Reviews (page 8 of 10)
Love the first song, but the rest of the album is just ok.
Punk indie. Mad but ok tbf.
Ok.
The singles are good but the rest sound off key
I think I had this album as a CD. It sounded good 20 years ago. But now not so much.
Best Song: Northern Star. I'm a sucker for any song that slowly builds in this perpetual crescendo to hit a big climax, and this song does that well. Worst Song: Boys on the Radio. This feels like they were writing a song to try to have it appear in a rom-com, maybe abandoning their rougher roots. Overall: I'd heard of Hole, and heard the song "Celebrity Skin", but never put the two together. I was actually impressed at how Courtney Love has the perfect, almost proto-typical alt-rock voice. Poppy enough to be approachable, but with a decently raw edge to make it alternative.
Enjoyed it!
singing doesn´t appeal to me ...
Je ne suis pas un fan de Courtney Love, mais je dois admettre qu’il y a du bon matériel ici. Cet album démarre en fou avec le plus grand succès du groupe. Après ce n’est pas égal. La collaboration avec Billy Corgan se fait sentir, particulièrement sur Hit So Hard où on est proche de Love des Smashing Pumpkins sur Mellon Collie. La présence de Melissa Auf Der Maur est un autre élément cool. Bref, je trouve super d’avoir un groupe majoritairement féminin qui font du rock, mais l’égo et la réputation de Courtney gâche un peu mon appréciation.
I was not thrilled to listen to this, aside from the title track I am not sure I knew anything else from Hole. I don't have a ton of nostalgia for this sound from the 90s either. The second half the album ended up being a lot better than I was expecting after the first half though, and found myself bopping along gleefully. Not the worst by any means.
2000steen movie
Surprisingly commercial. But that's not the point. Thanks to this I learnt that Billy Corgan and Courtney Love were once an 'item'. And once again, I am wrong footed by the company Billy Corgan keeps (or the people who choose Billy Corgan as company - it could go either way).
Hadn't ever heard of Hole before, Liked it. Kind of bland towards the end. Grunge meets acoustic
Not bad but not great. It doesn't capture my attention.
First song is an absolute banger, but the rest of the album fails to match that energy. I will probably go back and check it out without playing the first track again.
The single was everywhere!
Celebrity Skin is a great track. The rest are pretty good. I think if I hear more of it I’d give it a little higher rating, but for now….. 3/5
I'm really torn on this one. The standout tracks rank among the best of that unmistakably 90s grunge rock style, and Love's powerfully raw vocals compliment that style incredibly well (especially on "Northern Star" - wow), but there are just too many forgettable tracks interspersed throughout. This album would have definitely benefited from some trimming. Standout tracks: "Celebrity Skin", "Awful", Malibu", "Northern Star", "Petals"
Pretty average 90s post grunge album
I liked the title track, celebrity skin but other than that I thought everything sounded the same
Sonido y estilo definido, no realmente de mi preferencia
Title track aside, it's okay. title track is a banger though
Better than anticipated
Jájá, fínt síð-tíunda Ameríkurokk. Mér finnst Celebrity skin skemmtilegt og eldast vel. Malibu er ágætt. Hitt er filler sem pirrar ekki.
It's quite good. Like it's cherry picked the prior 20 years of grunge and alternative, and tried to construct a pop album. In a sense, by succeeding on the pop front so well, Courtney Love outdid Kurt Cobain as a project. As an album, it's good. Really good. But the jangle/fuzz trick wears thin as the album goes on. Northern Star is a very emotional exception to this!
Extremely 90s. The singles are good though
Hole sure is not the best band 3 Better than the last one though
Brash guitar based indie/power pop. Lyrically it is an interesting concept although at times I felt I was listening to the soundtrack for Baywatch! I enjoyed the title track the most because at 2:42 this was straight to the point. Some of the other tracks outstay their welcome. The dense production is typical of nines guitar based rock.
liked the first song good sound, the rest was surprisingly pedestrian, toothed side of boring. Still better than Nirvana.
This album has more of a poppy sheen to it, but notwithstanding that I'm just gonna copy and paste from my review of Live Through This the week before last: 'strong vocals, good grunge-pop sound, consistently solid songs but not many worldies. 3/3.5' Ok, this one does have a worldie on it (the title track). A strong 3.5 then.
I was pleasantly surprised by this album and would definitely listen to a few tracks again
Peaks hard on the first song but the rest is still good
5/8/2022 - ALBUM #101 Today's Album: "Celebrity Skin" by Hole - Before I say anything else, I will say this is a good album. Now, by that I simply mean it's pretty pleasant to listen to throughout. The vocals are competent, the production isn't terrible, and it's feeling like this was the start of the rise of alt-punk in the early 2000s. However, I think my big problem with this album is that it doesn't stand out very much. I really like this album and the way it sounds, with it's powerful chords, strong and confident vocals, and meaningful lyricism, but I just feel like I'm not left with anything exceptional or that I couldn't get better from Alanis Morrissette or Doves. The big hits on this album feel like they have stronger songwriting than the others, but it's still not anything that really blows me away. There are some tracks on here I actually really dislike like Use Once & Destroy, where the production feels really blown out and the band feels like they're half asleep. It also starts to feel like the vocalist doesn't have very much range and by the later half of the album, I just feel really sick of the tone of her voice. It feels like each song is having a harder time standing out for me and the charm that was initially there in the beginning of the album is fading. It kind of feels like this album was really just a vehicle for hits and there was little to no care put into the way the album flowed or would sound as a whole. Overall, this album just doesn't offer much other than decent background noise. Listen to the first 5 tracks and decide if it's your thing I guess, but I'm sure you'll be sick of it by the end. Highlights: Celebrity Skin, Malibu, Dying Score: 6/10 Meh alt-rock
Hole does a decent job aiming for a more commercial alt rock sound. Favourites: "Celebrity Skin", "Malibu", "Petals"
Hyvä meno ja muutama oikein hyvä biisi. Ehkä 3.5, joka pyöristyy nyt alas.
