Ladies and gentlemen, for those of you who ever wondered why a band might need three separate guitarists, we present you Courtney Love. Back in 2010, a man named J.M. Ladd was hired to film some live shows around New York City’s Fashion Week. One such assignment was a Hole gig at former SoHo venue Don Hills. After fashion week was over, however, Ladd was left with a bunch of footage and no one to pay the tab.
“I was hired through the venue to record this show,” he wrote on YouTube, “and was then left standing with a hard drive and an invoice no one seemed to want.” Fast forward four years, and Ladd decided to share the recordings with the world. He posted a clip of Love’s isolated vocal and guitar tracks from their performance of “Celebrity Skin”, and it’s worse than you might have feared. While played along with the rest of Hole, Love’s guitar work is barely noticeable. Here, it sounds like something Judd Apatow would use in a punk version of I Love You Man‘s “slappin’ da bass” scene. Her vocals, meanwhile, are equally cringeworthy.
Before folks start throwing about conspiracy theories, here’s Ladd: “To address the most obvious, inevitable question that I will be asked … this is not fake. Whether you think she’s the worst or this just makes her all the more “punk rock” is for you to decide. I’m merely presenting the facts as they are. Make of them what you will.”
So get ready, opinion makers, and don’t say we didn’t warn you. (via Vice)
Here’s the video Ladd synched his sound with, for comparison sake:
The good news is, we might get more of this rock ‘n’ roll gold come 2015 if Love’s plans to reunite the band finally come to fruition.