Reviews (page 5 of 10)
One of the few classics that manages to be both overrated and underrated at the same time.
This was cool. Quiet loud thing but woman. Certainly a good album
A lot of people shit on Courtney Love for her lackluster singing voice and association with Kurt Cobain, but I have always liked Hole and I think her voice fits the vibe perfectly. This album is slots in right in between the more "sophisticated" grunge of the 90's and it's more punk and hardcore past. Love's voice is gravelly and uncoordinated and it matches the recording style and unfiltered guitars just right. The songwriting isn't particularly captivating but it's aggressive without being washed out and angry all the time. Violet is the pick of the bunch for me, but I enjoy all of it for its own reasons. I think Rock Star is a perfect finisher for it and it's even more perfect for a kid listening to it at the time. The nostalgia is very present for me in this album, so it's with a bias that I rate it so highly. It's still good though, and I think Hole deserves their place among the great 90's bands.
Very interesting good energy, need to listen again to fully appreciate
OK I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did!
Buen album de grunge. Recuerdan demasiado a Nirvana.
I came to appreciate this band in my adulthood, but I wasn’t really into Hole when they were popular. I don’t think I was quite ready for Courtney Love when I was 14. But man would my life have been better if I had been.
Two Hole albums in a week is a treat for me. I like this even more than Celebrity Skin. It’s so raw and full of energy and emotion. There are some genuinely great songwriting moments on here, particularly the first half. I will forever argue that Hole deserves a lot more attention in the context of 90s alt rock bands. Favourite tracks: Violet, Miss World, Asking For It, Jennifer’s Body, Doll Parts, Softer, Softest, I Think That I Would Die, Gutless
This is #day535 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… I'll admit I've never really been a fan of Courtney Love. Live Through This, however, is a case in point of '90s alternative rock, grunge, and punk, and that's what matters. Knowing that Love was listening to The Breeders, Pixies, the Bunnymen, and Joy Division while making this record kind of says it all. The whole affair is melodic, tight, and agonizing. A cover of Young Marble Giants' song turned out to be a nice surprise. "I Think That I Would Die" is my favorite here. This is a 4 out of 5. Looking forward to #day536.
Incredibly underrated. So emotional and raw.
Very good. Enjoyable 90s grunge. Some belters on here.
Great album that for the longest time resisted taking an interest in. Vocals are good, guitars are fuzzy and the songs are well written
really good! sounds great and lyrics hit hard, it's such a nice mix
I'm not a Courtney Love hater and every Hole album has a few songs that i really like. But as a whole (ha ha) their albums aren't that great.
Phenomenal album
Take me back to my emo teen years
Actually better than I remembered
Lots to like about shouty albums by women
**Hole – *Live Through This* (1994)** In-depth review: lyrics, music, production, themes, influence, pros & cons --- ### **1. Lyrics – raw confessionals as feminist weapons** - **Dual-voice strategy**: Love toggles between whispered vulnerability and full-throated assault, mirroring the way women are expected to be both passive and performative (“Violet”[1][4]). - **Recurring images**: beauty pageants, torn dresses, blood, milk, fire, car crashes. These are not shock-tactics; they literalise the violence baked into feminine archetypes. - **Key tracks** – *“Asking for It”*: written after Love was stripped while stage-diving. The refrain “Was she asking for it?” is sung like a cheer, exposing victim-blaming as a cultural chorus[2]. – *“Doll Parts”*: insecurity rendered as nursery-rhyme (“I am doll eyes, doll mouth, doll legs”). Written the night she realised she loved Kurt Cobain, it’s both love-song and self-dissection[2]. – *“Jennifer’s Body”*: kidnapping/murder narrative inspired by Colleen Stan; turns true-crime into allegory for every girl told the world wants to consume her[2]. - **Language register**: high-school diary meets French-feminist theory. Love name-drops *Gone with the Wind* (“I want to live through this”) and cites beauty-pageant melodrama while growling “Go on, take everything”[1]. --- ### **2. Music – grunge that remembers pop is a weapon** - **Dynamic blueprint**: Pixies-style loud/quiet/loud, but the quiet bits are folk-singalongs and the loud bits arrive with Beatles-esque backing vocals (“I think that I would die…”)[1]. - **Riff architecture**: Eric Erlandson’s guitars are tuned low but ring like 12-string jangle; he lets feedback bloom rather than suffocate, giving songs a *celestial* ugliness. - **Rhythm section**: Patty Schemel’s drums are the album’s heartbeat—loose, tom-heavy, almost *swinging* on “Miss World”. Bassist Kristen Pfaff adds melodic counter-lines that *sing* rather than *thud*[1]. - **Hidden hooks**: “Credit in the Straight World” nicks a chorus from obscure UK post-punk band Young Marble Giants, then layers Courtney’s banshee wail on top—an Easter-egg that rewards crate-diggers. - **Tempo discipline**: 38-minute runtime, no song over 3:48. The brevity makes the emotional violence feel like a drive-by rather than a siege. --- ### **3. Production – polished filth** - **Producers**: Sean Slade & Paul Q. Kolderie (fresh from Radiohead’s *Pablo Honey*)[1]. - **Sonic strategy**: – Keep bleed & room tone so screams feel *lived-in*. – Double-track vocals only on choruses, leaving verses naked. – Use vintage Neve pre-amps for grit, but SSL compression for radio-ready punch—achieving the paradox of “radio-friendly abrasion”. - **Mix choices**: snare sits *inside* the guitar swirl, not on top; Love’s voice is *in* the band, not *over* it, creating the sense she’s fighting for space—perfect for lyrics about being silenced. --- ### **4. Themes – a concept LP about surviving femininity** | Surface topic | Sub-text | |---------------|----------| | Beauty pageant | Ritualised objectification (“Miss World” crown on the cover)[1]. | | Celebrity widowhood | Premonition of media crucifixion (album released 7 days after Cobain’s death). | | Mother-daughter cycles | “I told you I’d be your worst nightmare” (*Plump*)—Love’s own mother was a therapist who published a book on parental guilt. | | Rape culture | Not just “Asking for It”; *every* track asks who gets to narrate women’s bodies. | | Self-sabotage vs self-assertion | Love refuses to be *either* damsel *or* avenger—she’s both in the same breath. | The title phrase (“Live Through This”) is whispered in the final seconds, suggesting survival is *not* triumph but scarred continuity. --- ### **5. Influence – riot-grrrl’s older sister who made the charts** - **Immediate ripple**: 1994–96 labels sign Bikini Kill, Babes in Toyland, Jack Off Jill—A&R shorthand: “find more Hole types”[3]. - **Fashion**: torn baby-doll dresses & smeared lipstick become mall-punk uniform; even Hot Topic’s 1995 catalogue quotes Love’s *Live Through This* tour look. - **Cinema**: *Jennifer’s Body* (2009) lifts song title & thematic DNA; *The Runaways* (2010) costumes copy Love’s tiara-and-choker combo. - **21st-century echoes**: Olivia Rodrigo’s *SOUR* artwork (teary mascara) prompted Love’s Instagram call-out, proving the iconography still pings[3]. - **Covers & samples**: – Miley Cyrus sings “Doll Parts” on 2020 Plastic Hearts tour. – Phoebe Bridgers interpolates the chord progression in “I Know the End”. --- ### **6. Pros & Cons** | Pros | Cons | |------|------| | 1. **Feminine rage** mainstreamed without sanding edges—still feels dangerous on streaming. | 1. **Uniform dynamic** (quiet verse / loud chorus) can feel templated by track 9[3]. | | 2. **Kristen Pfaff’s bass** adds melodic ear-candy rare in grunge. | 2. **Running order** front-loads classics; Side B loses casual listeners. | | 3. **Lyrics** that reward English-class close-reading yet still work in a mosh-pit. | 3. **Courtney’s pitch** wobbles on straight-ahead rocker “Gutless”—a love-it-or-hate-it tone. | | 4. **38-minute sprint**—no filler interludes or prog nonsense. | 4. **Cobain-shadow gossip** distracts first-time listeners from the actual songs. | | 5. **Production** bridges punk rawness & radio clarity—sounds good on earbuds or stadium PA. | 5. **Limited musical palette**; if you hate dropped-D grunge guitars, nothing here converts you. | --- ### **Verdict** *Live Through This* is the rare 90s rock record that weaponised pop craft without neutering punk fury. Its literary lyric sheet, radio-ready hooks and unapologetic estrogen anger created a blueprint still photocopied by young bands discovering that the personal is political—and the political *slaps* when you scream it in a tiara.
