Editing Courtney Love (section)

===1988–1991: Beginnings of Hole===
{{Main|Hole (band)|Pretty on the Inside}}
{{quote box|width=23%|bgcolor=#f6ebff|align=right|quote=She was the most [[gung-ho]] person I've ever met&nbsp;... She gave 180%. I've worked with some people that you've had to coax the performance out of them. With Courtney, there was no attitude.|source=–Don Fleming, who co-produced Hole's debut album with [[Kim Gordon]], on Love{{Sfn|Chick|2008|p=171}}}}

[[File:Hole 1989 LA.jpg|thumb|left|180px|upright=.9|Love performing with Hole, 1989|alt=Woman in dress playing guitar, with a man in background]]
At the end of 1988, Love taught herself to play guitar and relocated to Los Angeles,{{sfn|Yarm|2011|p=217}} where she placed an ad in a local music zine: "I want to start a band. My influences are [[Big Black]], [[Sonic Youth]], and [[Fleetwood Mac]]."{{sfn|Brite|1998|p=100}} By 1989, Love had recruited guitarist [[Eric Erlandson]]; bassist Lisa Roberts, her neighbor; and drummer Caroline Rue, whom she met at a [[Gwar]] concert.<ref name="first" /> Love named the band [[Hole (band)|Hole]] after a line from [[Euripides]]' ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]''{{Sfn|Raphael|1996|p=2}} ("There is a hole that pierces right through me")<ref name=france>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1eICAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA41|title=Feminism Amplified|journal=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|first=Kim|last=France|date=June 3, 1996|page=41|via=[[Google Books]]}} {{free access}}</ref> and a conversation in which her mother told her that she could not live her life "with a hole running through her".{{sfn|Reisfeld|1996|p=64}} On July 23, 1989, Love married [[Leaving Trains]] vocalist James Moreland in Las Vegas;<ref>{{cite web|work=Nevada Marriage Index, 1956-2005|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VVJX-6P7|date= September 20, 2019|title=James Arthur Moreland and Courtney Michelle Menely, 1989|access-date=December 23, 2020}} {{closed access}}</ref> the marriage was [[annulment|annulled]] the same year.<ref name=nyrock>{{cite web|url=http://www.nyrock.com/features/courtneylove.htm|work=NY Rock|title=Courtney Love: The Life of Love|first=Jeff|last=Apter|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980209043432/http://www.nyrock.com/features/courtneylove.htm|archive-date=February 9, 1998}}</ref> She later said that Moreland was a [[transvestism|transvestite]] and that they had married "as a joke".{{sfn|Brite|1998|p=102}} After forming Hole, Love and Erlandson had a romantic relationship that lasted over a year.{{sfn|Erlandson|2012|p=7}}

In Hole's formative stages, Love continued to work at strip clubs in Hollywood (including [[Jumbo's Clown Room]] and the Seventh Veil),{{sfn|Brite|1998|p=100}} saving money to purchase [[backline (stage)|backline]] equipment and a touring van,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.laweekly.com/music/courtney-love-talks-about-her-la-stripper-days-and-her-brawl-with-a-weekly-writer-4167587|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181218181226/https://www.laweekly.com/music/courtney-love-talks-about-her-la-stripper-days-and-her-brawl-with-a-weekly-writer-4167587|archive-date=December 18, 2018|work=LA Weekly|title=Courtney Love Talks About Her L.A. Stripper Days, and Her Brawl with a Weekly Writer|date=August 26, 2013|author=Lecaro, Lina}}</ref> while rehearsing at a Hollywood studio loaned to her by the [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]].<ref name=opie /> Hole played their first show in November 1989 at [[Raji's]], a rock club in central Hollywood.{{sfn|Brite|1998|p=103}} Their debut single, "[[Retard Girl]]", was issued in April 1990 through the Long Beach indie label [[Sympathy for the Record Industry]] and was played by [[Rodney Bingenheimer]] on local rock station [[KROQ-FM|KROQ]].<ref name="etrue" /> Hole appeared on the cover of ''[[Flipside (fanzine)|Flipside]]'', a Los Angeles-based punk [[fanzine]].<ref name="first" /> In early 1991, they released their second single, "[[Dicknail]]", through [[Sub Pop Records]].<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302221954/https://www.subpop.com/releases/hole/dicknail_burn_black|archive-date=March 2, 2016|url=https://www.subpop.com/releases/hole/dicknail_burn_black|work=Sub Pop Records|title=Hole: Dicknail/Burn Black}}</ref>

