Editing Hole (band) (section)

===1992–1999: Mainstream success===
====1992–1995: ''Live Through This''====
{{See also|Live Through This Tour}}
Love and Erlandson began writing new material for a second Hole album in 1992, in the midst of Love's pregnancy with [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]] frontman [[Kurt Cobain]]. Love's desire to take the band in a more melodic and controlled rock format led bassist Emery to leave the band,<ref name="behindthemusic">{{cite episode|network=Vh1 |airdate=June 21, 2010 |title=Courtney Love |series=Behind the Music |url=http://www.vh1.com/video/behind-the-music/full-episodes/courtney-love/1642087/playlist.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815015707/http://www.vh1.com/video/behind-the-music/full-episodes/courtney-love/1642087/playlist.jhtml |archive-date=August 15, 2013 }}</ref> and drummer Caroline Rue followed. In an advertisement to find a new bass player, Love wrote: "[I want] someone who can play ok, and stand in front of 30,000 people, take off her shirt and have 'fuck you' written on her tits. If you're not afraid of me and you're not afraid to fucking say it, send a letter. No more pussies, no more fake girls, I want a whore from hell."{{Sfn|Meltzer|2010|p=47}} In April 1992, drummer [[Patty Schemel]] was recruited after an audition in Los Angeles, but the band spent the remainder of the year without a bassist; Love, Schemel, and Erlandson began to write material together in the interim.<ref name=hitsohard/>

Hole signed to [[Geffen Records|Geffen]]'s subsidiary [[DGC Records|DGC]] label with an eight-album contract in late 1992. In the spring of 1993, the band released their single "[[Beautiful Son]]", which was recorded in Seattle with producer [[Jack Endino]] as a fill-in bass player; Love also played bass on the single's b-side "20 Years In the Dakota", as well as on their contribution to the 1993 [[Germs (band)|Germs]] tribute album ''[[A Small Circle of Friends (album)|A Small Circle of Friends]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/a-small-circle-of-friends-a-germs-tribute-mw0000186608 |work=Allmusic |title=A Small Circle of Friends: A Germs Tribute: Various Artists |access-date=September 27, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121217052216/http://www.allmusic.com/album/a-small-circle-of-friends-a-germs-tribute-mw0000186608 |archive-date=December 17, 2012 }}</ref> In the spring of 1993, Love and Erlandson recruited [[Janitor Joe]] bassist [[Kristen Pfaff]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/janitor-joe-mn0000807910 |work=AllMusic |title=Janitor Joe |access-date=October 29, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622190717/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/janitor-joe-mn0000807910 |archive-date=June 22, 2012 }}</ref> and the band toured the United Kingdom in the summer of that year (including the Phoenix Festival on July 16), mainly performing material from their upcoming major label debut, ''Live Through This'', which they recorded at Triclops Studios in Marietta, Georgia in October 1993.
[[File:Courtney Love 1995 by Andrzej Liguz.jpg|thumb|upright=.75|right|Courtney Love performing with Hole at [[Big Day Out]], [[Melbourne, Victoria|Melbourne]], January 22, 1995.]]
''[[Live Through This]]'' was released on April 12, 1994, one week after Love's husband, Kurt Cobain, was found dead in his Seattle home. In the wake of Love's family tragedy, ''Live Through This'' was a critical success. It spawned several popular singles, including "[[Doll Parts]]", "[[Violet (Hole song)|Violet]]", and "[[Miss World (song)|Miss World]]", going multi-platinum and being hailed "Album of the Year" by ''Spin'' magazine.<ref name="ltttower">{{cite web |url=http://www.tower.com/live-through-this-hole-cd/wapi/105768439 |work=Tower Records |title=Live Through This |access-date=April 23, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604011348/http://www.tower.com/live-through-this-hole-cd/wapi/105768439 |archive-date=June 4, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=[[NME]] |date=December 24, 1994|page=22|title=Live Through This review}} Ranked No.&nbsp;12 in NME's list of the "Top 50 Albums Of 1994".</ref> ''[[NME]]'' called the album "a personal but secretive thrash-pop opera of urban nihilism and passionate dumb thinks",<ref>{{cite journal|journal=NME |date=April 9, 1994|page=40|title=Live Through This: Review}}</ref> and ''Rolling Stone'' said the album "may be the most potent blast of female insurgency ever committed to tape".<ref name=fricke>{{cite magazine|magazine=Rolling Stone |date=April 21, 1994 |page=191 |title=Live Through This |author=Fricke, David |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908080541/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/live-through-this-19940421 |archive-date=September 8, 2015 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/live-through-this-19940421 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Despite the critical praise for ''Live Through This'', rumors circulated insinuating that Cobain had actually written the majority of the album, though the band vehemently denies this.<ref name="behindthemusic" /> The band's drummer Patty Schemel, who had been friends with Cobain since the late 1980s,<ref name="hitsohard"/>  said: "There's that myth that Kurt [Cobain] wrote all our songs— it's not true. Courtney and Eric wrote ''Live Through This''."<ref name="behindthemusic" /> The band did, however, state that Love convinced Cobain to provide backing vocals on "[[Asking for It (Hole song)|Asking for It]]" and "Softer, Softest" while visiting the studio, and music producers and engineers present during the recording sessions noted that Cobain seemed "completely unfamiliar" with the songs.{{Sfn|Edwards|2006|p=88}} According to ''Rolling Stone'' rock journalist Gavin Edwards, Love and Cobain had written songs together in the past, but opted to not release them because it was "a bit too redolent of [[John Lennon|John]] and [[Yoko Ono|Yoko]]".{{Sfn|Edwards|2006|p=87}}

