Throwback Thursday ‘Celebrity Skin’ by Hole (1998)

"Celebrity Skin" by Hole was the first single off of the band's third album, Celebrity Skin.

Hole is a band out of Los Angeles formed in 1989.

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Courtney Love founded the group with Eric Erlandson. There was a bit of a revolving door when it came to the other members.

Hole released four studio albums and became one of the most successful rock bands fronted by a woman.

"Celebrity Skin" was co-written by Love, Erlandson, and Smashing Pumpkins frontman, Billy Corgan. The song and the album it comes from, deals with stereotypes of celebrity, Hollywood, and California.

According to Wikipedia, "The lyrics, written by Love,^[3] contain several literary references; the line 'Oh, look at my face / My name is might-have-been' is directly lifted from the opening verse of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's poem, 'A Superscription,' (and also quoted in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night)^[4] while the phrase 'pound of flesh' originates from William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice."

The music video for "Celebrity Skin" was directed by Nancy Bardawil. To get the super-rich colors in the video it was actually shot in black and white and then colorized by Cerulean FX in post-production.

"Celebrity Skin" peaked at # 85 on the Billboard Hot 100 but went all the way to #1 on the US Alternative Airplay chart and US Modern Rock Tracks chart.

In February of 2022, Doja Cat released a cover of the song! That version peaked at #18 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. Hear that version below.