Courtney Love - what to do

I like Courtney Love.  I love how she sings, and love her songs.  I love her bravado.  I love her hot body (link nsfw).  I love that she is still standing. I love that she never apologizes.  I love that she will get naked at the drop of a hat.  I defend her every chance I get.  She gets an unfair TON of shit.  Every time something happens the world jumps on her for being 'skanky' or 'no talent' or 'coattail riding' etc etc.  Yes, Courtney Love is an asshole.  Guess what, she is a rock star.  You forgive Axl, and Mick.  You forgave John Lennon.  John Lennon was a HUGE asshole.  He was a colossal prick who personally broke up the Beatles because he was insecure that Paul's songwriting was better (and it was).  John Lennon put a cigarette out on a Picasso at the Playboy mansion.  (editors note to self:  it was a Matisse)

I admit there is a double standard for women we can't shake.  For example, I keep saying she is being unfairly judged because she is a woman.  If you were to log all her antics and compare them with any other great rock star and take out the gender identifiers... she would pale to most great male rock stars.  So, I castigate you for being shallow.  Yet, I freely admit  a BIG part of why I love Courtney is because I have a crush on her crazy ass.

     ... and I knew, Love would tear you apart!

But then, I have to think of all she has done.  To me, it IS a big deal if someone is an asshole, even if they are a rock star.  It's not a dis-qualifier for me, but I take notice.  I think how Kurt once famously wore a brilliant t shirt on the cover of Rolling Stone that said "Corporate Magazines Still Suck".  Yet, after Kurt died, Courtney sold his diaries and had excepts published in Time.  This is pretty much everything Kurt was against, and she knew that on every level.

This was tough to forgive.  Then, we look at her masterpiece album, Celebrity Skin.  That is an excellent rock album on absolutely every level.  It's catchy, it's deep, it's heavy, it's angry.  It's great!  Look very closely.  Wait, don't bother.  You don't even know where to look, I will look for you.  Courtney didn't write those songs.  Billy Corgan and her guitarist (Eric Erlandson) wrote it.  You should know that Billy and Courtney were  BIG item long ago. Lived together, and actually went to court to fight over a cat when she moved out.

Then, she went gonzo against Dave Grohl.  Sadly, through Kurt's demise and will, Courtney became the primary stakeholder in the Nirvana catalogue.  This meant the two remaning guys couldn't do ANYTHING Nirvana related without going through Courtney.  Stuff like box sets, retrospectives, remasters... all had to go through Court.  Dave Grohl is a god among men.  If you hate Dave Grohl; you hate puppies,  rainbows, and free cocaine.  So, just to be a dick to Dave Grohl (which she has now openly admitted) she blocked any and all Nirvana projects.  That is why Sublime put out 10 records after Bradley died and Nirvana did one.

See, she didn't need the money.  That is past tense.  She just two weeks ago admitted she blew through 27 million dollars of 'Nirvana money'.  Her words, not mine.

“I know that’s a lifetime of money to most people,” she said to Sunday Style last weekend. “But I’m a big girl, it’s rock ‘n’ roll, it’s Nirvana money, I had to let it go.”

You know the old parable about 'first, they came for the jews... I did nothing.  It didn't impact me.  Then, they came for the old and infirm.  I did nothing.... etc etc.  Well, it has come down to this.  Very recently, a recording engineer released some interesting Hole tapes.  He was hired to do live sound at this venue (so his work was specific to the venue, not the band.  That might be pertinent to know, I am not sure).  Now, we know she consistently inconsistent on stage. She rambles a lot, forgets all the words, and storms off stage more than Axl Rose and Axl Rose combined!

Take a look at this photo

That woman on stage is Courtney's assistant.  Let's call her 'fuckface who is in the goddamn way.'  This gal was on stage filming the show from her iPhone for the ENTIRE show.  That is beyond weird, it is selfish and disrespectful to the audience.  You paid $40 to see her assistant stand front and center all night.  At that show, she was better remembered for not finishing a single song.

Yet... she can perform on rare occasion.  Also, on rare occasion, the excellent songs get a chance to shine... as witnessed here.  This is this a full show on Youtube.  It is pro shot and pro sound, and she is topless the second half of the show. It is a great performance overall, and a rare moment for Courtney.  Here, I will embed it below because it is such an overall great performance for her.  I show you this to be even handed.  I have always been a fan of hers, though she makes it so goddamn tough.  Note, for the last few songs, she is topless.  That is rock and roll, and I still seem to have the crazy hots for her.

So, why did I tell you about the recording engineer guy.  Well, one of the shows he recorded at that venue was Hole.  He never got paid for his work, so he kept his masters.  This guy was an audio recording engineer, which means he was plugged straight into the board.  It means he can isolate tracks.  So, he did that with the Hole show.  The results are below, and it's bad.  Really, really bad.

Now, generally speaking, I love isolated audio tracks.  I think they are mana from heaven.  Here is an example.  Listen to this - its David Lee Roth doing his audio for 'running with the devil'.  It's powerful.  You can literally hear his confidence and charisma through his voice.

She can't sing well, can't remember her own songs, can't write her own songs, worked aggressively to destroy Nirvana's legacy post Cobain suicide.  She freely admits not only that she lost 27 million bucks, but casually dismisses it as not her money, anyway.  "Whatever, it's gone.  It was just Nirvana money.'  Tell that to Grohl and Noveselic's wife and children that it was no biggie you not only hoarked their money, but then you blew.  and you didn't feel bad about it.

I just can't defend her anymore.  Not sure I should.  Oh, and before you comment with something stupid like 'good riddance to her, she is a no talent assclown' - work to prove your point, please.  Agree or disagree, I love either if there is some intelligence and thoughtfulness to it.

Ok, Courtney.  You are on your own now.  Go marry Scott Weiland and leave us all alone.

*** oh, one last thing.  I watched this clip a few times as I was preparing this piece and I found something even MORE lame than her inability to play a single chord.  At exactly the 1 minute mark you see two guitarists on stage.  Neither is the other guitarist, Eric Erlandson.  So, when playing live, they needed FOUR guitarist to play simple power chord rock

*** did I just compare Courtney Love to both German death squads and John Lennon?  You bet your ass I did.