What would Kurt say? (Celebrity Skin - Hole)

Member Name: violentviolet

Product:	Celebrity Skin - Hole
Date:	10/07/00 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A couple of decent tracks: Dying, Northern Star, Awful,

Disadvantages: Mainstream crossover not successful: sounds too watered down

Think of a successful rock star who has sold billions of records, plays guitar like a genius and writes fantastic songs to boot.... Okay, time's up. Was it a woman? I don't think so. Girls don't play guitars: they usually spend their time fantasing about sleeping with boys that do instead.

That's why Hole are such an important band. Or should I say were. Courtney was supposed to be the woman who proved that having a uterus does not prevent females from writing great songs that AREN'T just about their latest episode of heartache or some other corny sacchrine rubbish. Courtney didn't sing in a pretty pretty fashion: she screamed, she whispered, she moaned and as a result her songs had ten times more emotional intensity than anything by Kylie or Britney Spears.

Until now. Celebrity Skin sees Hole try and reach a wider commercial audience and water down the old raw anger in order to achieve broader mainstream success. Although certain songs do almost justify the difficult crossover -'Dying' is beautiful, sad and proves that Ms Love can sing like a diva if she wants to - at least half the tracks on the album just washed over me in a tide of mediocrity. 'Awful' is a pretty amusing comment on the seeming inevitability of the band's change of direction: 'Yeah, it was punk/Yeah it was stupid/Now it's awful'. 'Northern Star' is another one of the few tunes which seems to match up to the emotional power of previous material.

I realise that Courtney couldn't play the role of the screaming punk chick forever. I also appreciate that time only moves forwards and bands need to change and develop their style. This is inevitable. That doesn't excuse the fact that this record is mediocre and lacks any kind of sincerity, honesty or innovation that I previously associated this band with.

Disappointing.

Summary: