monochromatic hair situation is fucking high maintenance

July 20, 2010 2:27 PM

Courtney Love's new style blog - lovingly assembled by a mystery team, or maybe just Love herself.
posted by Artw (37 comments total)

It's no Sassy.
posted by defenestration at 2:30 PM on July 20, 2010

They've really never seen granny panties, have they?
posted by frobozz at 2:32 PM on July 20, 2010 [11 favorites]

Pass the eye bleach, please.
posted by Ratio at 2:34 PM on July 20, 2010

I'm with frobozz. If those are granny panties then ... um ... my grandma was doing it wrong.
posted by komara at 2:41 PM on July 20, 2010

Aw, I actually really like this one. Incidentally, I think the commenter named "Pisshole" (scroll down) might just be Krist Novoselic.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:41 PM on July 20, 2010 [3 favorites]

Aw, I actually really like this one.

Courtney Love -- or Stevie Nicks after a bender?
posted by blucevalo at 2:44 PM on July 20, 2010

You know, there was a time when Courtney Love was on the short list for Coolest Person on the Planet. Kind of like everyone's wild older sister that was constantly angering the parents and sneaking you into shows.

Now there's this.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:45 PM on July 20, 2010 [5 favorites]

I had always wondered if she had been given a fair shake. Sometimes the media or the music industry will just fixate upon someone and they can do nothing right. I said, "self, maybe she's okay." I like some of her tunes. I like the latest radio offering. So I went to a Hole concert last week.

She was an hour late, which more or less hit the mark with what I was betting; others had hazarded a mere thirty minutes. She apologized for being late. Promised she would play an extra hour because of it. She hadn't eaten anything today and wanted a cranberry juice. Did "Doll Parts." Did she mention she hadn't eaten anything today? Did a Leonard Cohen song. Had a guy in the background who, if I was following his hands, was playing exactly what she was playing, like she wasn't even plugged in. Hrm. Did some more songs, then left the stage around 10:45 p.m. She ate a cupcake while we waited. Because she hadn't eaten today. She left the stage at 11:00 p.m. because her guitarist's "arm was getting tired." I suppose her original plan was to play precisely zero minutes.

What Courtney Wore Today ...

Today, as in every other day, "Out her welcome."
posted by adipocere at 2:48 PM on July 20, 2010 [14 favorites]

Can I pre-order Frances Bean's memoir on Amazon now? Or do I have to wait until she writes one?
posted by Joe Beese at 2:57 PM on July 20, 2010 [2 favorites]

As long as she doesn't sing anymore, I'm happy. But still...ewww.
posted by tunewell at 3:02 PM on July 20, 2010

Kind of like everyone's wild older sister that was constantly angering the parents

She always reminded me of everyone's favorite crazy ex-girlfriend. Even down to the personal style that while never quite fashionable but always had a certain identity and sort of worked for her. She's the type where you'd run into her at a restaurant and bar and think to yourself, "She's still at this, living it up like she just graduated college? What a mess," but part of you envies it all, waking up hungover every day, going somewhere fun every weekend, crashing a friend's parent's vacation home that as the days wear on you begin to realize you didn't exactly have permission to stay there, the Xanax, Klonopin and coke that always seemed in short supply and omnipresent at the same time.

We should all be so lucky to have dated a Courtney Love at one time or another.
posted by geoff. at 3:05 PM on July 20, 2010 [4 favorites]

Ooh, Frances Bean memoir titles, go!

#1) Mommie Smearest.
posted by adipocere at 3:06 PM on July 20, 2010 [5 favorites]

"You get the Bruce Springsteen set, sorry."

Courtney Love muttered those words at some point during Hole's show Sunday night at the 9:30 Club. It's hard to remember exactly when. Time seemed to stand still for so much of the evening. If she meant that we were in for a nearly three-hour concert, then yes, her statement was true. If she meant that we would experience a well-oiled rock-and-roll machine and everybody would leave feeling satisfied they got their money's worth ... let's come back to that one.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:06 PM on July 20, 2010 [4 favorites]

Aw, I was just gonna post that review. Lots of quotable segments.

