Courtney Love Redemption

Honestly, I’m going to finish “Heavier Than Heaven” and come out of this Nirvana coma and realize that a whole week’s worth of music news and revelations has passed me by. The new Rolling Stone showed up in my mailbox two days ago and I haven’t even cracked it open yet. And it has Jimi Hendrix on the cover! For now though, I’m going to flow with the two decade old inspiration and focus on Courtney Love.

When I was 15 my friend and neighbor came over to my house with a copy of “Kurt and Courtney” a documentary that for the most part seemed to blame Courtney Love for the death of Kurt Cobain. I spent the rest of high school avoiding Hole and believing what one documentary hinted to me. Not that I know Miss Love, but I would like to take right now to apologize. I feel awful for her. Here was a woman who had lost the only person she felt ever loved her unconditionally. While most of us can get this from our parents and siblings, Courtney was estranged from her family. Kurt was her husband and the father of her child and he chose to end his own life. If that’s not bad enough, then Courtney had legions of people blame her for it! There was a pretty successful movie made about it, successful enough to get out to a 15 year old girl in the Boston suburbs. On top of all this she was accused of using Nirvana’s success and Cobain’s death to improve her own position in the music industry. What is not realized is that Hole was getting just as many good reviews as Nirvana when they both burst on the scene in the late 80s early 90s. I would point to sexism as the reason Hole was not as successful as it was for another decade. I’ve said this before, but the only female fronted rock band to really make it in the 90s was No Doubt. For some reason the public, and the rock music public that claims to be liberal, does not embrace female fronted acts. I commend Courtney Love for being s aggressive as she was and making it happen.

Finally, another myth that “Heavier Than Heaven” busts that I feel needs to be repeated is that Courtney Love was responsible for Kurt Cobain’s heroin use. The fact of the matter is that Cobain had been using heroin on a daily basis when the two began their relationship. Courtney Love had actually been clean for two years, and turned Cobain away when he came to her two days in a row wanting to do heroin. She told him that she would not do in consecutively. If anything Cobain got Love re-hooked on a drug that she has already detoxed from. It’s also made clear that Love’s friends wanted her to avoid Cobain because they were afraid she would get back into drug use. I’m sure as I finish “Heavier Than Heaven” there will be more revelations on this front.

Now, Courtney Love and the newest reincarnation of Hole are trying to make a comeback. The band just played the SXSW festival, and from what I heard did a pretty good job. They have a new album entitled, “Nobody’s Daughter” slated for release April 27th, the first Hole album in 6 years. Love has already called it, “more important than any record I’ve ever made.” As an atonement for my years of misguidance and misunderstanding of Love, I plan on buying this album the day it comes out, and you can bet when Hole makes a stop in Chicago I will be in the audience to see it.