Courtney Love always feels like she has to prove something. You can't really blame here though - she was married to Kurt Cobain after all. Type A personalities don't like living in the shadows, and Cobain still casts a fairly large one to this day.
Hole was the little band that could when it came to grunge music. You never really expected great things from them simply because of who their singer was. "Who is in this band? Her? Really? She can sing?" Sorry Courtney. It's nothing personal, it would've happened to anyone who was boning Cobain in 1991.
Hole's greatest success came after Cobain's death in 1994. Live Through This and Celebrity Skin each sold over a million copies and garnered much critical acclaim. For all of the baggage Love creates for herself, she had one of the most powerful voices in the 90s and a knack for putting biting guitars with catchy melodies. Yet most people still think of her as someone who likes to piss off Madonna than be a relevant rock star.
Nobody's Daughter is the band's first effort in 12 years. Yet it's a Hole record in name only. Love is the only original member left leaving much of the music to be played out by a faceless back up group. But I'm sure that's the way she wanted it all along. The only problem is all of the shortcomings here rest squarely on her shoulders. And trust me, there are shortcomings aplenty.
For one, Love's once powerful she-girl roar is vacant. It's been a rough 45 year existence and her voice simply can't keep up anymore. When she tries to scream in tune, she painfully sounds like Aunt Patty and Selma having a stroke. The rest of the time her vocal chords come and go and she whimpers and whines her way through each and every track. If you can make it through the first 30 seconds of "Someone Else's Bed" without laughing I'll shake your hand.
The second thing wrong here is the lack of any stand out tunes. While Love wanted so make a stellar comeback record (even bringing in Smashing Pumpkin founder Billy Corgan to co-write some tunes), the result is a stale, unoriginal batch of forgettable song batter. Those looking for a high speed Hole record of yesteryear will have to sit through many slow grooves ("Nobody's Daughter") and sticky ballads ("For Once In Your Life")
Nobody's Daughter sports a portrait of Marie Antoinette on the cover. Her head's been cut off just as it really was during the French Revolution. Only this time Love has decapitated her in her own reflection. Love sees herself as queen of the post grunge era - which she is. Yet that movement died over ten years ago, it's also the same time everyone stopped caring about her.
Grade: D
Key Track: "Loser Dust"
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