The highs were high, and the lows were forgettable. Still, on the strength of Malibu alone, this gets 3.
In the mid 90s I would say out loud that it was funny how the quality of Courtney's music went downhill after her ghostwriter offed himself. Plus 1 for my being so insensitive back in the day but even with the +1 . . .
I only had time for a distracted listen, so I'll add a point.
Starts out good. Nostalgic. However, Courtney Love’s voice started to wear on me and by a Northern Star I was tired of listening to her.
Fínasta plata, kom fersk inn eftir tvær slakar. Fær þrist ekki meira né minna.
Hár og góður þristur.
Hressandi
Day 2: I had no idea who Hole was or what genre they played, I was a bit cautious when I started the album but the first song "Celebrity Skin" was a pleasant surprise. The Album in general sounded very familiar and Generic, even though I haven't listened to much music from the 90's I could still tell the music was good but basic. Decent and easy to listen to though so far this challenge is going well. Favourite Songs: Celebrity Skin, Malibu, Northern Star
You can really taste the Billy Corgan
Not as good as live through this, but solid
Cal donar mèrit a qui sho mereix i Courtney Love, malgrat el personate histriònic amb què ha fet envoltar la seva persona, ha estat capaç de publicar en els 4 discos d'estudi de la seva banda Hole, 4 discos molt recomenables, diferents entre sí i meritoris per diversos motius. 'Celebrity Skin' és el tercer, i el més musical i melòdic. El més orientat a les cançons que s'hi apleguen i que es deixa sentir amb més facilitat i bons moments. 'Petals', 'Malibu', 'Awful' o la cançó que li dóna títol estan entre el millor que ha cantat fins el moment (abril 2022)
Honestly I wasn't super present while listening to this. From what I did hear it was pretty good but also a little forgettable for me.
This was, surprisingly, not bad.
This album is an okay listen. The production is good. The first few songs are really solid, but it starts to fall off after that. Moreover, it's hard to understand why this album is on the list. I haven't seen many alternative rock albums here, so it's always sort of baffling when I get an album that I would consider to be a minor work of that era. It's not bad, but there are so many more deserving albums that I'm not sure made this list 3/5
I much prefer the raw intensity of "Live Through This." I feel like the move towards a more polished, poppier sound was a mistake, even if it was partially done ironically.
Never listened to any Hole nor any Courtney Love in a deliberate fashion. I find this album to be kind of whitewashed punk-rock made to appear on MTV and be palatable enough for the mainstream kids who wanna be cool. That's just my impression though.
Starts well, goes downhill. Not as good as Live Through This
Good stuff, I like
much grunge
Not as awful as feared - but fairly standard US rock.
Been a long time since I listened to this, and figured I’d give it an honest try. I didn’t originally like the record, but that was placing directly next to their earlier stuff, and probably tainted opinion with Love’s public persona. I actually enjoyed it. Granted it’s a departure, but it’s a polished well crafted album. Not great, but certainly enjoyable enough.
solid grunge sound.
I saw Hole, and Courtney Love's tits, twice on this tour. I didn't really want to see either..... The bass player was good.
Some pretty melodic and listenable pop rock - way gentler than I remember
3/5
The singles are still great, but a bit long.
A solid listen if you're looking for that classic 90/00's girls alt rock band sound. Not something I seek out generally, but done well
Nothing really stood out in this album. Felt like generic 90s music with nothing to set it apart from other 90s music.
This album felt like two different albums to me. The first half I loved, the second not so much. Overall I really like the album though and enjoyed its sound.
A couple good songs, most was fine.
Better than I thought it would be! I dig the pop direction. Production is great. I love how cohesive the album is. Made me realize that nothing has changed in California. Nothing earth shattering by any means.
Bill Corgan helped write a bunch of the songs on this record. It's gotta be one of the most successful "alt-rock" records of the late 90s, right? I remember when this came out, I loved the videos, and I thought this record (at least, the singles I was hearing) was more interesting than the previous Hole record. But, here's the thing: By this time in the late 90s, my msuic tastes had started deviating from the rock that was presented to me on MTV. Radiohead's "Ok Computer" (which was successful on MTV, I realize) started me down my first path of non-commercial guitar-based music. I learned that there was a whole world of indie-rock and electronic music waiting to be discovered. And that the "weirdos" on MTV were actually pretty lame-stream....ha. Some of that was true, some of it was teenage angst. Listening back to this record as an adult that loves a good tambourine track, I really liked it. Probably would have rated the record higher if I had it a more significant impact on music. But really, it was just a late 90s rock record that didn't suck (looking at you Limp Bizkit and Korn).
better then i remembered
This was surprisingly alright, 3*
Better than expected
,,celebrity skin" starts with energy (eletric guitar) and nice female vocal, you can feel kinda 90`s/2000`s vibe ,,awful" cool rock female vocals, also has energy, familiar vibe ,,hit so hard" calmer(?) nice drumps in the background, like u can hear instruments ,,malibu" i like the voice here, i think i like it the most as far ,,reason to be beautifull" strong guitar, still liked the previous one more, vacals good, and i like the moments when eletric guitar goes quaieter ,,dying" nice beginning, the beat/drumps gives a vibe, a little diferent than the previous ones, less energetic music lines and vocal. i like it. ,,use once & destroy" starts good, sometimes gets a nice vibe and deeper energy ,,nothern star" without that energetic guitar in the background you focus more on the voice. i liked it definitely calmer, (sometimes the voice rise) ,,boys on the radio" i like the vibe, i kinda liked it more than some of them from before, myb i`ll came back to this ,,heaven tonight" i think i like this too (?) not over energetic ,,playing your song" more energy that you can hear from the drumps and the strong vocal. after 1:30 to 2nd minute it got cool ,,petals" good beginning i like it. i feel like its just not my thing, from the firts track has a strong vibe 90`s/2000`s (like, bc it`s album from 1998) that is not my favourite, i prefer older rock/alternative music. the female voices with that eletric guitar in the background is kinda cool tho. i think my favourite would be,,dying" but also liked ,,malibu", ,,boys on the radio" and ,,petals", it wasn`t hard or unpleasant to listen but i don`t think i will go back to this album a lot (or not at all). just not my vibe.i had an impreesion that the songs here don`t really differ from each other. nothing amazed me. i wasn`t really paying attention to the text, my bad (bc spotify didn`t made lyrics there yet). i don`t have a strong opinion on this one.
