The Dirty Girl Gets Clean (At Least For Now)

Guilty as charged. I am a sucker for the underdog, the self destructive and foolish. Whether its Allen Iverson and Ricky Williams in sports, or Oliver Stone and Mickey Rourke in movies, my heart just beats a little faster for talented types who seem to have difficulty getting out of their own way. If I were a saint (don't laugh--ok, do), I would be the patron of lost causes. Which brings me to Courtney Love and her appearance on Late Night With David Letterman on Tuesday.

Has there ever been a more polarizing artist? You will find camps in equal measure that will argue that she is completely authentic or an absolute poser. There are those who think she's a brilliant artist, and there are those who think she's been propped up on the shoulders of a wildly talented suicidal husband. While I fall in the former group, I certainly understand those that disagree.

For Courtney Love is a train wreck. She is a colossal drug abuser, an unfit wife and mother, a grandstanding, self-promoting starf***er, who has produced more cringe-worthy moments than anyone this side of Britney Spears over the last decade. Still, I cling to the idea that one day she might be able to get her shit together.

Why? well, because I consider her back to back releases Live Through This and Celebrity Skin, with her band Hole to be stone cold classics. Yes, I know Kurt had a lot to do with the former and Billy Corgan with the latter, but neither of them sang for her or wrote her lyrics. That scorched earth, take no prisoners sound in her voice is as good as it gets when it comes to rock vocalists--man or woman. And her darkly confessional (and often quite funny) lyrics could only spring from one source.

I also find her pretty sympathetic. Raised in a broken home, Love's parents split when she was three years old. Her mother got full custody of her by claiming that Courtney's father had given her LSD. While there was never any proof to this allegation, it gives you an idea of the animosity and dysfunction that Love grew up around. Hell, years later Love's own father implied that she may have had something to do with Cobain's death. Dad of the year, he is not.

Love left home at a young age (can you blame her?) and bounced around in communes, enrolled and then dropped out of Portland State University and supported herself by stripping in seedy night clubs before starting a band. Hole was eventually signed to the indie label, Caroline which released their debut, Pretty On The Inside in 1991. Love met Cobain in 1990, and after several false starts, they became an item. The two misfits bonded over their shared love of music and similarly difficult backgrounds. They were married on February 24, 1992.

If ever there was a more star crossed romance, its hard to think of one. Whitney and Bobby? Please. Britney and Justin? No way. Sid and Nancy? Now we're getting warm. Kurt was an incredibly sensitive soul who lacked the ambition for the fame and adulation that was thrust upon him after Nirvana's seminal release, Nevermind in 1991. Ill-equipped for the scrutiny that comes with being "the voice of a generation," Kurt began to implode. He followed up Nevermind with the willfully uncommercial (but still great) In Utero in 1993. Soon after, Kurt's drug abuse started to take over his life. There were canceled shows, at least one overdose, and continued reports of erratic behavior. Finally, the broken boy took his own life with a shotgun in April of 1994.

Of course, Love was probably not the best person to be with if you were a suicidally depressed drug addict. Prone to wild moods swings and having a taste for narcotics herself, I'm sure Love was quite the enabler. She didn't help her reputation much after Kurt's death when she would play out her anger at him during Hole concerts the following year. I was at one of those shows when Love started railing against Cobain, calling him an "asshole" for leaving her and such. And I can tell you the hostility that came from certain segments of the crowd was palpable. However, while I do believe there was more than a little manipulation going on here, It was also quite riveting. You had the sense while watching her that she might just crumple to the ground in a heap. It was just as likely as the odds of her giving a great performance. High drama it was, and Love is nothing if not a drama queen.

Despite her grief and drug addictions (cocaine was her fav), Love managed to pull herself together for a three year stretch from 1996 to 1999. She gave a brilliant performance as Larry Flynt's wife, Althea in one of my all time favorite movies, The People Vs. Larry Flynt. One of the great travesties in Oscar history was her lack of a nomination. I suppose they felt that playing a drug addicted stripper was no stretch for Love, but that isn't fair. She was electrifying onscreen and created a wholly original performance. Whatever, good is good.

Love followed up this triumph with Hole's great album, Celebrity Skin in 1998. Slicker, and more radio friendly than Live Through This, Skin was still packed with great tunes. And for my money is actually the better album.

Unfortunately, this brief period of physical and mental health was followed by one of the most harrowing public slides into the abyss that I've ever seen. First she broke up her band. She then started hitting the drugs at a frightening rate. Which lead to new displays of public instability. Her weight fluctuated between slightly overweight to skeletal, and she eventually lost custody of the daughter she had with Cobain, Frances.

During the twelve years between Celebrity Skin and this week's Nobody's Daughter, Love only managed to put out a single solo album. The much derided (unfairly, I think), America's Sweetheart. She was clearly spinning off the rails.

So, when I heard that she was forming a new version of Hole and would be releasing a new album, my expectations were dubious at best. Still, due to my unwavering loyalty to the mad woman, I picked up Nobody's Daughter the day it came out and gave it a good quality listen while appropriately managing my standards. And you know what? Its pretty damn good. While certainly not on the level of Live Through This or Celebrity Skin, there are several songs that echo those past glories. "Skinny Little Bitch" snarls and rocks just like you would expect it to with a title like that. And "Pacific Coast Highway" brings to mind the lovely "Malibu" from Skin.

Despite the solid nature of the record, I approached her appearance on David Letterman's show last Tuesday with more than a little trepidation. Would she flake out? Would Dave be nice? How would they sound live? The answers--to my pleasant surprise--were no, yes, and quite solid.
She came off about as normal as I've seen her since her salad days of 1996-1999. She was witty and charming while answering Dave's polite entreaties regarding her "lost" years. Her new band was strong as was her voice. Of course, this could all come crashing down at any moment. She is a mentally unstable drug addict after all. Even she admits that "it takes a village" to keep her straight.

But for now, straight she is. Clean and sober with a fine new record to promote. Sure, the years of abuse and too much plastic surgery have ravaged her body and her mind. I certainly doubt her ability to ever be "classic" Courtney Love ever again. But maybe that's just as well. Maybe this new, more modest version can lead a relatively healthy life. As the patron whatever of lost causes, I definitely hope so. For now though, I will simply take pleasure in the fact that nobody's daughter has managed to live through this while keeping her celebrity skin. Good for you, sister.
Sumo-Pop
April 29, 2010