I wish I liked it more because I like the cover, for now 2 just because
I was really knocked off my socks by this. A lot of attitude and energy but also just really solid hooks and melody. Can’t wait to keep revisiting this.
Ik had heel veel zin om dit te luisteren, want een paar liedjes van dit album vond ik al leuk, maar het deed hem gewoon niet voor mij. Ja een beetje langdradig en ik was er echt snel klaar mee :((
She is an icon. She is the moment.
ligt ongetwijfeld aan mij maar t smelt een beetje samen allemaal. verder best leuk
mijn god wat een album. poëtischer en muzikale dan hun debuut, misschien iets te voor echte grunge maar who give a fuck genre discourse is dood en dit album is top
I like the songs, I wish they had less repetition though. It's hard for me to understand the symbolism on first listen, but some of it really hit hard. I don't really like Courtney Love's voice, i think that's the main thing that throws me off about this album/band. The only songs I genuinely really liked was "I Think That I Would Die" and "She Walks On Me," the aggression matched with their messages were perfect. I added "Doll Parts" and "Asking For It" to my library too, though. Best albums yet.
Top notch. All timer.
The Good: We will be able to live through this, or so we are told! The Bad: We aren’t explained what “this” is… The Ugly: What if this is getting a hole perforated somewhere where we don’t like there to be a hole??? Courtney… she is such an angry lady… should we offer to give her a hug? I had the unfortunate surprise to find another Hole album to be on this list, which I gave a 3… in retrospect, that album is borderline 2. Yet here, in the early ‘90s, Live Through This is a perfect example of the angsty music which was starting to take over the landscape. I can’t say that I am not enjoying the experience, even if I still am a person who can’t stand Courtney and her attention-seeking-shit… Kudo’s for this album, and kudo’s for getting over your hubby blowing his head off… I guess you lived through it! 4*
Decent album. I think I prefer the album with Celebrity Skin though, which I think is not the popular opinion. 3.5/5
Yesssss
Glad I listened to this finally. It’s really good and I think she’s a great frontwoman, imo heaps better than many of the male fronted grunge bands. I think as with all ‘grunge’ to some extent, it’s rooted in punk and hardcore, but also has very heavy pop influences. This is certainly the case for this album, but I think the pop aspects positively affect it. Obviously this album will always be linked with Kurt Cobain’s death at a similar time, and I guess it’s quite sad to read into some of her lyrics about their faltering relationship, knowing what would happen. Guitars are brilliant, very well produced. And these songs are also really dynamic, there’s loads of bits where it’s just acoustic guitar. I feel like some of singing can be a bit jarring, but it doesn’t really bother me that much. Favourite songs: violet, Miss world, plump, Jennifer’s body, doll parts, credit in the straight world, softer, softest, gutless, rock star. Overall around 8/10
This was my first proper listen to Live Through This by Hole, and I was genuinely looking forward to it. I wasn’t expecting it to be this good. The album is raw, loud, and full of attitude, but it’s also packed with really strong, catchy songs. There’s a proper energy running through it from start to finish – it moves quickly, never hangs about, and feels exciting the whole way through. Punky, messy, and melodic in the best possible way. I loved it and I’ll definitely be coming back to this one. Favourite tracks: Doll Parts, Rock Star, and Softer, Softest are all cracking songs and really stand out. Least favourite tracks: There isn’t a bad track here – and even if there was, it would be over in two minutes and you’d be straight onto the next one. Album artwork: Great album cover – iconic and suits the record perfectly.
It's hard to argue with this record
Violet - 5/5 Miss World - 4/5 Plump - 4/5 Asking For It - 4.5/5 Jennifer's Body - 4.5/5 Doll Parts - 4/5 Credit In The Straight World - 4.5/5 Softer, Softest - 4/5 She Walks On Me - 4.5/5 I Think That I Would Die - 3/5 Gutless - 4/5 Rock Star - 4/5
Not sure why I'm surprised I enjoyed this so much. I love me some grunge and this is a fuckin good grunge album. Simple as. Man, she can really wail.
Yeah its ok
I think I liked Celebrity Skin more than Live Through This, but Hole is a pretty damn good grunge band that embodies that angst that's so often evident in 90's rock.
For as complicated a character as Courtney Love seems to be, she does, quite simply, rock. Haven't really listened to Hole too much before getting into this list but I'm just about ready to classify myself as a passing fan.
So strange that we got both this and Celebrity Skin in the first 100 albums. I'm not complaining though, I think Live Through This is awesome. This follows the quiet-loud-quiet formula laid out by Pixies and adapted by nearly every alt-rock/grunge band worth their salt to a T. Love's voice is great; it cuts and grinds against the shredding guitars and angular jagged choruses in harsher tracks like opener Violet but then you've got stuff like the Credit in the Straight World cover which is such an excellent version of the YMG original. It extracts the marrow from the song, taking its hook and driving bass structure while exploding its introspection into this assertive, confrontantial song. An excellent riotgrrl/grunge reinterpretation of an evasive post-punk classic. The ear for hooks works it way over to songs like Miss World, Jennifer's Body, Plump, which all have killer riffs. Always dug the closer Rock Star too - I'm weak to that stop-and-start take. For my money, the album's greatest moment is in I Think That I Would Die when Love's voice rolls up and down on the "Rose white, Rose red" bridge like she's caught on a wave. Hypnotic. Favorite Tracks: Miss World, Plump, Jennifer's Body, Credit in the Straight World, I Think That I Would Die, Rock Star.
