Love & Corgan Kiss And Make Up
Courtney Love has declared a cease-fire in the war of words between
herself and self-professed “Svengali” Billy Corgan.
Last week, Select magazine and the British edition of
Guitar World quoted the multitalented Corgan saying he
masterminded the upcoming Hole album, Celebrity Skin. The
highly inflammatory Love immediately retorted with comments in
USA Today that scolded Corgan and the press for suggesting
she needed a man to help create her music.
In today’s episode of the rock soap opera, Geffen Records is
insisting that the Hole diva is no longer angry with her
songwriting mate and longtime friend. A spokeswoman for Geffen told
JAMTV that no hard feelings exist between the bleach-blonde Love
and the stylishly bald Corgan, who was reportedly struck by an
over-zealous case of sarcasm when he said he went “the full Monty”
on Celebrity Skin.
“The article had taken Billy’s comments out of context,” said
Geffen spokesman Jim Merlis. “Billy used the word ‘Svengali’ in a
joking way. [Courtney] was mad at herself for commenting on [the
article] so quickly.”
In the USA Today story, Love said: “Billy does not have
a majority of publishing percentage on any one of those songs. I
feel it’s silly and somewhat sexist to credit Billy Corgan with
things Billy Corgan did not do based on the assumption that
accomplished male musicians are somehow superior to accomplished
female musicians, such as myself.”
No one in Hole denies Corgan’s noteworthy contributions to the
album, which include co-writing credits with Love and guitarist
Eric Erlandson on at least five of Celebrity Skin’s final
cuts and arranging work on 13 tracks.
“Billy did spend some quality time mentoring and teaching me a
craft that I really needed to learn in order to make the record I
wanted to make, much like a brilliant music teacher, and that was
what was so invaluable to me,” Love said in USA Today. “I
am incredibly grateful for Billy’s skill.”
Love also relied on the talents of cohort Erlandson, who began
postproduction on Celebrity Skin with Mike “Spike” Stent
in England three months ago. Meanwhile, the rock star-come-glamour
puss Love began work on the film 200 Cigarettes, which
also features Ben and Casey Affleck, Jay Mohr and Christina
Ricci.
A track listing for the September release is not yet available.