Favorite Web Personality #4 Courtney Love

I wasn’t going to post this until later this week but I just read that Courtney Love is actually threatening to cease blogging so I thought I better get get my vote in for this week right away. I had her picked out already last week (see my post about web personality #3) and I really wanted to talk about her so here we go. 

Platform: Myspace Blog

Who she is:

She is so famous I think you probably know. If not, you can read about her at wikipedia, which describes her as:

“an American rock musician and Golden Globe-nominated actress” as well as stating that “Rolling Stone has called Love “the most controversial woman in the history of rock”. 

Best Quote online: 

Love quote from a Telegraph UK article (Nigel Farndale, December 2007):

‘I always seem to come number two to Keith Richards in lists of greatest hell-raisers of all time. But if I was a guy, I wouldn’t even be on the list! I didn’t know it was such a guy’s job. It’s like playing football in high heels and lipstick; no wonder it smears.’

Reasons to Like Love

(or at least stop saying mean things about her, already!)

Her Talent as a Musician

Her music and her voice is not only amazing, it is the iconic sound of a very specific period in time. Many other musicians get respect for this even though they fade away when that time is over; yet Love has continued to have a successful career afterwards. Also, her powerful stage presence is undisputed - not all artists can perform that good in the studio and on stage. 

Her Talent as an Actor

She is an acclaimed actor who has appeared in some great movies. I’m still disappointed that she didn’t get the role of Nancy in Sid and Nancy, but she was still amazing as Nancy’s friend. 

Those are the most important reasons, based on her professional talent and skill in two different industries.

Five Reasons Why I Chose Her:

1. First of all I’d like to say publicly that I am a fan - it seems like it’s cooler not to like her which I think is just a natural but unfortunate state of the world at this time.

Strong women are bad enough but when they are also honest and tenacious, it’s like we all do everything we can to keep them down: specifically, by attacking their appearance and their private life…

Also, I understand that a common response to suicide is anger. Unfortunately, when it came to her husband’s death, Courtney became the target of that anger. When people couldn’t comprehend his suicide, they decided that Courtney must have murdered him. When that didn’t pan out, they started to say he wrote her best songs. 

You Don’t Have to Love Love to Like Her Stuff

Now, I’m not saying that I have fantasies about meeting Courtney and becoming her bass player and bestest friend ever. That position has been solidly held by Kim Deal ever since I ruined my chances with Lou Reed after yelling, “It’s Lou Reed!” in his face. (Backstage at his own concert, so obviously I impressed him with my talent for blurting out the obvious as well as my all around nerdiness. Sigh.)

2. She’s Intriguing

I’m not saying I understand everything she says and does. But, you know, I feel that way about a lot of people and that doesn’t stop me from being a fan of their work. (Um, hello - Woody Allen? Phil Spector? That’s just off the top of my head…) If either of these people wrote a blog I would read it, too - just because I’d like a sneak peek into their heads. (I should check, maybe they are bloggers?)

3. She’s a Survivor

Crappy childhood, drug addiction, husband loss by suicide, constant attacks from the press, loss of her fortunes, single motherhood… none of these things have broken her spirit. I find that inspiring. 

4. She’s a Real Person

I won’t ever know for sure because I don’t know her personally but it seems like she is honest about her lifestyle, her opinions, and her relationships even when it’s going to hurt her. In a world where people learn to control their image and often misrepresent themselves to ‘get ahead’ this is very brave (or, stupid - depends on your perspective. I’m with brave).

Further proof that she is a real person, she allows real, untouched photos of herself to be posted on her website. (Note: I don’t think this website has been updated since 2007.)

Oh and a sure sign that she is real and not a robot - she makes human errors! And, shocking but true - acknowledges her mistakes! 

5. She’s Entertaining

Courtney Love has been called a lot of things over the years but I doubt she’s ever been called boring. When other celebrities like Paris Hilton can be famous, and even admired, just for their various hijinks it seems unfair that Courtney Love can not. 

And lastly…

If you really don’t like Courtney Love come up with 5 reasons why and then pretend she’s not a woman and see if all the derogatory names you call her still work or are instead replaced with friendlier synonyms like: strong, opinionated, confident, honest or ambitious. 

You can read Courtney’s blog on myspace. Like Love herself, it is often confusing, quite dramatic, very blunt, always interesting, and the target of lots of negative criticism and judgement (which just adds to the excitement). 

http://www.myspace.com/courtneylove

Her last post was on Monday November 17 and it’s a good one so go read it. It’s too bad that she may stop - she says it has embarrassed and upset her daughter but it sounds more like Perez Hilton was the one who did that… Or was it Madonna? I’ll have to read the post again, sometimes I have a bit of trouble following but it’s worth the effort.