Courtney Love/Hole

As frontwoman for Hole, and the wife, then widow, of Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love has been a post-punk hellcat, First Lady of grunge, and notorious rock renegade. Unfortunately, most of the world was introduced to Hole when the prophetically titled Live Through This came out just days after Cobain's 1994 suicide, and the refrain "someday you will ache like I ache" ("Doll Parts") took on a whole new layer of torn-up, tear-stained tragedy. On "Violet," when Love screamed, "Go on, take everything" like her very soul was being sucked out, it seemed that destiny had delivered her some kind of alt-rock Shakespearean role beyond her control. So when she not only survived, but actually came back bigger than ever with the streamlined, hook-filled Celebrity Skin, Hole seemed like rock's greatest success story.

In Next Steps, hear the hard 'n' heavy, hell-bent sounds of pre-stardom Hole.

By the '00s, Courtney Love was the trouble-bound, tabloid-fodder rock 'n' roll bad girl who could be heard growling X-rated, punky pillow talk to the Strokes' lead singer on "But Julian, I'm A Little Older Than You." But long before that, she was a scrappy upstart fronting an unknown band and scratching for a break. From Hole's very first session — cut quick and dirty in 1990 for $500 — "Phonebill Song" explodes with savage, punk-fueled fury, and on the band's 1991 debut album, "Good Sister/Bad Sister" powers out the kind of gut-punching, Black Sabbath-meets-Black Flag riffs that grunge was built on.

To be a true rock legend, you've got to get a little grit on you, and you'd better believe that Courtney Love's rough-and-tumble path has taken her through the school of hard knocks, where she graduated as an alt-rock icon. But sometimes, Love's larger-than-life image has obscured her accomplishments, both on her own and with Hole. That's why we've plundered the pearls from her past and present to put together the most powerful Love fest possible. From the feature-film-inspiring slash-and-tell "Jennifer's Body" to the downright pretty "Hit So Hard," here's where you learn all the things you've always wanted to know about Courtney Love and Hole but were afraid to ask.