• 1989-2011

  Courtney LoveVocals, guitar

  Eric ErlandsonGuitar(1989–2000)

  Caroline RueDrums(1989–1992)

  Jill EmeryBass(1990–1992)

  Patty SchemelDrums(1992–1998)

  Kristen PfaffBass(1993–1994)

  Melissa Auf der MaurDrums(1994–2000)

  Samantha MaloneyDrums(1998–2000)
• Courtney Love formed Hole in 1989 after brief stints in various bands, including an early version of Faith No More. She found her bandmates through an ad in the Los Angeles classified paper The Recycler, citing her influences as Big Black, Sonic Youth, and Fleetwood Mac. Other bands that found members through ads in The Recycler include Metallica and Mötley Crüe.
• By the time Courtney Love started dating Kurt Cobain of Nirvana in 1991, Hole had released two singles and was getting a lot of press in the alternative rock community, and also in the UK. Nirvana was also a little-known indie band, so the union of Cobain and Love was great story about the leaders of two up-and-coming rock bands. Of course, the dynamic changed dramatically when Nirvana's album Nevermind exploded in 1992. Hole became mostly associated with Courtney Love's exploits, but their music held up on its own.
• The band name raise a lot of eyebrows, but it's taken from a line in the ancient play Medea by Euripides: "There's a hole burning deep inside me."
  
  Courtney Love chose the name because she knew it would confuse people and provide a talking point.
• Eric Erlandson, the only male member of the band, dated Drew Barrymore in 1995 and early 1996. Courtney Love introduced them.
• Their first album, Pretty On The Inside, was released on the small label Caroline Records in 1991. It got the attention of the major label DGC, which signed them and released the album Live Through This on April 12, 1994, just four days after Kurt Cobain was found dead.
• Bass player Kristen Pfaff died of a heroin overdose on June 16, 1994, forcing the band to postpone their Live Through This tour. She and Kurt Cobain were both 27 when they died.
• Hole was on the road for about year starting in late August 1994, first with their Live Through This tour and then with Lollapalooza. During this time, Courtney Love was especially unruly, sometimes verbally and physically assaulting fans and associates. On Lollapalooza, she had dust-ups with Cypress Hill (she called them "pothead pu--ies"), The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill, who charged her with assault.
• Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson are both Buddhists.
• Love was known for giving interviews where she would say whatever was on her mind regardless of the question asked. This made for some interesting stories, many of which she admittedly embellished. She welcomed the press until she was burned by Vanity Fair, whose 1992 interview by Lynn Hirschberg included a quote from a "close friend" who claimed she took drugs while pregnant with her daughter, Frances Bean Cobain. After that, journalists were made to sign a contract stipulating they wouldn't talk about topics like drug use or Kurt Cobain unless she brought them up, which she often did.
• Erlandson and Love did a lot of the songwriting together, with him putting together the tracks while she handled the lyrics. They had a productive working relationship, and apparently were intimate for a time. Love would say on stage: "Eric was my boyfriend once, but he won't admit it because I'm too ugly."
• The band stopped performing and recording in 2000, with Auf der Maur joining Smashing Pumpkins. Courtney Love assembled a new (all-male) lineup for the album Nobody's Daughter, released in 2010. This lineup played a few shows in 2010 and 2011, but then Love retired the Hole name.

Comments: 1

• Luna Loud from Royal Woods, Michigan"Eric was my boyfriend once, but he won't admit it because I'm too ugly." LOL!

More Songfacts:

I Walk The LineJohnny Cash

In "I Walk The Line," Johnny Cash hums before each verse. He did this to get his pitch, as the song changes key several times.

I Remember EverythingZach Bryan

Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves had both gone through divorces when they wrote and recorded the wrenching duet "I Remember Everything." It was the first #1 Hot 100 hit for each of them.

Private IdahoThe B-52s

The B-52's chose the location of their song "Private Idaho" because the state has a reputation for being wacky and mysterious. The title is a play on the phrase "private eye."

Like A PrayerMadonna

Madonna's hit "Like A Prayer" debuted in a Pepsi commercial, but Pepsi pulled the ad the next day when the controversial video appeared. Madonna got to keep her $5 million endorsement money.

Dancing In The DarkBruce Springsteen

Before she was famous on Friends, Courteney Cox danced on stage with Bruce Springsteen in his "Dancing In The Dark" video.

AllentownBilly Joel

Billy Joel's song "Allentown" was written as "Levittown," which is the town in Long Island where he grew up. He got the idea to change it after taking a trip to Pennsylvania.

Editor's Picks

Keith Reid of Procol HarumSongwriter Interviews

As Procol Harum's lyricist, Keith wrote the words to "A Whiter Shade Of Pale." We delve into that song and find out how you can form a band when you don't sing or play an instrument.

Weird Al YankovicFact or Fiction

Did Al play on a Beach Boys record? Did he have beef with George Lucas and Coolio? See if you can spot weird but true stories.

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.

Rosanne CashSongwriter Interviews

Rosanne talks about the journey that inspired her songs on her album The River & the Thread, including a stop at the Tallahatchie Bridge.

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce PavittSong Writing

The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind.

Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk: Rock vs. TelevangelistsSong Writing

When televangelists like Jimmy Swaggart took on rockers like Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica, the rockers retaliated. Bono could even be seen mocking the preachers.