mitchco a go go!

I remember in high school, for some reason, doing an Altavista search for Courtney Love + cheese. And locating an amazing interview where she vituperously decried cheese, blaming it for America’s obesity. I adore Courtney Love– there aren’t that many great Courtneys in the world, and I love that the most famous is an amazing, talented, oft-trainwrecked sometimes-third-wave-feminist rock and roll musician. I also love cheese, and thought it was hilarious that she hated it so much.

Today, I had the brilliant idea of again searching for that interview, and lo and behold, I found it. It’s from 1993, the same year as the photo above (I find that picture really moving– Kurt and Courtney look so much like a lot of my friends). I hadn’t realized it was an interview with Lisa Crystal Carver, for Rollerderby, an awesome and influential 90s zine. This so rarely happens, but the interview is even better than I remembered it. Mostly because Lisa’s unflappable tone really underscores how amazing, beautifully batshit Courtney Love can be. Some choice quotes:

COURTNEY: I have a tip! I lost 40 pounds, and I have a real tip. I was fat from 14 to 24. When you’re fat like I was – which is five feet, eight inches and 150 to 170 pounds – you do not get to fuck the boys you want to fuck. Right? Right?

Lisa: Perhaps.

…

Courtney: …No cheese. That’s it, Lisa. Period. NO CHEESE. I told this to KROQ, I told this to my nanny. People I tell this to lose ten, 30 pounds. STOP CHEESE. You know why the Orientals are not fat? ‘Cause they look on cheese as this gross, Western habit – it’s like sour milk LARD. They don’t want anything to fucking do with cheese. If you’re gonna eat cheese, take it out on a picnic, cut it up carefully, and really taste it – with wine or something. Don’t melt it on shit.

…

Courtney: I said, “You know what? You get me a Chanel suit, I’ll pose.” With green fingernail polish. Wouldn’t you?

Lisa: Uh…

COURTNEY: With gloves?

Lisa: It wouldn’t suit me.

COURTNEY: Are you pear-shaped?

Lisa: No.

COURTNEY: I’ve seen you naked. Chanel would look great on you.

…

COURTNEY: I’ll be off the phone in a few minutes. Can you give me that little space for my other life?

Kurt (Cobain, who had picked up an extension): Our life is a little more important.

COURTNEY: Well, Kurt, your rock band is more important.

Kurt: My rock band – don’t even fucking talk about my rock band –

COURTNEY: Well, I’m a feminist and I try to fucking help other feminists and I’m sorry if that offends you and I’m not gonna talk to her about my fucking drug problem. We’re talking about beauty and skin –

…

COURTNEY: You don’t like me, do you?

Lisa: I didn’t say that.

COURTNEY: I know you don’t like me. You don’t like me. Nobody does.

Lisa: I called you to interview you about clothes.

So there you have it. Some vintage 1993, batshit insane Courtney Love. She’s outspoken, honest in her own way, aggressive, and still vulnerable. What’s not to love?

Tags: courtney love, interview, lisa crystal carver

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 at 5:16 pm and is filed under feminism, music. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.