Live through THIS!

Here's another music-themed post for you readers. I figured I needed a happier post.

Over Thanksgiving break, I went to the Dog Ear record store. They were having a HUGE sale to get rid of all their CDs before closing (sob!), so all the CDs were a couple dollars apiece. That was the only good thing about the sale. I got so many CDs--Tori Amos (Crucify), the Rock For Choice benefit album, Throwing Muses (pretty much all of them!), Ani DiFranco (Little Plastic Castle), and Live Through This by Hole.

Now you are probably wondering...what's with the Hole CD? Everybody knows them as one of the most abrasive and in-your-face bands of the 90s, fronted by none other than Courtney Love. And we all know how much crap has been said about Courtney. You either love her or you can't stand her. I wasn't planning originally to get the CD, but it was a dollar and I'd heard and liked some of the songs off of it. So why not?

After listening to it, I think it's one of the best purchases, CD-wise, that I've made. It's not perfect (no CD is, unless it's Dreamboat Annie or Different Light), but it's really big and loud and abrasive with intelligent lyrics. They sound somewhat like Babes in Toyland or the other Riot-Grrrl acts. Only Babes in Toyland merely chastise their former lovers. Live Through This releases the sonic hounds of Hades. Courtney's guitar playing isn't the greatest, and there are some songs that go on for a little longer than necessary, but on the whole, it's a good, solid CD. And frankly, I don't really care about what the tabloids say about its members (although I will say that Kat Bjelland wore babydolls before Courtney and Melissa did, thank you very much). I didn't buy the CD for the tabloid stories--I bought it for the music. And the music's actually some decent stuff. Totally worth another listen.