It's safe to say the people yelling "Bull[expletive]! This is bull[expletive]!" didn't feel like their $45 was well spent. There were more than a handful of patrons shouting and cursing at the endlessly controversial, occasionally coherent 45-year-old rock trainwreck. Many more simply headed for the exits. Three-quarters-filled at the start, the club was no more than a quarter packed by the excruciating end.

Make no mistake - this was an astonishingly awful performance that had few moments of redeeming musical value. Song titles, lyrics, guitar chords - Love remembered only some of them, and infrequently. Then again, what was really the best-case musical scenario? A competent recreation of songs more than a decade old, played by Love and her latest hired hands? Is that what people wanted to see - Courtney karaoke versions of '90s MTV buzz clips? Maybe. But probably not. Perhaps a bit more professionalism would have been nice but in 2010 you pay your $45 hoping for the Courtney Love Experience. And Sunday night was an experience like no other.

Here's the thing about Courtney Love: she's mentally ill, and has severe substance abuse issues. That's about it.
posted by anazgnos at 3:17 PM on July 20, 2010

"You wore grungy clothes
and doctors fixed your nose"

(for certain values of "fixed")
posted by Eideteker at 3:18 PM on July 20, 2010

Had a guy in the background who, if I was following his hands, was playing exactly what she was playing, like she wasn't even plugged in.

Yeah, Courtney basically hasn't played any significant guitar parts since the early nineties. Live, her guitar is mostly just a prop. But her guitar is all over the first Hole album—it's soaked with distortion to cover up her shoddy playing, so it's easy to pick out. She also seems to have played the rhythm guitar parts on Live Through This, but it's not easy to isolate her guitar from Eric's on that album because the recording is very layered. The beginning of "Plump" is her guitar, probably. But she didn't play anything on Celebrity Skin, and I'd be surprised if she played anything on her new record or on that atrocious piece of shit she put out under her own name.

Listen, I know you probably all hate her, and I'm not here to roll up my sleeves and try to defend her at great length. I've long since given up on that. But I will say that she's smart, her lyrics were clever, she's well-read, and she can be articulate. Unfortunately she's so obnoxious (and/or so fucked up) that most people don't pay attention long enough to realize any of that. I guess I don't blame them, but personally, this is the Courtney I will always love. Her voice was insanely powerful despite the cigarettes and whisky and relentless screaming. But then she did crack and fucked up her voice and now it's over (see also: Whitney Houston). Nevertheless, Live Through This is one of my favorite albums. She is a true rock star in every respect, and I hate that she allows her persona to overshadow her music. Because when I think of Courtney Love, I think of her music—Pretty on the Inside, Live Through This, and the My Body, the Hand Grenade compilation, specifically—and not all the stupid tabloid drama and baggage her name conjures up in the minds of most people. So yes, I will always have a soft spot for Courtney Love. The end.
posted by Houyhnhnm at 3:37 PM on July 20, 2010 [9 favorites]

I was thinking of posting a self-link to a story on my blog about going out to dinner with Courtney, I think around like 1983. Then I decided I wouldn't. I am trying to forget about it.
posted by charlie don't surf at 3:38 PM on July 20, 2010

What? Dammit man!
posted by Artw at 3:38 PM on July 20, 2010

Self-link: The Many Faces of Courtney Love.
posted by Houyhnhnm at 3:43 PM on July 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

Pretty on the Inside is genius, and so is Celebrity Skin, and I will fight you.

