Track Listing

1. Celebrity Skin
2. Awful
3. Hit So Hard
4. Malibu
5. Reasons to Be Beautiful
6. Dying
7. Use Once & Destroy
8. Northern Star
9. Boys On The Radio
10. Heaven Tonight
11. Playing Your Song
12. Petals

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10588 in Music
• Published on: 1998
• Released on: 1998-09-08
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.com
When last we saw Courtney Love, she was performing on the silver screen and posing for Versace, a far cry from her formative days stumbling across stages wearing ripped thrift-store clothing. But Love's Hollywood transformation is just the latest in her crusade for adoration, whatever the environment. And Celebrity Skin is just the latest manifestation of that obsession. Instead of screaming in rage over a muscular din of power chords, Love sings in a restrained, melodic alto voice; the band matches the euphony with rhythms and hooks that draw from such mainstream acts as Fleetwood Mac, the Go-Go's, and, of course, Smashing Pumpkins, whose frontman, Billy Corgan, cowrote five songs. What makes Celebrity Skin more than another good rock album, however, is Love's lyrics, which remain confessional and scathing, addressing such topics as physical abuse ("Hit So Hard"), drugs ("Use Once and Destroy"), the music industry ("Awful," "Boys on the Radio"), and her late husband's suicide ("Reasons to Be Beautiful"). If nothing else, Celebrity Skin is proof to all the skeptics that superstars have feelings, too. --Jon Wiederhorn

Rolling Stone
[Celebrity Skin] is sprung, flung and fun, high-impact, rock-fueled pop.... [It] teems with sonic knockouts that make you see all sorts of stars. It's accessible, fiery, and intimate....

Spin
Celebrity Skin is likely to piss off anyone still indulging in the fantasy of Courtney [Love] as punk Goddess/feminist Fury; if you want the howl and the open wound, you'll have to dredge Puget Sound. In exchange for the astonishing consistency of mood that made Live Through This a breakwater of '90s rock, Celebrity Skin produces a cataract of great songs, spectacularly polished.

Customer Reviews

Sonically Amazing Masterpiece & Essential Modern Rock Record
Celebrity Skin is a brilliant, shimmering guitar-driven album that showcases everything from divine hallucinations induced by orgasms ("Hit So Hard") to the posthumous gross commercialization of a certain nineties icon's musical legacy ("Playing Your Song") in a style that is as serious as it is tongue-in-cheek. Undoubtedly one of the best musical works of the nineties (a list which includes their 1994 breakthrough, Live Through This), Celebrity Skin blends variety, musical genius, lyrical fortitude, and unabashed irony. Prelegend lead vocalist Courtney Love isn't afraid to illuminate her songs with intense intimacy and a self-proclaimed warped view of California crumbling into the sea, while not so much as flinching about fans' frequent accusations of selling out (which 9/10 times indicates an artist has made a great record). The real hero here, however, may be Eric Erlandson, the songwriter and man behind the axe, who has an unsurpassed ability to create sickening-sweet atmospheric riffs and (without any warning) rip into them in cutthroat, perfect punk rock form. Boasting no throwaways and a sonically perfect soundscape, the sometimes underrated Celebrity Skin is a destined classic and a must-have for all serious guitar rockers, whether you like Love's provocative persona or not...

An underrated album
Courtney Love sure made a big transformation between 1994 and 1998. She went from a grunge/alternative-rock icon, better-half of Kurt Cobain, to a glamorous fashion model and all-around celebrity. I don't mean this disapprovingly, but rather just stating a fact.

Hole's music reflected the change. Abandoning the grunge/alternative sound in favor of a glossy, popish one, Hole released their third album "Celebrity Skin" in the fall of 1998.

Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) joined Love and guitarist Erick Erldandson in creating the new album (Erldandson later revealed that he disapproved of Corgan's involvement).

Compared to Hole's first two albums "Pretty on the Inside" (1991) and "Live through This" (1994), "Celebrity Skin" is far more radio-friendly, with a far glossier production. Be that as it may "Celebrity Skin" is hardly an upbeat, cheerful album. Indeed, beyond the sunny exterior lies a distinctly dark album. Many of the album's songs were written about the death of Kurt Cobain. The sharp contrast between the album's dark tones and it's sunny, glossy exterior, makes for an intriguing listen.

While not everything works, most of the album is quite strong. The Def Leppard-like title track gets the CD off to a good start. "Awful" and "Hit so Hard" are quite melodic and tuneful. The radio-staple "Malibu" (written about Cobain's last stint at a rehabilitation center there) is one of the best singles from the late 90s. The edgy "Reason's to be Beautiful" and "Use Once and Destroy" don't quite work. They would have sounded great stripped down and raw, but don't really mesh with the glossy production. "Dying," works because of its sincerity, but is too popish for its own good. The downbeat "Northern Star" and the Go-Go's sounding "Boys on the Radio" are great. The latter very underrated. The lush "Heaven Tonight" is effective and keeps up the momentum. "Playing your Song" is one of the more aggressive songs on the album that actually works. The very bleak "Petals" makes for a good closing number.

It would have been easy for Hole to have written a "Live though this" part II, but instead the band chose to take a chance and go in a different direction. While "Celebrity Skin" does have its flaws, most of the songs work. If you bought "Celebrity Skin" back in 1998 and were disappointed, try giving it another spin, without trying to compare it "Live though this." You may be pleasantly surprised.

Worthy of comparison to the Pistols or Dolls
I don't listen to a lot of newer alt or punk, but I just have to say that "Boys on the Radio" blows me away time after time. It is a great punk anthem in the tradition of "Pretty Vacant" or "Personality Crisis". The other songs are great, especially "Malibu", "Heaven Tonight" these are great anthemic pieces with soaring melodies, poignant guitar work, tight harmonies and an incessant beat.

Both the song-writing and the production of this album is simply beautiful. Great CD to drive to.

As crazy and self-destructive as Courtney Love is, she proves that she has the talent of her late husband, Kurt Cobain. Hopefully her life will have a happier ending and she'll treat us to more great tunes and less gossip column fodder.