Hole (band)

Although Love's flamboyant personality and controversial statements have often overshadowed the reception of Hole's music, it should be stressed that Hole's records all sold over 500,000 copies worldwide, and that their music releases (as well as the musicianship of the band members) have been critically praised. Unofficial releases. Hole's band members have changed frequently over the years; the line-up of Hole's last album Celebrity Skin (1998) was Love (lead vocals), Melissa Auf der Maur (bass), Eric Erlandson (guitars), and Patty Schemel (drums). Recently, the band have joined of a number of 80s revival tours, Oakey now describing this as being in a Human League tribute band. After a number of releases on independent record labels, including their first full length album Pretty on the Inside which received praise from underground critics, Hole released their major label debut Live Through This (1994) very shortly after the suicide death of Love's husband Kurt Cobain. Four CDs attribute songs by The Human League under different names: on The Golden Hour Of The Future there are songs credited to The Human League when they were still The Future, on the single "I Don't Depend On You" where they call themselves The Men, on the "Dance Like A Star" Ep, there are also songs attributed to The Future and on "Love And Dancing", they pay homage to Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra by calling themselves League Unlimited Orchestra. Hole was a musical group, formed in 1989 and (officially) disbanded in 2002, fronted by Courtney Love and co-founded by Eric Erlandson. The album Octopus went silver, and the lead-off single "Tell Me When" was the group's first major hit since "Human".

Celebrity Skin (1998). Dropped by Virgin Records after the failure of their album Romantic? (1989), the group were now signed to EastWest and their line-up included producer Ian Stanley, who helped them to achieve a more modern sound. My Body The Hand Grenade (1997). The group made a surprise comeback in 1994. Ask For It (1995). number one, "Human", but other singles made little impact. Live Through This (1994). The Jam & Lewis-produced Crash LP (1985) did provide a U.S.

Pretty on the Inside (1991). The band also had a number of other hits but their success faded towards the mid-1980s. Their most famous single "Don't You Want Me" reached number one in the UK charts during the Christmas of 1981 and was one of the biggest selling singles of that year. The band achieved a brief spell of success in the early 1980s with their style of Synthpop music. Re-energized by the addition of new members, the band went on to record their breakthrough album Dare, and have many chart successes.

At the time, synthpop was starting to become fashionable due to the success of groups like OMD and Ultravox, but female vocals were rarely heard on synth records, so the addition of Sulley and Catherall gave the group a distinctive sound. However, they recruited bass player Ian Burden, guitarist Jo Callis (formerly of The Rezillos) and, famously, fronted the band with two singers, Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall, whom they had met in a Sheffield nightclub. When Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware left to form Heaven 17 it seemed that Phil Oakey and Adrian Wright, the sole remaining group members, would be unable to sustain the band, which, just before the split, was beginning to achieve wider popularity. Their first single to chart was 'Empire State Human', which peaked at number 62 in the charts.

Shortly afterwards, they signed up with Virgin Records, and by the early 1980s had become a successful British electropop band. Originally a post punk synthesiser based group from Sheffield, the Human League (previously known as the Future) released their first single, "Being Boiled" c/w "Circus Of Death" on Bob Last's Fast Product record label in 1978. A fan site devoted to pictures of the Human League in concert during 2004. (http://www.redpenguin.net/bandphotos/human-league.php). Secrets Online, excellent fan site with indepth Human League coverage both past and present. (http://www.league-online.com/).

Blind Youth, a site dedicated to the early post-punk works of Human League. (http://www.blindyouth.co.uk/). A Human League fan site (http://users.bigpond.net.au/human-league/home.htm). "Rock And Roll Is Dead" (2003) was a single from fellow Sheffield band, Kings Have Long Arms, that paid tribute to Oakey and eventually was re-released with Oakey doing some guest vocals. Today" (2003) was a single from Alex Gold featuring Oakey on vocals.

"L.A. "Together In Electric Dreams" was a solo single for Oakey rather than the whole League, but has been included on Human League albums as if it were by the whole band. 'The Human League Interview'. 'The Human League Promo Mix CD' (not available).

'The Golden Hour Of The Future'. 'Dance Like A Star' (EP). 'The Future Tapes' (unreleased). 'In Darkness' (a bootleg demo album).

'Taverner Tape' (1978). 'Human League Cassette' (1978). League Live (DVD). The Very Best Of (EMI, 2 CDs, CD2 is all remixes, also on DVD).

"All I Ever Wanted". Secrets (The Japanese version has three bonus tracks)