Not bad. Punk rock always gets a little stale for me after a few songs, but this album does do a good job of switching up the sound of each song, instead of each just being a wall of guitars. 5/10
First song is the best and most recognizable for me. The rest of the album is more “generic” late 90s. It’s fine but pretty skippable. I’ll be generous with a 3.
Grunge light, it's not bad but it's not great either.
I can definitely hear Billy Corgan in this album. This is pretty angsty, very feminine pop rock. It's a very 90s sound, something one could have listened to on the MTV
3.5 Stars... Heard it before but it was a good revisit.
Meh.
Sounds like the 90s. 3.5
I like but don’t love this album. A little more pop than Hole was in their earlier albums, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Couple of GREAT songs, but some filler, too.
Pretty rockin' tbh
Not bad actually. Not a fan of Hole per se, but it was more listenable than I expected.
Didn't mind it actually. Courtney Love has always struck me as the kind of person who you would catch flash frying roadkill and raw dog food on the floor of your dad's garage at 4am in an attempt to woo him into sucking on her nipples for half an hour.
This is Hole's third album, their most popular one, and the last one before the band parted ways 4 years later. It's an alternative rock album from the 90's so it's pretty "grungy," but Hole also went with a more mainstream alternative sound. The title track became a number 1 hit single and the album was certified platinum just a few months after release. I thoroughly enjoyed all of this album and am shocked I've never heard of this band or their songs before. It is a nostalgic look back at 90's alternative music.
Decent rock album
Jam
Power-pop is what killed heavy guitar music by making it refined enough to be popular and paving the way for all the post-grunge nickelback music we loved when we were teenagers. Compared to the early Hole albums this one is way lighter... and, oh my god, I hate the stillborn almost sample-like production.
This is super 90s but I don't mind that. It's probably not going to my regular rotation but it's not bad at all.
not as good as i remember, but still a decent album
Quite liked this one. Pretty boring in the middle though.
Not much here imo. Kind of just a generic post-punk alternative album. I think it starts off strong, but just doesn't keep it going for all of the album.
This is another album that, while I've never previously listened to it as a whole (pun intended), I have a hard time giving it unbiased consideration. My memories of this album when it was released were (A) seeing Celebrity Skin on TRL and (B) hearing the media blast Courtney Love for using her husband's death to gain fame. Even then I was a little grossed out by that description and I've never been fond of defining women by their relationships with men. On the flip side, Courtney Love's reputation precedes her and it's hard not to see her as at least a tid bit on the difficult side. All that said, I tried to give the music an impartial listen and tried to pay attention to the lyrics. My conclusions? Celebrity Skin is still a banger. Courtney Love has a shit singing voice. And this music almost certainly inspired bands that I enjoyed in the early aughts, but I found this album overall dull.
This Hole album reminds me of my freshman college roommate. She really liked Courtney Love. I, however, have never been able to separate this artist from the work, and Love has always seemed like a garbage human.
90'er alt rock. Til tider noller tekstunivers. Komposition og motiver ret fine. Use once and destroy er god. Meget blandet oplevelse ellers. Bliver nogle gange lidt for meget soundtrack til emotionel amerikansk teenagefilm. Men satme også nogle numre med go' geddar!
do u want one or two hit songs with your boring album sir ?
Decent punk/grunge/pop album. A couple snoozers but mostly solid. I do quite like Love's voice. Lara says "I didn't particularly care for it".
bättre än vad omslaget gav sken av
Was ok
Reminds me of the 90s. Good but fairly generic.
This album had some good tunes and an overall pleasant feel. I liked the grungy feeling it gave me.
3.5
1998 Grunge
Favorites: Hit So Hard - Dying- Northern Star - Least favorites: Malibu
This album is good-ish. The inclusion of Malibu, which is a song that I absolutely adore, brings the score up. Hole goes pop-ish. But Malibu is fantastic. Malibu.
Courtney gives us a post-grunge/pop album and the singles are absolute bops."Celebrity Skin" appropriately soundtracked the opening sequence to EA's NHL Rock The Rink on the PS1 (really underrated game btw). "Malibu" and "Aweful" are both pretty damn catchy. The last half was a bit dull though. Given it's Canada Day as I type this and Melissa Auf der Maur is slappin da bass on here...its getting a generous 🌟🌟🌟
Сложно оценить, не "моя" музыка, но вроде бы и нравится
The core of this album is made up of songs, starting with Celebrity Skin and Awful, that repeat the same pattern: soft melodicism over a male beat and melodramatic riffs. (6/10) Favourite Tracks: Celebrity Skin, Malibu
It's alright
Listening to this, I got the feeling that it’s time we revisit the narrative around Courtney Love and start giving, because in hindsight, a lot of the flack she took around Cobain’s death seems fairly misogynistic now, and this album shows she really was a unique female voice in alternative rock. That being said, the album feels a little of its time now, with a lot of stop-start, quiet-loud, glitzed-up grunge dynamics. The “wall of guitars sound” production also made it feel samier than it provably needed to.
I had a phase where I liked them, so this was a strange nostalgia trip.
Yeah, look. It's alright.
First half be some playing need for speed on the xbox when your parents arent home vibes, second half has more variation but it gets grating towards the end. Solid album tho
Mostly it was boring. The first two songs, however, left me wanting more. Celebrity Skin and Awful have been stuck in my head since I first heard them a few days ago. Awful feels like the perfect mix of angst from Nirvana and the production value of Smashing Pumpkins. For that, I'm rating the album a three just because I love these two songs so much. Otherwise, I find the songs to be boring and just more nineties songs. Highlights: 1, and 2.
