Released a week after Kurt Cobain’s death, Hole’s Live Through This was a slight departure from the band’s noisier (albeit great) debut, Pretty On The Inside. Musically, the album leans toward better arranged, more melodic & polished songs, but frontwoman Courtney Love’s struggles with pretty much everything leading up to the 1994 full-length feed the dark, furious thematic backdrop, which allow the band to retain its harder, punkier edge. It’s important to note that Kristen Pfaff, the bassist on the album, passed away two months after the release of Live Through This, as the event might have overshadowed the album. There is no denying, however, this is a classic grunge album; check out “Violet,” “Miss World,” “Jennifer’s Body,” “Rock Star,” and “Doll Parts.”

• first official reissue
• music label: DGC 1994 / 2016

reviewed by donut savage 08/2016