In 1994, bassist Kristen Pfaff went into a drug treatment facility to treat her heroin addiction. Pfaff contemplated leaving the band for health reasons. In June 1994, she was found dead of a heroin overdose in the bathroom of her Seattle home, 2 months after the death of Cobain.<ref name="murakami">{{cite web|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19940619/1916375/nodding-off-into-eternity----heroin-overdose-deaths-climbing-seattle-addicts-say-they-know-why |title=Hole Bassist Died Of Drug Overdose |date=July 12, 1994 |work=[[The Seattle Times]] |author=Murakami, Kery |access-date=December 28, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228165946/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19940619&slug=1916375 |archive-date=December 28, 2013 }}</ref> The band put their impending tour on hold, pulling out of the upcoming [[Lollapalooza]] festival.

Recruiting bassist [[Melissa Auf der Maur]] over the summer, they commenced their world tour on August 26 at the [[Reading Festival]] in England, giving a performance that [[John Peel]] described as "teetering on the edge of chaos".<ref name="atreading">{{cite news|author=Peel, John|work=The Guardian|date=August 30, 1994|title=Hole at Reading}}</ref> The band embarked on a worldwide tour throughout late 1994 and for the duration of 1995, with appearances at the [[KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas]], ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', the [[Big Day Out]] festival, ''[[MTV Unplugged]]'', the 1995 [[Reading Festival]], Lollapalooza 1995, and at the ''[[MTV Video Music Awards]]'', where they were nominated for the "Doll Parts" music video.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/1995/ |publisher=MTV |title=1995 MTV Video Music Awards |access-date=July 12, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510091655/http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/1995/ |archive-date=May 10, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/music/articles/2010/09/09/20100909mtv-vmas-memorable-moments.html?page=4|title=10 Most Memorable Moments of the MTV Music Video Awards|author=Masley, Ed|work=The Arizona Republic|access-date=July 11, 2011}}</ref>

Love's reckless stage presence during the tour became a media spectacle, drawing press from MTV and other outlets due to her unpredictable performances.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Los Angeles Times|date=August 2, 1995|access-date=April 11, 2011|title=Hole Performance Disrupted|author=Snow, Shauna|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-08-02-ca-30529-story.html}}</ref> While touring with Sonic Youth, Love got into a physical fight with [[Kathleen Hanna]] backstage at a 1995 Lollapalooza festival and punched her in the face.{{Sfn|Brite|1998|p=210}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=36053&category=34029 |work=Portland Mercury |date=January 9, 2006 |title=Raising America's Sweetheart: An Interview with Courtney Love's Mother |author=Bowie, Chas |access-date=April 21, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204014839/http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=36053&category=34029 |archive-date=February 4, 2012 }}</ref> In an August 1995 band interview with ''Rolling Stone'', drummer Patty Schemel formally [[coming out|came out]] as a [[lesbian]], saying: "It's important. I'm not out there with that fucking pink flag or anything, but it's good for other people who live somewhere else in some small town who feel freaky about being [[gay]] to know that there's other people who are and that it's okay."<ref name="cohen"/> In a retrospective interview, Schemel said:

{{blockquote|We had a really safe place [in Hole]. Courtney was a force that would not allow any of us to be spoken down to—or any of that kind of behavior in a space that we were in—no matter where we were. She was good at that. I felt safe in my band to come out as a gay woman.<ref>{{cite interview|last=Schemel|first=Patty|interviewer=[[Allison Wolfe]] and Jonathan Shifflett|title=Episode 4: Patty Schemel (Hole) on Making Zines with Kurt and Courtney|work=I'm In The Band|date=November 15, 2017|url=http://read.tidal.com/article/im-in-the-band-ep-4-patty-schemel-hole-on-making-zines-with-kurt-and-courtney}}</ref>}}

