So why is Hole’s Celebrity Skin on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
I fully recognize that for most music fans and most fans of Hole, Live Through This would easily be the choice for the “best” Hole album.*
* There are certainly detractors, of course, like my man Lou – a massive Alice in Chains and heavy metal guy – who is baffled at my admiration for Courtney Love’s and Hole’s music.
And certainly I have great love for Live Through This and have it at #279 of the best 1,000 albums ever:
When I was younger, the chugging and grungy and soaring “Plump” was my favorite song on the album, but these days I’m much drawn to “Softer, Softest,” which is by far the gentlest song on Live Through This. I find Love’s voice to be super compelling and evocative, so it’s great to get a song where it’s so much in the spotlight.
But for me, I find the meshing of pop and alt rock sensibilities with the band’s very much still vital and aggressive punk/grunge roots to be the optimal sound for Hole.
“Celebrity Skin,” the title track, is a perfect example. Check out the ferocious guitar hook that’s sanded down ever so slightly from a production standpoint – perhaps guided in part by Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins fame, who is listed as a producer on this song and five total songs on the album. And then I love the dark but gorgeous chorus, putting this song into very rare territory.
And, oh yeah: as great as The Smashing Pumpkins are in their own right, I’d take Love’s over Corgan’s vocals anytime.
And all of that being said, a trio of even more pop-leaning tracks – “Malibu,” “Heaven Tonight,” and “Northern Star” – are my favorites on Celebrity Skin.
“Malibu” is sublime pop/rock, while “Heaven Tonight” for my money is one of the most likable and catchiest songs of the late 1990s, with just enough of an edge of darkly alluring vibes to give it some heft.
And “Northern Star” is a quiet yet powerful acoustic number that emphasizes Courtney Love’s striking vocal presence.
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with Hole’s Celebrity Skin
It’s not included on Celebrity Skin, but I absolutely love Hole’s 1996 cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman.”
I’d be all in on a full-blown cover of Rumours (#657 of best 1,000 albums ever), in fact.
Some stats & info about Hole – Celebrity Skin
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Punk Rock, Alternative Rock, Grunge, SoCal Bands
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 3.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Celebrity Skin released? 1997
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #258 out of 1,000
Hole’s Celebrity Skin on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Hole’s Celebrity Skin that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Oh, make me over, I’m all I wanna be – a walking study in demonology.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.