Editing Hole (band) (section)

==Artistry==
===Composition===
Initially, Hole drew inspiration from [[no wave]] and experimental bands, which is evident in their earliest recordings, specifically "[[Retard Girl]]", but frontwoman Love also drew from a variety of influences. Love cited [[post-punk]] group [[Echo & the Bunnymen]]<ref name="loder">{{cite interview |last=Love|first=Courtney|interviewer=Loder, Kurt|work=MTV Networks|title=The Hole Story|date=September 1, 1994}}</ref> and classic rock such as [[Neil Young]]<ref name=flipside/> and [[Fleetwood Mac]].{{sfn|Crawford|2014|p=67}} The band's first album, ''Pretty on the Inside'', was heavily influenced by noise and punk rock, using discordant melodies, distortion, and feedback, with Love's vocals ranging from whispers to guttural screams.{{sfn|Bogdanov|Woodstra|Erlewine|2002|p=532}} Love described the band's earliest songwriting as being based on "really crazy [[Sonic Youth]] tunings".<ref name="bigday">{{cite interview|title=Hole interviewed at Big Day Out tour |date=1999 |interviewer=''[[Ground Zero (television show)|Ground Zero]]'' |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YQzcfnTb4o |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117052304/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YQzcfnTb4o |archive-date=November 17, 2015 }}</ref> Nonetheless, Love claimed to have aimed for a [[pop music|pop]] sound early on: "There's a part of me that wants to have a [[grindcore]] band and another that wants to have a [[Raspberries (band)|Raspberries]]-type pop band",<ref name=flipside/> she told ''[[Flipside (fanzine)|Flipside]]'' magazine in 1991. Both Love and Erlandson were fans of the notorious LA punk band the [[Germs (band)|Germs]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/germ-warfare-179286 |work=Newsweek |title=Germ Warfare |date=October 13, 1996 |access-date=March 9, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313021714/http://www.newsweek.com/germ-warfare-179286 |archive-date=March 13, 2017 }}</ref> In a 1996 interview for a Germs tribute documentary, Erlandson said: "I think every band is based on one song, and our band was based on "[[Forming (song)|Forming]]"&nbsp;... Courtney brought it into rehearsal, and she knew, like, three [[Chord (music)|chords]] and it was the only punk rock song we could play."<ref name="germs">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvCdFHwqb1s |title=Erlandson, Eric. ''The Germs: A Tribute''. 1996 |work=YouTube |date=December 3, 2010 |access-date=July 11, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022081117/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvCdFHwqb1s |archive-date=October 22, 2013 }}</ref>

The band's second album ''Live Through This'', captured a less abrasive sound, while maintaining the group's original punk roots. "I want this record to be shocking to the people who don't think we have a soft edge, and at the same time, [to know] that we haven't lost our very, very hard edge",<ref>Love, Courtney; Patty Schemel. Promotional Interview Segment for ''Live Through This''. MTV Networks. 1994.</ref> Love told VH1 in 1994. The group's third album, ''Celebrity Skin'', incorporated power pop into their hard rock sound, and was heavily inspired by California bands; Love was also influenced by Fleetwood Mac and [[My Bloody Valentine (band)|My Bloody Valentine]] while writing the album.<ref name="int" />{{Sfn|''Celebrity Skin''|1999|p=2}} The group's 2010 release, ''Nobody's Daughter'', featured a more folk rock-oriented sound, utilizing acoustic guitar and softer melodies.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[PopMatters]]|title=Hole: Nobody's Daughter|author=Deem, Anna|date=April 27, 2010|access-date=February 4, 2018|url=https://www.popmatters.com/124390-hole-nobodys-daughter-2496200621.html}}</ref>

The group's [[chord progression]]s by and large drew on elements of punk music,<ref name="spingreatest">{{cite news|author=Weisbard, Eric|work=Spin|date=September 1999|title=The Greatest Albums of the '90s|page=120}}</ref> which Love described as "grungey", although not necessarily [[grunge]].{{Sfn|Strong|2011|p=50}} Critics described their song style as "deceptively wispy and strummy",<ref name="spingreatest" /> combined with "gunshot guitar choruses".<ref name=fricke/> Although the group's sound changed over the course of their career, the dynamic between beauty and ugliness has often been noted, particularly due to the layering of harsh and abrasive riffs which often bury more sophisticated arrangements.<ref name="oct91">{{cite news|work=Spin|date=October 1991|title=Hole Lotta Love|page=32|first=Daisy|last=Von Furth|issn=0886-3032|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yGjqAHJs488C|via=Google Books|volume=7|issue=7}} {{free access}}</ref>

