Hole's Deafeningly Overwhelming Kaleidoscopic Poetry

When grunge broke out, the world witnessed how music promised a space for rebellion and freedom for people through its raw, sludgy tunes and seeping with unbridled anger, allowing its artist to be emotional and vulnerable, which further allowed listeners to use the music as a crutch, leaning on it for comfort. Except, it was mostly reserved for its male counterparts. Joy.

Enter Courtney Love and her band Hole, who broke through the barriers and rose through its ranks with her killer vocals- an explosive mix of venom and fury constructed purely of rage from the pits of her core- grunts and sneers carried by her band’s out-of-the-world melodies. Yep, it was a band foregrounding female rage (third wave feminism).

Hole shook the entire grunge scene with its music, which was a violent medley of psychedelia and metal that relentlessly exposed the cruel agony of female pain that was always shoved into the deepest pit of any girl’s heart (and locked away) because the "female rage" is usually regarded as shrill or hysterical or dismissed.

Love was a brutal force of nature. Wrapped in her babydoll dresses, red lipstick and messy blonde hair- an epitome of kinderwhore aesthetic - she was drenched in a power so addictive and raw. With a commandeering aura, she ravenously screamed for an open space, a portal to spill out all the anger that had been grappling on our tongues, begging for liberation.

Somewhere amidst headbanging to her songs of pure exasperation and indignation, Love successfully opened my lock, as she had for several others who have shoved the agony deep inside.

As they say, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

What I love best about Hole’s songs is that it lacks sweetness and tenderness; in other words, their songs disenchant any rosey-tinted conjured fantasy of life, spitting the truth as it is: in all its raw glory because life is not worth the feigned sweetness. Hole's passion, sandwiched between their snark and wit gave the world some of the best albums we could have ever asked for.

“Live Through This” is an album that sings with such magnanimous vitriolic acidity towards society's misogyny and the endurance of trauma. It gives us a slight glimpse into Love’s world of her struggle to survive the fame and the incessantly swarming rumours, pregnancy and childhood trauma. It was her channel to purge all the pain that had been bubbling up inside her.

Though visceral and angst laden, her lyrics are wrapped with pure authenticity.

Through the songs like “Doll Parts”, she sings how a woman is never whole and, further, compared herself (or us, if she is a symbol for women) to a tattered rag doll with a feverish tone. But is so staggeringly gorgeous. It’s absolutely raw and emotionally evocative.

Teeming with anguish and painful emotions, the tracks scream with utter fury and a certain vulnerability. With lyrics like “Was she asking for it?/Was she asking nice?/If she was asking for it/Did she ask you twice?” from “Asking for It” and “Go on, take everything, take everything, I want you to” from “Violet”, the tracks deal with female sexuality, objectification and violence against women.

The morbid and unsettling song, "Jennifer's Body", though a damn good track, it did take me a few listens to try and interpret the lyrics. Unfortunately, none of the Hole members have disclosed the true meaning of the song, something that further piqued my curiosity. Nevertheless, it seems to be about emotional and physical abuse. A haunting and poignant track that will leave you a shuddering mess.

And "Plump" is one song that gets to me every time. It's the song that can ignite your body with a pain so riveting and heavy. It's like a plunge right into your heart because of how much that track is drenched in sinful bitterness; it hurts. Still, it's one of my favourite tracks.

Quoting the Rolling Stones, “Love delivers punk not only as insinuating as Nirvana’s but as corrosive as the Sex Pistols’. True to every word.

"Pretty On the Inside" is their loud, abrasive album, chockful of Courtney Love's powerful poetry sizzling with raw aggression and emotion. With her piercing vocals and the band's harsh sound that carry the disturbing lyrics, “Pretty on the Inside” is an album choked with unfettered pain and bitterness. Bursting with rage-filled sonnets mixed with overwrought distortion, this album is a sonic knockout that deals with violence, sexual assault, self-hatred, sexuality and rivalry. I absolutely love the track “Teenage Whore” that deals with the hush-hush topic of female sexuality (forced suppression of the feminine sexuality, my friend) and with the complicated and terrible relationship some may have with their parents, making the child desperate and alone while muddling through their parent’s ‘repulsion’. (from the lyric “I've seen your repulsion and it looks real good on you/Denying what, what what you put me through”). “Pretty On the Inside” is an unapologetically visceral track about the commodification of beauty, and “Garbage Man” is a gut-ripping and painful track dealing with emotional abandonment and abuse. “Good Sister/Bad Sister” is another rage-filled violent track about a messy, gritty and tumultuous toxic relationship and how sometimes, even if the relationship is gone, a painful scar remains. And “Babydoll” is probably the most intense song with seething lyrics (like “My raw hand, my fever blister/Watch me, watch me, watch me disappear/Here she comes, her pants undone/All waste and void, all waste and void, and void, and void).

I think listening to this album during my teen years was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made. Her venomous sonnets with bombarding melodies of ear-splitting banging of the drums and nasty bursts of guitars gave me a channel to seek my emotional catharsis and a shoulder to support. Love is truly an unapologetic and unravished woman, with riot grrrl ethics and a damn great artist. Her music is one that got me through way too many hard times and something I will continue to love undeniably and unflinchingly.