(I haven't heard the new one yet.)
posted by jokeefe at 4:00 PM on July 20, 2010

I'll say it: I love courtney. she's had an interesting life, she's been through a lot, and she's one of the few women in a male dominated industry. She isnt the only crazy person or junkie in rock, but she always seems to get singled out. She survived Kurt's suicide, single motherhood, drug addiction and shes still rocking. also, i cant wait for the kurt cobain movie
posted by MXJ1983 at 4:10 PM on July 20, 2010

I love her too. Always have. I also love everything she has ever worn, so this style blog is my new favorite thing.
posted by makonan at 4:17 PM on July 20, 2010

From that review linked above:

Love eventually decided to have some of her fans join her on stage. She started plucking some from the crowd and they simply sat off to the side. "Do you really like rock music?" she asked one female. "Because you're African-American. That would be like me being into Lil Wayne."
posted by Snyder at 4:21 PM on July 20, 2010

May be to do with this (Facebook link, but worth it in context, so worth it...)
posted by motty at 4:31 PM on July 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

Love her, love clothes, love this.
posted by padraigin at 4:40 PM on July 20, 2010

If those are granny panties then ... um ... my grandma was doing it wrong.

No, if those are granny panties, then your grandma was doing it.
posted by emelenjr at 4:40 PM on July 20, 2010 [3 favorites]

I used to think Courtney was cool, quirky, talented, and hot. Now I think she is like a faithless cake, smashed in the road, covered in lint.
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:43 PM on July 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

I think she looks good, silly me.
posted by Huck500 at 5:15 PM on July 20, 2010

She was part of a few really good records. She's also fucking nuts.
posted by jonmc at 5:22 PM on July 20, 2010

She survived Kurt's suicide, single motherhood, drug addiction and shes still rocking.

You're 1 for 4. She did survive Kurt's suicide. As for single motherhood, before Frances formally opted out via court order in 2009, Courtney was never her daughter's caretaker. There were always nannies and they'd bring Frances in occasionally to see her mom, who was usually holed up (yeah) in her bedroom. Wendy and Kim Cobain (the current guardians) tried to do what they could but Courtney's behavior toward them was vengeful and her willingness to jeopardize Frances's well-being was unconscionable. Moving on to drug addiction, I don't think she's over that one yet. And rocking? Showing up late, having your 'assistant' worry about camera angles with an iPhone and barely getting through a song does not constitute 'rocking'.
posted by grounded at 5:57 PM on July 20, 2010 [4 favorites]

Hating on Courtney love is like pissing on homeless people.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 6:34 PM on July 20, 2010 [4 favorites]

Shit Sandwich. No bread.
posted by dbiedny at 9:02 PM on July 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

I thought she was great in The People vs. Larry Flynt (albeit in a role tailor made for her persona), and always hoped she'd make acting a second career. At least then her acting wouldn't make people regret and rethink their appreciation of her earlier music career, which seems to be what her "second" music career is doing.
posted by dhartung at 9:29 PM on July 20, 2010

Well, this is better than Courtney Love's Law Blog.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:08 AM on July 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

Last December, I posted a series of psychic predictions for the year 2010. Clearly I've been vindicated by the new iPhone, and I see that my Courtney Love prediction is correct as well.
posted by Tube at 3:58 AM on July 21, 2010

In case you haven't seen it before, you may be amused by 24 Hours of Love.
posted by christhelongtimelurker at 9:22 AM on July 21, 2010

I have a lot of time for Courtney. Live Through This, given to a certain type of teenage girl at a certain type of time, can be lifechanging. Celebrity Skin is a great pop record, even. I hate the tits who give her the Yoko treatment, claiming that she Killed Kurt Cobain - nope, depression and a shotgun did, and sometimes that's beyond anybody's control or influence. I loved the fact she wore a tiara and a nightdress, so much that I went to a Cambridge open-day in a satin floral slip (I was going through a riot grrrl phase). She's not a great musician, but really, many pop icons aren't, a lot of pop is smoke, mirrors and attitude - what she did have were lyrics and a great voice to turn them into a howl of vindication.

These days, though, I wish she'd stop playing some kind of sketch show caricature of a 'rockstar' and sort herself out a bit. I don't like the idea of suggesting anyone's too old to do anything, but she hasn't really moved on from the grunge years, a bit like the friend at university who still hangs around their old drinking societies into their thirties. And when I hear of her now, part of me thinks 'Jesus, move on already. You're like Miss Havisham with a Fender.'
posted by mippy at 2:08 AM on July 22, 2010 [3 favorites]