Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea in 1999
Photo: MTV News

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Courtney Love
Photo: MTV News

When you've been interviewing people for, oh, a hundred years or so, you build up quite a backlog of banter and chat. A lot of this stuff is inevitably ephemeral — the day will surely never come when anyone cares what Vanilla Ice ever had to say about anything. On the other hand, it is kind of interesting to look back on the vintage natterings of people who are still on the scene and still entertaining us, either with their work or with their dotty behavior.

We've been exhuming a ton of this stuff over the last several months — interviews from the vaults going back not only to the early '90s, but even beyond. Most of these ancient tapes are fun in one way or another; some are scary, which is even more fun. We're going to be posting these old interactions every Tuesday from now on, and if some of what you see seems a little silly at times, well, the past is filled with silly things. Much like the present.

May you never have a year as awful as Courtney Love's 1994. It started out fine, with Love and her band, Hole, putting the finishing touches on their second album, Live Through This. But then Courtney's husband, Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain, committed suicide (his body was found on April 8 at their home on Lake Washington, near Seattle), leaving Courtney with a baby daughter not yet two years old. Four days later, Live Through This was released, its title and some of its songs now sounding eerily predictive. It was the band's best record.

Two months later, Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff died in Seattle of a heroin overdose. Like Cobain, she was 27 years old.

Geffen Records was no doubt sympathetic about all of this, up to a point. But the label did need Hole to start touring in support of the new album, which had gotten rave reviews. So on September 1, the group returned to the road, playing its first concert in Toronto. MTV News set up a post-show interview with Courtney, and I flew up from New York that morning with producer Jane Sangster, a big Hole fan.

The show was pretty great. With Canadian bassist Melissa Auf der Mauer now onboard (she'd been recommended to Courtney by Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan), the band was full of fire. They played powerful versions of the new Live Through This material — "Doll Parts," "Miss World," "Violet"; and their leader — looking as usual like a debauched rag doll, happily yammering away at the crowd, smoking nonstop, planting one big boot on top of a stage monitor as she chopped out chords on her guitar — was in peak form.

Courtney is a natural star — as opposed to the pre-assembled variety so common in most musical precincts — because you never know what she'll do next. I'm pretty sure this is because she never knows what she'll do next. This is what makes her a good interview.

After the show, back at the Four Seasons Hotel, where the band was staying, we were ready for her: camped out in a conference room, backdrop tacked up, cameras ready to roll, we settled in to wait. We waited quite a while; then we waited quite a while more. We wound up cooling our heels for four or five hours — Madonna-level waiting. Finally, around five in the morning, Courtney appeared, smoking like a locomotive and acting as if she were right on time. I resisted an impulse to punch her in the neck. Then she sat down, and we started.

Like all really good interview subjects, Courtney is willing to discuss just about anything. She was funny about her anomalous trust-fund background, especially getting kicked out of England's ridiculously "progressive" Summerhill School. ("The whole idea was, don't go to class if you don't want to. And I didn't.") She was sweet talking about the friends who'd rallied around her after Cobain's death, like Michael Stipe of R.E.M. ("He called me two or three times a day, every day.") She said she was spooked by the feeling that the media were actually waiting for her to die, too, and insisted she was actually past the point of heavy drug consumption. ("I have nine, ten dead friends," she said, "not counting dead husbands and dead band members.") Her feelings seemed to flicker nakedly across her face; she didn't appear to be holding much back. Although who ever knows about that? By the time we finished, the sun had come out.

Courtney went on to become what tabloid editors gratefully embrace as a complete mess. She continued the off-beat movie career she'd begun in 1986 with "Sid and Nancy," and actually won a handful of critics' awards for her performance in the 1996 Milos Forman film, "The People vs. Larry Flynt." But then came the public flip-outs, the drug busts, the child-custody battles, the plastic surgery. And her relationship with the surviving members of Nirvana appears to have grown chillier with each passing year. (Thanks to Courtney's apparent need for money, Kurt Cobain's music is now being licensed for things like video games.)