"I don't really miss God but I sure miss Santa Claus." Basically how I've felt for a long time now but I've been unable to put it in words
3.5 amazing for a karaoke sesh
Pretty grungy. Good energy, with some relief into slower songs. Vocals sunk it for me though.
3.5
Fine. Not really my jam.
Hole’s debut album Pretty On The Inside wasn’t great - it was just too relentlessly antagonistic. Courtney Love was pissed off, we got it, but art needs more than that to make an impact. The follow-up, Live Through This, channelled the anger into proper songs with proper hooks and was all the better for it. Love pretty much reinvented the band, retaining only guitarist Eric Erlandson from the previous line-up and upping the production values - and for all its snarly attitude and loud guitars, Live Through This sounds great. Turn it up and it pops out of the speakers, giving those hooks every chance to catch. Highlights include opener Violet (shouty and angry), Miss World (angry and nihilistic) and Doll Parts (nihilistic and fatalistic) – which probably limits its audience, but Love was an important voice at the time, and this album is one of the best ways to reconnect with it. 8/10
I gotta say this one is always good to come back too
Love you Courtney
One of my fave albums ever. Not a single skip. This was Courtney at her prime (even though Celebrity Skin is also 5/5 in my books).
Girl rock / grunge
Great grungy feel
I like the album art
I didn't connect to it they way I thought
oh kurt if you know that courtney was shamed like this what would you say. would you feel sorry for the tabloids making up the rumours as she is a great musician and you indeed love her 4/5
This band sounds so cool and Love has a great grunge voice. I like this album a lot. The production is also very crisp which I like.
Raw and powerful.
way more rock-metal than I thought
Second best Nirvana album of all time? I'm very familiar with the singles off this, listening to the rest and it all sort of sounds the same, if I was into it at the time it came out I'd probably appreciate it more but listening now it's fine.
I was 17 when this came out and I had a preconceived idea that Hole, more so Courtney Love was not up to scratch. My thinking was probably warped by the media and being a Nirvana fan I saw Courtney as the enemy. I only knew one Hole song Celebrity Sin, I refused to like it even with it being played over and over again on the radio. This album slapped me in the face so hard it factory reset my brain and I now have a new found love for Hole!
fjckjn FIRE
Very screamy, not very musical. This was not up my alley at all, but was blessedly short
Pretty good 90s grunge-rock. Strong Daria soundtrack potential.
Hole immediately after Nirvana? I smell a conspiracy. At least, I hope that’s what I smell. Way better than I expected.
I just know I would've loved this as a teenager
This is also … fine. A few more standout tracks for me than the Foo Fighters album I got yesterday (love the synchronicity, wondering if I’ll get Nirvana next) but overall not something I’m likely to listen to again.
Nooooooooo! I've intensely disliked Hole for as long as I can remember. Still boggles my mind how anyone likes this.
This is a very angry chick
Re-listened on 4/16: 3 -> 4 This album has such a strong and cohesive sound, and it has a cathartic energy. Thematically too, the album is very powerful and important. It’s not for everyone, but it hits so hard in the moments it needs to. Love is a genius lyrically and doesn’t hold back here at all. You know who she is and what she stands for in these songs. It’s not perfect but the emotion is unmatched. Top Songs: Doll Parts, Softer, Softest, Violet, Plump, I Think That I Would Die
Violet-2/10 Miss world-3.5/10 Plump-6/10 Asking for it-7.5/10 banger Jennifer’s body-4/10 Doll parts-
I gotta say I'm accustomed to women screaming at me so this album felt absolutely fine
I forgot to rate this the other day but I remember being way happier when it ended and it started autoplaying real music
I can’t get behind the emerging hot take that this is better than Nevermind. I listened to both with an open mind. I tried. But it’s a fantastic rock record and Courtney Love is a force of nature.
A good grunge record
Wow. That Courtney love sure can sing
Courtney Love is a divisive figure and a tour de force, but I personally love her work and consider this her absolute magnum opus. It's a defining album of the grunge era, effortlessly pairing monster hooks with a pure punk-girl manifesto. The shadow of Cobain's death will always hang over it, but that context only makes it more powerful as a retroactive snapshot of their marriage and mutual struggles. 'Miss World' remains one of the bleakest, hardest-rocking songs I've ever heard. A perfect snapshot of where alternative music was, and exactly where it was heading.
Good spirit. Slight lack of tunes.
Fierce feminist rock. Amazing
Meh
I enjoyed it! I’m pretty sure this is one of the albums that inspired Olivia Rodrigo that little Mexican girl that be crying
Hole is actually pretty solid.
One of my favorites when I was a teenager. Girl power!
One of my favorite albums of the 90s in my teens. The perfect fuck you from Courtney to all the haters.
Oops this album found me in my riot grrl era. For real this is a great album. The sound is ferocious. The lyrics take on interesting perspectives and complex feelings about motherhood, being objectified by society and dealing with mental illness. I’ve found it quite thought-provoking and have already listened twice.
I don't like the vocals. And I found the guitar more generic and not too interesting Edit Apr 2 2026: 2 --> 3. It has grown on me. I keep repeating to myself: YOU SHOULD LEARN HOW TO SAY NO
Criminally underrated album. When talking about grunge itbis oft left out, but it is an important part of that conversation. And better than anything Alice In Chains ever did.
I wanted to give Live a chance based on the radio singles I had heard. I am unimpressed. This was another album that I forgot as I was listening to it. Multiple times I had to remind myself that I was supposed to be listening to this album for the project. I don’t think this is a must hear, or culturally relevant.
Such fun. I'm embarrassed to say that I've always considered Courtney Love to be 2nd rate artist, but, again, embarrassed, I've never listened to Hole. This is great music. So tight with the era. My apologies to Ms. Love and the band. I've wasted 30 years of my life.
Extraordinary. What exactly do you call this? Grunge? Alt rock? Riot grrl punk? Whatever it is, it's spewing with hate and vindictiveness and it's absolutely fucking rad. "I'm eating you. I'm overfed. Your milk's in my mouth. It makes me sick." DAMN GIRL By the way, Courtney Love can sang. A monstrous performance top to bottom, in the best way.
It's clearly very good, just that I don't particularly like to hear it.
It's a great alternative rock album. It sounds raw and original. Courtneys voice sounds good too, in an original way with fearless expression. But then.. one questions the true originality eventually. Maybe this is just another great Nirvana/ Kurt Cobain album. This detail unfortunately affects the listening experience through the album.
