 - Page 1 On this page you'll find information about Hole-related things that you might not have known, plus my personal beliefs about certain things. Please don't steal this concept... It's one of the nowadays really few original sections on my site, and if everyone started putting all this info on their sites, this part of my page wouldn't be very special anymore Thank you. - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - THE FRONT AND BACK ART ON 'LIVE THROUGH THIS': The beauty queen on cover picture of 'Live Through This' is, contrary to popular belif, not Courtney Love herself. It's a model named Leilani Bishop. The girl on the back of 'Live Through This', however, is Courtney at the age of 8 or 9, on New Zealand (I think). Click on the thumbnails for larger images. 
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - "MY TWO BEAUTIFUL LIONS": You may have noticed these words in the liner notes for 'Celebritry Skin'. Although I have no evidence supporting this theory, I (and alot of other people aswell) think Courtney's referring her daughter Frances, and her boyfriend at the time: actor Edward Norton, since they are both Leos (the zodiac sign), and even share the same birthday: August 18.  - - - - - - - - - - - - - 'CELEBRITY SKIN'-SYMBOLS: As you might have noticed, each person that helped write the songs on 'Celebrity Skin' is represented in the lyrics-sheet by a symbol. Here is my take on why a particular symbol was selected to represent a particular person. Courtney Love - The burning (?) heart: Well, I'm not all too sure about this, but someone (Lexa W) told me this symbol has something to do with Cancer (the zodiac sign), and if it does, then the explanation for it is simple: Courtney's a cancer. Also, the symbol looks alot like a symbol often seen in Catholic scriptures and such: the sacred heart of Jesus Christ (shown below). The only difference is that the sacred heart has a ring of thorns around it, and the symbol in the 'Celebrity Skin' folder does not. On the other hand, the shirt that Courtney wore during one of the 'Celebrity Skin' promo shoots, does. You can see the shirt on one of the pictures below. Someone (Mistica) told me that the heart on the images of Jesus is also called "The Flame Of Holy Love", which also makes alot of sense. Click on the thumbnails for larger images. 
 Eric Erlandson - The crown: I'm not too sure about this one either. Some people have said that since Eric is the only male in the band, he's kind of "King Of The Castle". My thought about the symbol, is that Eric's partly Swedish, and the crown is the Swedish national symbol... or whatever I should call it. It is also the name of the Swedish currency. Melissa Auf Der Maur - The maple leaf: Well, as we all know, Missy's Canadian, and what do you find on the Canadian flag? A maple leaf. Patty Schemel - The star: The last I heard, Patty had two star-tattoos. One on her hand, and one on her shoulder. Billy Corgan - The swan: Courtney has said she first considered giving Corgan a pumpkin (since he's in the Smashing Pumpkins... Makes sense), but then decided to be nice, and give him a swan, to represent "my good, old friend... The graceful, beautiful person he usually is". Charlotte Caffey - The cat: Don't have much on this, but I read somewhere that Caffey got this symbol because some of her face features make her resemble a cat (see picture below). Click on the thumbnail for larger image.  Jordon Zadorozny - The satre: I've heard this was just meant as a joke... That's all I know about this one.  - - - - - - - - - - - - - VELUT INTER IGNIS LUNA MINOR: I know alot of people have been wondering what the latin words at the end of the text for 'Northern Star', and on the 'The First Session' means. Well, in an issue of the UK magazine 'Select', it says that Velut Inter Ignis Luna Minor means 'Like A Small Moon Between Fires".  - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE COVER ART OF 'MY BODY, THE HAND GRENADE': Alot of people have been wondering what exactly the cover of 'My Body, The Hand Grenade' is meant to symbolize. The answer can be found in an interview with Courtney in a 1997 issue of Melody Maker: Q: The artwork shows a dress you wore in the early Nineties as a sort of museum piece. Is it really in a museum? A: The dress is still very current. People still design off that silly dress. The truth is I used to wear those dresses more than slips, but those dresses never got as famous as slips and I wanted them to have their due. Click on the thumbnails for larger images. 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - THE ART ON THE SECOND LAST PAGE OF THE 'MY BODY, THE HAND GRENADE' INSIDE FOLDER: This is part of a painting of Anne Boleyn, who also appears in the lyrics for the song 'Old Age', found on 'My Body, The Hand Grenade' and the German 'Violet' import single, among other things. The lyric are as follows: "No one knows she's Hester Prynne, someone please tell Anne Boleyn, chokers are back in again." Anne Boleyn (born: 150?) was one in the long line of Henry VIII's (born: 1491, died: 1547, King of England between 1509 and 1547), many wifes. While still married to his first wife, Catherine of Aragón, he fell in love with Anne and soon announced that he wished to divorce Catherine, because the marriage had failed to produce a son. The divorce didn't go through, for some reason, which frustrated both Anne and Henry a great deal. Anne's hot temper and sharp