[MUSIC] THE SAVAGE ANIMAL "The Videography of Hole"
01.16.13
BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
Courtney Love. Just the reading that name has an effect on music fans. To most people she’s the woman who married Kurt Cobain. From there you can either think she was a bad thing or a good thing. There are those theories out there and more than a few books on the topic of “what really happened”. She has always been a controversial figure and her road to recovery has had many off ramps. There is no reason to think she’s a bad person or anything. We wouldn’t know this without firsthand experience. What we can say for sure is that she’s an interesting personality.
Outside of the controversy, Kurt Cobain relationship, and all of the hoopla Courtney Love is an artist. She has done some pretty cool acting performances and has a few talents, but in large she is a musician. I once read that she was almost the lead singer for the band “Faith No More”. How crazy would THAT have been? In 1989 she formed the band Hole. Over the years her antics and the controversy would often overshadow her musical endeavors despite the quality work she and her band have put out. Some stuff instantly come to mind and some stuff is a surprising “ah-ha” revelation of enjoyment. Today I’m going to check out the music videos…
Track: "Miss World”
Album: ”Live Through This”
Year: 1994
Director: Sophie Muller
I barely remember this video, but once you see it it’s hard to forget. It starts with Courtney powdering her face in tons of cut shots. She keeps packing on the powder as she sings for the first thirty five or so seconds. Then it cuts to the band rocking out for a small enthusiastic crowd. This is apparently a beauty pageant as we see Love stumble into through the crowd where she is embraced and adored. She eventually wins, gets flowers, and cries on stage. This is all cut back and forth with the band rocking out on stage and Love’s “Miss World” pageant escapades. There are a lot of little things about this video that stand out. For instance, the clear “Cleanliness is next to godliness” words behind them are more known because of the “Zero” video by Smashing Pumpkins. It’s a pretty good music video. Rating: 7.0
Track: "Doll Parts”
Album: ”Live Through This”
Year: 1994
Director: Samuel Bayer
This is a great looking video. Samuel Bayer is a great music video director and this is another video that reflects that. The video cuts back and forth between black and white and color shots. The black and white stuff has Love sitting on an old bed in a worn out and creepy room. She sings and plays on. It cuts to a color shot of Love and the band rocking out in a performance section. In this version we see shots of Love creeping around and playing outside around flowers, I guess other versions have more doll shots. Bayer gets in great cuts, some awesome cinematography, and just a well done video. This has to be one of the best Hole videos for sure. Rating: 7.5
Track: "Violet”
Album: ”Live Through This”
Year: 1995
Director: Mark Seliger and Fred Woodward
This video reminds me of a lot of other mid-90’s videos. The imagery is pretty cool. The band performs on an old theatre stage with cool and cheap winter snow falling on them. This is all intercut with little girls on stage acting and others doing ballet dancing. This cuts back and forth until Courtney Love starts doing 1920’s burlesque poll dancing. No complains about that. As the video goes on, everything gets more aggressive and more violent. I like how this video looks. It reminds me of the old “Tonight, Tonight” video by the Smashing Pumpkins with some key grungy scratchy looks added for good measure. They went for that old timey look in the video and they accomplished it nicely. Rating: 6.5
Track: "Softer, Softest" (Unplugged)
Album: ”Live Through This”
Year: 1995
Director: Milton Lage
When I think of MTV “Unplugged” I think of like ten other performances before this one. This cut doesn’t really change that. If you’ve seen any of the MTV “Unplugged” shows then you know what to expect in this video. The band sits around in the casual atmosphere and performs “stripped down” versions of their hit songs and select randomness. In this case, Hole puts out “Softer, Softest” to promote the release. It’s a solid performance and the look of it is perfectly acceptable and good for the high bar that has been set by the bigger landmark episodes and moments of the series. Good stuff, nothing too special. Rating: 6.0
Track: "Gold Dust Woman”
Album: ”The Crow: City of Angels” Soundtrack
Year: 1996
Director: Matt Mahurin
I had never seen this video until today. I’m a little surprised I hadn’t heard it or seen it until now. Shots of the movie and themes from the movie are flashed into shots of the band rocking out. It’s a darker video and is really moody looking. I like the close ups and quick cuts and I gotta say this is probably the hottest Love has looked in any of these videos. It’s a cover of a Fleetwood Mac song and you can just tell they had fun with it. I think that translates to fun for the viewer too. Rating: 7.0
Track: "Celebrity Skin”
Album: ”Celebrity Skin”
Year: 1998
Director: Nancy Bardawil
It’s hard to believe this video is around fifteen years old now. I’m pretty sure this is Hole’s biggest hit. The video was pretty memorable because of this. It got tons of airplay and is still a surprising treat whenever I randomly hear it every year or two. There are a lot of cool parts to this video. It’s well directed and there is a lot going on. The band performs on the stage while classy women dangle from the ceiling and dancing around. There are also shots of Love and Melissa Auf der Maur lying in coffins. When reading about the video as I watched it I learned that it was actually shot in black and white and then colorized afterwards in post-production. That explains the bold look of it. Really cool idea. I can’t imagine there being a better video for this song. Rating: 8.5
Track: "Malibu”
Album: ”Celebrity Skin”
Year: 1998
Director: Paul Hunter
This video came out during the band’s upward swing so a lot of people saw it. It’s not a bad song and the video is pretty cool as well. The band plays on the beach as palm trees burn around them. In other videos, Eric Erlandson is shown in flashes but in this one he is featured a bit more. The other notable thing is the Baywatch parody with all of the lifeguards. It’s kind of a chaotic video and a lot of stuff is going on. It’s coherent and is memorable enough, but not the best. Rating: 6.0
Track: "Awful”
Album: ”Celebrity Skin”
Year: 1999
Director: Jeff Richter
I suppose every band is allowed at least one “live on tour” music videos. Jeff Richter took on the task of directing this from 1999 tours. This footage and some backstage stuff shot by Melissa Auf der Maur is cut together and synced up to the album version of the song. There are a lot of these live videos out there and it almost comes down to either it works and captures a certain energy or it doesn’t and it’s boring. It works in this case and I think is almost purely based on the editing. Rating: 6.0
Track: "Be a Man”
Album: ”Any Given Sunday” Soundtrack
Year: 2000
Director: Joseph Kahn and Joe Rey
I’m a big fan of the movie “Any Given Sunday”. I think it was a really underrated football movie and is still probably Jamie Foxx’s best acting. Sadly, that doesn’t make this song any better. This might be the worst Hole song I’ve heard and I can’t believe no one has pointed out how crazy bad it is. Love looks hot, but the video sucks too. Love has blue hair and sings, dances, and wiggles around in front of some generic football shots. It’s all mixed in with clips from the movie. It starts to rain and then Love starts getting frisky with the players. Eeek! Rating: 4.5
Track: "Samantha”
Album: ”Nobody's Daughter”
Year: 2011
Director: Alphan Eseli
There are two main things about this video. The first is that it’s an unfinished video that was released anyway. The second thing is that it’s easily the best music video of Hole’s entire videography. It’s a beautifully shot and edited video of Courtney Love running around in a wedding dress in Istanbul, Turkey. It’s meant to be a post-apocalyptic world and gets the look over nicely in an already interesting and great location. It really looks outstanding and better than most films. It supposedly cost $250,000 to make. I hate to say it and be cliché, but this is one of those “you get what you pay for” type of videos. Very well done. Rating: 9.0
