Review of Hole's 'Celebrity Skin'© Nick Bendel
May 25, 1999
If ever there was an album that promised a lot more than it ultimately delivered, it is
surely called Celebrity Skin (1998). This, the fourth album by Hole saw them take a more mainstream
direction. More pop than punk it is, if you listen to the band, greatly satirical. If the
intentions of Courtney Love, Eric Erlandson, Melissa Auf Der Maur and Patty Schemel
can be seen in the name they gave to their work, then they are even more direct in their
praise of it. "You can't really make an album like that and not be proud of it."
The main reason for the ultimate sense of disappointment regarding Celebrity Skin
is that Hole demonstrate that they are a band capable of some excellent music. A good
example of this is the rock number "Malibu." It has a really catchy verse coupled with a
sweet chorus. Equally enjoyable are the more mellow "Northern Star" and the pop song
"Heaven Tonight." The contrast between these three songs is indicative of the amount of
musical variety present on this record. Unfortunately they are also capable of writing lifeless music. Never is this better captured
than in the title track which, incidentally, is also the opener. "Celebrity Skin" has a cool
guitar riff, but apart from that is pretty repititive. And don't expect any inspiration from
the lyrics, all of which were penned by lead singer Love. "Wilted and faded somewhere in
Hollywood/I'm glad I came here with your pound of flesh." In all fairness to the band,
they are probably not clever enough to be satirical. And, in the end, this is where things fall apart. As mentioned, Hole seem talented enough
to produce a really good collection of songs. The sad fact, though, is that while
Celebrity Skin has some really good songs, it also has some average ones and
some poor ones too. Added to this the words are more cringeworthy than clever. Maybe
the band tried to do too much, but in the end it doesn't really matter. This should be better
than it is. RATING: 6/10
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