===Lyrical content===
In a 1991 interview, Love stated that lyrics were "the most important" element of songwriting for her.<ref name=flipside/> Her lyrics explored a variety of themes throughout Hole's career, including [[body image]], rape, [[child abuse]], addiction, [[celebrity]], suicide, elitism, and [[inferiority complex|inferiority complexes]]; all of which were addressed mainly from a female, and often [[feminism|feminist]] standpoint.{{Sfn|Burns|Lafrance|2002|pages=98–103}} This underlying feminism in Love's lyrics often led the public and critics to mistakenly associate her with the [[riot grrrl]] movement, of which Love was highly critical.<ref name="reillyphoebe">{{cite journal|journal=Spin|date=October 2005|pages=70–72|title=Courtney Love: Let the healing begin|author=Reilly, Phoebe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOIh4tn8TGYC&q=Look,+you've+got+these+highly+intelligent+imperious+girls,+but+who+told+them+it+was+their+undeniable+American+right+not+to+be+offended&pg=RA1-PA70|volume=21|issue=2|issn=0886-3032|via=Google Books}} {{free access}}</ref>{{Sfn|Brite|1998|p=117}}{{Sfn|Feigenbaum|2007|p=135}}

In a 1991 interview with [[Everett True]], Love said: "I try to place [beautiful imagery] next to fucked up imagery, because that's how I view things&nbsp;... I sometimes feel that no one's taken the time to write about certain things in rock, that there's a certain female point of view that's never been given space."<ref name="sidelines">{{cite news|work=Melody Maker|date=June 15, 1991|author=True, Everett|title=Hole in Sidelines|page=8}}</ref> [[Charles R. Cross|Charles Cross]] has referred to her lyrics on ''Live Through This'' as being "true extensions of her diary",<ref name="behindthemusic" /> and she has admitted that a great deal of the lyrics from ''Pretty on the Inside'' were excisions from her journals.<ref name="bigday" />

Throughout Hole's career, Love's lyrics were often influenced by literature: The title of the band's second album ''Live Through This'', for example (as well as lyrics from the track "[[Asking for It (Hole song)|Asking for It]]") is directly drawn from ''[[Gone with the Wind (song)|Gone With the Wind]]'';<ref>{{cite AV media|title=[[The Return of Courtney Love]]|people=Yapp, Will (director); Love, Courtney (subject)|year=2006|publisher=[[More4]]}}</ref> and the group's single "[[Celebrity Skin]]"  (the title track to their 1998 album), contains quotes from [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]''<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FD4jKFVQOhMC&q=celebrity+skin+shakespeare&pg=PT6|volume=14|issue=10|issn=0886-3032|journal=Spin|title=Hole: Celebrity Skin|series=Reviews|page=136|date=October 1998|via=Google Books}} {{free access}}</ref> and  [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti|Dante Rossetti]]'s poem ''A Superscription''.{{Sfn|Latham|2003|p=2}} Love had had a minor background in literature, having briefly studied English literature in her early twenties.<ref name="thepoweroflove">{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/1994/08/12/courtney-love-comes-out-hiding/ |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |title=Courtney Love Comes Out of Hiding |author=Kennedy, Dana |date=August 12, 1994 |archive-date=July 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160709093133/http://www.ew.com/article/1994/08/12/courtney-love-comes-out-hiding |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

===Performances===
Throughout the duration of the 1990s, the band received widespread media coverage due to Love's often rambunctious and unpredictable behavior onstage.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/1995/07/28/courtney-love-causes-trouble-lollapolooza/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |title=Courtney Love causes trouble at Lollapolooza |date=July 28, 1995 |access-date=September 25, 2015 |author=Smith, Ethan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924110935/http://www.ew.com/article/1995/07/28/courtney-love-causes-trouble-lollapolooza |archive-date=September 24, 2015 }}</ref> The band often destroyed equipment and guitars at the end of concerts,<ref name=sp/> and Love would ramble between songs, bring fans onstage, and [[stage dive]], sometimes returning with clothes torn off of her or injuries sustained.<ref name="walters">{{cite interview|last=Walters|first=Barbara|interviewer=Courtney Love|work=The Barbara Walters Special|title=Interview with Barbara Walters|publisher=ABC|date=August 1995}}</ref> In a 1995 ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine article, journalist John Homans addressed Love's frequent stage diving during Hole's concerts:

