10 Grunge Albums You Need To Hear Before You Die
9. Live Through This - Hole
When looking back on any genre, context matters whenever these records come out. As much as people might like to divorce their feelings from the raw music on display, rarely does any rock band succeed solely on their music kicking ass and nothing else. And if there was anyone who had a bunch of feelings to let out at the time, it would have to have been Courtney Love on Live Through This.
Released shortly after her husband Kurt Cobain committed suicide, many accused Love of being the Yoko Ono of her generation, looking to sponge off of the goodwill of our fallen titan. Though you can see where those naysayers are coming from to an extent, the actual songs on here are still some of the angriest grunge rock you can find, as Love is shrieking her lungs out across songs like Doll Parts and Violet.
Regardless of whether Cobain actually had a hand in the writing of these songs or not, they wouldn't be half as good as they are without Love's trademark snarl, which goes from the disaffected rasp of someone like Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth to transitioning into the most primal form of anger imaginable. While Hole might not be everyone's favorite grunge band from this time, Live Through This is still a classic and deserved to be celebrated alongside the other heavyhitters in the genre.