Toward the end of the tour, the band released their first [[Extended play|EP]], titled ''[[Ask for It]]'', in September 1995; it featured 1991 [[John Peel|Peel session]] recordings, as well as covers of songs by [[Wipers (band)|Wipers]] and [[The Velvet Underground]].<ref>{{cite journal|journal=[[Stereo Review]]|title=Hole - Ask For It|series=Popular Music|page=108|publisher=CBS Magazines|volume=61}}</ref> The band performed its last show of the year on September 3, 1995, at the Molson Polar Beach Party in [[Tuktoyaktuk]], [[Northwest Territories]], Canada. The concert was a promotional event for the [[Molson Brewery]], and also featured performances by [[Metallica]], [[Veruca Salt]], and [[Moist (Canadian band)|Moist]].<ref>{{cite news|first=William |last=Nicholls |work=The Nation |location=Tuktoyuktuk, NWT |issue=6 |volume=13 |year=1995 |title=Molson rocks Canada's Arctic |url=http://www.ammsa.com/node/20673 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328195152/http://www.ammsa.com/node/20673 |archive-date=March 28, 2017 }}</ref>

====1996–1999: ''Celebrity Skin''====
In 1996, the band recorded and released a cover of [[Fleetwood Mac]]'s "[[Gold Dust Woman]]" for ''[[The Crow: City of Angels]]'' (1996) soundtrack,{{Sfn|Thompson|2000|p=418}} the band's first studio song to feature Melissa Auf der Maur on bass, and produced by [[Ric Ocasek]]. Hole released two retrospective albums during this time: firstly, their second  EP, titled ''[[The First Session]]'' (1997), which consisted of a complete version of the band's first recording session at Rudy's Rising Star in Los Angeles in March 1990, some of which had been bootlegged widely years prior. It featured the group's first ever recorded track, "[[Turpentine (song)|Turpentine]]", which had previously been unreleased to the public.<ref name=mbthg>{{cite AV media notes|title=My Body, the Hand Grenade|title-link=My Body, the Hand Grenade|others=Hole|year=1997|type=CD|publisher=City Slang|id=EFA 04995-2}}</ref> The same year, the band released their first compilation album, ''[[My Body, The Hand Grenade]]'' (1997), featuring early singles, b-sides and recent live tracks.<ref name=mbthg/><ref name="MM">{{cite journal|last=Love|first=Courtney|journal=[[Melody Maker]]|date=  June 14, 1997|title=Hole Lotta Love|volume=74|number=24|page=7|publisher=Holborn Publishing Group, IPC Magazines Ltd.|issn=0025-9012|id={{ProQuest|1103607}}}}</ref>

{{quote box|width=25%|align=left|bgcolor=lavender|quote=Our band is a collective, but Courtney has a lot of ideas and it's weird how they infiltrate our lives—it just happens. Like with the drowning theme, there were all these things going on while we were making this album, like [[Jeff Buckley]] drowning. And years before [bassist] Kristen [Pfaff] died in a bathtub. My father died basically drowning in his own body, he couldn't breathe, and Melissa's father died of lung cancer. Those were literal things, but drowning became a metaphor for this record and for all the people we had lost.|source= —Eric Erlandson on writing ''Celebrity Skin''<ref name=schwartz/>}}

In 1997, the band entered [[Conway Recording Studios]] in Los Angeles after attempts to write new material in Miami, New Orleans, London, and New York.<ref name=int/> Recorded over a ten-month period, Hole's third studio album, ''[[Celebrity Skin]]'' (1998), adopted a complete new sound for the band, incorporating elements of power pop, and had Love drawing influences from [[Fleetwood Mac]] and [[My Bloody Valentine (band)|My Bloody Valentine]].<ref name="int">{{cite AV media notes|title=The Interview|others=Hole|year=1998|type=CD|publisher=Geffen|id=PRO-CD-1232}}</ref> According to Erlandson, Love was more focused on song-writing and singing than playing guitar on the record; Love stated that her aim for the album was to "deconstruct the [[California Sound|California sound]]" in the L.A. tradition of bands like [[The Doors]], [[The Beach Boys]] and [[The Byrds]].<ref name="int" /> In addition to Hole, [[The Smashing Pumpkins|Smashing Pumpkins]] frontman [[Billy Corgan]] entered the studio and helped perfect five of the album's twelve songs.<ref name="int" /> Love, who felt she was in a creative slump, likened Corgan's presence in the studio to "a math teacher who wouldn't give you the answers but was making you solve the problems yourself".<ref name="int" />

