Below is an excerpt from Pitchfork‘s review of Patty Schemel’s new book Hit So Hard:
Throughout her time in Hole, Schemel and those around her (with the alleged exception of guitarist Eric Erlandson and bassist Melissa Auf der Maur) dabbled with hard drugs. This is just a part of rock’n’roll, whether you’re making $100,000 a show or $100 a show. But rock’s prolonged adolescence does grow worse when you start making good money for your music. Your only responsibility is to entertain a crowd for an hour or so every evening. Being fucked up on stage is “fine.” You always think you’ve put on an amazing show, even though usually you haven’t. You get a taste for the manic jolt supplied by the drugs that are magically around, and naturally you want more. Only in retrospect do you realize that not every person has a story that starts with, “Well, I didn’t want to throw away $100 worth of coke so I just shoved it in a condom and hid it up my pussy when we hit the border.”
The grunge scene was a heroin haven. Love had this ability to dance along the spectrum of addiction and never fall off the tightrope, though she eventually would in the early 2000s (thanks to cocaine). Cobain and many of his peers in notable ’90s bands were junkies, but everyone was signing record deals, headlining Lollapalooza, and pocketing some cash, so things were coming up roses.
