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Courtney Love: The Queen of Noise [ILLUSTRATED] (Mass Market Paperback)

by Melissa Rossi (Author) "The universe has a sense of humor, I'm convinced..." (more)
Key Phrases: Mary Lou, San Francisco, New York (more...)

3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"I am not a woman. I'm a force of nature."

Courtney Love knows exactly what she is. She created herself: demon diva, goddess of grunge, media super-icon, wife of the late rock megastar Kurt Cobain. Lead singer of the band Hole, her persona is larger than life -- bellowing, ranting, riling up the masses. She was made for the spotlight, and she rules it like a dark angel, her on- and offstage presence seething with such power, venom, and raw sexual fury that she obliterates everyone else on the music scene today.

"I want to be the girl with the most cake."

Courtney Love may have achieved her goal of becoming a self-made celebrity, but her hungry climb to fame wasn't easy. It took her from a troubled childhood to the sleazy underworld of strip joints to the hardcore drug scene. She was institutionalized as a juvenile delinquent, tormented as a rock groupie, and driven to near suicide as a grieving widow. Then there was her tumultuous relationship with Kurt Cobain -- a sweet-and-sour marriage of twisted passion that ended tragically with a shotgun blast.

Here at last the true Courtney Love is revealed...the headstrong hellraiser in a baby-doll dress...the raucous performer ripping up the airwaves, at war with her public image and herself...the unstoppable survivor forever rising from the ashes only to burn more brightly....

About the Author
Melissa Rossi is an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in Newsweek, Mademoiselle, Cosmopolitan, Newsday, The New York Observer, and Spin. She is the coauthor of Freak Like Me, the autobiography of circus performer Jim Rose, and, as Babs Babylon, she wrote the popular nightlife column, "In the Dark," for the Seattle Weekly.

Product Details

Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Pocket; illustrated edition edition (May 1, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0671000381
ISBN-13: 978-0671000387
Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces

Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #727,116 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
The universe has a sense of humor, I'm convinced. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mary Lou, San Francisco, New York, Kurt Cobain, Billy Corgan, Los Angeles, Sub Pop, Rolling Stone, Sonic Youth, Pearl Jam, Lynn Hirschberg, Melody Maker, Bikini Kill, Smashing Pumpkins, United States, Dave Grohl, Gold Mountain, Hank Harrison, Nine Inch Nails, Queen of Noise, Frances Bean, Kat Bjelland, Kathleen Hanna, Capitol Hill, Eric Erlandson

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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 7 books:

Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana by Michael Azerrad on page 87, and page 215
Tom Cruise (Photo Books) by Books Oliver on page 254, and page 262
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn on page 141
Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon on page 11
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice on page 263

See all 7 books this book cites

1 book cites this book:

Empire of Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Music (Music Culture) by Wendy Fonarow in Back Matter

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Reading Rock and Roll by Professor Kevin J. H. Dettmar

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	51% buy the item featured on this page: Courtney Love: The Queen of Noise 3.9 out of 5 stars (31)
	32% buy Courtney Love: The Real Story 3.8 out of 5 stars (76)
	17% buy Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love 3.5 out of 5 stars (28) $13.60

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Customer Reviews

31 Reviews

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

Average Customer Review

3.9 out of 5 stars (31 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a horrible collection of gossip. . ., September 3, 2003

By	"peer_amidst_the_pyramids" (Boise, Idaho United States) - See all my reviews

The author claims to have respect for Courtney's achievements, but every page of this book drips with scorn. At one point she wastes an entire page reviewing Ms. Love's appearance in a derogatory manner, only to report on Ms. Love's plastic surgery later in the book with even more scorn. Lady, make up your mind.

At the beginning of the book she reports on her one-time co-author's scheming to make money off of Courtney's private thoughts, and then later describes said co-author's relationship with Courtney purely from his point of view, despite the fact that he is willing to say or do anything for the sake of publicity.

The good parts: Nothing, really. Read the book by Poppy Z. Brite, if you want good.

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17 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Save your money..."Queen of Noise" ain't worth it, August 29, 1997

By	halo8@netcom.ca (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This book was practically painful to read. I was looking forward to it, being a big fan of Courtney Love's. Having heard about it on the internet through the Hole mailing list Hole Lotta Love and the newsgroup alt.fan.courtney-love, I enthusiastically plonked down my $7.99 at Toronto's World's Biggest Bookstore. What a mistake, when I realize now I could have bought some nail polish, new shoe laces and a frappucino for that much. Rossi's main source for info seems to be some obscure ex-boyfriend of Courtney's. Yeah, now *there's* a reliable and honest perspective. I'm not sure whether Rossi is a Love champion or not...she seems to admire her but examines all the awful things she's allegedly done. Love's life is a compelling story; I'm looking forward to the Poppy Z. Brite biography even more after reading this crap. Better writing would certainly have raised this above 7-11 cheesy rock bio. Unfortunately, that's where I feel Rossi's work should remain. She even gets simple facts such as significant dates wrong. I was thoroughly disappointed...I feel Love deserves so much better than this garbage. I'm not defending her as a person; I don't know if she's stolen or lied or what. I just really didn't enjoy this book. A friend of mine in Seattle that I lent this to (in order to save her money) says she couldn't even read it. .."I just looked at the pictures"

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Hole fan's take on this book, August 9, 2001

By	"evilgrrlfriday" (the US of A) - See all my reviews

Melissa Rossi's painfully honest, warts-and-all portrayal of the infamous rock goddess Courtney Love is surprisingly well written and researched. Ms. Rossi even goes into the details of the year and the day Courtney Love entered this world.