Great album
Really enjoyed. Solid rock
3.5
Discovering 90s grunge in my 30s is wild. Painfully emotional lyrics capturing womanhood. Who knew courtney love.
I knew a few songs already like Violet and Doll Parts. Unsurprisingly a strong female rocker album was right down my street. I love the fury in Courtney Love's screaming and Violet in particular is incredible
Fantastic album
It seems like ’m giving everything 3 these these days. Didn’t like it but not bad enough to give it a 2. (1 is for absolute crap that shouldn’t be on the list.)
2 out of 5 A couple of really great song shows Courtney Love's talent, but the majority of the songs are just screeching and hard to listen to
Eh
Good
first listen i'm a simple man i like angry girl music
Very solid album! 3 1/2, really. I just don’t really like Courtney’s vocals for some reason. Maybe I’m just.. biased against Courtney..
6/10
I think I liked it more than I thought. It holds together pretty well in the end. At first I thought it was running out of ideas a bit after the first 5 tracks but on repeat listens it's still entertaining. It's not the best thing ever but it's made me curious enough to try again.
Preferred the other hole album but maybe it'll grow on me
Yesterday, I was talking about 1990s albums, and Courtney Love, so the 1001 Albums Generator gods presented this, and I liked it so much more than I thought I would. I felt like an edgy teenager again. In other news, my grandpa died today. At least he lived a good, long life. The angst in this album is how I felt today, even though his soul is thriving in a much better place than the Pale Blue Dot. Favorite Track: "Violet".
Godmother of femi-punk
Some welcome grunge and a fantastic album to boot
Gave me nothing
Nirvana were great. A shot in the arm for rock music when it was starting to sound like the musical equivalent of deja vu all over again. But copyists, who were always going to come along, needed to be especially talented to make this style of music anything other than a tribute. And serial star fucker supreme, Courtney Love, was always going to struggle on that front. Could have been made by Nirvana with a female singer. Apart from the fact that it's rubbish. Next.
Pretty good
Miss World is a pretty great song
Reminded me a little of a vitriolic Patti Smith.Worth a listen.
Courtney Love. Great album. -1 for Kurt. 4/5
Mid
There are a couple of true gems on this album (Doll Parts, Violet) and some that feel a bit like generic anger. But female anger needs space to be expressed and this sounds like freedom in that way. So while not perfect, this album always hold a special place in my heart.
Rumours abound and sledging is rife, Was this really written by his wife? Until today I had listening delayed, Despite copies hanging in all stores portrayed. ……. It’s hard for women to get credit in the real world, But this album is bejewelled and often pearled, And after two listens my decision is final, Rumours be damned, I will get it on vinyl.
Pretty cool
I walked into this expecting a train wreck, or at least something I’d have to grit my teeth through. Instead, it turns out Live Through This is way more solid than its reputation for chaos suggests. Courtney Love is never going to melt faces with pristine vocals, but that’s not what this album is selling. Her ragged delivery, pushed to the edge of cracking, somehow fits the band’s tight, punchy quiet-to-loud songwriting better than a “better” singer ever could. There are real hooks buried under all the distortion, and the band holds the whole thing together with a sense of purpose that surprised me. This isn’t going on my daily rotation or anything, but it’s unquestionably better crafted—and more cohesive—than I expected. A well-earned three: flawed, fiery, and far more compelling than I thought it would be.
Great rock record. Controversial opinion I don't think Kurt Wrote it.
Solid but nothing really blew me away about it
Violet's great! She walks on me is pretty energetic Its good! Not much to say about it, I like the vibe of it for sure
Well, she knows how to rock. Not sure I enjoyed all that much, but she can rock.
1. violet - 1.5 2. uuorld - 1 3. plump - 1 4. Asking -1.5 5. Body - 1.5 6. Doll - 1.5 7. Credit - 1 8. Softer -1.5 9. Me -1 10. Die -1 11. Gut -1 12. Star - 1.5
A pop album i expect kees to listen to. A mix of the start of the pop girl era mixed with heavy rock influence. I overall enjoy it a lot. For sure an above average album for me. The intresting sounds of the transision of rock and modern pop created a unique sound that has replayablility while standing on its own. Overall 3.5
Denk dat 17 jarige angsty Lalique dit leuk had gevonden, de Lalique van nu wil rust en stilte. Maar cool.
Interesting and punky. I can see how this has influenced punk of even today. Courtney Love has a powerful raw voice that is really unique. 3.5
Nice and punk, sounds very 90s. Second song sounds quite Nirvana like which isn't surprising. It's pretty good but I don't see myself listening to it again. Listening to this I want to hear their harder sounds (as this apparently their softer albums). I feel like those may resonate more with me. "She walks on me" confirms that I'd probably love that even more
Grunge, rock, tutto. Potente ed incazzato, mi piace.
*Good alternative 90s album *Definitely hear the Cobain influence- guitars are grungy at time and her vocals go hoarse at the end of a phrase/word *Solid musically but it didn't overly wow me
Can't hate this. I share her Love of Milk!
I think I just don't like Grunge. Nothing against the artists personally though.
Girl rage is real
The best female empowerment album since Houmous & Chutneys collaboration with Toya’s Wilcox on the hit record ‘Girls Can Shout Too (Ya Know!)’ 2.4 12/12 Rockstar
It’s good. More like 3.5 stars, but I like it.
Solid album. Standout songs: Miss World Gutless She Walks on Me
Pluss: Endelig ikke gubberock. Minus: Fortsatt middelmådig og uinteressant musikk. Kun kjent pga. kjendis-vokalist.
not my cup of tea
Wack
Pleasently surprised by how heavy it was. Not familiar with the brand. Great vocals and instruments, aggressive and fast flowing. But nothing surprising or particularly standing out by today's standards.
I enjoyed this more than I expected. Not crazy about her voice though
Interesting to hear some grunge from someone other than a depressed white guy
Angery
Really enjoyed - not as good as Celebrity Skin for my money - but still a great listen and far better than majority of their contemporaries.
More entertaining than I was expecting. Classic Grunge with some good melodies going on.
Interesting. I remember listening to Celebrity Skin a lot but missed this one. Yay this is awesome. So much part and parcel of the punkish indie rock of its time. This is in the same vein as the pixies, L7, mid career Sonic Youth. It’s noisy chaotic and beautiful. Also it doesn’t like it’s something that’s just a copy cat of that scene it sounds like a living part of creating this sound. If, like me, you only ever heard Celebrity Skin and felt that was some watered down grunge for the masses… this ain’t it. It’s abrasive punk with a lot of rage and the talent to express it via music. Also very biting feminist lyrics that literally scream at you and very interesting sludge metal influences. Four stars.
Rockin
Feels like im watching a teenagers coming of age movie and the older sister is blaring music while going through her emo phase.
Courtney love grunge voice 10 hours
good rock/grunge
Courtney Love!
