Courtney love: she definitely wouldn't have apologized at the Grammys

Interview, April, 2004 by Ingrid Sischy

INGRID SISCHY: Hey, Courtney.

COURTNEY LOVE: Hi, Ingrid.

IS: So, first things first: Congratulations on America's Sweetheart, the new record.

CL: Thank you.

IS: Lots of people think it's really good, myself included.

CL: I hate to be an asshole, but I know. It's good. It took forever, so it better be good.

IS: How long did it take?

CL: Two years.

IS: That's not forever. Is it?

CL: When you put a lot of your own money into it, it is.

IS: When you began, did you have an idea in your head of what you wanted it to be?

CL: I guess I just started to write songs and tried playing with different people without making too much of a patchwork quilt. I wrote a lot of songs with Linda Perry.

IS: Was it your first time working with her?

CL: Well, the thing with me and Linda you have to understand--and it's a really important thing to point out--is that Patty [Schemel], my drummer, dragged me to play with Linda, and I was like, "I am not going to play with Linda Perry. Dream on!" [Sischy laughs] But I had the funnest night of my life playing with her. There's this animus about her. She has this big black lady's big booty tattooed on her arm, and I think it all comes from there. When you go to her studio you see two things: You see a portrait of Janis Joplin kissing Grace Slick, and Plant and Page, so I was thinking, Okay, we're going to do fine. I've always wanted to write with a woman. Never had the chance. I'd never found anyone good enough or better than me ... You know, I'm always the John; I never get to be the Paul. All I want to do is be the Paul. I was the John with Linda, too. I would wait for her after she was done with her clients; she'd come around at about four in the morning, after she'd been working with Lillix or Christina. But when we played, man, we had so much fun. We never had any issues about who did the lyrics. There was never any ego about that.

IS: There have been issues in the past over who wrote what in your records, right?

CL: When Kurt died, lots of little 13-year-olds went around and said that Kurt wrote my record [Live Through This]. And then when I wrote with Billy [Corgan, on Celebrity Skin], I put in every single little split [crediting all collaborators]. With me and Linda it's just really, really important that we don't depart from what is sacred about our partnership. I can't wait to work with her again, but not every song on the new record has to do with Linda. I think she's a genius, but since she'd be doing pop all day she'd come to me and I'd be like, "You need to go home. Take a bath. I don't know what the fuck that disco beat is doing in my life, but go steam. Steam."

IS: [laughs] That's hilarious. Courtney, this is the first record you've done without all of your band, right?

CL: Yeah, I did it with a lot of people. I did it with people from Hole--I did it with Patty, I did it with Sam [Samantha Maloney]. I did it with a beautiful girl--a violinist, whose name is Emile Autumn. She's like a little fairy, and a wonderful player who makes the cello sound like electric guitars. What I wanted to do with this record was a lot more Exile on Main St., except the White Stripes beat me to it. Mine's more commercial than theirs; still, it's not like they've done badly. When my songs come out of the radio I want there to be a roughness to them. I fought for some of the mistakes with this record, which is a lot more risk taking than Celebrity Skin. It's not as narrative, it's not as reactive. Oh! There's a song about the state of rock 'n' roll, which is the song "Mono"--

IS: -- That's where you refer to Eminem, right?

CL: Yeah, but I think the best lyric in that song is the one that goes: "Three chords in your pocket tonight/Are you, you the one/With the guts to bring my punk rock back ALIVE/I don't think so!"

IS: What about the song "Julian, I'm a Little Bit Older Than You?"

CL: "But Julian ..." I really wanted to rename it "But Jack"! [both laugh] I'm so pathetic, Ingrid. This is the way I make friends with my new peers? Now I want to ask you something. At what point do you think a person is allowed to wear a shirt that says "Rock Royalty"?

IS: Well, that takes awhile, I imagine.

CL: I have a "rock royalty" story about Gavin Stefani that's so endearing, it made me just adore him. We were in the Groucho Club and Robbie Williams was there. My friend, a lovely girl, said, "Oh, I really want to snog with Robbie Williams." And I'm looking at Robbie, and I'm like, "No offense, but what's the appeal?"

IS: A lot of people find him irresistible.

CL: I know. People love him. They love him in England, and everyone wants to fuck him but me. So, we went to his house at four in the morning. I rang the doorbell once, and Gavin looked at me and he goes, "We're rock royalty! If they're not here in five seconds, we're back in the cab!" Then I saw that girl in Evanescence. She is not royalty!

IS: She was wearing a shirt that said she was?

CL: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees! ... Oh, my God, Edward. What are you doing?

IS: Are you watching TV while we're talking?