1001 Songs Challenge #801: Doll Parts (1994)

On 11 February 2019 I set myself the challenging of reading 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery (ed.) and following the book’s advice to the letter. I’ve previously read 1001 Films… and started 1001 Albums… but felt 1001 Songs… would be a sensible place to start for what I have in mind here.

My challenge is to read about one song per day and listen to it (YouTube and Spotify, I need you tonight!) before sharing my own thoughts. Some songs I will love, others I’ll hate, and I’m sure there will be those that leave me perplexed but listen to them I shall.

I’ll also try, and most likely fail, to pinpoint the best song from the 1001 on offer but I’m nothing if not foolhardy. Instead of one song, I’m predicting I’ll have about 100 favourites by the end and may have to resort to a Top 10 so far to maintain any semblance of sanity.

So long as I post everyday (including Christmas) then this challenge should come to an end on Wednesday 8 November 2021. Staying with the Barney Stinson theme I am hoping that the whole experience will prove to be…

 

Hole – Doll Parts (1994)

 

 

We’re staying in the US today, dear reader, but leaving Georgia and making our way west to Hollywood, Los Angeles. Formed in 1989 Hole were fronted by Courtney Love and became one of the most successful rock bands led by a woman. When we join the group in 1994 it is with their second album, Live Through This, and from there 1001 Songs have gone with one of the singles – Doll Parts.

The gestation of Doll Parts began back in 1991. Courtney Love had met and fallen for Kurt Cobain, frontman of Nirvana. She worked on the song in late 1991 and it captured her insecure feelings, her desire for Cobain but also her lack of belief that one such as he could be interested in her. It turns out Cobain was interested and the two would marry in 1992, have a daughter together, but sadly Kurt Cobain committed suicide in April 1994 more than six months before Hole released their latest album. The song is said to have taken on an even more tragic meaning with Cobain’s untimely death at 27 and was said to be an emotional one for Love to perform live.

I don’t know a lot of songs by Hole but am a big fan of Nirvana and have read a lot about Courtney Love and her sometimes difficult relationship with Kurt Cobain. Doll Parts is testament to the early days of the romance between Cobain and Love. I had always assumed it was released long before Cobain’s death but the reality is all the more poignant now.

 

Favourite songs so far:

The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (1964)

Simon & Garfunkel – The Sounds of Silence (1965)

The Beatles – A Day in the Life (1967)

The Doors – The End (1967)

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)

Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell (1977)

Ultravox – Vienna (1980)

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car (1988)

U2 – One (1991)

Suede – Animal Nitrate (1993)