Maybe this felt landmark at the time. Now it’s merely Eh.
She's knows what she did.
# 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)
This album is so good. It’s 90s pop rock at its best. “Celebrity Skin,” “Awful,” “Malibu,” “Dying,” “Northern Star,” and “Petals” are the best songs, but there’s really no low points on this album. Courtney Love hasn’t sounded better than she does here. Maybe I’m just a moody girl, but this album speaks to me on many different levels. Definitely the best Hole has ever done.
Don't think I've ever listened to the whole album before (maybe when my wife has played it), so didn't realize all the Hole songs I know are on it. Great stuff.
The grunge that ages well does so because of its musicality. Hole was always more about emotion than sound. That's a long way of saying this does not hold up for me. When it first came out, I felt kinda meh, and that has slowly slid down to a genuine boo.
-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
Goed, lekkere muziek, is wel voor herhaling vatbaar
Brilliant
This was fun! I was familiar with the Title song but wow, the instrumentals and vocal work really work for me here. Definitely want to go back for another listen and an artist deep dive. 'Malibu' was my fave.
lets go ladiez! ja tuota ei voi ei. jee jee ysäri musiikki :( voi harmitus :/ heey heeey heeyy lets do it yeaa yeaa yeaaa! ai toi yks on mies ehkä, femiini androgyyni kuningas. tai transu. eihän se nyt kammotus ole mutta äänivalli vaan ja tylsä semmoinen. silmät liukuu ylös kalloon ja aivot sulkeutuu... tärisee vaan horroksessa semmonen fiilis tulee tälläsestä... omg msiikki ei koskaan tälläistä uudestaan, kun olin nuori nuorri 1998 nii tämä top tier musiikki ulostettiin! ei ole parantunut siitä lähtien polvet taikka albumien laatu. imekä celebrity skin
Great band name
Was expecting this to be a pop album, but I was quite pleasantly surprised
I've given a lot of 5* recently and this is gonna be another. Not quite as hard hitting and angry as "Live Through This" but more melodic. The title track is obviously a belter but it's full of rocking songs with strong hooks. And Courtney Love is just a force of nature - what a singer and personality
A solid grunge album with Courtney Love’s signature raw energy. Malibu and Petals my personal highlights
Liked this more than I expected. Songs were compelling, instrumentation was strong, vocals were very good. Highlights are "Awful", "Malibu", "Dying" and "Boys on the Radio". Low four stars, not sure I will revist with any frequency but still an enjoyable album.
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.
opening song was so good I will give this a 4
3.5 - Good
3 stars
One great track the rest so so.
4.5 stars. Courtney Love fronted 90’s alt rock. Standouts are first two songs including the great earworm title track.
First song is good. Not really into the rest of it.
Pretty good!
This is a pretty good album from Hole that’s stood the test of time well, still sounding great after all these years. It’s more alternative rock, moving away from the grunge of their earlier stuff. You even get some songwriting input from Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, which adds something special.
Surprised by how much I enjoyed this one
some bangers, good record
I'm sorry I slept on this band in the 90s. Clearly my loss.
Enjoyed this. Poppier than I thought, almost like a Britpop sound. The chimey guitar tone really reminded me of someone specific but I can't place it
Great voice and great sound
Not my favorite of the genre or era, but the final song is decent
Hole are good.
The effect is poppy grunge, with Courtney Love’s cutting lyrics slightly undermined by the major key upbeat mess of the music. In the end you just have to decide how much she really means it and how much this is a knowing pop product and the truth is I honestly don’t know. Musically I found it underwhelming, formulaic and derivative.
Make me ovaaaaa
Fantastic alternative rock album!
After Hit So Hard, the songs kinda blended together and felt lyrically too adjacent to each other. -Celebrity Skin -Awful
bunda mole
Arrrrr
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.
lol
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
Not too bad for an American Pie kinda record
I was always under the impression that Courtney Love was a toxic human being. So I avoided her music. I was prepared to hate this. I'm shocked to find I'm actually really enjoying it. A lot actually. This is some great 90s alternative.
I’ll be damned… shit’s good!
