Courtney Love
completely revamped
Hole
before recording their second album, keeping only
Eric Erlandson
in the lineup. That is one of the reasons why
Live Through This
sounds so shockingly different from
Pretty on the Inside
, but the real reason is
Love
's desire to compete in the same commercial
alternative rock
arena as her husband,
Kurt Cobain
. In fact, many rumors have claimed that
Cobain
ghostwrote a substantial chunk of the album, and while that's unlikely, there's no denying that his patented stop-start dynamics, bare chords, and
punk-pop
melodies provide the blueprint for
.
adds her signature rage and feminist rhetoric to the formula, but the lyrics that truly resonate are the ones that unintentionally predict
's suicide. For all the raw pain of the lyrics,
rarely sounds raw because of the shiny production and the carefully considered dynamics. Despite this flaw, the album retains its power because it was one of the few records patterned on
Nevermind
that gets the formula right, with a set of gripping hooks and melodies that retain their power even if they follow the predictable
grunge
pattern. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine