http://breadandcircusnetwork.wordpress.com/2007/04/21/love-her-or-hate-her/
To use Courtney Love as a figure of Feminism creates controversy in itself. Many see her as just a 'gold digger', who used the name of her late husband to gain her more fame, money and respect. She achieved none of these things, especially when she declared her love for Steve Coogan. But, in her own right she has done a lot for women and how they are perceived. Her song lyrics promote a healthy body image, and an ironic hatred for women who are famous out of notoriety, not talent. Love and her band Hole penned a song entitled Celebrity Skin which includes the lyrics 'It's all so sugarless. Hooker/waitress/model/actress, oh, just go nameless. Honeysuckle, she's full of poison.' which does provide evidence to Love's viewpoint on how women should see themselves, and don't sell themselves short - a very strong feminine viewpoint.
The album Celebrity Skin came out in 1998, four years after the death of Love's husband, Kurt Cobain and contained lyrics which obviously show how hard that hit her. Love says, to this day, that her and Cobain were deeply in love despite the rumours surrounding the couples apparent divorce and even Love's involvement with Cobain's death. Love carried on her career for many years after his death and still made her own money. However, Love states that she deserves some of the royalties for any sales of material from Nirvana, due to her needing to look after the daughter herself and Cobain had, Francis Bean. This made sure her reputation take a nose dive, and many people who supported her for her strong feminist viewpoints deserted her, claiming to dislike how Love still wanted to make money from Nirvana even though she was quite capable of making her own. Even after the band parted, Love had a successful solo career, clouding that of other band member Melissa Auf der Maur. To this day, Love is locked in a battle with Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic because Love insisted on realising the entire Nirvana back catalogue, Cobain's diaries, Special Edition CDs, Greatest hits etc... This was frowned upon greatly by both Cobain's fans and Love's supporters, portraying her in a very bad light. She is one of the most hated women in rock, yet still one many admire.
In all, an unlikely candidate for 'second wave' feminists but one for sure. The article i found on Love talks about her lyrics, and how they were very different to how many other 90s female artists sang about. Love was a strong female rock star, in a girl band unseen and unheard of in the past, long before anyone knew who the Spice Girls were. She promoted the infamous "Girl Power" slogan throughout her entire working life, even her court cases could be seen as her fighting for what is right for her and her child.
Courtney Love: Love her or hate her, she's still influenced a lot of America more then they'll ever know, or admit too.
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