Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Soto/Love
Soto on Hole's masterpiece, via email and so good it needs to be shared:
Having bought 'Live Through This' years (1997) after the context in which it was reviewed, the extent to which Cobain "helped" Love write its song seemed moot. As Ann Powers once remarked, OF COURSE he was an influence: he was her husband, for God's sake, a terrific songwriter in his own right. It neither besmirches Love's credit nor dimnishes her achievement by suggesting that she may have played those songs to him. (No one had a problem arguing in 1980 that Yoko's 'Double Fantasy' material and 'Season of Glass' benefited greatly from listening to John's songs.)
Anyway, in 1997 what astonished me was the album's consistency. Every single song approached motherhood, the wages of femininity, and autobiography from an unexpected angle – musically and lyrically. Love's smart enough to realize feminism is a result of engaging the world: through babies, breast milk, cradles, and living with a man as contradictory and intelligent as she is. As the songs suggest, this is far from easy, but she tried engagement the easy way and it scared the shit out of her ("Credit in the Straight World"). So she mocks the straight world without forgetting that she's a product of it ("Rock Star").
And the album is tight as a mother.
Having bought 'Live Through This' years (1997) after the context in which it was reviewed, the extent to which Cobain "helped" Love write its song seemed moot. As Ann Powers once remarked, OF COURSE he was an influence: he was her husband, for God's sake, a terrific songwriter in his own right. It neither besmirches Love's credit nor dimnishes her achievement by suggesting that she may have played those songs to him. (No one had a problem arguing in 1980 that Yoko's 'Double Fantasy' material and 'Season of Glass' benefited greatly from listening to John's songs.)
Anyway, in 1997 what astonished me was the album's consistency. Every single song approached motherhood, the wages of femininity, and autobiography from an unexpected angle – musically and lyrically. Love's smart enough to realize feminism is a result of engaging the world: through babies, breast milk, cradles, and living with a man as contradictory and intelligent as she is. As the songs suggest, this is far from easy, but she tried engagement the easy way and it scared the shit out of her ("Credit in the Straight World"). So she mocks the straight world without forgetting that she's a product of it ("Rock Star").
And the album is tight as a mother.
# posted by Thomas : 11:30 AM