Her writing and sentence structure is beautiful, descriptive and lyrical. Take for example this line (no spoilers here): "... the high priestess of rock and roll ... simultaneously one with headspinner Linda Blair and Glinda the Good ... the Dark Angel followed by tragedy, the Drama Queen who lived life like a movie, the Black Widow unable to find a new boyfriend, the Wicket Witch of the Northwest who ranted about the Seattle drug scene while admitting to her own occasional heroin use, the media victim forever calling attention to herself."

However, one thing that does mar this book is although Ms. Rossi claims that she likes Courtney Love "every other day", it seems she's written the bulk of the pages on those off days. The beginning chapter is nearly enough to turn the most inveterate Courtney lover against the singer with its graphic, uncompromising and at times almost vicious account/dissection of Love's antics on tour. The times when she referred to Love in her pre-surgery days as a "dumpling" and a "sack of flour" get annoying after a while, as well as her overly sympathetic portrayals of Courtney's various enemies, especially Mary Lou Lord. Love is no saint, but I doubt it any of them are paragons of virtue either.

Beyond that chapter, "Queen of Noise" takes you on an ultimately compelling journey that is alternately horrifying and fascinating through Love's world: from an unhappy child living with her hippie mom in a Eugene, Oregon commune to the rock star she is today. It charts her path through juvenile delinquency, sleazy strip clubs, drug addiction, failed affairs, a promising movie career starting with "Sid and Nancy" that crashed into an all time low for her, her tempestuous and ill-fated romance with Kurt Cobain and the birth of her child in a whirlwind of controversy.

However, at the end, Rossi sums it up with her assessment of Love that I wholeheartedly agree with: glowing admiration at this amazing and talented woman's stunning resilience, inner strength and determination. As Rossi says in a foreword: "Courtney is a one word contradiction."

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars I was there
Pretty interesting reading the reviews. I was there at the time this was written. Rozz told his story to Melissa, in thoughts of co-writing the book. Read more

Published on November 28, 2005 by Rocky

3.0 out of 5 stars Rossi 'vs' Brite
I read this biography first and then "Courtney Love: The Real Story" by Poppy Z. Brite. Both definitely have their flaws and strong points. Read more

Published on November 25, 2005 by ~Ariel~

2.0 out of 5 stars What can you say?
OK, so this "most" unauthorized bio on Mrs. Love-Cobain, falls under the "mediocre" category. For several reasons,the first being that author Melissa Rossi cannot write. Read more

Published on March 12, 2005 by N. Anzola

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic book
this book is fantastic. whenever i put it down, it was by force. melissa rossi did a great job writing it, telling itlike it is, showing the good and bad sides of everything, and... Read more

Published on August 21, 2004 by un lovely

1.0 out of 5 stars You'd THINK this shocking story wouldn't be a waste of paper
Unfourtunately, you'd be wrong. From all accounts, Courtney Love's life is one of melodrama- from her unconvetional childhood among hippies, a shocking upbring, stories of drug... Read more

Published on July 26, 2003 by Sarah

5.0 out of 5 stars awesome melissa rossi
i wasn't able to put this book down, reading it into the wee hours with one eye closed. what i loved best was the author's witty, observant and often hilarious way of telling... Read more

Published on July 10, 2003 by meitreya

4.0 out of 5 stars Profile of a tenacious woman.
No matter how you feel about Courtney Love, you have to admire her for clawing her way to superstardom after enduring nightmarish things like reform schools, family problems,... Read more

Published on November 29, 2002 by Celeste M. Harmer

4.0 out of 5 stars Read with caution!
This was my chosen book for those times when I feel like hell & want to know that someone else had it MUCH worst than I moi, and was able to do amazing, seemingly reckless (but... Read more

Published on May 6, 2002 by Jennifer Williamson

2.0 out of 5 stars shudder.....
I bought this book years ago, read it, and then packed it away during a move. Last week I dug it out of the box with the intent to read it again, and I remembered why I packed it... Read more

Published on April 3, 2002 by Melissa E. Anthony

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is very entertaining to the last page!
This is a good book to read! I read this book in 2 days(that's how good it is!).It tells you about everything that you ever wanted to know about Courtney and what she went really... Read more

Published on March 8, 2002

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