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A Hole in one: Courtney love CHArms CAnnes

insights from a ConVErsation With CourtnEy loVE5

a holE in onE: CourtnEy loVE Charms CannEs

Courtney on

competition “I’m drIven by competItIon,” she says. “When Hole toured with Nine Inch Nails, I used to go into Trent Reznor’s dressing room and say, are you ready, punk? I’m gonna crush you.” This same competitive spirit still informs Courtney’s songwriting. “I listen to superior writers like Bob Dylan, PJ Harvey and Leonard Cohen, and scream why didn’t I think of that?”

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Courtney on

confidence Courtney credits Hole’s success with an inordinate amount of self-belief. “I was ambitious, and I had no Plan B. I was going to be a rock star, or I was going to throw myself off a building by the time I was 25.” Utterly convinced of her own specialness, Courtney strode into the Factory in New York and demanded that Andy Warhol take her picture. The response? “Sure, but she needs a nosejob.”

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Courtney on

Kanye & mentoring Of her fellow celebrity speaker, Courtney simply said; “Some of what he said was absurd, but some of it was really smart.” One thing Kanye mentioned which struck a chord with her was the importance of finding a mentor, somebody to nurture and champion your work: “He was right; he couldn’t have made it without Jay-Z, Eminem couldn’t have made it without Dr Dre.” No matter how influential the man, though, Courtney would always advise artists: “Go for the wife! That’s where the power is.”

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Courtney on

Katy Perry & standing out “I get so excited when I see a new female artist that’s good and doesn’t have fireworks coming out of her tits.”Courtney rushed to rationalize that statement, saying she empathizes with artists like Katy Perry who, in a post-Gaga world, are pushed to greater attention seeking limits just to get by. It’s the nature of the beast: “In the world of hits,” she says, “there’s only two kinds of songs. Ballads, and novelty songs.”

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Courtney on

Kate Moss & Trends Never one to namedrop, Courtney told the audience a little story about the time she went vintage shopping with bestie Kate Moss and they both bought the same Victorian capelet. “I wore it, and I was slammed,” goes the tale. “Kate wore the same garment a few weeks later, and all of a sudden it’s a trend.” That’s what you get for being friends with a supermodel. “You can’t try to start a trend,” she says. “That happens organically.”

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