Hole was an American alternative rock band formed by singer and guitarist C… Read Full Bio ↴Hole was an American alternative rock band formed by singer and guitarist Courtney Love and lead guitarist Eric Erlandson in Los Angeles, California in 1989. Influenced by Los Angeles' punk rock scene, and produced by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, the band's debut album, Pretty on the Inside, attracted critical interest from British and American alternative press. Their second album, Live Through This, released 1994 by DGC Records, which featured less aggressive melodies and more restrained lyrical content, was widely acclaimed and reached platinum status within a year of its release. Their third album, Celebrity Skin, which garnered them four Grammy nominations, marked a notable departure from their earlier punk influences, boasting a more commercially viable, "mature" sound.

The band had a revolving line-up of bassists and drummers, their most prolific being drummer Patty Schemel, and bassists Kristen Pfaff (d. 1994) and Melissa Auf der Maur. In 2002 the group disbanded to pursue other projects. Eight years later in 2010, Hole was reformed by Love with new members, despite Erlandson's claim that the reformation breached a mutual contract he had with Love. The reformed band released the album Nobody's Daughter, which had originally been conceived as Love's second solo album. In 2013, Love retired the Hole name, releasing new material and touring as a solo artist.

Hole has been noted for being one of the most commercially successful female-fronted rock bands of all time, selling over three million records in the United States alone and having a far-reaching influence on contemporary female artists. Music and feminist scholars have also recognized the band as the most high-profile musical group of the 1990s to discuss gender issues in their songs, due to Love's aggressive and violent lyrical content, which often addressed themes of body image, abuse, and sexual exploitation.

Hole went on to become the most commercially successful female-fronted grunge band in history, selling over 3 million records in the United States between 1991 and 2010. In spite of Love's often polarizing reputation in the media, Hole received consistent critical praise for their output, and was often noted for the predominant feminist commentary found in Love's lyrics, which scholars have credited as "articulating a third-wave feminist consciousness". Love's subversive onstage persona and public image coincided with the band's songs, which expressed "pain, sorrow, and anger, but [an] underlying message of survival, particularly survival in the face of overwhelming circumstances." Music journalist Maria Raha expressed a similar sentiment in regard to the band's significance to third-wave feminism, stating, "Whether you love Courtney [Love] or hate her, Hole was the highest-profile female-fronted band of the '90s to openly and directly sing about feminism."

While Rolling Stone compared the effect of Love's marriage to Kurt Cobain on the band to that of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, they noted that "Love's confrontational stage presence, as well as her gut-wrenching vocals and powerful punk-pop songcraft, made her an alternative-rock star in her own right." Author Nick Wise made a similar comparison in discussion of the band's public image, stating, "Not since Yoko Ono's marriage to John Lennon has a woman's personal life and exploits within the rock arena been so analyzed and dissected." The band has been cited as a major influence on several contemporary artists, including indie singer songwriter Scout Niblett, Brody Dalle of the Distillers and Spinnerette, Sky Ferreira, Lana Del Rey, Tove Lo, Tegan and Sara, and the British rock band Nine Black Alps. The band ranked at #77 of VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists.

Dying
Hole Lyrics

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You see the cripple dance
Pay your money, baby
Now's your chance
Eyes like cyanide

I am so dumb
Just beam me up
I've had it all forever

I've had enough

Remember, you promised me
I'm dying, I'm dying, please
I want to, I need to be
Under your skin

Our love is quicksand
So easy to drown
They steal the gravity, yeah
From moving ground

Remember, you promised me
I'm dying, I'm dying, please
I want to, I need to be
Under your skin

And now I understand
You leave with everything
You leave with everything I am
Withering

And now I know that love is dead
You've come to bury me
There's nothing left here to pretend
Anything

Remember, you promised me
I'm dying, I'm dying, please
I want to, I need to be
Under your skin

I'm dying, I'm dying, please
I'm dying, I'm dying, please
I'm dying, I'm dying, please
Under your skin

Under your skin

Overall Meaning

Hole's song "Dying" was released in 1998 as a part of their third studio album "Celebrity Skin". The song is about a relationship that has become a trap and the feelings of desperation and the need to escape from it. The lyrics paint a picture of a person who is dying to be under their lover's skin, who promised her love but fails to fulfill that promise. The song's opening lines, "You see the cripple dance, Pay your money, baby. Now's your chance," reflect the idea of dancing in a distorted and chaotic world, where people are willing to pay for escape.

The second verse "Our love is quicksand, So easy to drown. They steal the gravity, yeah. From moving ground," signifies the dangerous nature of the relationship, where love is like quicksand that pulls them in and they find it hard to get away. They steal gravity from moving ground, which means that the emotional force of the relationship makes it difficult to move on. The lyrics, "And now I understand, You leave with everything, You leave with everything I am, Withering," describe the painful experience of losing oneself to the relationship and how it feels like the lover is taking everything away from them.

The last verse, "And now I know that love is dead, You've come to bury me. There's nothing left here to pretend, Anything," further reflects the sense of defeat and acceptance that the relationship is lost. The repetition of the lines, "I'm dying, I'm dying, please, Under your skin," shows a sense of urgency and desperation to be with the lover despite the pain and suffering the relationship causes.

Overall, the song is a poignant reflection on toxic relationships and the feeling of being trapped and helpless in them. It highlights the need for individuals to understand the importance of self-love and break free from emotionally draining relationships.

Line by Line Meaning

You see the cripple dance
You witness the physically disabled person move their body in a rhythmic manner

Pay your money, baby
Give your currency, darling

Now's your chance
This is the opportune time

Eyes like cyanide
The gaze gives off a toxic feeling

I am so dumb
I lack intelligence

Just beam me up
Transport me away

I've had it all forever
I've possessed everything for an infinite amount of time

I've had enough
I cannot tolerate anymore

Remember, you promised me
Recall the vow you made to me

I'm dying, I'm dying, please
I'm nearing the end, I implore you

I want to, I need to be
My desire is to exist as a part of you

Under your skin
I wish to be a part of you so deeply that it's like I'm beneath your epidermis

Our love is quicksand
Our relationship has become a trap, easy to sink into and difficult to escape

So easy to drown
It's effortless to suffocate

They steal the gravity, yeah
They remove the force that holds everything down

From moving ground
From the terrain in motion

And now I understand
I now comprehend

You leave with everything
You take all that's mine

You leave with everything I am
You take my very essence

Withering
I'm deteriorating

Now I know that love is dead
I've comprehended that our bond has perished

You've come to bury me
You've arrived to inter me

There's nothing left here to pretend
There's nothing left to feign

Anything
Nothing at all

I'm dying, I'm dying, please
I'm fading away, I beseech you

Under your skin
I yearn to be a part of you

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: William Patrick Corgan, Eric T Erlandson, Courtney M. Love

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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