Exclusive: Courtney Love on Hole Album & Daughter
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Courtney Love / Photographed for SPIN by Daniel Jackson
"Are you on anything?"
Courtney Love pauses suddenly from her simultaneous sewing, smoking, and theorizing about how the only way to be successful by the age of 25 is to forget that you have parents and grills me about the contents of my bloodstream.
It's the week before Christmas and we're sitting at the kitchen counter of the spacious, modern Tribeca loft she's rented from a Russian supermodel for the past three months, currently cluttered with "kook"—the word Love gives to the lacy fabrics and bric-a-brac she dyes or fixes or glues until they look like something belonging to Miss Havisham. Doing so relaxes her, and she is famously difficult to relax.
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I'm not on anything.
"Then why are you shaking?"
Because several windows are open and it's freezing outside, so I feel like Demi Moore at the end of St. Elmo's Fire.
"So you don't take any meds?" she persists. Okay, Ambien, sometimes.
"I thought so," Love says, satisfied. "I can't sleep either. I took Ambien for a few years, but I hated waking up with fucking eggs Benedict on my face and a 1,000-page letter I didn't remember writing. You should switch to Sonata."
And who would know better? When I arrived earlier this evening, Love's first order of business upon stepping out of the shower was to greet her psychopharmacologist, who dropped by unannounced to make sure everyone in the Love-Cobain residence, as it's referred to by the housekeeping service, had what they needed. After consulting her roommate and guitarist, the reedy, handsome, British 23-year-old Micko Larkin, Love dismissed the doctor with a simple "We're good."
During the past decade, sundry cracked-out antics, including an OxyContin OD in front of her daughter, fueled macabre speculation regarding Love's mental state. And just recently, a Los Angeles court awarded guardianship of 17-year-old Frances Bean to Love's late husband Kurt Cobain's mother, Wendy O'Connor, and sister, Kimberly Dawn Cobain, amid rumors of domestic abuse. Love's coping mechanism is, as ever, pure manic energy, which is not to be confused with productivity.
55 Comments
Click here to comment- Posted By Anonymous
06.08.10 2:04 PM
Anyone who says Courtney Love sucks has obviously never really listened to her music. She may be a train wreck in her personal life, but she is a brilliant musician and lyricist. And maybe you would be a train wreck too if you had her parents, abandoned in communes, and given lsd as a child. If Kurt had not committed suicide, no doubt her "Live Through This" album would have garnered some awards.
- Posted By Warren
04.28.10 11:57 AM
THE REAL FACTS:Courtney Love is a succubbus that sucks off men's power and wealth with a play pretend heart. Don't be fooled. She is genuine poison. When Kurt needed love and nuturing towards the end she abandoned him to die alone and in mental pain and squalored in junkie whore heaven off his wealth.
Billy Corgan was tricked by her play pretend pseudo-sweet woman "I need help Billy", then she used him by milking every idea and song she could from him, petting his ego and making him feel she couldn't make it without him producing and helping. Then she dumped Billy after she milked what she wanted, and suckered a new producer. Billy was very clear to her not to use the songs he had written\co-written, but she released the songs anyway; SHE DID IT BECAUSE SHE KNEW IT WOULD GET A RISE OUT OF BILLY RIGHT AT THE TIME SHE RELEASED HER ALBUM. SHE DID IT BECAUSE SHE KNEW BILLY GETTED PISSED ABOUT IT PUBLICLY. SHE IS TRICKING BILLY AND THE MEDIA TO SELL MORE OF HER CRAP. DO NOT BE TRICKED AS WELL> DON'T BUY IT!
- Posted By ChristineH
04.12.10 2:34 PM
I would never say a bad thng about Courtney she's truly entertaining.
But c'mon... musically ...
She will always be the" Ignorant Man's Rock".
Like if you have no idea of music, you can even think she's actually playing guitar on stage
(for cd recordings just call Brody Dalle).
The Hole comeback is the Perez Hiltoners' "cool" "legendary" "raw" thing.
- Posted By VoiceFromThe90s
04.11.10 3:37 PM
It's funny how she spends all that Cobain money to pay PR people, papers & sh1t to Re-Write history and be presented as a somehow important part of rock history. It's funny how media people who are completely ignorant buy her sh!t. Everyone that was over 12 in the nineties knows she was NOONE before crawling her self into Kurt's bed. Ok she was known in Portland, L.A drug-circles but what crazy attention whoring groupie isn't ?She fed the press and biographers with nonsense LIES like ABOUT HER BEING MORE POPULAR THAN KURT when they first got together (to prove she no gold digger) and that her first album "pretty on the inside" was selling more than Kurts "bleach" when actually "Pretty On The Inside" was released the same week NEVERMIND was released. I bet putting out a record on a label like geffen is way more successful than putting out an album of Kat Bjelland and Kim Gordon left overs tunes by Caroline records.
Pathetic liar. Liar.Liar. Kurt wrote most of LTT, that's no secret. Billy Corgan wrote most of Celebrity skin, no secret. She never cared about music just fame ,money, celebrity and plastic surgery. The woman got breast implants right after her husband died. I bet that's all about legendary rock music, you fools.
- Posted By Anonymous
03.28.10 8:37 PM
she should give up on the music business, she is talentless. her only real claim to fame was riding her dead husband's coat tails-funny no one ever married her after Cobain died, think they feared they might end up at the wrong end of a gun too?? give your daughter to her dads people, they couldn't do any worse a job than you did....and retire already, start selling Nirvanas music for commercials so you can support your habit.
