LA Weekly from Los Angeles, California • 49

Smells Like Teen Spirit The Hole truth MICHAEL LAVINE Where does the name come from? "I don't have enough time to go to college" "All colleges just teach things that you'll never use anyway." "I can't go to college during the day because I have to work and nobody offers any good courses at 7 don 't have enough money to go to college and there's no way to get FIDM is different. Were here to tell you that these excuses just dont cut It anymore. FIDMThe Fashion Institute of Design Merchandising has some surprising information for you. With a little creativity and some expert advice (both of which FIDM is glad to offer) you can finally get BY LORRAINE ALI INCE R.E.M. SURPASSED NELSON IN SALES, ITS been raining college format void of anything Zoo weird.

Influences: the Replacements, and the Replacements, and, oh yeah, the Replacements. Crusty critics and scrambling men swear theyve got their finger on the pulse of something: Bring on more wacky guys in fishing haLs. Problem is, theres nothing dangerous here. Its all been filtered down to an inoffensive genre even moms will find cute. What about the real kids you know, the ones under 30 who dont give a shit about MUSIC 0 0 0 0 0 0 the best example).

These songs are about my own weaknesses and impurities; things about myself that I hate, explains Love. Still, just living in L.A. gives Love much more to hate than her own insecurities. In fact, shes been railing on the city for the last half-hour. Its all a bunch of joke bands.

Im not trying to be snotty. I mean, I have more friends in lame bands than anything. Its this city, it creates lame bands. Its the vortex of all power. The corporate thing she trails off, then jumps back in: I do like being taken to lunch, though, and sometimes I like being asked things just so I can say no.

I dont want to come off all bitter well, maybe I do. I dont mind coming off all bitter. Its just the way L.A. is. Its really disgusting and pretentious, but you know that I go to Smalls and stuff, she says, turning herself in like one of Americas Most Wanted.

I really dig that stulf. Im from Minneapolis, the place where they filmed Mary Tyler Moore, and there you dont have the option to be pretentious. You need the option to attend a film premiere and put on, like, push-up, padded bras and wear expensive perfume. But most of the time I stay home and be unpretentious, I think. While Hole has gotten press in New York and London, L.A.

has been a little nervous about touching this scary band. The only time we get described really stupidly is by people in L.A.," says Love. Abu know, that whole one-dimensional, vulgarian, antagonist noise band thing. I dont like being dismissed as a joke band. I scream and get mad, mad, mad.

That wouldnt happen anyplace else here, theyre always looking for an angle. I guess its cause theres so many novelty bands in L.A., theyre all fucking theater bands. Its like, Oh well, this must be another one, she savs in an exasperated mock. A friend of ours was talking to some I)J from KROQ, and she brought up our name and the I)J was, like, Oh, I Uio a Teenage Whore, ha, ha, ha. Gotta go see a band called Hole, The name of the band alone has been enough to get xoplewith the lowest common denominator, she laughs.

I tell them its from a line in Medea that goes, I have a hole that burns all the way through me She pauses, then restarts like a snotty kid. But thats a lie. Actually, I think it comes from my mother. Shes a therapist and says things like You know', you cant walk around with a big hole in yourself. I just remembered that one last night.

Just as Hole arent dear about precisely where the name came from, they smear the line between good and evil as easily as buttering toast. Theyre the ret Hess drivers on a ride through the human psyche that never stops to check the meter; in the end, you owe nothing but your sanity. a great college education. No excusesl Classes starting soon in Fiishion Design Interior Oosivm More liancllst MarktMlns Vlsu.il Drsmn Cosmollt find raiyrin Mrrc luinclis-lny FIDM The Fashion Institute of LJ Design Merchandising1" Elvis Costellos genius? Their raging hormones can do nothing with this invasion of overzealous campus geeks; they want something meatier, something bad, something all their own (or at least something with a parental warning sticker). Thats where the grungy likes of Hole come in.

Courtney Love plays guitar and sings in this 2-year-old L.A. band; the other members are guitarist Eric Erlandson, drummer Caroline Rue and bass-istjill Emery. This is my first band that counts, you know, thats played for three people in bad clubs, says Ix)c. She apologizes for sounding like Melanie Griffith shes got a cold. Since her bands Sub Pop debut.

single, DicknailBurnblack, Love has been described as everything from sugary-sweet to a flat-out brat. Her ivory face possesses big baby blues that might contemplate poisoning your tea or giving you the last of the milk. Her ripping vocals once fronted the original line-up for Faith No More, but now they cut loose on Pretty on the Inside, I foie's album on Caroline Records, co-produced by Sonic Youths Kim Gordon. And although Gordon does a lxMter job looking fab in hell-bottoms than working a soundboard, Hole racks enough combustible rage to bust through any amateur mix. Pretty on the Inside is a slithering nest of ugly thoughts and horrific admissions too intriguing to pass up.

But go slow. The record isnt easily digestible; it has to be chomped in small bits and chewed carefully, or youll choke on it. From the undulating mess of Teenage Whore to the twisted grind of Baby Doll," I lolc avoid harmony like the plague. Their sludgy, haotic sound envelops Love's fuming vocals; she wrings twisted, painful scenarios out of a few disjointed words (Gtxxl Sister Bad Sister" is 213)624-1201 Just rut it oull Name Address City ftp Phone Grad Yr FOR MUSIC REVIEWS, SEE the Calendar New Music SECTION ON PAGE 89. Mail to: FIDM 919 South Grand Ave.

Los Angeles, Ca. 90015-1421 NOVEMBER 22-NOVEMBER 28, 1991 WISELY 49.