Save the Drama for Your Mama: A Comprehensive Timeline of Courtney Love’s Feuds
By El Weiss
Many celebrities such as Moressy (ew), Natalie Portman, Elliot Page, among others, have proudly expressed their vegan and vegetarian lifestyles. However, the infamous Miss Courtney Love will choose beef any day of the week.
Some Background: Courtney Love, known for being Kurt Cobain’s wife and lead singer of Hole, has been proudly causing drama since the 90s- after all, she did tell the Rolling Stones in 1994 that, “If you think you’re gonna stop me from where I’m going, you’re not going to do it.”
In the past few years she has come for modern artists such as Olivia Rodrgio, Beyonce, Lana Del Rey, and as of last week, Taylor Swift. In this guide, I will be walking you through Ms. Love’s lore and never ending supply of one-sided drama.
★Dave Grohl-
This is one of the most understandable conflicts of Love’s as they actually knew each other. In the late nineties, Grohl made a comment about Love not writing her own music which obviously she clapped back at. Her pre-social media rampage took place in music magazines. She stated that Kurt Cobain, her late husband, spent more time with Hole than Nirvana because he preferred Hole’s music. Still holding a grudge, in the early years of the 2000s, she accused Grohl of acting inappropriately towards her and Cobain’s daughter Frances Bean Cobain. It was later disproved and Grohl and Love haven’t rekindled since (unless you count their awkward interaction at Nirvana’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction an improvement).
P.S. The rest of Nirvana also faced her wrath.
★Kathleen Hanna-
Love’s distrain for Hanna has erased any remaining specks of respect I had for her. After all, as a fellow woman in the 90s alternative rock scene, you would think she would understand how difficult it was to be acknowledged. Hanna, and her bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, pioneered the Riot Grrrl genre and brought a much needed dose of radical feminism to the (somewhat) mainstream music scene. In 1995, their beef started after they had a fight backstage at Lollapalooza. While it’s unknown who initiated the fight (I think we know who started it), Love hasn’t let go of it to this day. In 2019, Bikini Kill reunited and Love stated to Bust Magazine that it was, “Two of that band are total amateurs. Hanna is a good hype man. But her persona is a diy nonsense dilettante. A big idea they cannot convey, because they suck.”
★Billy Corgan-
I guess this is also more expected then attacking random pop stars as Love and Corgan dated. The Smashing Pumpkins artist and Love dated for a while in 1991 until trouble in paradise arose. Supposedly, Corgan refused to pay for her flight home from a festival and she had to board a ferry along with her future husband Kurt Cobain. She and Cobain got closer and eventually things peacefully broke off between her and Corgan. In 2010, she released Nobody’s Daughter and allegedly used songs written by Corgan without his permission. Obviously, he wasn’t pleased with this. He tweeted shortly after the album’s release, “My face is my face, my heart is my heart, my money is my money. Oh, and my songs are MY songs.” This was followed up by, “If you can’t write your own songs maybe you should be happy that you fooled someone into doing your work for you,” alluding to the late Cobain. However, he didn’t stop there and attacked (rightfully so) for her poor parenting and didn’t hold back from calling her irresponsible. Her only response, which came years later in 2018, was calling him out for causing drama and that their age it’s inappropriate. Pretty ironic, eh?
★Trent Reznor-
There isn’t much of a story to this one but it’s too funny to not include. In 1994, Hole and Nine Inch Nails toured together and the two had a brief relationship. Love took it upon herself to report to the Spin. She stated, “Don’t call your band Nine Inch Nails if you have a three-inch one.” Ouch. In true musician fashion, a few years later Nine Inch Nails released “Starfuckers Incorporated” as a come-back.
★Madonna-
If you think her other feuds are bizarre be warned- this one is truly wacky. Following the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna was being interviewed by Kurt Loder. Suddenly, Courtney Love started throwing compact mirrors at the two; one landing at Madonna’s feet. Madonna famously quipped, “Courtney Love is in dire need of attention right now.” For whatever reason, Loder invited Love to join the interview. Unsurprisingly, Love took over and started yapping about her crush on Dennis Miller and her dream of dating an EMT. As Madonna said, “I think you (Courtney Love) should get out of the hospital.” I agree- despite her best wishes let’s avoid letting Love become a nurse.
