Hole Photographed by Les Guzman for “Celebrity Skin” Album Cover, 1998

Celebrity Skin would be Hole’s last studio album with members Courtney Love, Melissa Auf Der Maur, and Eric Erlandson. Patty Schemel did not drum on this album. Courtney went onto to release Nobody’s Daughter in 2010 under Hole’s name. But it had no actual members of Hole in that lineup other than Courtney herself.

The cover art for the album Celebrity Skin by Hole.

The front cover of the album features a black and white photograph of all four band members standing in front of a burning palm tree. The photograph was a Polaroid that had initially been intended as a test shot, but was ultimately chosen for the cover art. Joe-Mama Nitzberg, the album’s art director, recalled that the palm tree and fire were in fact real, and that at one point during the shoot, a wind gust led the tree to topple over. Nitzberg stated that the unifying visual theme for the album’s overall artwork and packaging was to highlight Los Angeles as an artificial “paradise.”

Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins co-wrote some songs on this album, but not all of them. Most notably he came up with the riff to “Celebrity Skin” and “Malibu” which would go on to be two of Hole’s biggest hits. When The Smashing Pumpkins held a 30 year anniversary show in 2018, Courtney was invited to play with them. They performed “Celebrity Skin” and “Malibu” together. Courtney had told the audience this night that when her and Billy had written “Malibu,” it was intended to be a song for Stevie Nicks, but she insisted that Billy had made the song so good she decided to keep it for herself. The only other songs Billy co-wrote on this album were “Hit So Hard,” “Dying,” and “Petals.”

The album was much more clean cut and polished in comparison to Hole’s previous 2 albums. The album was a reflection of Courtney’s sobriety and newly found fame in Hollywood as an actress, and just over all, getting her life back together after the events of 1994. The album has been described as Courtney’s “love letter to Los Angeles.”