12 More Songs That Are Most Likely About Courtney Love
As you might know, Courtney Love is a controversial figure. She fronted trailblazing alt rockers Hole, racked up Modern Rock Radio hallmarks like āVioletā, āMiss Worldā and āCelebrity Skinā. However most know her for her famous husband and or her contentious public persona. And because of that sheās accrued an array of enemies, and some of those enemies have written songs to express their complicated feelings. Nearly eight years ago I talked about how āIāll Stick Aroundā, āHollaback Girlā and a few other alternative hits are probably about her. Well hereās the sequel: These are some more songs that are maybe, probably about Courtney Love.
#courtneylove #alternativerock #musicdocumentary
Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner.
Soundtrack
Luar – Citrine (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)
Jesse Gallagher – The Golden Present
Luar – Anchor (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)
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Sources
Everybody Loves Our Town: A History of Grunge by Mark Yarm, 2011, Faber & Faber
Siamese Dream Reissue Liner Notes by Billy Corgan, 2011, Virgin
āStrange Love: The Story of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Loveā Lynn Hirshberg, Vanity Fair, Sep 1992
āCourtney Love: Life Without Kurtā David Fricke, Rolling Stone, Dec 1994
āThe Art Of Darknessā Chris Heath, Details Magazine, Apr 1995
āEx-Nymph Inger Lorre Pens Retort To Hole’s ‘Sassy’ā Carrie Borzillo, ALLSTAR, Jul 1998
āNew Radicals Discuss Slighting Marilyn Manson And Courtney Love, Manson Respondsā MTV Staff, MTV News, Dec 1998
āNew Radicals Song Misunderstood, Singer Saysā Gianni Sibilla, MTV News, Mar 1999
āInger Lorre, Patron Saint of Fāked-over Musiciansā Sarah Luck Pearson, LA Weekly, Mar 1999
āGarbage: Cash For Questions With Shirley Mansonā David Quantick, Q, Jun 2000
āCourtney Love Sues Grohl And Novoselic, Blocks Nirvana Rarityā Teri vanHorn, MTV News, Jun 2001
āI Want A Fightā Paul Elliott, Q Magazine, January 2002
āThe Nirvana Warsā Jim DeRogatis Spin Magazine, Jun 2002
āWhoās Scruffy Lookinā? An Interview with Parry Grip of Nerf Herderā Julio Diaz, INK19, Aug 2002
āTrial by fireā Alex Needham, NME, Sep 2003
āliveDaily Interview: Zac Hanson of Hansonā Christina Fuoco, liveDaily, Jul 2004
āNo turning Beckā Simon Mills, The Sunday Times, Jul 2005
āFirst Cuts: An audience with Courtney Loveā John Lewis, Uncut Magazine, Aug 2010
āThe First Time with Courtney Loveā Matt Everitt, BBC Radio 6, Oct 2014
āCourtney Love Claims to Be Inspiration for Tons of Smashing Pumpkins Songsā James Grebey, Spin Magazine, Oct 2014
ā11 diss tracks that are probably about Courtney Loveā Molly Eichel, Joshua Alston & Annie Zaleski, AV Club, Mar 2016
āTo Courtney With Loveā Stuart Green, Exclaim, Nov 2016
āFrom āThe Burdens of Being Uprightā to āModern Burdensā. By: Tracy Bonhamā Jeff Gorra, Artist Waves, Mar 2017
āNo Apologies: All 102 Nirvana Songs Rankedā Rolling Stone Staff, Rolling Stone, Jun 2021
āāI Will Crawl Away For Goodā: 20 Years Ago, Nirvana Reconquered Modern Rock With an Uncanny Old New Songā Brad Shoup & Andrew Unterberger, Billboard, Mar 2022
āāOh God, itās hard to listen toā: The story behind Nirvanaās final song, You Know Youāre Rightā Paul Brannigan, Louder, Jan 2023
āGarbage’s Shirley Manson and Butch Vig on the early days of the band, forthcoming album + more!ā Nicole Alvarez, KROQ 90s At Noon, May 2025
āThe Attitude That Launched a Thousand Diss Tracks: 4 Songs Inspired by Courtney Loveā Lauren Boisvert, VICE, Aug 2025
āThe two REM songs Courtney Love thinks are about her: āWeāve been through fake-a-breakdownāā Jordan Potter, Far Out Magazine, Feb 2026

@TrashTheory
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
Every now and then I get people asking for a playlist of every song mentioned in my videos: Well here's a Apple Music link for this one:
https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/more-songs-that-are-probably-about-courtney-love/pl.u-NpXm6p4u4J0prvx
And the YouTube Music one:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLooaZ33lSalf5mN53dwfoL1YGJrwx8gR0&si=0uE-INH-CF_fdPLA
@Madkalibyr
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
10:29 ngl this band sucks
@retroman3075
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
Ive always felt that Courtney love is to music, what Andy Dick is to comedy
@MrDLOC11
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
Has anyone mentioned Echo & the Bunnymen's The Back Of Love yet?
@trevor_basic
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
based just on the thubnail. i think your the crazy obsessed one. your content is always good. but again with this. maybe this is a you problem?
@dxfifa
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
Another one is Ricochet by Faith No More
@lukehauser1182
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
had no idea Courtney songs were a whole genre – I need to get my team on it!
@daisy-mae-turnips
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
Honestly, I think if somebody wanted to get into 90's rock I'd probably recommend Hole because Courtney Love is so interconnected with so many bands. I've found a lot of cool artists just by looking up who she's mentioned or who mentioned her.
@Syt-s3n
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
Whatever the truth is behind whether these songs were a reference to her, there is one thing that cannot be disputed:
Love is a pretty repulsive person. As was Kurt at times. Makes sense how they ended up together…..
@hyperbaroque
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
Wait, these ones are the most well-known ones. You mean to tell me there are 2 other episodes that are more obscure? Why aren't they linked in the bio holy heck
@davidmatheny1993
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
A legacy sequel I think none of us will complain about!
@CGEANE
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
Shanri-La Dee Da is criminally underrated.
@thevoid99
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
i HATE "you get what you give" and the new radicals. one of the most overplayed songs i have to endure. i think some of the stuff about courtney was unfair although seeing her taking a picture with marilyn manson isn't helping her cause.
@MrMmnngghh
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
Tell me you didn't deadpan through a Gene Wonka Willy Wilder chorus @ 20:23. That's cheeky.
@Pbearadactyl
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
She definitely faced a lot of misogyny in the 90s, but has also said and done a lot of awful things. There was definitely a negative feedback loop between the two things.
@form347
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
Always been amazed how far Courtney went with very little talent </opinion>
@demiller74
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
We need more songs about Courtney Love.
@RaverHates
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
It's been 8 years?!?! I hate time š¢
@Eric_Hunt194
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
Imagine your only defender being terrorist apologist Shirley Manson. Pretty awkward ngl
@menwithven8114
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
Come on man!!! I refuse to believe all of these artists made songs about her lol She has zero redeeming qualities. She has never been "hot" and I was a teenager in the 90s. Ive also never seen or her talk about anything good at all. Im genuinely curious because it means behind all of public perception there's something that makes me infatuated
@draugrdraugr
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
She features in the Epstein files too. Truly a horrible person
@baeb66
March 28, 2026 at 3:30 am
"Manson was the only one to get snippy" – of course he was. Everything about that guy was fake and forced.
Comments are closed.