<blockquote>The most shocking, frightening, and fascinating image in rock in the last few years is Courtney Love's stage dive&nbsp;... When some male performers do it, it looks like muscular, frat-boy fun, controlled aggression&nbsp;... For obvious reasons, the practice was strictly no-girls-allowed, but Love, typically, decided that she wanted to do it, too. Groped, ravaged, she compared the experience to being [[rape]]d, wrote a song about it, and now does it just about every show.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|author=Homans, John|date=February 20, 1995|title=Love Trouble|pages=64–65|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nOMCAAAAMBAJ&q=courtney+love+stage+diving&pg=PA64|issue=2|volume=28|via=Google Books}} {{free access}}</ref></blockquote>

[[Nina Gordon]] of [[Veruca Salt]], who toured with Hole in 1995, recalled Love's erratic behavior onstage, saying "She would just go off and [the rest of the band] would just kind of stand there."<ref name="hitsohard" /> The majority of Love's chaotic behavior onstage was a result of heavy drug use at the time, which she admitted: "I was completely high on dope; I cannot remember much about it."<ref name="hitsohard" /> She later criticized her behavior during that time, saying: "I [saw] pictures of how I looked. It's disgusting. I'm ashamed. There's death and there's disease and there's misery and there's giving up your soul&nbsp;... The human spirit mixed with certain powders is not the person, it's [a] demonic presence."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Spin|date=October 1998|pages=90–100|title=The Love Issue|first=Phillip|last=Weiss}}</ref>

Love's stage attire also garnered notoriety, influenced in part by [[Carroll Baker]]'s wardrobe in the film ''[[Baby Doll]]'' (1956).{{Sfn|Brite|1998|p=110}} The style was later dubbed "[[kinderwhore]]" by the media, and consisted of [[babydoll]] dresses, [[slip (clothing)|slip]]s and [[nightgown]]s, and smeared makeup.{{Sfn|Klaffke|2003|p=116}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spinner.com/2010/01/22/courtney-love-nobodys-daughter/ |work=Spinner |date=2010-01-22 |title=Courtney Love Is Learning to Rein In the 'Courtney Monster' |author=Baltin, Steve |access-date=June 3, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130210014402/http://www.spinner.com/2010/01/22/courtney-love-nobodys-daughter/ |archive-date=February 10, 2013 }}</ref> [[Kurt Loder]] likened her onstage attire to a "debauched ragdoll",<ref name="loderfiles">{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1585956/courtney-love-opens-up-about-kurt-cobains-death-loder-files.jhtml |work=MTV |title=Courtney Love Opens Up About Kurt Cobain's Death |series=The Loder Files |date=April 22, 2008 |archive-date=October 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020094216/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1585956/courtney-love-opens-up-about-kurt-cobains-death-loder-files.jhtml |author=Loder, Kurt |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[John Peel]] noted in his review of the band's 1994 Reading Festival performance, that "[Love], swaying wildly and with lipstick smeared on her face, hands and, I think, her back, as well as on the collar of her dress,&nbsp;... would have drawn whistles of astonishment in [[Bethlem Royal Hospital|Bedlam]]. The band teetered on the edge of chaos, generating a tension which I cannot remember having felt before from any stage."<ref name="atreading"/> ''Rolling Stone'' referred to the style as "a slightly more politically charged version of grunge; apathy turned into ruinous angst, which soon became high fashion's favorite pose."<ref>{{cite magazine
 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/musicians-who-defined-nineties-style-20120724 
 |title=Musicians Who Defined Nineties Style 
 |author=Nika, Colleen 
 |magazine=Rolling Stone 
 |date=July 24, 2012 
 |access-date=December 30, 2016 
 |url-status=live 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505095323/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/musicians-who-defined-nineties-style-20120724 
 |archive-date=May 5, 2016 
}}</ref>

The band's set lists for live shows were often loose, featuring improvisational jams and rough performances of unreleased songs. By 1998, their live performances had become less aggressive and more restrained, although Love continued to bring fans onstage, and would often go into the crowd while singing.<ref name="natgeo" />