Courtney Michelle Love is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, her career has spanned four decades. She rose to prominence as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989. Love has drawn public attention for her uninhibited live performances and confrontational lyrics, as well as her highly publicized personal life following her marriage to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. In 2020, NME named her one of the most influential singers in alternative culture of the last 30 years.
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American musician who was the co-founder, lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona, Cobain's compositions widened the thematic conventions of mainstream rock. He was heralded as a spokesman of Generation X and is highly recognized as one of the most influential alternative rock musicians.
Nirvana was an American rock band formed in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. Founded by lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic, the band went through a succession of drummers, most notably Chad Channing, before recruiting Dave Grohl in 1990. Nirvana's success popularized alternative rock, and they were often referenced as the figurehead band of Generation X. Their music maintains a popular following and continues to influence modern rock culture.
Hole was an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1989. It was founded by singer Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson. It had several different bassists and drummers, the most prolific being drummer Patty Schemel, and bassists Kristen Pfaff and Melissa Auf der Maur. Hole released a total of four studio albums between two incarnations spanning the 1990s and early-2010s and became one of the most commercially successful rock bands in history fronted by a woman.
Live Through This is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band Hole, released on April 12, 1994, by DGC Records. Recorded in late 1993, it departed from the band's unpolished hardcore aesthetics to more refined melodies and song structure. Frontwoman Courtney Love said that she wanted the record to be "shocking to the people who think that we don't have a soft edge", but maintain a harsh sensibility. The album was produced by Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie and mixed by Scott Litt and J Mascis. The lyrics and packaging reflect Love's thematic preoccupations with beauty, and motifs of milk, motherhood, anti-elitism, and violence against women, while Love derived the album title from a quote in Gone with the Wind (1939).
Fastbacks are a Seattle, Washington, punk rock band. Formed in 1979 by songwriter/guitarist Kurt Bloch, and friends Lulu Gargiulo and Kim Warnick, they disbanded in 2001 but have reunited multiple times. Their sound mixes a generally punk rock approach to vocals and sound textures with poppy tunes and strong musicianship.
Wipers was a punk rock band formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1977 by guitarist and vocalist Greg Sage, along with drummer Sam Henry and bassist Dave Koupal. The group's tight song structure and use of heavy distortion were hailed as extremely influential by numerous critics and musicians. They are also considered to be the first Pacific Northwest punk band.
Satyricon was a nightclub in the Old Town neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, United States that operated from 1984 to 2010. It was the longest-running punk venue in the western United States, and has been referred to by some journalists and historians as the "CBGB of the West Coast." It is also the place where musicians Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love are said to have first met.
Napalm Beach is an American rock band formed in Portland, Oregon. They are considered early innovators of the grunge sound. Nicholas Pell, writing for the Portland Mercury said "a huge influence on the grunge and alternative rock of the 1990s, Napalm Beach never had the name recognition of other Portland bands like Poison Idea or the Wipers." Napalm Beach shared the stage with bands such as X, Public Image Ltd., Joan Jett, Johnny Thunders, Gun Club, Bad Brains, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, Dead Moon, and Poison Idea. They also toured Germany five times between 1989 and 1992. During their long musical career they have released more than 30 studio and live recordings in various formats on a number of small independent labels in the U.S. and Germany.
Scott Lewis McCaughey is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter and the leader of the Seattle and Portland-based bands The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5. He was also an auxiliary member of the American rock band R.E.M. from 1994 until the band's break-up in 2011, contributing to the studio albums New Adventures in Hi-Fi, Up, Reveal, Around the Sun, Accelerate and Collapse into Now.
Ask for It is an EP by American alternative rock band Hole, released on September 8, 1995. It was the band's second and last release on Caroline Records, the first being their debut album Pretty on the Inside (1991). Although the EP was released after 1994's platinum-selling Live Through This, its contents were recorded by an earlier lineup of the band between 1991 and 1992. The EP comprises three songs by Hole as well as several cover versions of songs by the Wipers, Beat Happening, the Velvet Underground, and the Germs.
The Young Fresh Fellows are an American alternative rock group, that was formed in 1981 in Seattle, Washington, United States, by Scott McCaughey and Chuck Carroll. Tad Hutchison, Chuck Carroll's first cousin, joined for the recording of the group's debut album in 1983.
"Softer, Softest" is a song by American alternative rock band Hole, written by frontwoman Courtney Love and lead guitarist Eric Erlandson. The song was released as the band's eighth song and fourth and final single from their second studio album, Live Through This, in December 1995. The single was released just as the band finished their extensive touring in 1995.
"Asking for It" is a song by the American alternative rock band Hole. It is the fourth track on the band's second studio album, Live Through This, released on April 12, 1994 on Geffen Records. The song was written by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love and lead guitarist Eric Erlandson.
Pagan Babies were an American rock band formed by Kat Bjelland and Courtney Love in 1985. Love had initially conceived the band in Portland, Oregon with Bjelland under the name Sugar Babydoll, and the group was joined by bassist Jennifer Finch upon their relocation to San Francisco. The group would go through several lineup and name changes before recording a four-track demo under the Pagan Babies name with drummer Deirdre Schletter and bassist Janis Tanaka.
"Closing Time" is a song by American alternative rock band Hole, written by vocalist/rhythm guitarist Courtney Love, drummer Patty Schemel and Love's husband, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.
"Dive" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic. It was released as the B-side to the band's second single, "Sliver" in September 1990. The same version was re-released as the opening track on the compilation album The Grunge Years in 1991, and again on the Nirvana rarities compilation, Incesticide, in December 1992.
Conrad Uno is an American record producer and founder of the independent record label PopLlama Records. Uno began his career making his own music as a teenager in his makeshift basement studio. At the request of his friends, the Young Fresh Fellows, Uno produced their debut album The Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest. When the band decided to release their debut album themselves, Uno founded PopLlama Records to help with the release. He would also produce their next four albums; Topsy Turvey (1985), The Men Who Loved Music (1987), Totally Lost (1988) and This One's for the Ladies (1989), the latter three released through Frontier Records. He would also produce albums by Dharma Bums, Haywire: Out Through the Indoor (1989), and Scott McCaughey, My Chartreuse Opinion (1989), while he was the engineer on Mudhoney's self-titled album released in 1989.
The Pretty on the InsideTour was the first international concert tour by American alternative rock band Hole in promotion of their debut album, Pretty on the Inside. The tour began in the summer of 1991, and concluded in December of that year. The tour largely had Hole as a supporting act, with them performing as an opener for Mudhoney's European tour, as well as The Smashing Pumpkins in the United States.
Welcome is an album by the American band Dharma Bums, released in 1992. Issued via Frontier Records, it was the band's final album. A video was shot for "The Light in You", the album's first single. The band supported the album with European and North American tours. Welcome was a hit on college radio charts.