But nobody ever expected punks to age gracefully, and Courtney is pretty clearly a punk-for-life kind of girl. But she never burned out, and it doesn't look like she'll be fading away anytime soon, either. Let's keep rooting.

Enjoy digging through The Loder Files? You'll find more here, and there's much more to come from the vaults — check back every Tuesday!

• The Loder Files: A Trip Inside The MTV News Vaults

• Courtney Love
• Kurt Cobain
• Hole
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Courtney Love
Photo: DGC

Courtney Love turned herself in to Beverly Hills police on Tuesday afternoon (October 28) to face two felony drug-possession charges.

A warrant was issued for Love's arrest on October 22 after the Los Angeles district attorney's office received evidence from police that Love was in possession of the prescription painkillers hydrocodone and oxycodone when she was picked up on October 2 following an overdose (see "Courtney Love Rushed To Hospital For Drug OD Following Arrest").

"She was never arrested on these charges, but she was found to be in possession at the time," Los Angeles County District Attorney's office spokesperson Sandi Gibbons said. The felony charges are separate from Love’s other drug case, a misdemeanor (see "Courtney Love Faces Up To A Year In Jail For Drug Charge").

Love was arrested for being under the influence of a controlled substance following a window-smashing incident at her ex-boyfriend's house in the early morning hours of October 2. She posted $2,500 bond in that case and was released several hours later.

That same morning, Beverly Hills authorities responded to an emergency medical call at the singer's home shortly after 6 a.m., and it was then that Gibbons said police found Love in possession of an unspecified amount of the painkillers, commonly known as Vicodin and OxyContin, or "hillbilly heroin." Love recently admitted to taking an overdose of OxyContin that morning (see "Courtney Love Trades Blows With Kurt Cobain's Mom, Admits To OxyContin OD"). Additionally, she told the New York Daily News in February that she had been trying to kick the habit of using other prescription drugs, namely Vicodin.

Gibbons said the Los Angeles DA's office requested $20,000 bail, but Love was released on her own recognizance, according to her lawyer. The maximum penalty for conviction on both felony charges is three years and eight months in jail, though Gibbons said a judge will first determine if Love is eligible for court-monitored probation, which would send her to a drug diversion program that could last a year or longer.

"It's not much of a case, if a case at all," Love's criminal lawyer, William Genego, said. "It was literally like three pills. They were not found on her. She handed them over to the police that night and she had no concern in handing them over because she believed she had a prescription for them. Hopefully we'll get proof of that, and they'll take that into account."

Genego said the felony and misdemeanor cases might be consolidated, "but we'll have to see how that plays out."

Love, 39, is also involved in a fierce custody battle for her 11-year-old daughter Frances Bean, who was taken away in light of Love's arrest on the drug charges (see "Courtney Love Fighting For Custody Of Daughter Frances Bean"). Love was recently ordered to move out of her Beverly Hills home so that Frances (her daughter by her late husband and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain) could live there with her longtime nanny, although she is still allowed regular visitation.

Love's arraignment on the misdemeanor charge of being under the influence is on Friday, but she is not required nor scheduled to appear, her lawyer said. She is, however, required to appear at her arraignment on the felony charges, which has been set for November 12. A spokesperson for Love had no comment.

• Courtney Love
• Hole

Kurt Cobain, Frances Bean and Courtney Love at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards
Photo: MTV News

Courtney Love's fight for custody of her 11-year-old daughter, Frances Bean, turned ugly this week, as the troubled rock star engaged in a scuffle on Tuesday with late husband Kurt Cobain's mother outside a Los Angeles courtroom. The skirmish came as Love continues her fight to regain custody of Frances Bean, who was taken by child services a week after the singer's overdose on the prescription painkiller OxyContin earlier this month.

