‘Celebrity Skin’ is a song by American alternative rock band Hole, released on August 31, 1998 as the first single from their third studio album of the same name. It is their only single to peak at #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. In October 2011, NME ranked it the 126th best track of the past 15 years. The song was written and recorded in 1997, after Hole's reported hiatus the previous year due to frontwoman Courtney Love's burgeoning film career. Love and Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson co-wrote the song with Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, whom Love later said provided the main guitar riff.
The lyrics, written by Love, contain several literary references; the line "Oh, look at my face / My name is might-have-been" is directly lifted from the opening verse of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's poem, "A Superscription," (and also quoted in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night) while the phrase "pound of flesh" originates from William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Commenting on the theme of celebrity, Love said: "Once you've stood onstage bleating your schoolgirl poetry, are you going to stay there, when you have the power and ability to give yourself a platform? I mean, here's the celebrity, and we all know it's stupid and ephemeral, but why not foster it? Why not feed it? Because all that it will do is give the thing that has substance – the art – more power."
Love wrote this song with Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson and with Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, who contributed to five songs on the album. Erlandson later revealed through posts on the fan site Kittyradio.com's message boards that he was very uncomfortable and displeased with Corgan's involvement on the record. All guitar riffs were written by Erlandson and all lyrics were handled by Love and Corgan, who also played bass on two of the tracks.
‘Celebrity Skin’ was released as the debut single of its eponymous album, Celebrity Skin, on August 31, 1998, reaching the top 10 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. It spent a total of 26 weeks on the chart, peaking at number one on October 10, 1998. NME referred to the track's musical elements as featuring a "balls-in-the-air guitar riff the size of Australia, and a production sheen that was the sonic equivalent of looking directly at the sun." In 2011, the same publication ranked the song number 126 on a list of the "150 Best Tracks of the Last 15 Years." James Hunter of Rolling Stone wrote of the song: "Hole are immediately in your face with the cheese-metal riffs and cuddly dissolves," deeming it "a track full of cloudless energy that seems to explode the malaise that has surrounded Love.". The song received two Grammy nominations for Best Rock Song, losing to ‘Uninvited’ by Alanis Morissette and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, losing to ‘Pink’ by Aerosmith.
Label – Geffen
Songwriters – Courtney Love, Billy Corgan, Eric Erlandson
Producer – Michael Beinhorn
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]Oh, make me over
I'm all I wanna be
A walking study
In demonology
[Chorus]
Hey, so glad you could make it
Yeah, now you've really made it
Hey, so glad you could make it now
[Verse 2]
Oh, look at my face
My name is Might-have-been
My name is Never-was
My name's Forgotten
[Chorus]
Hey, so glad you could make it
Yeah, now you've really made it
Hey, there's only us left now
[Post-Chorus]
When I wake up in my makeup
It's too early for that dress
Wilted and faded somewhere in Hollywood
I'm glad I came here with your pound of flesh
No second billing 'cause you're a star now
Oh, Cinderella, they aren't sluts like you
Beautiful garbage, beautiful dresses
Can you stand up or will you just fall down?
[Verse 3]
You better watch out
What you wish for
It better be worth it
So much to die for
[Chorus]
Hey, so glad you could make it
Yeah, now you've really made it
Hey, there's only us left now
[Post-Chorus]
When I wake up in my makeup
Have you ever felt so used up as this?
It's all so sugarless, hooker, waitress
Model, actress, oh, just go nameless
Honeysuckle, she's full of poison
She obliterated everything she kissed
Now she's fading somewhere in Hollywood
I'm glad I came here with your pound of flesh
[Outro]
You want a part of me?
Well, I'm not selling cheap
No, I'm not selling cheap