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Seen a Rogue on
the loose?
Courtney Love has made a lot of enemies on the road to becoming the bad girl of grunge, and this week the former Portland street punk was true to her Roguish form. Love and her group, Hole, are set to release a new album, Celebrity Skin on DGC Records. Like every other artist, Love wants to get her CD in the hands of reviewers before the album goes on sale. But unlike any other artist who has sent a review disc to us, she demanded we sign a contract before she forked over the music. On Monday, WW music editor Richard Martin received a form from Love's PR handlers, Q-Prime Management in New York. The form outlined the conditions under which WW could get a review disc of Skin. Among the provisions Martin signed were: "I agree that I shall keep the Album in my sole possession" and "obtain prior written consent of Q-Prime Management and DGC Records prior to playing the Album, or any portions(s) thereof, for any third party, including other employees and/or agents of the Publication." (It's not clear whether he could be busted for humming a few bars from the title track in the WW break room.) We understand that musicians have an interest in timing reviews of their work with the day the album goes on sale. But Love's heavy-handed tactics are overkill--and it's not the first time she's tried to manage the media. During a recent UK tour promoting Celebrity Skin, she made journalists sign a contract promising not to bring up a host of sensitive subjects, ranging from Kurt Cobain to drug use. That's an odd practice for someone who has said that her role in The People vs. Larry Flynt gave her a new appreciation of the First Amendment. We don't know whether Love's new CD is any good (Martin has it locked up), but the celebrity's self-important attempts at media control make our skin crawl.
Originally published August 19, 1998 |