IMHO as someone who grew up in Washington state, this album is underrated. It's both a major influence in the grrrrl rock movement, and a really good grunge record. I think it speaks for many women of a certain age and the realization that society has unrealistic visions for what they should be as "young ladies". Courtney Love is a bit of a polarizing figure but I appreciate that she frequently says exactly what she thinks, a rarity in the rock world.
Good stuff
Siempre prefereí a PJ Harvey, Breeders, Throwing Muses o Sleater-Kinney, y junto a Hole, L7, Babes in toyland, etc. Muchas de ellas metidas en el saco de las Riot Grrrls. Pero Hole nunca me dieron mucho más. Tenían como Elastica el hándicap de ser la novia de un lumbreras como Cobain (Justine era la de Albarn). Un disco grunge o como quieran llamarlo, con buenas canciones y melodías, con una Courtney que acaparó portadas, escándalos y protagonismo. ¿Referente? Para mí , no. creo que hubo muchas otras antes, después y sobre todo con mayor talento.
I could never really enjoy this group. At moments in a given song it feels like it'll coalesce into something really worthwhile. Then it just falls back to the samey.
Can anyone tell me why Courtney is so angy? Big chunks of this are bad, but in the deliberately bad way grunge kinda was.
This was the perfect album for what I was feeling today. Favorite Songs: Credit in the Straight World, She Walks on Me
I lived through it.
Definitely not as strong as celebrity skin for me but still awesome. Def felt more like a pearl jam album then like a smashing pumpkins album. love her voice tho
This album ROCKS. Courtney love is a fucking powerhouse lead rock band performer. Her voice is so so perfect. It’s edgy and raw and the songs are AWESOME. I definitely like this better than celebrity skin cuz it just feels more cohesive and less shiny. LOVE IT!
Violet Doll Parts
I don’t mind a few Hole songs, and own one of two albums. Haven’t really listened to much apart from he odd song here and there for years though. Went into this one looking forward to it, but found it quite disappointing.
Just what I expected - enjoyed this a lot
It's not the best album that Kurt ever wrote, but it's pretty good
Wow, misogyny is very real, huh. Banger album.
Not my thing. Band sounded good, didn't like the vocals.
Desde muy muy chico cuando era un reciente fanático de nirvana me he negado a escuchar este álbum porque odiaba con todo mi ser a Courtney Love y la culpaba por matar a Kurt Cobain. Hoy, varios años después escucho por primera vez esto y si bien no está mal no me llega mucho, capaz sigo resentido en el fondo...
Un peu basic
You can definitely hear the similarities between Hole and Nirvana, though who influenced whom is up for debate. I love Love's vocal timbre – it's absolutely perfect for the mood and lyrics of each and every song. From the opener, Violet, we hear the anguish, the strain, the anger that you always hope to get from an alternative rock band. And yet it manages to avoid being overblown, maintaining a pretty tasteful musicality. The same cannot be said for other sub-branches of rock like post-punk and death metal. She Walks On Me is probably the closest Hole gets to these more experimental genres, what with its filtered vocal, guitar distortion, and fast, angry rhythm. Credit In The Straight World is also a standout, musically, though it's hard to tell why. It has an unconventional opening sections that's mostly echoed vocals, and it's very cool. Exotic, almost. On the other hand, the songs Plump and Jennifer's Body are excellent examples of keeping this balance between (radio-)friendliness and harshness, and they're two of my favourites for that reason. The lyrical themes in this album are pretty frustrating (or maybe "harrowing" is a better word) to listen to in 2025. It feels like nothing has changed in 31 years. There still has to be an active push against misogyny, body shaming, and societal standards to keep people safe. (And, in some places, it's gotten significantly worse since the 90s.) "Every time that I stare into the sun / Angel dust, and my dress just comes undone / And every time that I stare into the sun / Be a model or just look like one / Wild-eyed, rot gut, do me in / Do you think you can make me do it again?" Damn. I know there's plenty of similar themes being expressed in music nowadays, but that music isn't gaining as much traction as it did in the 90s. The main thing stopping this from reaching 5 stars is that none of the songs are particularly catchy or obviously "hits". 4/5 Key tracks: Violet, Jennifer's Body, Doll Parts
Great stuff. Underrated.
Good, didn’t blow me away, but I still liked it.
"If Harvey Weinstein invites you to a private party at the Four Seasons, don't go" Courtney Love 2005
Enjoyed this more than I expected. Preferred its less heavy parts
One of those albums where the most famous tracks are actually the weaker ones
3.5
I think this is a pretty great record. Not 5 stars great but really very good. I think it helps that this actually kind of is my thing this grungy sound and raw expression. It also still has a bit of that pop sensibility that the best ‘grunge’ always brought tot he table. I think their next record Celebrity Skin had bigger hits and was better in that sense but this is the real deal - broken people making heartfelt music that expresses their life experience.
she was speaking truth but you people weren’t ready to hear it
Not much of a Hole fan but this album was really quite good.
Contender for best grunge album
Terrible. Can’t sing. No great songs.
Really great grunge album. The messiness of the music perfectly matches Courtney Love as well. Rating: 4.8
Gear: 64 Audio Duo Artwork: 🥹👑👰♀️ Production: 🧃📻👍 Music: 😇👩🎤🖕 Ratinng: 🕳️🕳️🕳️(🕳️)/5
It's pretty good. 3.75 stars.
8/10
Meh not for me at this moment of my life. Too grungy and angsty, I can see the appeal though and would have been a big album when it came out.
Masterpiece! Perfect album, perfect vocal! However, Nirvana's influence is here.
Doll parts
Violet 4.3 Miss World 3.7 Plump 3.6 Asking for It 3.8 Jennifer's Body 3.9 Doll Parts 4 Credit in the Straight World 3.5 Softer, Softest 3.7 She Walks on Me 3.6 I Think That I Would Die 3.8 Gutless 3.7 Rock Star (Olympia) 3.7 Score: 3.775
Love it
The way I didn't know Courtney Love was in a band until Hole albums started showing up on here... Very 90s grunge rock. It's ok, not my thing 2*
Courtney is derivative of Kurt. I found this album to be a corporate money grab. the music is dull, uninteresting.
97/1089 a pretty cool angsty/grungy rock project. I really appreciate Love’s voice and how it’s incorporated very much like an instrument itself. I can see myself coming back to this and liking it more. faves: Jennifer’s Body, Violet, She Walks On Me, Softer, Softest, Rockstar, Doll Parts 67/100
90s rock. Lots of distortion. Female lead singer.
Pretty raw music, but enjoyable enough. Very of it's time and Nirvana-esque, which fits considering who was singing. Although I did not know of the relation when I started listening.
Screaming
I despise Courtney Love but can’t deny this album. Violet is a great grunge song
An album so good it caused Kurt Cobain to blow his head off a couple of months later. This is basically a female version of Nevermind. And it rocks.