Well polished production and a very accessible, poppy, sound, make this a decently enjoyable listen. The tracks I have lukewarm feelings towards, are those that go aggressively heavy on the guitars and drown out a more subtle and pleasurable sound . It just goes too heavy on the teenage-angst that I am not keen on, but there are enough extremely catchy tracks that I have trouble getting out of my head. When it's more mid-tempo, with great hooks and a thin layer of aggression, I find myself enjoying this record. Standout tracks are Awful, Malibu and Petals. 3/5.
Better than I thought it was going to be, but did not do too much for me.
Der var et godt nummer, mens resten var okay.
Probably a 3.5
not bad
This was pretty good. Feels like pop for edgier than average teens.
A fun girl rock album. Great ripping guitars and angsty vocals. It didn't keep my interest the whole way through, but there's some good stuff on here. Favorite song: Celebrity Skin
I didn’t realize how many times I’ve thought “it’s too early for that dress” about someone over the course of my life. I liked this a lot more than I remember liking it at the time it came out.
Immeasurably better than the other Hole album we had, they are a lot more melodic and less shout.
Fuck Courtney Love. Best track: Celebrity Skin
Pleasant enough, but aside from a few tracks that caught my ear there is nothing here that is drawing me back.
Kinda fun although it falls off near the end. First track is great
“Celebrity Skin” by Hole (1998) There’s a lot of pain, frustration, anxiety, and writer’s block in these lyrics, as if Courtney Love just wants to get it over with. Here we have a superior poetic intellect that doesn’t quite succeed In reaching its potential. As a lead singer, Courtney Love’s approach to pitch is to execute lazy looping slurs, hopeful that the correct note is in there somewhere. It usually is. But I wouldn’t want to listen to this voice everyday. If I were forced to, I’d probably end up shooting myself. Very good use of rhythm electric guitar effects (chorus, sustain) that help stabilize an otherwise marginal performance. Very good drum work by Patty Schemel (or whoever). Nice production elements make some tracks rise above the barely listenable. This is competent rock, but not a classic. 3/5
Pas vraiment ecoute, pas tro0 mon style et on dirait que ca vient d’une autre epoque. 3
Not bad. Some fun songs but I feel like they all covered the same territory.
Some definite bangers
I don't think a list of 1001 albums for requisite listening before death genuinely needs 2 hole albums but there it is. My comments on the prior one are fine for this one too.
Some nice late 90s rock with a great pop sheen across the top.
That sort of ok if semi-bland mid to late 90s American rock that you would find in every teen movie/tv series of the time. Nothing awful, nothing great. The kids hanging outside Todds in their black hoodies and pink hair would love it
Not too bad. 80's Rock chick
Good rock album.
90-te alternativa, kortni love.
Courtney Love, who woulda known huh? Not me cuz idk shit. But good sound imo
Hole muito bom
iconic opening track
A fun album. Surprisingly heavy for 90s alt pop. Some songs stand out.
Extremely well-produced, competent album. The A-side was pleasant to listen to but didn't really make my ears perk up, while the second half became much, much stronger. On balance, not exactly patchy, but neither is it forgettable nor excellent. Solid 3.4-3.5. I would go gaga over a similar album that kept the sonic experimentation up for the whole length.
A bit poppy for me but title track and Petals were good. Also can hear similarity to Nirvana.
Tails off, bit samey
Two opinions first: 1. Courtney Love is probably top 10 90s vocalists for me. 2. Hole is a band that deserves two entries on a list of 1000 must-hear albums. Now the conclusion of my relisten to Celebrity Skin after many years: Celebrity Skin is not an album that needs to be listed, it's not good. But to start from the beginning, the album does start out well. The title track is a really good one. Then "Awful" made me think I may have unfairly assessed the album BITD. "Hit So Hard" was another good track, "Malibu" too. All really well-made tracks, good lyrics, definitely more polished and radio-friendly than "Live Through This" but it's not a major change. This isn't a sellout album like some people say. "Reasons to Be Beautiful" is a mostly solid tune, too, until it takes a wrong turn in the last minute, and then the album is really pretty bad after that. "Dying": not good. "Use Once and Destroy": OK as filler for better tunes, but... "Northern Star" is a real stinker. After that it's pop-rock retreads that you've heard in every decade since the 70s. "Heaven Tonight" is just so basic on every level, really pop-rock dreck. In the back half of the album, everything that made "Pretty on the Inside" (absolutely everything that made that album great!) and "Live Through This" great albums, and made Courtney Love and Co. compelling as a band -- all that is gone. Polished away. "Playing Your Song" almost reclaims it, but there's just so much production slathered all over the somewhat weird chords... nope. Anyhow, the two slots that Hole deserves on a must-listen list should have been for "Pretty on the Inside" (the really great, really confrontational version of the band at their noise-punk DIY best) and the more mature masterpiece in "Live Through This." "Celebrity Skin" is just a good example of post-grunge late 90s rock in decline.
Live Through This is the better Hole record. This didn’t really connect with me.
Tough listen for a 70’s rock guy. Tried to be open minded, but really didn’t care for it. A couple songs ok, but just not my genre.
In the recesses of my brain think I’ve heard of Hole before but never listened to them. Courtney also rang a bell but couldn’t say if she was the Cox or Love variety. Might have been same person as far as I was bothered. Having this indifference did not bode well but the lead track did hold my attention. Tack 2 sounded the same as did track 3 so I gave up to revise my Coutney problem. 2/5 21/8/26
The guitar solo on Heaven Tonight was the only solid thing I heard. Not my cup of tea.
Not really a grunge guy, but this is decent
Kind of dull. I thought it might have had more bite to it but maybe I'm thinking of their earlier stuff.
Perfect for background music. Pretty bland.
More appealing to others, I felt like this was already done and didn’t have much to say.