Though Love had initially claimed to have been on the prescription anti-anxiety drug Xanax, she admits in the current issue of People magazine, on newsstands Friday (October 24), that she took an overdose of the painkiller Oxycontin several hours after her arrest for being under the influence of a controlled substance (see "Courtney Love Faces Up To A Year In Jail For Drug Charge"). Hoping to knock herself out, Love took more than 20 milligrams of the drug, a synthetic form of morphine commonly referred to as "hillbilly heroin" (see "All About OxyContin, The Pills Known As 'Killers' ").

She told the magazine that Frances made her some green tea and the pair waited for an ambulance to transport the former Hole leader to the hospital following the overdose. "That's the only time my daughter has ever, ever, ever pitched in on one of my little crises," Love told the magazine. "I made it fun. I said it was going to be gross and I was going to have to make myself throw up but it was going to be okay."

A source close to Love, however, said that because Frances was present during the OD, Department of Children and Family Services became involved, as is procedure (see ).

Due to confidentiality laws, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services could not confirm any information about Love's case, but spokesperson Neil Zanville said, "Hypothetically, if someone is hospitalized or arrested under the influence of drugs and we feel that poses an abusive threat to the safety of a child, we will respond and assess the situation. We will remove that child and place him or her, usually with a relative."

Love reportedly did not cooperate, denying DCFS officials entry into her house on several occasions. So, on October 10, officials went to Frances' school and took her into protective custody, placing her with her grandmother, Cobain's mother, Wendy O'Connor. They also charged Love with abandonment, according to the DCFS report procured by People.

Shortly after Frances was taken away, the source said, Love became distraught, and started leaving frantic phone messages for friends in which she sounded self-destructive, even suicidal. People reports that it was one call in particular — in which Love said that she wanted to throw herself off the Empire State Building — that warranted concern.

"Yes, I was changing my will that week," Love previously told the New York Daily News. "I [also] left a message that was like, 'I want to die, I want to jump off the Empire State Building.' "

A source close to Love told MTV News that there was more than one message, including one in which Love talked about wanting to hang herself. Love told the Daily News that she had been joking, but her friends took her seriously enough to alert authorities. Love was temporarily hospitalized against her will for evaluation, though she left the hospital after only 24 hours, two days shy of the intended 72-hour period. "When someone has a legacy of suicide in their life," the source said, "you don't take comments like that lightly."

After Tuesday's court appearance, during which Love was ordered to move out of her home so that Frances could live there with her nanny and be supervised by Love's stepfather and an aunt, the singer engaged in a tense argument with O'Connor, and according to what her stepfather Frank Rodriguez told People, "there were slaps."

As the custody battle continues, Love will be granted regular visits with her daughter. She is scheduled to be arraigned on the drug charges October 31. Her lawyer said he is considering a court-offered option that would spare Love jail time in exchange for enrollment in treatment and counseling programs.

Citing confidentiality laws, a spokesperson for DCFS was unable to comment on the court proceedings. A spokesperson for Love had no comment.

• Courtney Love
• Hole
• Nirvana

Courtney Love
Photo: Image Direct

Two weeks after her arrest on drug charges, Courtney Love was in Los Angeles Juvenile Court on Thursday in an attempt to regain custody of her 11-year-old daughter, Frances Bean Cobain.

The custody battle came in the wake of Love's October 2 arrest and subsequent charge for being under the influence of a controlled substance. Just hours after her arrest, Love was reportedly transported to a Century City hospital by Beverly Hills emergency services for an undisclosed drug overdose (see "Courtney Love Faces Up To A Year In Jail For Drug Charge").

On October 10, officials from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) came to place Frances Bean, the only child from Love's marriage to late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, in the care of Cobain's mother, Wendy O'Connor, according to the New York Daily News and sources close to Love.

Due to confidentiality laws, a DCFS spokesperson could not confirm any information about Love's court proceedings. "Hypothetically, if someone is hospitalized or arrested under the influence of drugs and we feel that poses an abusive threat to the safety of a child, we will respond and assess the situation," spokesperson Neil Zanville said. "We will remove that child and place him or her, usually with a relative."

