PHOTORECORD NR. 8, BEAUTIFUL SON/20 YEARS IN THE DAKOTA/OLD AGE

Posted on July 11, 2014 by Teresa Cannata'

Released in April 1993 on the Berlin-based record label City Slang, Beautiful Son is the 4th single of the American band Hole, which included frontwoman Courtney Love, drummer Patty Schemel, bassist Leslie Hardy (at the time of the release she had just left the band) and guitarist Eric Erlandson. The cd and 12” formats also contain 20 Years in the Dakota (a song about post-Lennon Yoko Ono) and Old Age. 

“You look good in my dress,” sang Love in Beautiful Son, referring to her own husband Kurt Cobain, who liked crossdressing since he was a child. The picture of 7-year-old Cobain, wearing a blue turtleneck, mischievous look in his eyes, is on the cover, surrounded by a number of gift bows, a girly touch personally designed by Love.

The back cover is possibly more interesting than the front: the band members are introduced in four pictures of them posing in a bathroom, all dressed in red – long-haired Schemel, Hardy holding tulips in her lap, Erlandson looking right into the camera, Love sporting her trademark kinderwhore look. The pictures are arranged on a blue background, on which some Prozac pills and heart-shaped sugar candies [1] are scattered. “Be good”, “Be mine”, “Foxy”, “Love bug”, “Dream girl” are some of the messages written on the candies, a reference to a childish and romantic idea of love, in contrast with the pills and references to other drugs (Thorazine, Percodan, glue, Robitussin) in the scribbled shopping list for a Valentine’s party. The aforementioned list is written in a bizarre Love style, where drinks, thank-yous and Laura Ashley teapots all appear.

Hole fans will surely know this record, but if you are simply record collectors, be aware there’s one more reason to put it in your wish-list: the vinyl of the 12” version is green.

[1] The heart-shaped sugar candies (another symbol of childhood) will also appear in the artworks of the following singles – Miss World and Violet.