tounge got quite famous after several agruments with the King, right infront of the rest of the King's court. Finally, after several years of waiting, in January, 1533 Henry and Anne were secretly wed. Anne was crowned queen shortly after Thomas Cranmer, Henry's archbishop of Canterbury, declared Henry's marriage with Catherine void, and Henry's and Anne's marriage valid. This was the same year as Anne gave birth to hers and Henri's only surviving child: Elizabeth (later Elizabeth I). With time, Henry grew bored of Anne, and wanted to remarry, and in 1536 Anne was charged with treason (plotting to murder the King), adultery and incest (with her own brother... I think), due to plots made by the King's court, imprisoned in the Tower of London, convicted of high treason, and on May 19th, Henry had her beheaded. What's interesting though, is that shortly before her execution, the marriage with Henry was dissolved and declared invalid. One does wonder how she could be convicted of adultery, if she was indeed never legally married to the King. I've heard that supposedly, Anne had six fingers on her left hand, which deepens my interest in her, as I myself was born with six fingers on my left hand. Wether or not Anne's sixth finger really existed though, is unknown. She was considered "moderately pretty" with dark brown thick hair, dark olive-colored skin and very dark brown eyes, often appearing black. These eyes were one of her few (?) fascinating features, and she supposedly used them to her advantage, whenever given the opportunity. Another feature was her long elegant neck. I haven't been able to find the exact same painting that the artwork is taken from, but I have managed to find one that looks very much like it, and you will find it below aswell. Click on the thumbnails for larger images. 
 See also The car wreck picture on the 'My Body, The Hand Grenade' cd. - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE BACK ART OF THE 'MY BODY, THE HAND GRENADE' INSIDE FOLDER: This one had me wondering for a great while. I just could NOT figure out who was on that portrait. But finally, with the help of two Swedish girl (Kajalflickan och antigrrrl) I found out. The woman on the painting is French queen Marie Antoinette. In fact, this seems to be one of the most famous portraits of her. What's even more interesting (to me, as I'm Swedish), is that there's another connection with Sweden here (see my theory on Erics 'Celebrity Skin' symbol above). I was informed that this actual painting is hanging in the National Museum in Stockholm (the capital of Sweden), and that it was supposedly ordered from France by king Gustav III. Now, the story of Marie Antoinette can easily be made very long, so in order for me to just keep it short, I have to leave out a great deal. Marie Antoinette of Hapsburg-Lorraine was born on November 2, 1755, the youngest and supposedly most beautiful daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. Before she was even a teenager, plans of marriage with the French crown prince, Louis XIV, were made. In 1770, when Marie was just 15 years old, and Louis was just 16, they were wed, and four years later, after the death of the current king, Louis' father, they were crowned King and Queen, only 19 and 20 years old. Marie was never popular, not even liked, in France. Not within the palace walls, and certainly not outside them. They people were not at all happy to have a foreign queen, and Marie's loyalty to Austria didn't exactly make it better, nor did the fact that it took her 11 years to produce the first heir. She did have a child before that (a daughter, Madame Royal, in 1778), but since it was a girl, it didn't really count in the eye of the public. She later also gave birth to yet another daughter who died in infancy, and in 1785 she had a second son, who was to become crown prince, after his older brother died in 1789. In the fall of 1789, after several important events took place, the royal family was forced from Versailles to Tuileries Palace in Paris where they were virtuel prisoners for about two years. During this time, Marie secretly tried to negotiate with foreign powers, for the safety of her husband. In 1791 she arranged for the family to flee from Paris, to the eastern border, and eventually into Austria, but during their flight from Paris, they were caught, and brought back. In 1793, on January 21, King Louis XIV was convicted of treason, and beheaded on the guillotine. On October 14 Marie was tried, and the charges included unnatural sexual practices and treason. Every day of the trial she sat listening to the testimonies given against her, mostly by paid witnesses, disgruntled servants and drunken soilders, her head held high and proud, even though any normal person would have been a wreck in her situation. Her children had been taken away from her, and her best friend, Princess de Lambelle, had been killed and her head put on a pole and paraded in front of Marie. The last day of the trial lasted 20 hours, and the jury only took one hour to deliver the verdict: guilty. October 16, 1793, was the day when her execution was set to take place. Her hair was cut and her hands were tied, and for 3 hours she was driven around in an open cart for the public to boo at, spit on, and throw things at. She was then taken to the guillotine, and executed without real proof of the crimes she was accused of having commited. Click on the thumbnails for larger images. 