Love told the Daily News that on the day her daughter was taken away, however, authorities ordered her to undergo a 72-hour evaluation at Pasadena's Las Encinas hospital, citing California Welfare Code 5150, which states, "When any person .. is a danger to others, or to himself or herself ... a peace officer ... or other professional person designated by the county may ... take the person into custody."

The singer apparently did not complete the 72-hour evaluation, and managed to leave the facility after half of her designated stay. According to a source close to her, Love told the evaluation doctors that she was ready to enter rehab, at which point they signed her out of the psych ward so she could change facilities, both of which were housed at the same hospital. The source said that Love, however, kept walking and never entered the rehab facility.

Love's lawyer, William Genego, told MTV News that the city attorney's office has offered the singer the same drug diversion program taken by Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland earlier this year, which would spare her jail time in exchange for rehab and court-ordered counseling. Genego said a decision has not yet been made on whether Love will take that option. He also said that he is considering filing a motion before her October 31 arraignment to have an outside expert re-examine the police's toxicology reports, which are expected soon. If convicted, Love faces a minimum of 90 days and up to a maximum of one year in county jail.  

Frances Bean was born in August of 1992 and taken away from Love and Cobain shortly after in light of the publication of a Vanity Fair article in which Love admitted to using drugs during her pregnancy. The child was returned several months later after a lengthy court battle.

Though they were concerned about Love's well-being, sources close to Love said "there's no need to worry about Frances," as she is frequently in the care of her longtime nanny.   

Spokespeople for Love had no comment.

• Courtney Love
• Hole

Courtney Love
Photo: JT Leroy

Courtney Love was charged with one misdemeanor count of being under the influence of a controlled substance on Wednesday (October 8), following her arrest last week on drug charges during a bizarre incident outside the home of her ex-boyfriend/manager/producer.

Los Angeles city attorney's office spokesperson Frank Mateljan said Love was found to be "under the influence of a narcotic drug classified as an opiate or cocaine." He said he was not able to specify at press time what the drug was, pending further lab tests.

Love took to the message boards of her Web site to explain her behavior a few days after Thursday's arrest (see "Courtney Love Rushed To Hospital For Drug OD Following Arrest").

"Five words: Don't f--- with a strong sedative," Love wrote Sunday in a posting that contradicted the attorney's office account. "The controlled substance — one f---ing word: Xanax!"

Xanax is a prescription anti-anxiety drug. The singer also made a reference to Ipecac, which is typically administered to induce vomiting when someone has ingested a poison.

"Ipecac or ambulance?," Love wrote. "I lost a day so I couldn't talk."

Love claimed that when a police officer was doing a drug assessment, she informed him she was on prescribed Xanax and that following four breathalyzer tests he "pronounced me on Xanax!"

Mateljan said Love was not found to be in possession of any illegal narcotics, but that field tests and reports from the arresting officers led them to believe that she was on a controlled substance other than, or in addition to, a prescription drug.

The penalty for the misdemeanor charge is a minimum of 90 days up to a maximum of one year in county jail, according to Mateljan. Love is scheduled for arraignment on Friday, though her presence is not required in court at that time.

Just hours after her arrest on Thursday, Love was reportedly transported to a hospital by Beverly Hills emergency medical services for an undisclosed drug overdose.

A spokesperson for the Beverly Hills Police Department would not comment on Love's post and whether it was related to her alleged overdose. "For now, it's an [EMS] issue," Lt. Mitch McCann said. "If there is a police case that ties in at some point, that will be dealt with at that time."

Love was arrested at 2:38 a.m. on Thursday outside the Los Angeles home of a man police identified as a friend of the singer. He had called to report an attempted burglary. Property records show the house is registered to Love's former manager/boyfriend, James Barber, who worked with Love on her upcoming America's Sweetheart solo album. Love suggested in her post that the house belonged to her ("two words, MY house").