Was once drunk as fuck in line for a nightclub and asked some chick in line who was wearing a Hole shirt if she thought Courtney Love killed Kurt Cobain. She said no, and her boyfriend said yes, and they immediately got into a fight about it in line. Pretty sure I fell asleep in my hallway about 2 metres from my bed that night. Good times.
Ive always enjoyed Hole's hit singles. First time ive listened to this or anything by them front to back. A phenomenal grunge album i adore maybe even more than anything by Nirvana. The highs arent as high but the consistency throughout is unreal. 10/10
Waiter, waiter! More furious 90s female artists please! Love’s excellent songwriting ability makes this feel like a 38 minute tumultuous therapy session, being both thoroughly personal and accessible. It was bizarre to read that there was a rumour that Kurt Cobain was a ghostwriter for this album, they’re both grunge acts but Love’s lyricism is a lot more pointed and less word salad-y than Cobain’s. Without addressing the elephant in the room, this is a killer album. Highlights: Violet, Asking for It, Doll Parts, Gutless
Best thing about this was that it was only 38 minutes. I've listened to a previous hole album and enjoyed it. Didn't with this, don't know why.
I have never enjoyed hole or Courtney love. This album did. It change my mind. Lots of the songs sounded the same.
Better than I though it was
Let's get this out of the way right now. 1. Courtney Love Killed Kurt Cobain 2. Kurt Cobain wrote most of this album just like Billy Corgan wrote a substantial portion of Celebrity Skin. Violet sounds exactly like a song that Nirvana would write the rest of the album is kind of meh in my opinion for me the biggest shame is that most of this was overshadowed by Cobain's death/murder just a few months before. I remember learning that he was dead and then just a few days later this album came out and made Courtney Love a lot of money all for the price of killing one of the greatest musicians of my generation. If you're thinking that this has more to do about Cobain than the album that's because the only thing worth a shit about Courtney Love is Kurt Cobain.
Mehhh do not like this girl rock did not listen to one than more song
It's good. Very nostalgic. Would this record have been made without her being married to Kurt? Probably not. At least not this made this well. She's an opportunist who made the most of her opportunity. Can't fault her.
she’s not a woman of many words, but i appreciate her anger, its giving jumping on my bed playing air guitar with an over exaggerated side part and blondie posters on my wall
In the right headspace for it probably higher rating 3. Plump - my fav so far 4. Asking for it - Love 9. She Walks on Me - Punk as hell
Strong 3,5
good energy Will I listen to again: 95%
okay but not for me
6/10 Needs a few more actual tunes rather than just bashing the guitar. But sometimes I just want someone bashing a guitar
A teenage favorite that holds up surprisingly well! You can hear the Kurt influence, sometimes too much, but solid throughout. Nostalgia tinted glasses, maybe, but who cares.
Some cool oldschool 90s angst
Courtney Love is not a talented musician, and that fact is highlighted on this album. It's hard to listen to her sing.
Good in places , ok in others
Really enjoyed this one, better than I was expecting.
Sort of dismissed Hole back in the day, so good to re listen now. The songwriting is really strong and there are some great songs on here, Violet and Doll Parts are the obvious examples. A great energy and balance is evident, with only Love’s shrieking vocals the real downside.
I’ve not looked at others reviews yet, but I’m assuming others have pointed out that Courtney Love is by far the worst female vocalist we will encounter on this list, and I don’t think she stacks up well even against other more visceral Riot Grrrls from the same time. Alongside some pretty stodgy low grade grunge riffs, this album is entirely forgettable. Dare I say famous/infamous for association only.
um hell yeah violet has been added to favorites
Good if not really for me, I kinda preferred the poppier sound of the other Hole album, much to my shame.
yeah, a solid grunge album with super fucking awesome cover
It doesn't matter how good the music and lyrics are, she just can't sing - and I love women who scream-sing.
an album that ironically was intended to be less noise focused and more pop-centric, Hole's 1993 album that was released a week after lead singer Courtney Love's husband, Kurt Cobain, committed suicide, tried to lean into melody while still maintain hardcore sensibilities. In her words, she was very competitive with Kurt.
Violet - 10/10 Miss World - 11/10 Plump - 10/10 Asking for It - 10/10 Jennifer's Body - 10/10 Doll Parts - 10/10 Credit in the Straight World - 10/10 Softer, Softest - 10/10 She Walks on Me - 10/10 I Think That I Would Die - 10/10 Gutless - 10/10 Rock Star - 10/10
First time listening to this album. Pleasantly surprised. Raw, powerful.
This album does not get the credit it deserves in the grunge era. Raw, angry, emotional. Bridging grunge and punk rock.
This album kicks ass. Like everyone else at this time, I knew about Hole. I never got into them back then though, lots of music in this style and I was listening to other things. Courtney Love's performance is stellar. The band, the songs, the production, all top notch, but her vocals are next level. Several listens in and it's just exactly perfect for a Saturday morning dog walk in early Fall. One of the peaks in a genre full of killer albums. And the cover art is pretty great too.
I want to hate this record but I actually really like it
This album is angry and classic punk rock. The vocalist is RAW and at times a little out of key for me. Definitely not my favorite punk album but not bad. Actual rating...3.5 Liked Songs: "Violet" , "Plump" , "Asking For It" , "Jennifer's Body" , "Doll Parts" , "Softer, Softest" , "She Walks On Me"
This is fine, not much special about it. Generic-y grunge. Courtney Love is not a good vocalist. 2.25
I hate Hole the way I hate Foo Fighters. The difference is Courtney Love on her worst day as a million times better of a human being than Dave Grohl on his best.
This was fine. I’m really not a grunge guy and I don’t love the vocals here but it was ok
Pas mauvais, un peu criard, mais pas le pire dans le genre
L'influence de Kurt est très évidente, c'est une bonne écoute!
I don’t feel like time has been kind to Hole. None the less this is a decent enough grunge album but I can’t help but feel that the songs lack melody and interest. I’ve picked this album up a few times in the past and this is probably the last time I listen to it all the way through.
Fine, a couple tracks that I remembered.
Boy, she was something else.
What on earth is this album, like seriously. I'd reckon this would make a great parody album, with the painfully bad lyrics and all. But I suspect that it unfortunately it isn't. The lyrics seriously bring this album down quite a lot, I usually can try to ignore bad lyrics and try to focus on the instruments and the vocal delivery instead. But with this one I'd have to ignore the entire album, as I find the songs instrumentally and vocals a bit obnoxious. So yeah, I thought maybe Hole wasn't that bad prior to listening to this album. If this is them when they are poppy, I don't think I could stand to listen to their non-poppy stuff for more than a minute; it'd be completely un-listenable. I would like to be proven wrong. But we'll see if I stand them, should I listen to an other album of theirs.