 See also The car wreck picture on the 'My Body, The Hand Grenade' cd. - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE CAR WRECK PICTURE ON THE 'MY BODY, THE HAND GRENADE' CD: There have been discussions among Hole fans what this picture symbolizes, and what car wreck it is. Alot of people have mentioned believing it's the car that acress Jayne Mansfield died in, but after some research, I've come to the conclusion that it's not. The car in the picture on the cd and on the picture behind the cd, is dark, the car Jayne Mansfield died in was light. I've included pictures below. Now, what this picture symbolizes... As you might know, it's said that in this car crash, Jayne Mansfield was beheaded (although I've heard she really wasn't, but that she was simply wearing a wig that came off in the crash, and was then laying by itself, making some people who didn't get a closer look, believe it was Jayne's head). This fits the theme of the album art: Marie Antoinette was a famous woman, and was beheaded. Anne Boleyn was a famous woman, and was beheaded. Jayne Mansfield was a famous woman and was beheaded. Courtney commented on this theme in a 1997 interview with Melody Maker, in which she explains the entire artwork theme of the album: Q: The artwork also has a car wreck and a picture of Marie Antoinette. Why did you choose them? A: We actually show Anne Boleyn too. She was Henry VIII's wife who had her head chopped off. When I was little, I used to see these pictures of her with this necklace that had a B on it. I always had a fascination with ancient history, Roman especially, and early English, and I kept imaging her getting her head chopped off, for my whole life. Then, I told my friend Joe, who did the art. He always had an obsession with Marie Antoinette too. She was also decapitated. We also thought about Jayne Mansfield, just the idea of a woman having her mouth and eyes and ears taken away from her. And, hand grenades, the top comes off. You just pull out the pin and it explodes. So, if you take away someone's mouth and their eyes and their senses and their brain, they explode. I saw a grenade in my head, I saw taking out the clip, and then I thought of a human body and what happens if you take out the clip. Click on the thumbnails for larger images. 
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - JOE COLE: In the folder for 'Live Through This' there is a dedication to Joe Cole (shown below). Joe Cole was a roadie for the band Black Flag and was good friends with Hole (or just Courtney?). In 1991 or 1992 Joe and a friend of his were mugged, and Joe was shot to death.  - - - - - - - - - - - - - ALL THE STOLEN WATER OF LOS ANGELES AND ANYONE WHO EVER DROWNED: On the 'Celebrity Skin' cd case, you can read the following: "This record is dedicated to all the stolen water of Los Angeles and to anyone who ever drowned." (shown below) Let's begin with the "stolen water" part. When Los Angeles was first built, all the water was pumped in from surrounding lakes (?) and such (which in time caused these areas to become deserts). This way, the water of Los Angeles was "stolen". Something like that. I know I've got a quote from Courtney explaining this laying around somewhere, but right now, I can't seem to find it. Then there's the "anyone who ever drowned" part. My view on this is that those words refer to the following people (among others) for the following reasons: * Jeff Buckley - A friend of Hole's. Drowned a couple of months (I think) before the album was released. * Kristen Pfaff - Was found dead in her bathtub, her death caused by a heroin overdose. * Althea Flynt - Drowned in her bathtub. * Nick Auf Der Maur - Melissa's father, died from lungcancer a while before the album was released (I think), which has been described as drowning, in a way. * Ophelia (in 'Hamlet') - Portrayed on the back of 'Celebrity Skin' (see below), committed suicide by drowning herself. Click on the thumbnails for larger images. 
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE BACK ART OF 'CELEBRITY SKIN': Like I've mentioned above, the painting on the back of the 'Celebrity Skin' album, portrays Ophelia, from Shakespeare's 'Hamlet', who commited suicide by drowning herself. The painting was made by Paul Steck. More to come on this. Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
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