Police found Love standing in the middle of the street, where she admitted to officers that she had broken several windows at the home. The person who called to report the burglary did not wish to press charges. Mateljan said the city could have filed additional charges against Love for attempted burglary but decided against pursuing those charges due to the victim's reluctance.

When police suspected that Love was under the influence, they conducted a drug evaluation at the police station and she was booked for a misdemeanor charge of being under the influence of a controlled substance. She was released a short time later on $2,500 bond.

America's Sweetheart, Love's long-in-the-works debut solo album (see "'A Lot Of God And A Lot Of Sex' On Courtney Love Solo Album"), was originally due at the end of this month but was recently postponed until February 10.

• Courtney Love
• Hole

Courtney Love
Photo: Geffen

Police responding to a burglary call arrested Courtney Love in Los Angeles early Thursday morning for allegedly being under the influence of narcotics, according to a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department.

The 39-year-old singer was found standing in the middle of the street outside a male friend's home just before 3 a.m., where she admitted to breaking several windows while trying to enter. "The resident said that he did not wish to have her arrested," LAPD spokesperson Renee Montoya said. "But as the investigation continued, the officers noticed that Ms. Love's behavior was consistent with being under the influence of controlled substances." Police would not disclose the name of the resident.

Love was taken into custody and booked under the name Courtney Michelle Cobain for allegedly being under the influence of a controlled substance. She was released a short time later after posting $2,500 bail.

A spokesperson for Love could not be reached for comment by press time.

Beverly Hills police received a call at 6:38 a.m. from a female resident of a home in the area reporting a medical emergency, according to a Beverly Hills Police Department spokesperson. Paramedics arrived a short time later and rushed Love to a hospital for treatment of a drug overdose, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Beverly Hills PD spokesperson Mitch McCann would not confirm that Love was the patient or that she had suffered an overdose, but said that it was his understanding that the patient checked out of Century City Hospital Thursday afternoon. A spokesperson for the hospital could not be reached by press time.

Love's long-in-the-works debut solo album, America's Sweetheart, was originally due at the end of this month, but was recently postponed until February 10.

[This story was updated at 1:44 p.m. ET on 10.03.2003]

• Courtney Love
• Hole

Courtney Love
Photo: Image Direct

After fighting for free agency, it seemed unlikely that Courtney Love would take up with a major-label conglomerate ever again, but for her comeback as a solo artist Ms. Love is getting in bed with Virgin Records.

Love had previously been with Geffen, but she and the label's parent company sued each other for breach of contract, which resulted in her being released from the label (see "Courtney Love, Universal Music Reach Settlement; Nirvana Material Freed Up For Release"). This time around, Love signed a three-album worldwide deal that includes co-ownership of her masters and no usage in record clubs.

Love began work on her forthcoming album, America's Sweetheart, in the South of France, recording 32 songs in all. Most of them were written during Los Angeles sessions with hitmaker Linda Perry (Pink, Christina Aguilera), while a few others were born of out of collaborations with her former manager and onetime boyfriend Jim Barber and producers Josh Abrahams and Matt Serletic. (In addition to handling albums by Matchbox Twenty and Collective Soul, Serletic is CEO of Love's new label.)

"There's one song about a fictional boy who saves fictional rock and roll in a fictional town," Love told Billboard of the album, due October 28. "Other than that, it's a lot of God and a lot of sex. Some rebirth, stagnation and death and some hope."

One of the songs recorded was a cover of Kim Carnes' 1981 hit "Bette Davis Eyes," but there's no word yet which tracks will make the final cut, as the songs are still in the mastering phase. "It's all still a work in progress," Love spokesperson Jill Fritzo said.

No touring band has been selected yet, either. Love canceled appearances at the August U.K. Reading and Leeds festivals, opting to dedicate the time to her album. She issued an open casting call this spring for touring musicians, asking for bassists and guitarists who sport the "Lolita Goth" look (see "Wanted: Band For Courtney Love; Only Goddesses Need Apply").