I’ve always felt Hole received more hate than they deserved. Courtney Love in particular has long been treated as a lightning rod, often overshadowed by gossip and controversy rather than taken seriously as a musician. But Live Through This makes the case that Hole was never just hype or tabloid fodder - they were a genuinely great band. This record feels like the culmination of their early energy, sharpened into something both raw and strangely polished. The guitars are abrasive yet hook-filled, the choruses stick in your head, and Love’s voice vacillates between a sneer and a scream. You can hear the band’s growth from Pretty on the Inside that they’ve kept the fury but refined it into songs that cut deeper. What really stands out, though, is the perspective. This isn’t just an album about being angry at an ex or railing against the system in the abstract. It’s a scorned woman album, but the scorn is directed at society itself - it is targeted at the way women are looked at, diminished, commodified, and silenced. Songs like “Violet” and “Miss World” take direct aim at the contradictions of femininity under a male gaze, while “Doll Parts” is almost unbearably vulnerable, as if Love is peeling back the armor to reveal the insecurity underneath. It’s easy to see how many modern female alternative and indie musicians owe something to Hole. You can hear echoes of Live Through This in everyone from Mitski to Wolf Alice to Olivia Rodrigo when she leans into distortion. The combination of unflinching honesty, jagged guitars, and the refusal to soften rage for palatability paved the way for a whole generation. Nearly thirty years later, Live Through This holds up not just as a relic of the 1990s alternative boom, but as one of its most essential documents. It’s an album that’s as confrontational as it is catchy, as painful as it is cathartic. And it proves that the dismissals Hole received at the time say more about how we treat outspoken women than about the music itself.
No private session used for Spotify. Courtney is definitely a polarizing figure, but I love 90's rock and, as always, I try to separate the musician from the music. Some classic 90's angry rock here, which is nice to hear from a female perspective, but also some crap songs showcasing Courtney's questionable vocal range.
Great album. Haven't listened to much of them, but might have to check out the rest now. 4/5
When this album started out I immediately thought it belonged in the category of, “angry girl music of the Indy rock persuasion.” I truly enjoyed this listen.
Good album in the grunge era but don’t think I’d call it one of the best. Musically and vocally well done, but wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to it.
Liked this more than I thought I would! Musically so strong/guitar foundation doing the heavy lifting. Not a fan of her voice/the yelling. Ultimately would pick Garbage over Hole (the band not actual trash)
this was a surprisingly solid album and i'm really glad i listened to it! i knew the radio hits from HOLE before but had never dove into a full album. doven? dived? doved? why do none of those feel right? anyway, i had mostly just thought of courtney love as kurt cobain's crazy trashy druggie girlfriend... and i still do but now i know that she also very skillfully pulls her own weight as a grunge singer and songwriter. i really enjoyed the lyrics and appreciate that she wasn't afraid to get into some pretty dark themes. standout tracks for me were "jennifer's body" (which was the inspiration for the name of the film!) and "rock star". i would play this album while fighting the patriarchy! or finally standing up to the bully on the school bus that's been stealing my snacks and lunch money all year. that's MY fruit by the foot ROGER and today's the day I'M gonna eat it NOT YOU DO YOU HEAR ME!? I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!
Courtney Love killed Kurt Cobain.
A good sounding album that I can see being important/nostalgic to some people. I was a kid in the 90’s and never listened to it until I was an adult, and it’s okay. It sounds like heroin music, made by the heroin heroine.
Listened to this for the first time and yeah, this shit slaps
Actually excellent
In 1994 when this came out, I thought this album far better than any by Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. It’s 2025 now, and i STILL believe this to be true! Bangers include: Violet (I wanna give my violent more violence), Miss World (I am the one you want, can’t look you in the eye), Plump, Asking For It (If she was asking for it, did she ask you twice), and of course, Doll Parts (I am doll parts, Big veins, dog bait…I want to be the girl with the most cake). Reading the lyrics doesn’t do them justice. Courtney Love has the perfect voice to sing these words. This album still crushes all that listen to it. Epic, out of control, paradoxically restrained at times—should be owned on vinyl, too.
Not really for me
The music press did Courtney Love so dirty in the 1990s. This album holds up really well - it’s angry and grungy but it also has tunes.
I enjoyed this. Certainly more than I thought I would. Aside from singles, hearing Hole played in clubs, and Courtney Love’s presence in the media I hadn’t actually heard their music much at all. This is good though. Not sure how many times I’d revisit it, but I liked it. Raucous and energetic. Played with intent with a good production. I wouldn’t have even thought about listening to it were it not on the list.
Good album with some great songs. It did fall off about half way through for me.
4/5 meow meow this is nice
Good in-your-face, unapologetic rock. Not pretty per se, but a really fun listen.
Plenty of riot grrrl rock and music breaking stereotypes about femininity before this, but it's hard to deny this album's influence, even while Hole's career was relatively short. I still don't know how Courtney Love overcame misogyny and hatred surrounding Cobain's death, but she made some great music despite (and probably because of) all the trouble.
My 90’s Favorite - solid, beginning to end.
I'm not a huge fan of Grunge in general, and I actually think Nirvana is HUGELY overrated. That said I have to admit that I enjoyed this album a lot more than I thought I was going to - at the very least it has a distinct sound and the songs are remarkable on their own.
Does kinda sound like Nirvana... Rockin otherwise.
#702. She just switches from whiny moaning to yelling, and she's not really good at either. 2/5: meh
Good. Grungy as expected. I hadn’t listened to this album in at least 10-15 years. Way better than I expected. The songs I like the best sound a lot like Nirvana. No surprise there.
I'd heard good things about this and was really looking forward to it. But I was left feeling a bit underwhelmed. Maybe because it's definitely a sort if teenage angst soundtrack and that's just quite far from where I'm at these days.
I like grunge ladies singing, growling, and yelling about things I relate to.
girliepop < 3
It's really a classic and a mirror for the times it was created in.
Raw and hard but better than the first as it is more refined and enjoyable. Even thou it disnt have a major hit like the first album its a much better one. Most underrated 90s band and it was cause other than its girls and the USA is a patriarchal society and the kurt courtney marrige where you had to choose sides
Not really my kind of music. But a few decent songs.
It's holey
Not too bad!
Bronze band
Standout Songs: Asking For It Jennifer's Body I Think That I Would Die Rock Star
I'd only heard a couple Hole songs before, I'd never really listened, but I was surprised how much I actually enjoyed it. I'd listen to this again for sure.
Courtney Love's absolute peak. Good music, good lyrics. Some dispute about how much input Kurt Cobain had on the album but one can only assume that their personal and professional lives weren't THAT separated even if he had not direct hand in the writing or production
Screaming girl teen rock. Despite this, I'm a fan.