It’s too bad Courtney’s personal life has colored so much of Hole’s legacy, cuz they made a couple of damn fine records. Every time “Celebrity Skin” comes on the radio I turn it up. “Malibu” might be an even better song. The rest of the album isn’t quite as instantly catchy as those two, but it’s all high-quality 90s alt. If you’re a fan of the genre this is an essential listen.
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.
The album cover seems to suggest something like... From the ashes of grunge's demise rises this Phoenix of mediocrity. The dude's expression on the right side of the photo accurately sums up the band's lack of enthusiasm when making this lame record. They as he might, Billy Corgan just couldn't save this album. And I'm not just some boomer hater. I'm gen X all the way and even saw Hole in concert once in 95. Hell, I even own a Courtney Love signature model guitar. But there is no just reason for this album to be on this list. Blind Melon's 'Soup' was robbed! 1.5/5 Album 17/1001
Better than I thought this would be!
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.
Better than Nirvana btw.
It's fine. Not terrible. Not great. Middle of the road to my ears.
Great sound, great songs, great album.
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
Not quite as punchy as "Live Through This," but still absolutely great and one of my favourite discoveries on here. It polishes grunge and makes it more digestible, and you can feel how it influenced Avril Lavigne and Marilyn Manson, to an extent.
Went on a bit with very similar songs... Not a fan 2/5
I find Courtney Love to be one of the most insufferable human beings on the planet, but unfortunately this is pretty solid rock and roll.
So emblematic of the 90s, in a good way.
Meh. I had never heard of Hole but this didn't interest me much and I'm usually a fan of 90s alt-rock.
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
Kinda jangle pop-y, reminds me of smashing pumpkins too. Both of those are good things to be reminded of
I almost forgot that I’d had a Hole album previously as this was such a departure. I knew the title track but was surprised to discover that’s the grittiest, grimiest number here and the rest is very pleasant and melodic alt rock. I was almost annoyed at how clean and just plain good it is. You sort of want Courtney to swear more and scream and shout and break a few more instruments. But poor old Courtney, she was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t. I really enjoyed it.
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
love courtney love
Wow this was actually great! All I ever knew about Courtney was she was drugged out crazy and her connection to Kurt. Love the passion and grit! I feel like Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You would have approved of this album.
Started promising bur descended into generic teen movie stuff quickly
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.
This album is perfection. It’s a 6. I will fight you on this. This is the hill I will absolutely unalive myself on.
could i write poetry to this? Y
Can we all just agree that Courtney Love is a genius who deserves much more credit than she ever got for her work? Despite her being perceived as a drug-addled wackadoo widow, Love proves here that she is a shrewd, literate, and tuneful songwriter. This ode to California should have shamed the Red Hot Chili Peppers into giving up and writing songs about Nebraska or Utah or Kyrgyzstan. I'll tag this as a five-star album, with the caveat that I still like "Live Through This" just a tiny bit more.
Courtney Love did not deserve all the shit she caught
This is peak late-90s music right here. Nearly every song could have been a radio hit.
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.
8/10
1 Celebrity Skin - strong 8 2 Awful - decent 8 3 Hit So Hard - lite 7 4 Malibu - strong 7 5 Reasons to Be Beautiful - decent 6 6 Dying - strong 6 7 Use Once & Destroy - lite 8 8 Northern Star - lite 6 9 Boys on the Radio - decent 6 10 Heaven Tonight - decent 6 11 Playing Your Song - lite 7 12 Petals - strong 7 Favourite 3 Tracks - 1. Celebrity Skin 2. Awful 3. Use Once & Destroy - NOTE RATINGS ARE FROM A FIRST LISTEN - SCORE - 6.8/10
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.
The problem with hole and with Courtney Love in general is that Kurt cast such a big shadow. Hole could have come back with anything and everyone would have hated it. Courtney didn't care and did her own thing and everyone thought she was nuts. Celebrity Skin, Malibu and North Star are all great songs. This album had the hot red headed bass player show up (Melissa Auf der Maur) and she really shines on backup vocals too. For what it's worth this is a solid album.
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!