Nice record, shifting from grunge to a more pop/rock sound was clearly a good commercial choice by the band. Though the existential crisis of selling out debate does not favor this band at the moment. Songs are good, but nothing special. Actually slightly boring at times. I also don't like Courtney Love. I'm still waiting for this website to give me the real thing, something that is truly an album you HAVE to have listened to. Sadly I feel I could've died without ever having heard this one, and I wouldn't have missed much.
Greit
Dull
the only good one is hole
I'm sure it's great, just not at all my genre.
I had reasonably high hopes for this and it let me down a bit. Can't say much jumped out at me and it was a bit samey. With the exception of Malibu which is excellent.
I just dont get it man. This album is celebrated so much but I cant stand her singing just couldnt get over it
Okay
no real highlights for me but i like their sound
nah mid rock
Pretty safe, maybe it's the production or maybe Billys influence but it feels like rock by numbers and doesn't light a fire under you. Paradoxically that guarantees airplay, go figure!
Meh. It was alright, slightly better than a 2 star album for me but i'll stick with 2 stars.
The title track was inescapable when it came out, turned into one of those classic songs that gets used for commercials and movie trailers. I kinda loved Live Through This to my surprise, this seems much more harmless in retrospect. Sounds more like a typical alt rock album, than it's previous grungier style. I woundn't have included this in the list. It's fine.
Okay, so I actually know the first song and that was a nice surprise, as I didn't know it was Hole who sing it (I didn't really know who they were in the first place). Overall, not a bad album, it has that sound from popular songs at around that time, but it's a bit similar-sounding after listening to a few of the songs. Not too bad though.
Cool, bit messy though.
The epitome of a late mid 90's California Grunge sound, which is a shame because their second album Live Through This was so good (their first album is basically copying Babes In Toyland). I'm actually annoyed I liked this album in 98.
I fucking love Courtney Loveee downnn but this album is just forgettable sorry. Some good songs tho
First song is widely known. Never thought I would listen to Courtney Love but here we are. The rest of the album told me little.
This is maybe the most known album out of this group of bands that became famous in the 90s. The mostly women rock/pop/grunge/punk groups that wanted to tell the world they could write modern rock music while also doing drugs, getting into legal trouble and making their success out of anything except their musical talent. Almost 30 years later and this album still rings hollow, non-authentic, attention seeking and showing that they were torn between their "punk-grunge bad girl" identity and their incessant need to be in the spotlight. The songs are catchy and under 4:00 so they could get radio time and their lyrics are mostly "oh its so hard to be famous" Enough context, this is about the album.... Its ok I guess. The title song is still a banger and "Hit so hard" is overlooked imo.
she killed kurt Boring and repetitive imho Highlight: Dying (kinda ironic, huh) and did I mention that she killed kurt 1.9
Celebrity Skin is awesome... Awful was a decent second track... Dying was interesting... didn't get much out of the rest. Bad? No. Boring? Yea. Pretty straightforward 90s alt radio rock, with a chick who may or may not have murdered her husband leading the way.
Not for me, then again I’m not a huge fan of 90s grunge/alternative rock. It sounded like I was listening to one really long song.
Ok
Then original Riot Grrl.
Liked a couple songs, actively didn't like a few
Dribble. Mindless dribble.
Mám radšej ich predchádzajúce surovejšie veci...
Honestly, this was all fine. Just not for me. It sounded grungy and Courtney is an incredible performer but the music does not connect with me.
Certainly not a shade on the urgency of Live Through This, but still pretty glammy and shimmery. High 2s.
Doesn't offend
It never occurred to me that there was more than one Hole album anyone would be interested in. Evidently I was wrong. According to Wikipedia, "The band sought to use Los Angeles and the state of California as a unifying theme, and began writing what they conceived as a "California album" in 1997." Amazing! When inspiration strikes, run with it. Mind blowing ingenuity. Where do you get your ideas? Anyway ... I don't know whether this album is good or bad. All I know is that I don't want to listen to it. Not for me.
At the time, I wasn't a big fan of Nirvana. I thought others did it better (Mudhoney), or had more fun with noise and nihilistic rebellion (Jesus & Mary Chain). Maybe I just wasn't ready for my slice of the Gen X lineup to fade into irrelevance, but I voted No on Nirvana. And consequently, on Hole, which seemed to me to be very clearly a money+fame grab on the part of Ms. Love. Throwing Muses and PJ Harvey were infinitely more interesting as proto-Riot-Grrls, I thought. Listening to it now, the idea that Love's sloppy drawl is the equivalent of a radical feminist critique of anything is still laughable. Sorry... there are far better bands from the era doing the Rock of their time.
Obviously the title track is a banger but I think I only actually enjoyed about 3 tracks on this
The kind of rock you would expect in an indie video game from 2007 that you didn't like much, but played anyways because you wanted to be friends with your brother. 4/10
Drums drag. Voice is whining. Guitar is boring.
Well better then the last hole Album I’m still not a fan of country loves voice.
Rockig, aber auf ne sehr langweilige Art. Da sollte nach Nirvana doch mehr gehen.
After discovering the brilliant ‘Live Through This’ on this list, I was actually disappointed to see this also on here. This is the Hole I already knew - the overly produced and much more commercial, watered down version. The early 90s rough and ready grungey stuff is just infinitely better. If Celebrity Skin had come up first it might have scraped a 3 because there is nothing *bad* about it. But now I’m all in on grungey Hole this just sounds like pop music in context.
Strong start then faded
Ett par igenkännbara låtar, men inte min grej
Very repetitive but with some tracks being catchy. Not the biggest fan of the singers voice for the most part and of emo kind of music in general.
A more commercial alternative rock is the general description of this third and final album by Hole. It's a shame, it does sound like it was one of the last puzzle pieces on building a sound that was copied and hashed out excessively over the course of the following decade. There's some respect for how the album was built, it feels artistic, though I feel terrible for Schemel, I don't think the effort would've suffered so much with her on the drums, but I wasn't there. Overall, it might not have been when it came out, but because of future context it feels aggressively mainstream, which was a lot less than I was hoping for this band. I don't know if I should blame them or cultural context, but it's not asking for another listen. 2.3/5
Killer opening to an album and then just ho hum 90s. Would have probably given it a 3 but I need to force myself out of middle
Lacking in emotion and rather flat.
