Through the years, Courtney Love has often found herself the center of some feud or other with her contemporaries. With peace and love and all respect, she can be a little bit confrontational. However, there was a time where it seemed particularly en vogue to write a diss track about her.
Love tends to speak her mind no matter what, which has gotten her into some hot water here and there. Still, whether she deserved this myriad of diss tracks or not isn’t the question. We’re merely serving as the lowly archivists of several ways people love to hate Courtney Love.
“Bruise Violet” — Babes In Toyland
“Bruise Violet” was released in 1992 on Babes In Toyland’s second album Fontanelle. Lead vocalist Kat Bjelland and Courtney Love were friends in the early 90s, but at one point had a brief falling out. At the time, they were fighting about ownership of their personal and musical styles, which seemed rather similar.
However, Bjelland has stated that “Bruise Violet” wasn’t actually about Love. Instead, the song was about a mutual friend and muse of theirs. Still, visuals in the music video have led fans to believe the song is still about Love, and Hole’s track “Violet,” released two years later, continued to fuel those rumors.
“Hollaback Girl” — Gwen Stefani
While the jury is still out on “Bruise Violet,” Gwen Stefani’s 2005 magnum opus was a direct response to something Courtney Love said in an interview with Seventeen. There, Love called Stefani a “cheerleader,” leading Stefani to make that a central image in her music video.
“Being famous is just like being in high school,” Love said at the time. “But I’m not interested in being the cheerleader. I’m not interested in being Gwen Stefani. She’s the cheerleader, and I’m out in the smoker shed.” Later, several times, Love doubled down on her dislike of Stefani. Once she claimed that she slept with Gavin Rossdale while he and Gwen were married, and another time that Rossdale was actually the brains behind Gwen’s clothing line L.A.M.B.
“She’s Not Your Friend” — Inger lorre
Inger Lorre released “She’s Not Your Friend” in 1999 during a feud with Courtney Love that was mainly carried out in song. Lorre’s track was a response to Hole’s 1991 track “Sassy.” There, Love allegedly used a voicemail from Lorre as part of the song.
“The whole difference between me and Courtney,” said Lorre at the time, according to Kerrang!, “is I never wanted to be a star.” Apparently, the two were at odds for several years after becoming friends in the 80s, with the “Sassy” stunt putting Lorre over the edge.
“Right Between the Eyes” — Garbage
With all the animosity people like to fling at Courtney Love, one of her contemporaries has remained in her corner. Shirley Manson of Garbage allegedly wrote the 2005 song “Right Between The Eyes” for Love, who was her long-time friend. While others were dead-set on taking their frustrations with Love out on her, albeit somewhat indirectly, Manson remained supportive of her friend.
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