Skinny Little *****

If you must, click here to listen to a new Hole song called "Skinny Little *****," which I have to believe is terrible enough to end the backlash to the Courtney Love backlash that's been popping up from time to time in music critic circles on the internet of late. It's an admittedly tidy, predictably bombastic piece of throwback alt-rock that was written in part by Linda Perry and Billy Corgan and ruined, at every turn, by Courtney Love. She strains to add grit to her vocals, failing to realize that her voice was always at its best not when she tried to sound tougher than she really was, but when she tried to sound softer than she ever was: when she quieted things down, but her voice was still so hoarse from all the screaming—that's always been her sweet spot. It probably wouldn't have mattered, though, considering the song's lyrics, which I understand as a tirade against a younger, skinnier woman who's, you know, f**king with her or something, but which also, to be fair, may be a letter from Old Courtney to Young Courtney. Regardless, it doesn't ring true. I imagine some will see this as a sort of bull**** feminist anthem, about being proud of your size or your age, or just generally being resilient, and not, unfortunately, as the rantings of a washed-up fame-whore who's never matured beyond the level of a high school student, and who's so far up her own ass, so pleased with herself, so confident that she's smarter than everyone else, that there's little reason to think she'll ever get her **** figured out.