It's got a few ok tracks.. I'll probably never listen to it again.
3/10… grunge / whimsi goth / *1998
Malibu is a great Sheryl Crow song. And Courtney Love's voice is powerful and gritty. But of all the alternative albums, why is this one on the list?!
Errrm, prefer babes in toyland
How did I get two Hole albums in a row? What did I do to deserve this? This one is just as mediocre as Live Through This. Only ok song was the title track, everything else just sucks.
Yo leí que Courtney Love bató a Kurt Cobain, así que como creo todo lo que leo le doy un 2 (igual, re genérico el album)
Pretty generic
2,4/5
never thought I would say this... but I think I officially don't like Hole.
no me gusto
Because of my dislike of Courtney Love I cannot give this other fine record a fair score. Fellow Gen Xer’s will understand.
Kind of the same thing over and over again. Eh.
I could have sworn I've already reviewed this album. I'd basically call this a two-hit-wonder (Celebrity Skin & Malibu). Rest is kind of meh.
I always preferred Live Through This, but this was massive when I was at school so a nice bit of nostalgia.
Quite Poppy, sounded like R.E.M in parts. Quite liked Northern Star
Why RGP do you unfailingly provide us with the least satisfying work of the artists featured, still plenty of time for duplicates I suppose but do come on now. I can’t in good conscience give this a one but right down among the bottom of the 2 stars…Tom.
Aside from the title track CELEBRITY SKIN this a pretty ho-hum album. I remember when it came out that they kept touting how they went in a new direction, except that the new direction sounded pretty much like the old direction, except for "Use Once and Destroy", in which I hear tiny bit of the industrial pop.. I was also not a fan of Billy Corgan's influence over the band (again, with the exception of the title track which Corgan helped arrange) while he and Love kept dipping in and out of a relationship with one another. I think the removal of this album from the list in later years was probably the correct decision. Grunge had pretty much run itself out by this point in the 90s.
4/10 - meh, opens with its best song and just the same song one after another from there on out
nobody would know about this band if the lead singer (who was quite hot in the 90s) wouldn't have been married to Kurt. Is this "grunge for girls"?! I've heard worse, but the band is overrated. standard 90s pop rock/grunge.
had 1 song already which is insanely peak but the others are not resonating with me that much
Like a bit of the tewn rock with the women
It's OK. Title track, "Celebrity Skin" sounds like Hole but with a more pop aesthetic. "When I wake up in my makeup..." Cool bass line though. "Malibu" is too pop-py for my tastes and what they were typically known for. Courtney doesn't really have the voice to do a lot of what she's trying here. She's a better yeller and screamer than a crooner. "Reasons To Be Beautiful is a prime example of what she should Not be doing. I want to give this a 2.5 as I only really like 2 of the songs. Most of the rest are filler and 1 or 2 are actively bad. Now that I think on it, it's getting a 2 I don't think it belongs on the list. It's not groundbreaking or influential, is it? It got a lot of newsplay because of Cobain and Corgan working on it. "Live Through This" was little better as it had more of their raw sound.
I've seen this album cover before, either from encountering it on this website or seeing it while flicking through the book. It's pretty cool - definitely a fan of the misty backdrop concept, though it's anyone's guess as to what this music could be. Their fashion and the album title seem decently countercultural, so I'll take the safe option and assume this is grunge. Here goes. Nope, alt rock. This album occupies the boring side of 90s alternative for me. Disaffected, dated, washed out vocals paired with competent, yet unremarkable electric guitars. There isn't much craft or intricacy to this music. No gripping atmospheres or creative risks, either. It's also punching a little above its weight with that 50-minute runtime - there were more than a few tracks which could do with being merged into other songs or cut entirely. Overall, this was a tolerable album, but one that I will never, ever return to. Book time. There's a whole lot of wank in here, I won't lie. What am I supposed to impart from "From the whoosh that opens the title cut, it is a whirlwind ride into a post-grunge Oz. Courtney is half Dorothy, half Wicked Witch, alternately blessing and blasting those who cross her." The frontman of the Smashing Pumpkins wrote some of the songs on this album. The guitarist of The Go-Go's also lent a hand, which is another surprise. That band is quite pervasive. "...a misunderstood, melodic masterpiece" which apparently didn't perform too well on the charts. Wikipedia says this album was a departure from their previous sound and was inspired by 90s Los Angeles and California. Received a somewhat polarised, yet generally positive reaction from critics. It also performed pretty well on the charts - I'm not sure what the book is on about. The Canucks and Strayliens especially liked this album - it peaked at no. 3 and no. 4 in each respective country, with much of Europe and the rest of the West not far behind. This album doesn't seem to be innovating all that much, but I suppose these are decent qualifiers. I cosign this inclusion.
Title track is a classic, but just never really vibed with Courtney Love’s style.
okay. einzelne songs sind solide. aber wirklich gut finde ich das album aber nicht
NOT THE HOLE I WOULD REACH FOR
I can see how this is absolutely someone, somewhere's favorite album of all time. But it is not mine.
This really let me down. Felt like they lost all the rough edges they had on Live Through This and got super generic. Boo.
I liked this one a bit more than Live Through This, but it still wasn’t for me. I found it a mixed bag because I didn’t like the grungier songs as much as the other ones plus the vocals weren’t doing it for me. I can definitely see why other people would like this album though.
it's okay
Its ok.
Cool if you like nineties grunge, alt-rock, but I’m undecided whether I do or don’t, I seem to get quite bored of it pretty quickly. Idk man how bout two stars.
The music's not bad, but this has to be the best example of that horrible late 90's/early 2000's production/mastering that sounds like compressed asshole. Hard to listen to.
My second Hole album here. I enjoyed the Live Through This more. This is good for what it is, but LTT was a little looser and more raw. This isn’t going change any worlds.