This was way better than I expected. There's a lot of good angst and anger, especially in Violet. Hard not to be that common review and say, man you can hear some Nirvana in this, but you can, and that's not a bad thing. I don't think you need two albums by Hole on the list, but I'd agree you should have this one.
In the context of this list, I am not sure that this is required listening. It is a bit derivative. If you are a fan of this style of music you get your money's worth. It is a very well produced album, with some great songs. I feel like I'm losing what the star score even meas.
Despite being a grunge kid, I missed one of the strongest pop albums of the era: “Live Through This” is cleverly sequenced, wears the distorted power chords, scratch and scream vocals and lyrical grot of the period with ease, and the songs has swing and punch. This might be their only good album, but it’s a a great one.
Have always been fond of this album, which showcases the tunes and dynamics of the era as well as any other "grunge" album (presumably why it was unfairly attributed to Cobain). A bit front-loaded, but well worthy of its grade. Love the cover art.
Good raucous rock, good vocalist- I liked most of it.
It’s ok
it was okay
i liked it with two headphones
3/5
Nostalgia of my 20's hit me like a brick
Deeply overlooked- Part of the holy trinity of grunge.
Courtney Love has been so controversial off and on the stage, that it has affected how she and Hole and their work is perceived. Among the stories of her upbringing, youth, relationships, musical partnerships, deaths, arrests, rehab, and more, it's a mess conflated with industry bias against female rockers. But all of that is just noise, if you can separate the music from the person. I tried to just listen to the album. And I think it's undeniable that there is raw energy, expressiveness, and emotional lyrics. "Every time that I sell myself to you, I feel a little bit cheaper than I need too..." She rocks out hard, and I really enjoyed a number of the tracks, including Violet, Miss World, Asking for It, and Jennifer's Body. Major issue is just reliance on an overabundance of repetition in some of the tracks.
A second Hole.... album. Look, I'm not going to speculate on whether or not Kurt Cobain helped write these songs. What I _CAN_ say for certain is there is a definite Nirvana-like sound to this album. It's not a bad thing, Love is able to walk a tightrope between Nirvana and punk in a lot of the songs. I would have liked to have heard this first before "Celebrity Skin," but that's not how things went. As it is, I dug it a lot. Tracks: "Violet," "Doll Parts," "Credit In The Straight World," "Gutless"
Well that didn't take long. 5 albums ago I asked whether we would see this album on the 1,001 list and yep. A recap - I think it is Hole's best album even if Celebrity Skin is their best song. Their debut Pretty on the Inside is rough but promising, fitting for 1991 and the grunge explosion. But those who exploded in 1991 had their stuff together. Hole got their stuff together here, 3 years later in the greatest year of grunge/alternative music. By 1998 and their last album, they were not quite as sharp but still solid (just like all of alternative rock). This album's first three singles are smashes - Violet (so angsty!), Miss World (their best song on this album), and Doll Parts (brooding). Their fourth single Softer, Softest is just that - soft - but it's solid. They have a bunch of absolute rockers in the non-singles - Plump (electric chords and drums), Jennifer's Body, and Rock Star (underrated). Asking for It and Credit in the Straight World are also pretty solid - great lyrics both of them. I don't think this album is a 5 but it's an easy 4.
Like many albums in the 1001, I had preconceived notions about this one, but I'm trying to listen to everything with an open mind. I start by listening primarily as background music and it fit all my preconceptions: Courtney Love sounds like either she can't sing or she doesn't want to be bothered. When she puts more anger into it, it sounds like she's trying to barf out the words. The music is just typical grunge and there are better bands to listen to. I was drafting a review and figured it would be a 2. On close listen, though, paying attention to the lyrics, I found it's a much more powerful album than I thought. Couple the lyrics with her singing style and suddenly it works. She also becomes a lot more sympathetic - you realize maybe, just maybe, you're focused on the press version of her, and maybe not the real her, and damn she's been through a lot. I have no idea if any of that is accurate, but the singing style and music work much better when you realize what she's singing. The album grew on me with each listen and I definitely appreciate Hole and Courtney Love more than I did before. Favorite tracks: Violet, Asking for it, Jennifer's Body, Doll Parts, She Walks on Me, Rock Star (Olympia).
Live Through This is a classic album, not because of all the news about Kurt Cobain's death, but because it is a solid grunge project that Courtney really put herself into. There is so much great stuff to talk about here, but I need to just vent some things out first for anyone who needs to hear this. Just because this album was released not even a week after Kurt was confirmed dead is not a Courtney Love problem, that is a label problem, and anyone who thinks she "killed Kurt" can just get the fuck out of here. That is you not being able to cope with the alarming amount of mental health problems the world has and instead taking it out in a misogynistic rage on a woman who has done no wrong. Call them toxic or whatever the fuck you want, I wasn't there and didn't know them, but there are facts out there saying what did and didn't happen, so stop pointing fingers because you didn't like how history turned out. One thing I will say is that it is very hard to not imagine Kurt having at least a few touches in this album whether it is with Courtney's vocal sound or with how the project came together in the end. This album has a much better cohesiveness and quality to it that makes each song meaningful unalike their very fine debut. It rips through the 38 minute runtime like a knife through butter and it never holds back. It's angsty but in a different way from the most male dominated genre of Grunge, it has a lot of empowerment behind it while also being a fresh new experience for all to enjoy. Live Through This is an improvement like no other, and it cemented Courtney Love as an icon in my eyes, regardless of the circumstances happening around this album's release.
425/1001 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
Real grunge. Can definitely feel Nirvana's influence on this album. Violet, Jennifer's Body and Credit In The Straight World are my favorite songs on the album.
I think I need to give this album more time cuz it was amazing and I know it was amazing but I’m not sure exactly why I liked it. Regardless, impeccable album I may regret only giving a 4.
Female led alt rock, very cool.
Ok, this is great - I first knew Courtney Love as a punchline, but the sort of industry and social forces which made her one are on full display in the lyrics to this great rock album. Not a million miles off of Manic Street Preachers... Favourite tracks: Violet, Asking For It, Jennifer's Body, Doll Parts, I Think That I Would Die
This is the album I listen to every time I'm pissed off or frustrated or about to fucking lose it, and like right now I am really about to fucking lose it tbh. I've been listening to this album since I was a young child, waaaayyyyy too young to understand the lyrics, but I understood the anger, the feminine rage, and it's always connected with me. This album is really personally important to me, it basically showed me that women can be angry at the world and no one can stop us, so there is no way I can give this any sort of objective review. 5/5. 31/31, for every year it's been out, every year that I have known and loved this album.
Ugh...let's get through this.
Lived through it, indeed, but just barely.
I must admit to having a few hangups about this album prior to to listening to it, based on my memory and experience of the early 90's and appetite for Nirvana. I was ready to hate this album (again) but instead found myself loving its energy and although it sounded very much like another version of Nirvana, I totally appreciate the difference now (something I didn't, back in the day).