- Posted By Anonymous
03.24.10 3:25 PM
let's get one thing simple and straight
Courtney Love is now, and has been for years, a full-blown drug addict. When she was really, really good at her job -- musician -- she was not a full-blown addict lost in "a ****ing nightmare maze".She's never going to be a good artist again until she she gets out of this. She may not ever be again, but at least she could become a functioning human being and not a walking disaster.
- Posted By kindredscents
03.24.10 12:19 PM
Once Billy Corgan starts fighting her for the rights of the lyrics she is using.. this could get real good. even he cant stand her anymore.. now you know she is biggest grunge killer out there.
go back to ****.www.kindredscents.com
- Posted By Brian Fucking Brizle
03.23.10 12:20 AM
Ok i dont know why everyone wants to make stabs @ courtney...I Personaly love her and could give 2 ****s about her personal life..Yes we live in a country were oppinion is part of the american way but why dont you piss in someone elses corn flakes...I am soooo extatic for the new Album release and hope all you haters choke on your words...Insted of hateing on miss love use your negitiveity for something creative like putting on more black eyeliner or washing your perl jam tee shirts....Bitches
- Posted By Anonymous
03.13.10 11:19 PM
I LOVE LOVE LOVE COURTNEY! I think we share soul cirlces. I felt all warm and fuzzy when she referred to us affectionately as her cutters! aww...xoxo love you too!WHY DOESN'T SHE DO A KICK ASS REALITY SHOW???? Please sell me one of your art boards or kook, I desperately want one!! THERE WILL NEVER NEVER NEVER BE ANOTHER COURTNEY! Also, WHY AREN'T YOU ON FACEBOOK!?? I ****ING LOVE YOU!! CAN'T ****ING WAIT to hear THIS ****ING MASTERPIECE!!! I LOVE YOU BABE!
- Posted By katharel
03.11.10 8:14 PM
I love Courtney. She has her own edgy style and has a kind of strength that I wish I had. Why is everyone so mean? It's sad that people have to be so negative. It doesn't cost to complement or be positive. You know? I know I get irritated with people's mannerisms because we all fall into mimicking. That Chase commercial: ":We're EVERYWHERE you go....you're not alone..." That bugs me...that bratty Mylie Cyrus nasally bitchy voice sound, now THAT bugs me. But, please, I like how comfortable Courtney is in her body and when she's performing. Saw her in S.F. in '98 but I'd like to see her again. That was awesome. Please, folks, don't be mean anymore. It hurts my feelings.
- Posted By Anonymous
03.03.10 5:04 PM
and when I went to buy this magazine at Chapters bookstore the guy thought it was ****ing Ashley Olsen instead of Courtney Love wtf? haha. it was kinda funny though cause she does kinda look like her in that picture. long live Courtney. god I don't know what rock would do without Courtney to kick it's ass.
- Posted By Anonymous
03.03.10 5:02 PM
ok seriously **** all the people who said she killed Kurt. don't you think she would have gave away Frances a long time ago if she didn't care about Kurt. Kurt was depressed with a long history of manic depression and mental illness in his family. his uncle ****ing committed suicide in front of his entire family. he wouldn't have been alive today with or without her. just watch some of the interviews with him that are on youtube. he says the reason why he took drugs was because he wanted to die. Courtney Love didn't do anything to him. he wanted to die in the first place so shut up already. he said she was "the queen of rock n roll" in his suicide letter and she is. I have nothing against Kurt. I really wish he was still alive today but he was suffering too much. there isn't anyone who is a true rock star like her. there isn't anyone making music like her and if they are, they're just copying her. **** all the people who say she sucks because Kurt died. Kurt didn't want to be alive in the first place and he hated being famous. just let it be. Kurt would have never survived his mental illness anyways. and fyi Hole and Courtney Love fans have amazing taste in music this is rock n roll after all not ****ing Lady Gaga.
but Hole or at least Courtney Love are back and by all the reviews from the show in London she's amazing so **** all the haters cause she'll show you who the queen of rock n roll really is. **** off.
and maybe you should follow her on Twitter in case you have any doubts.
- Posted By Tara Jeane Taylor
03.03.10 4:32 PM
It's easy to fling **** from behind an 'anonymous' tag... Grow the **** up, eh, just cuz ya watched some dumb film, don't mean you know ****. If she had anything to do with the pisces-jesus-heroin boy's death, she'd be locked up, end of story.
I saw her in '95. Her heart was broke, she had no glue...
- Posted By kelly FUCKIN casto
03.01.10 11:25 PM
**** all u haters! Courtney didn't kill Kurt. She loved him very much. don't **** with her, get a life and realize what real talent is!
- Posted By SarahLydle
02.26.10 8:27 PM
I adore Courtney Love and Hole (any version of the band) and am very much looking forward to the new album.
Any haters can just leave this discussion. I would never go on another band/artist's page and slag it off. I wouldnt dream of it. Just bugger off please and leave the real fans to comment on this.
- Posted By TruthWillOut
02.23.10 11:09 PM
She'll be stuck in that nightmare maze forever until she admits to murdering Kurt. No matter how much she alters her visage or tries to remind us of the glory days of Hole. She had everything to do with the death of Kurt. How she can live off his money...Frances Beans inheritance....sickens me.
07.31.10 6:55 PM
i miss kurt 2,but so does courtney and their child thats still no reason to ridicule her ART,LIFE...ETC she is a timeless voice that has alot of truth 2 say b4 u spout all this crap remember why YR JEALOUS LOVE U KURT,COURTNEY,FRANCES BEAN