I feel like my reviews have gotten stale, but also maybe these recommendations just are. I have talked about things being unspectacular too often but I expect more from this list. This is pretty standard/unspectacular 90s angst rock. It’s listenable and fine but pretty whatever
pretty boring
A nice rock album, but not very special for me.
Dreadful, I listened to as much as I could. I begrudgingly cede one star for the music sometimes being less than horrible and the production solid for what they had to work with. But nothing can make up for her wretched voice. I hate everything about her junkie rock star persona.
Honestly, the only thing wrong with this album is Courtney Love’s grating, relentless voice. Otherwise, some decent late 90s grunge-pop.
cancion famosa celebrity skin, rock, turut turut turuuu, ooh make me oooveeer,... es la unica famosa
It was pretty alright. Didn't really stand out to me
This is a bit too 'punk' and not enough 'post' for me
Very underwhelming. Very repetitive. The instrumentation is awful. There are two great songs but the rest is not good at all.
Rock from the late 90s, already drifting into that fully digital, over-polished production. The record really suffers from the comparison with its 1994 predecessor. Still, while Celebrity Skin sounded fairly mainstream back then, it doesn’t really feel that way anymore. And honestly, which singer today would dare to sing like Courtney Love? Clearly below the rest of the band’s discography for me. The acoustic turn sounds a bit artificial and slightly out of place. Only few songs still work for me.
nothing wow
meh. rock. yelling.
I'd rather be listening to Yoko - my skin's not famous enough for this.
Enjoyed parts, but got a little bit too much "Jam session" for me
Nothing stood out to me. Not the vocals, lyrics, guitars, drums…. Admittedly I am not a fan of grunge, but there is a reason Hole doesn’t have the hits that, say, Nirvana had. Didn’t hate it but nothing note worthy.
Ok
Hittibiisi tuttu, loppu levy oli samaa ysärin lopun ajan kuvaa. Rupesin kyllästymään laulajaan ekan parin biisin aikana ja loppu levy meni pakkopullaks. Yks hyvä biisi löyty levyn loppupäästä mikä vähän piristi.
Two solid singles and a lot of meh. It's not bad but it's not good either. Top tracks: "Celebrity Skin," "Malibu"
Not for me. Downhill after the opener.
Final thoughts: this album has decent hooks and some glossy production but most of Love's edge has been sanded down into a poppier presentation. I don't think her voice is versatile enough to match the more radio friendly focus ******************************************************************************* --Celebrity Skin...chunky bass. great opener --Awful...generic arena rock --Hit So Hard...see above --Malibu...radio friendly unit shifter --Reasons to Be Beautiful...more arena rock but this one has bite --Dying...this album is well produced but feels very safe --Use Once & Destroy...thankfully Melissa Auf der Maur is here to add some much needed heaviness --Northern Star...the super serious acoustic ballad. too long --Boys on the Radio...it's perfectly fine but there's no danger here. Courtney Love songs should be dangerous --Heaven Tonight...this could be played at a middle school dance --Playing Your Song...there's a little edge here --Petals...ready to be done
I was vaguely familiar with the opening track "Celebrity Skin", but I'm not sure where from. I have to wonder if its inclusion in this list is due to the band being fronted by Courtney Love because I was unimpressed by this album. The track "Playing Your Song" sounded like Nirvana.
Liked the first song. The rest sounded like filler to me unfortunately
I've never been much of a Hole fan and even though I guess I like this more than their more raw material, I still can't shake the fact that this album sounds like a complete sellout. The glass is so thick on this album that it is really hard to differentiate this from a lot of the mid-90s heavy guitar Alt rock. I guess that's what's curious to me is that this album sounds so 1995 when it's 1998. Though I would have to say this is better than the butt rock emerging in 1998. The first half of the album where all the hits are the gloss is so thick you can cut it with a knife. But there is some of their more raw sound on tracks like "Dying" and "North Star" actually think I have more respect for those than the big hits even though i find the hits more tolerable. The only song on the album I truly did enjoy was "Use Once & Destroy" that song seem to find the right balance as opposed to most of the rest of the album . (5.5) ★★½
Most of this was not my taste. Some highlights here and there with the jangle pop, but I wasn't a fan of the grungier parts
If this list needs an album from a person who is famous only because of being a widow of a rock star, I'd prefer Yoko Ono. Female version of Nickelback
Solid album but produced and polished within an inch of its life. The rawness was the appeal of Live Through This and made it a top 10 of its genre. This is calculated and shined up just right for MTV and American Top 40. Worked as well methinks as it was 12 years before another album. That could have been the objective, but also might just be how Michael Stipe writes.
Other than the singles which aredecent, rest of the album is meh. Northern Star knocked it from a 3 to a 2
I guess it was better than I expected.
The album was just a wall of sound to me and it blended in to the background.
Smelly pub music
Didn't find this sonically interesting, would probably give this a miss. I have heard Love's solo work prior to this and I didn't enjoy that either, so I'm not surprised this wasn't for me.
I didn't listen in its entierety. Not a fan though.
Not even their best
It’s been odd having been around for Courtney’s various transformations and whatnot, seeing her barely make it through a Hole festival set, just...not great...and then younger gens seize on her as An Icon, usually in the context of this album. Which, when it came out, just seemed to be one part of the Courtney Love Experience, second or third to her acting career and time in the press. If anything, working with former beau Billy Corgan seemed to further substantiate the idea that she couldn’t really write her own material and that Kurt likely played a similar role in the creation of Live Through This. Whatever the authorship, Celebrity Skin is a deliberately radio-friendly slick piece of rock craft, and that enough turned me off; as much as I may have not ever bought Love’s persona, I thought Live Through This got the balance of ferocity and melody right, with a throughline of hurt. Celebrity Skin, otoh, was all in on being a Rock Star. Nearly 30 years later, my read is largely the same, tempered some by distance from the indie rock sellout moralizing that informed much of the music experience in the late 90s. I still can’t hear it as anything other than an attempt to sell a whole lot of records and buttress Love’s quest for idolatry. Is it any good as the product of that? Somewhat? But it’s so anonymous, when trying to recall various songs I get them mixed up with material from Garbage, Bush, and Veruca Salt. It’s no wonder that when it came to folks playing at rock star games, I favoured britpop at this time. At least they were honest about it.
