I haven't really followed Courtney Love's career very much. What I've got for on outline is basically this:
1. Was in the band Hole
2. Married Kurt Cobain
3. May or may not have killed/ordered the murder of Kurt Cobain, but probably not.
4. May or may not have had affairs with Billy Corgan.
5. Is addressed by former boyfriend Rozz Rezabek in the hilarious film Kurt and Courtney with the immortal words: "Don't fuck with me, Courtney. I don't care if you're Jesus and your lawyers are the 12 disciples."
So apparently the big news today is that Courtney is changing her name from "Courtney Love" to "Courtney Michelle." (She was born "Courtney Michelle Harrison.") It's not quite a Puff Daddy/P. Diddy or an Ol' Dirty Bastard/Big Baby Jesus switch, but, you know, not bad for a Wednesday. But in the Salon story about this name change, they refer to her as "one of the most recognizable women in music." Hmmm. I mean, maybe that was true in, say, 1994. But I forgot my time machine today. I mean, whatever. I understand that the "one of the most recognizable women in music" was just a throwaway line, not meant to mean very much. But for fun, I thought I would come up with a list of women in music more recognizable than Courtney. So, I've got:
Madonna
Beyonce
Lady Gaga
Ke$ha (yeah, with the dollar sign and everything)
Taylor Swift
Alicia Keys
Rihanna
M.I.A.
Fergie
Miley Cyrus
Britney Spears
Erykah Badu
Mary J. Blige
Norah Jones
Amy Winehouse
Neko Case
All of these women are way more relevant to the music scene in the last five years than Courtney, whatever her last name may be. And I don't if care if her lawyers are the 12 disciples.
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Ke$ha and Erykah Badu and Neko Case, eh? I'm still not entirely sure what a Ke$ha is, or how she's really all that important to the music scene, save being (as far as I can tell) an annoying skanky ho-bag. In my mind, she just blends into that haze of noise that signals the end of American culture. (Maybe I'm a bit nihilistic; it is Monday, after all.) I'm fairly certain that I couldn't pick Neko Case out of a lineup, and I even dig her music well enough (though I probably couldn't hear a song on the radio and tell you that it's Neko Case). And Erykah Badu? Has an interesting sartorial sense? I'll admit that I've sort of lost track of Erykah Badu.
What about Bjork? Or even Christina (or Xtina?) Aguilera? Missy Elliot? Imogen Heap? I'd say that all of those women are quite recognizable.
But I'm with you that Courtney Love is a fairly worthless example of, well, of most things. But you certainly can recognize her, like, physically. As for her music ... that's another story. But I think there's at least a couple of songs that everyone would know are Courtney Love's, which is more than I can say for Ke$ha, personally.
What I want to know is why people even still pretend to care about Courtney Love.
I'm with you on Bjork, Christina Aguilera, and Missy Elliot. All more prominent than Courtney (and better, I would also add). And while I'm not a Ke$ha fan, she's HUGE right now in the states. She'll probably turn out to be a one-hit wonder, but I've got to give her some street cred for breaking into Prince's house (really). The lyrics of "Tik Tok" are pretty wild though. The chorus just doesn't make any sense (who is she fighting?), and her reference to Mick Jagger as some sort of sexually desirable human being seems at least 30 years late. I mean, I'm sure she's not responsible for the lyrics, but still.
Erykah Badu's also been in the news recently, for stripping naked on the street in Dallas. Also she put out a new record. I haven't been as impressed with her two most recent albums, but "Worldwide Underground" (and all the stuff before that) is the shit.
I saw that Ke$ha perform on SNL, having read a bit about it on jezebel.com. She broke into Prince's house? She refers to Mick Jagger as sexually desirable? Uffda. I did see a fairly amusing video, made by some kids at the Princeton paper, of the lyrics to "Tik Tok" being analyzed by Paul Muldoon; I'm sure you've seen it, too. Anyway, I don't really listen to the radio, but I don't think she's made it here yet.
And Erykah Badu stripped naked on the street in Dallas? Performance art, or just crazy?
Man, I'm out of touch.
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