The three albums that marked the history of Hole in the 90s are back on the market in new physical editions. The band led by Courtney Love has announced the reissue of “Pretty On The Inside”, “Live Through This” and “Celebrity Skin” for September 18, 2026, published by UMe in different formats, including 180 gram black vinyl, colored editions, zoetrope versions with animations inspired by the original video clips and CDs.
The entire project was coordinated by guitarist and co-founder Eric Erlandson, who oversaw the audio remastering and restoration of the packaging originals. An operation that effectively retraces the entire parable of Hole in the 90s, from their abrasive and noisy beginnings to the more melodic and pop turning point at the end of the decade.
Particular attention was paid to “Pretty On The Inside”, which celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2026. Originally released in 1991 and recorded at Music Box Studios in Los Angeles with the production of Don Fleming and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, Hole's debut featured a lineup made up of Courtney Love, Eric Erlandson, Jill Emery and Caroline Rue and showed the band at its roughest, most extreme and viscerally noise-rock.
For the anniversary, a special limited edition double vinyl “Starbelly Splatter” will also arrive, with new gatefold packaging and a lithograph containing a rare photograph of the group. The set also includes the remastered 12″ version of “Teenage Whore”, accompanied by B-side “Burn Black” and “Drown Soda”: the latter will make their debut on streaming platforms at the same time.
The second chapter is “Live Through This”, the 1994 album that definitively transformed Hole into one of the symbolic formations of American alternative rock of the time. Recorded at Triclops Sound in Marietta, Georgia, with Paul Q. Kolderie and Sean Slade producing, the album will be reissued with a new master specifically made for vinyl. It was the season of formation with Kristen Pfaff on bass and Patty Schemel on drums, the protagonist of an album capable of finding a particularly effective balance between the violence of the beginning and a more melodic and immediate writing.
The triptych is completed with “Celebrity Skin”, released in 1998 and recorded at Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles with Michael Beinhorn producing. With Melissa Auf Der Maur now permanently on bass, Hole further carried out the transformation of their language, abandoning part of the grunge harshness for a smoother, more melodic and openly pop rock. It was the album of international consecration, capable of transforming neurosis, disillusionment and Hollywood glamor into songs with a much brighter and more sophisticated production.
A second round will be added to the reissues scheduled for September 18th on October 23rd, when special colored vinyl versions of the Record Store Day Essentials series will arrive in independent record stores.
The announcement has inevitably rekindled the hopes of those waiting for one reunion of Hole, but Courtney Love clarified via social media that, at least for the moment, the band's return to the stage is not in the plans. Melissa Auf Der Maur, however, should participate in some concerts of the singer's next solo tour, during which new compositions will also be featured.
At the center of Courtney Love's projects is in fact “Died Blonde”, the new solo album on which she has been working for about eight years and intended to collect the legacy of “America's Sweetheart”, published in 2004. Among the names linked to the project include Auf Der Maur herself, Michael Stipe and Will Sergeant of Echo & The Bunnymen, while Love would also have attempted to involve Jay-Z through her friend Gwyneth Paltrow.
Before the new album, “Antiheroine” should also arrive, a documentary dedicated to the life and career of Courtney Love and directed by Edward Lovelace and James Hall. A new chapter for one of the most controversial and recognizable rock figures of recent decades, while the reissues of Hole's three albums bring attention back to the period that definitively built their myth.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