Hmmmm. Never was a massive fan, perhaps early albums have a bit more drive in them. The commercial placement and production, diffuses what was a great sounding band. It was hard to get through
One good song. Not even written by the main songwriter.
The kind of rock even haters of the style could tolerate, for better or worse. With its clean and non-challenging sound, its catchiness-by-virtue-of-predictability and Courtney Love's competent but not very characterful voice, you could have fooled me that some of these tracks are straight from a 'The Victorious Cast goes Rock!' album.
I appreciate it the grungy/pop punk take on a California album, and it does a good job of melding glitz and glamour with seedy underbelly, but I just don't love grunge or pop punk. 2.5
Gostei mais da primeira e da última...
++: Hit So Hard, Use Once & Destroy, Heaven Tonight +: Awful +-: Celebrity Skin, Malibu, Dying, Playing Your Song, Petals -: Reasons to Be Beautiful, Northern Star, Boys on the Radio 4,0/10
2.5/5, began with a lot of energy but when you realize half the songs sounds the same and the singing feels so dragging, I just can't I can't with this singer singing every song the same, but I guess I just don't like the style
Better, more original, than the first Hole album.
I’m not really a fan of Hole, but I went in open-minded and I didn’t hate it! So, there’s that. I don’t know what else to say except I find the music unremarkable and not sure why it’s on this list. Oh well. Standout: Reasons to be Beautiful 01-29-2026
I've not heard of Hole before. Musically a little repetitive with little chord variation but made worse by the vocals that sounded partly stoned and mostly strained by trying to sing/shout too loud. Probably intended to make it seound heavier but to me it didn't succeed.
Too grungy. Lol. Not my thing
I focused on the tambourine on most tracks. they use them a lot. I'd like to hear billy corgan cover the songs he co-wrote. there is no reason to hear this before you die.
Hole are a decent band but felt the material was a bit weak here. Felt like they were going for that big cross over hit album and it hasn't really worked 2.5*
Only two of the album touched me. The others are just normal and little boring. But I can feel the California style from this band.
хоул это пас. не помню сколько альбомов мне уже ставили, но возможно был момент когда я сказала что она на удивление по нотам поёт - вот тут всё-таки нет, намеренно под нотами, такое я один раз могу послушать
Once again this generator has generated a mediocre record from the 1990s that might have reasonably stayed put.
Courtney Love is not a very good singer and to me this album mostly sounds like 90's radio pop with bad singer. 'Use once and destroy' is the exeption and is a clear stand out track for me.
It's hard to imagine that Hole was classified in the alternative rock category. The whole term alt-rock just seems so vaguely stupid. The whole album is pretty pop. Halfway through the album I wondered if this album could offer anything new or interesting. It didn't, even though it's a perfectly decent album in a category that's nice to listen to without the need to ever return to the album again.
It's Hole gone pop and Hollywood, for the foreseeable sales I imagine. It's calculated grunge gone mainstream with all the punk fukt off, hired producer to smooth out the rough with buckets of vanilla to drown out the interesting and reel in the average listener. The only thing I find enjoyable on this record is Melissa Auf der Maur's playing.
Não é ruim ou desagradável, mas não trás nada a acrescentar.
I had only heard the first song before and was like wow this is gonna be a great album if that is just the opener!!!
I never listened to Hole in the 90s. I’ve always wondered if I’ve been missing out. I’m happy to confirm I have not been. It feels like it’s trying too hard to sound like something it’s not. Just feels hollow and meh.
I mean, it’s fine. Nothing unique or remarkable. For me, It’s hard to get past the way everything sounds the same and the vocal delivery that lacks nuance. Courtney Love will always believe her music and her thoughts are much more important than the rest of us do. She cites her poetic inspirations as T.S. Eliot and Shakespeare for this album, and compares the musical style here as a deconstructed Beach Boys or the Doors. I’ll suggest this might be loftier company than Hole should ever be mentioned amongst. And I guarantee that bringing Billy Corgan into the mix on any album will DEFINITELY NOT make things less pretentious. So, yeah, it’s just whatever… nevermind.
as 90's of a sound as it gets, also a Smashing Pumpkins with woman lead vibe at times.. The nostalgia I have for the underlying sound here is working against the album rather than for it. It's not a bad album though, just not for me. On the first listen, there'd be like three seconds where I'd think "wow this sounds just like [ other song ]", and then feel disappointed when it was inevitably different. This would be a 2.5 with a half star system.
Meh. Couple catchy songs.
A bit too shouty, and sounds a bit dated now.
It had that one song on it...
Good but mid, it s one of those albums that at first i m like wtf emm sure dont really care about it but as you listen to it you start liking some songs and the vibe but overall not anything spectacular, two good songs tho.
these guys made generic AI music the hard way: hours and hours of studio time spent on riffless, shapeless power chord slop and vague, opaque lyrics about "Los Angeles and the state of California" (their words). the title track is at least memorable because it has an actual riff. there have been some duds on this list, but none of them have been as anonymous as this.
Not my Hole
sux
Sheryl Crow with reverb. Doesn’t sound as fierce as originally did.
Tämmöstä aika perusrenkutusta, ei jatkoon.
Joo ei tää vaan oikein lähe. Pari ihan jees hittiä, mutta jotenkin vähän liian kliinisen laskelmoivaa. Ei nyt ihan nolla eli reikä eli hole ehkä enempi arshoul eli kakkonen.
This is just too generic and average. Overrated.
A bit whiny
Album a gradual downward slope in quality and listenability. Was over it by the time I hit Northern Star
There is just something so fundamentally unauthentic about this music to me. Off key vocals by design. Love seems to have imagined what she wanted her musical persona to be and is then acting it out. I have a sneaking suspicion she's a better vocalist than she lets on. And it's not just her—it's the entire band. I'm not a fan.