★Sharon Osbourne-
Be warned- this feud is MESSY. In 2007, Osbourne publicly blamed her son Jack’s drug addiction on Love as the two were friendly and Love had been admitted to a 28 day rehab facility a few years prior. Osbourne, discussing the topic further in an interview, stated, “She [Love] was the first person to give my son Jack the prescription drug OxyContin. There’s not a shadow of doubt in my mind about that.” Love quickly jumped to defend herself. Since 2007, they have been at war and Osbourne never hesitates to bash Love publicly. To quote her, Courtney’s a virus.
Note: It’s never been proven that Love was the one to introduce Jack to oxy. Don’t forget to take everything you read in the media with a grain of salt.
★Brad Pitt-
In 2022, Love claimed on the WTF with Marc Marom podcast that Brad Pitt had fired her from Fight Club after denying him the rights to create a biopic about the late Cobain. According to Love, Pitt blacklisted her from Hollywood after the refusal. While still holding a grudge, there have been no further conflicts.
★Frances Bean Cobain-
Sadly, even her daughter isn’t spared from Love’s chaos. Even before birth, Love was off to a bad start as a mother. In an interview with Vanity Fair, she admitted to doing drugs while pregnant. She commented in a interview with The Fix, “Yes, it’s true, I used heroin in the first three weeks of my pregnancy — but so f***ing what?” Her custody was revoked multiple times due to her battle with addiction. Growing up, Cobain shared that she resented her mother. For a while, things got better between the two. In 2009, Cobain filed a temporary restraining order against Love. A few years later, Cobain married Isaiah Silva and didn’t invite Love. Eventually, the two reported getting closer again and no major headlines about the two’s tension debuted since the late 2010s.
★Olivia Rodrigo-
In 2021, Rodrigo’s debut album Sour was released. Heavily influenced by the Y2K era, she drew inspiration from other artists. Well, Miss Love believes she stole from other artists including herself. Love’s band Hole released the album Live Through This in 1994. On the album cover, model Leilani Bishop is adorned in a tiara and is holding a bouquet alluding. Love noted that the look was inspired by the film Carrie’s infamous prom scene. Following the release of Sour, Rodrigo created a prom style film as a celebration and sentiment to not being able to have a regular prom due to the pandemic. Love alleged that Rodrigo ripped Hole off- after all, prom notifs are a totally original concept. “Stealing an original idea and not asking permission is rude. There’s no way to be elegant about it. I’m not angry. It happens all the time to me,” Love said on social media.
★Lana Del Rey-
This one is a huge surprise to say the least. In a 2022 interview with Marc Maron on the WTF podcast, the Hole frontwoman said that the late Kurt Cobain and Lana Del Rey were the only two people she considers true musical geniuses. In a recent April interview with The Standard, Love retorted that, “I haven’t liked Lana since she covered a John Denver song, and I think she should really take seven years off.” Ironic, considering Del Rey has seen more success tenfold then Love will ever see in her life.
★Taylor Swift-
In the same interview she dissed Del Rey in, Love dished her controversial opinion on Taylor Swift. She stated, “Taylor Swift is not important. She might be a safe space for girls, but she’s probably the Madonna of now, but she’s not interesting as an artist.” I think Swift’s 115.2M monthly listeners on Spotify would disagree. Being bitter about losing your relevancy and coming after fellow women isn’t a cute look.
It’s truly a shame that Courtney didn’t use her power in a productive way. Being one of the leading figures of the female grunge scene, she could have advocated for women’s rights and fought us to have a place in the music industry. Shame on you, Courtney.
Disclaimer: It is important to take celebrity news with a grain of salt. Situations such as the ones Love has gotten herself into have a great deal of nuance and it’s important to remember that we can never get the full story.