Upon the album's release, Corgan told [[CNN]] that he should have "been given credit [for writing the entire album]".<ref name="cnn">{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9809/04/review.hole/ |work=CNN |title=Hole flaunts survival with polished Celebrity Skin |date=September 4, 1998 |archive-date=December 2, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021202203015/http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9809/04/review.hole/ |author=Brandes, Wendy |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Erlandson responded to Corgan's statements in a ''Rolling Stone'' interview, commenting: "We were working on all the stuff that Courtney and I had already written. Billy really facilitated things, in a way&nbsp;... I would bring in the music, Courtney would start coming up with lyrics right away, and [Billy] would help map it all out." Erlandson also stated: "Courtney writes all her own lyrics. Nobody else is writing those lyrics and nobody ever has."<ref name="schwartz">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/holes-eric-erlandson-sheds-his-celebrity-skin-19981008?print=true |magazine=Rolling Stone |title=Hole's Eric Erlandson Sheds His Celebrity Skin |author=Schwartz, Jennifer |access-date=July 22, 2011 |date=October 8, 1998 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130203141244/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/holes-eric-erlandson-sheds-his-celebrity-skin-19981008?print=true |archive-date=February 3, 2013 }}</ref> One journalist took note of the controversy when reviewing the album, stating: "Back in 1994, the acclaim for ''Live Through This'' was undercut by whispers that Love's late husband wrote the album. Combine those [[conspiracy theories]] with the unfounded but persistent rumor that Cobain was actually murdered, and it is no surprise that, in the song 'Celebrity Skin', Love calls herself a walking study in [[demonology]]."<ref name="cnn" />

Although Schemel is listed as drummer in the liner notes of the record, her drumming does not actually appear on the record; she was replaced by session drummer [[Deen Castronovo]], under pressure from producer [[Michael Beinhorn]].<ref name="drum" /> After the replacement, Schemel quit the band.<ref name="drum">{{cite web|title=Lived Through That: Patty Schemel |url=http://www.drummagazine.com/features/post/lived-through-that-patty-schemel |work=[[DRUM!]] |author=Zulaica, Don |date=August 5, 2005 |archive-date=September 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100915042818/http://www.drummagazine.com/features/post/lived-through-that-patty-schemel |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="sohard">''Hit So Hard'' (2011) Documentary. Well Go USA (DVD).</ref> Though Love and Erlandson had authorized Schemel's replacement, both expressed regret in retrospect, and Love stated in 2011 that Beinhorn was notorious for replacing drummers on records, and referred to him as "a [[Nazi]]".<ref name="hitsohard" /> After Schemel's departure, the band hired drummer [[Samantha Maloney]] for their upcoming tours and music videos.<ref name="sohard" />

''Celebrity Skin'' was a critical success with strong sales and successful singles, including the title track, "[[Celebrity Skin (song)|Celebrity Skin]]", "[[Malibu (Hole song)|Malibu]]", and "[[Awful (song)|Awful]]". The album received largely positive reviews, with praise from music periodicals such as ''Rolling Stone'', ''NME'', and ''Blender'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/hole/91 |title=Hole : Celebrity Skin – Album Reviews |work=[[NME]] |date=August 4, 1998 |access-date=July 20, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606045547/http://www.nme.com/reviews/hole/91 |archive-date=June 6, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/celebrity-skin-19980901 |title=Celebrity Skin by Hole |author=Hunter, Tim |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=September 1, 1998 |access-date=July 20, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426024647/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/celebrity-skin-19980901 |archive-date=April 26, 2016 }}</ref> as well as a four-star review from the ''Los Angeles Times'',<ref name="LATCS">{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-sep-06-ca-19879-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=September 6, 1998|author=Hilburn, Robert|title=Love Adds Glow To 'Skin'|access-date=May 20, 2011}}</ref> calling it a "wild emotional ride" sure to be "one of the most dissected and debated collections of the year".<ref name="LATCS" /> The album peaked at number 9 on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]], and garnered the band its first and only number 1 single, "Celebrity Skin", which topped the [[Modern Rock Tracks]].<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Celebrity Skin - Hole |url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=hole|chart=all}} |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |access-date=April 27, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412100836/http://www.billboard.com/ |archive-date=April 12, 2010 }}</ref> "Malibu", released December 29, 1998, was the album's second single; it charted at number 3 on the Modern Rock Tracks.<ref>{{cite magazine|url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=hole|chart=all}} |title=Malibu – Hole |magazine=Billboard |access-date=July 3, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412100836/http://www.billboard.com/ |archive-date=April 12, 2010 }}</ref>