Rock Star
by Hole

Album: Live Through This (1994)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Rock Star" is about the grunge scene that was still in full effect in the early '90s. It's about how every band from Seattle thought they had a right to a record deal simply because they went along with what was the hot commodity: "Well I went to school in Olympia... Everyone's the same." >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Matt - Millbrae, CA
  • This was deleted from the Live Through This album and replaced with an outtake, "Olympia." Since Kurt Cobain died shortly before the album was released, it was thought that the lines "So much fun to be Nirvana, how would you like to be Nirvana? I'd rather die" caused the retraction, but the band and the Geffen label claimed it was pulled because it did not fit the album. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Jacob - Atlanta, GA

Comments: 6

  • Fursuiter Chloe from Belvidere, IlHoly s--t I thought this was about individuality
  • Theresa from Murfreesboro, TnJust to hear Courtney scream is well worth it.
  • Elise from Oklahoma City, OkOriginally, the last song of Live Through This was a song called "Rock Star", which parodied a group, The Lemonheads. The group, Hole, and the label feared for legal actions, so they both decided to change it for another song called "Olympia". However, as the artwork had already been printed, it is now the original song title, "Rock Star", that we can read at the back of Live Through This.
  • Kat from Seat, United StatesAlmost immediately before the album's release, the final song, "Rock Star", was deleted from the album and replaced by the outtake "Olympia". It was widely believed at the time that this was because its lyrics, which included the lines "How would you like to be Nirvana? / So much fun to be Nirvana / Barrel of laughs to be Nirvana / I'd rather die", appeared inappropriate in the wake of Cobain's suicide. However, it was later revealed that the band and the Geffen label had already deemed the track unfitting of a major label debut for Hole, as the song had a very "non-artistic" character which fit poorly with the rest of the album. After the decision to remove "Rock Star" was made, the album artwork and various other inserts had already been printed, and since "Olympia" was put in its place, "Olympia" is called "Rock Star" on the artwork.
  • Jeremy from Shelbyville, Ky"When I went to school in Olympia."
  • Lisa from Brampton, CanadaThis song was originally titled "Olympia".
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