{{listen|filename=Garbadge_Man_by_Hole_-_sample.ogg|title="Garbadge Man"|description=Track from ''[[Pretty on the Inside]]'' (1991), illustrating Love's aggressive vocals and heavy noise rock-influenced guitar.|format=[[Ogg]]}}
With [[no wave]], [[noise rock]], and [[grindcore]] bands being major influences on Love,<ref name="first" /> Hole's first studio album, ''[[Pretty on the Inside]]'', captured an abrasive sound and contained disturbing, graphic lyrics,<ref name=tunes>{{cite news|work=[[The Guardian]]|title=Calling the tune|author=Evans, Liz|date=December 11, 1991|via=Newspapers.com|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22821312/the_guardian/}}</ref><ref name=condran>{{cite news|work=[[The Courier-Post]]|date=November 7, 1991|title=Hole's graphic lyrics make the difference|author=Condran, Ed|page=2D|via=Newspapers.com|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22821361/courierpost/}}</ref> described by ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'' as "confrontational [and] genuinely uninhibited".<ref name="Q">{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]]|title=Review: Pretty on the Inside by Hole|date=October 1995|page=138|issn=0955-4955}}</ref> The record was released in September 1991 on [[Caroline Records]], produced by [[Kim Gordon]] of Sonic Youth with assistant production from [[Gumball (band)|Gumball]]'s Don Fleming; Love and Gordon had met when Hole opened for Sonic Youth during their promotional tour for ''[[Goo (album)|Goo]]'' at the [[Whisky a Go Go]] in November 1990.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317071256/http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/cc/110190.html|archive-date=March 17, 2016|url=http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/cc/110190.html|work=Sonic Youth Official Website|title=Sonic Youth: 11/01/90 – Los Angeles, California at The Whiskey}}</ref> In early 1991, Love sent Gordon a personal letter asking her to produce the record for the band, to which she agreed.<ref name=condran/>{{Sfn|Love|2006|p=116}}

''Pretty on the Inside'' received generally positive critical reception from indie and punk rock critics{{sfn|Brite|1998|p=114}} and was named one of the 20 best albums of the year by ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]''.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|date=December 1991|title=20 Best Albums of the Year|page=122|author=Spencer, Lauren|issn=0886-3032|via=Google Books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5zrzfgLFgUYC|volume=7|issue=9}}</ref> It gained a following in the United Kingdom, charting at 59 on the [[UK Albums Chart]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/search/albums/pretty%20on%20the%20inside/ |title=Pretty on the Inside |website=[[Officialcharts.com]] |access-date=October 10, 2019 }}</ref> and its lead single, "[[Teenage Whore]]", entered the [[UK Indie Chart]] at number one.<ref>{{cite episode|title=Indie Charts: September 28, 1991|series=[[The Chart Show|The ITV Chart Show]]|network=Channel 4|date=September 28, 1991}}</ref> The album's feminist slant led many to tag the band as part of the [[riot grrrl]] movement,{{sfn|Bogdanov|Erlewine|Woodstra|2002|p=532}} a movement with which Love did not associate.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|date=October 2005|pages=70–72|title=Courtney Love: Let the healing begin|author=Reilly, Phoebe|issn=0886-3032|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOIh4tn8TGYC|volume=21|issue=10|via=Google Books}}</ref>{{sfn|Brite|1998|p=117}} The band toured in support of the record, headlining with [[Mudhoney]] in Europe; in the United States, they opened for the [[Smashing pumpkins|Smashing Pumpkins]],<ref name="cromelin" /> and performed at [[CBGB]] in New York City.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/6414266/cbgb-10-classic-moments|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|title=CBGB: 10 Classic Moments That Helped Define the Birthplace of Punk|author=Richin, Leslie|date=December 23, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151207043025/http://www.billboard.com/articles/6414266/cbgb-10-classic-moments|archive-date=December 7, 2015}}</ref>

During the tour, Love briefly dated Smashing Pumpkins frontman [[Billy Corgan]]{{sfn|Yarm|2011|pages=297–298}} and then the [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]] frontman [[Kurt Cobain]].<ref name=cross>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/04/the-moment-kurt-cobain-met-courtney-love.html|work=[[The Daily Beast]]|title=The Moment Kurt Cobain Met Courtney Love|date=April 5, 2014|author=Cross, Charles|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170609113438/http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-moment-kurt-cobain-met-courtney-love|archive-date=June 9, 2017}}</ref> The journalist [[Michael Azerrad]] states that Love and Cobain met in 1989 at the [[Satyricon (nightclub)|Satyricon]] nightclub in Portland, Oregon. However, the Cobain biographer [[Charles R. Cross|Charles Cross]] gives the date as February 12, 1990; Cross said that Cobain playfully wrestled Love to the floor after she said that he looked like [[Dave Pirner]] of [[Soul Asylum]].{{sfn|Brite|1998|p=99}} According to Love, she met Cobain at a [[Dharma Bums (band)|Dharma Bums]] show in Portland,{{sfn|Green|2003|pages=69–70}}{{sfn|Yarm|2011|p=294}} while Love's bandmate Eric Erlandson said that he and Love were introduced to Cobain in a parking lot after a concert at the [[Hollywood Palladium]] on May 17, 1991.{{sfn|Erlandson|2012|p=7}} In late 1991, Love and Cobain became re-acquainted through [[Jennifer Finch]], one of Love's friends and former bandmates.{{sfn|Green|2003|p=70}}{{sfn|Yarm|2011|p=299}} Love and Cobain were a couple by 1992.<ref>{{cite news|work=Wales Online|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/night-kurt-cobain-courtney-love-13249039|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004115541/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/night-kurt-cobain-courtney-love-13249039|archive-date=October 4, 2018|title=The night Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love came to Newport - told by the people who were there|last=McCarthy|first=James|date=June 29, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|work=[[BBC]]|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/sites/history/pages/kurt-courtney-newport.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410072831/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/sites/history/pages/kurt-courtney-newport.shtml|archive-date=April 10, 2019|title=Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love in Newport|date=July 6, 2010}}</ref>