Love is expected to make the final selection on her bandmates by the end of the month. A tour is in the works for the fall, but dates have yet to be locked in, her spokesperson said. The tour would likely start in Australia and Japan, then continue in the United States.

• Courtney Love
• Hole

Courtney Love
Photo: Geffen

Courtney Love is looking for a few good women.

With about 28 songs written for her solo debut, Courtney Love has issued an open casting call for touring bandmembers. "Women required for international rock revolution," reads the opening line of a full-page ad in the weekly New York newspaper The Village Voice. "Join Courtney Love's touring band and get famous, see the world."

Similar ads also ran in the LA Weekly and papers in the U.K. and Australia. Applicants need only to meet two requirements: they can play bass or guitar and they look like a goddess.

The first concert Love has scheduled isn't until late August, when she'll take the stage alongside Metallica, System of a Down, Good Charlotte and Sum 41 at the Reading and Leeds festivals in England. A U.S. tour is expected to begin this fall. It would be Love's first Stateside trek in four years.

Prospective players will have an idea whether they meld with Love by meeting some points of reference, also listed in the ad. Love and the people she has on board thus far like the misanthropically themed Emily the Strange clothing line, the sexy and sinister Lolita Goth image, the unsung psychedelic '60s bands that comprise the various Nuggets compilations, and the swinging London gangster flick "Performance." They also fancy former Hole drummer Patty Schemel's playing style.

The only other guideline is the "no boys" clause.

Those interested in applying for the job are asked to send video cassettes to PO Box C238, New York, NY 10011. A phone number listed in the ad — (212) 802-7269 — reaches a voice mailbox that was full at press time.

Although Love has written enough songs to fill two albums, she has not yet secured a label deal for one, which she plans to call America's Sweetheart. Talks with labels are expected to yield a deal by the end of the month. Among the tracks being recorded in a studio in the south of France, with help from Christina/Pink collaborator and former 4 Non Blondes frontwoman Linda Perry, is a cover of Kim Carnes' 1981 hit, "Bette Davis Eyes."

America's Sweetheart is expected to surface in the fall. It will be Love's first studio album since 1998's Celebrity Skin by Hole, who officially called it quits last May after an 11-year recording career (see "Courtney Makes It Official — Hole Are No More").

• Courtney Love
• Hole

Courtney Love at the Old Vic Theatre benefit
Photo: Dave Hogan/Mission/WireImage.com

Courtney Love, who made headlines on Tuesday for being arrested after causing a disturbance on a flight from Los Angeles to England, became a rock-and-roll cartoon again the following night — literally.

The former leader of Hole ended a star-studded benefit performance to raise funds for London's historic Old Vic Theatre by coming onstage dressed as Donald Duck, then stripping down to fishnets and underwear while she sang Elton John's "Bitch Is Back" with John on piano. Elton was known to rock a similar duck suit when performing back in the '70s.

The show was organized by actor Kevin Spacey, who has taken over as artistic director of the theater.

During the evening, Love also belted out "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," Sting sang "Come Down in Time," Elvis Costello performed "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word," Sinead O'Connor sang "Sacrifice" and Craig David crooned "Candle in the Wind."

Spacey performed "Harmony" alone, and later he dressed like Elton, sprawled across a piano and sang "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" surrounded by a gospel choir. Partway through the song, the choir parted, revealing the real Elton at the piano.

Among those attending the event were actors Peter O'Toole and Joseph Fiennes, and Virgin Air founder Richard Branson, on whose airline Love had her troubles (see "Courtney Love Arrested For Disorderly Conduct Aboard London Flight").

When Love and Branson met at a party in connection with the benefit, both seemed polite and smiley with one another, a publicist for the event said.

• Courtney Love
• Hole
• Elton John

Lollapalooza: Through the Years Retrospective

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