Editing Pretty on the Inside

{{good article}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Pretty on the Inside
| type       = studio
| artist     = [[Hole (band)|Hole]]
| cover      = Hole - Pretty on the Inside.jpg
| alt        = A bright pink, heavily saturated photo of the four people. Stylized yellow lettering reads "Hole Pretty on the Inside".
| released   = {{Start date|1991|09|17}}
| recorded   = March 1991
| studio     = Music Box Studios in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]], Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| genre      = {{hlist|[[Punk rock]]{{Sfn|Carson|Lewis|Shaw|2004|p=90}}|[[noise rock]]{{Sfn|Anderson|2007|p=213}}|[[art punk]]<ref>{{cite web|work=[[Bust (magazine)|Bust]]|title=Kinderwhore And Courtney Love: A Retrospective|author=Johnson, Sunni|url=https://bust.com/music/193138-kinderwhore-courtney-love.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208123934/https://bust.com/music/193138-kinderwhore-courtney-love.html|archive-date=December 8, 2018}}</ref>}}
| length     = 38:26
| label      =
* [[Caroline Records|Caroline]] (United States)
* [[City Slang Records|City Slang]] (Europe)
| producer   = {{hlist|[[Kim Gordon]]|[[Don Fleming (musician)|Don Fleming]]}}
| next_title = [[Live Through This]]
| next_year  = 1994
| misc       = {{Singles
 | name        = Pretty on the Inside
 | type        = studio
 | single1     = [[Teenage Whore]]
 | single1date = September 9, 1991
}}
}}

'''''Pretty on the Inside''''' is the debut studio album by American [[alternative rock]] band [[Hole (band)|Hole]], released on September 17, 1991, in the United States on [[Caroline Records]]. Produced by [[Sonic Youth]]'s [[Kim Gordon]], and [[Gumball (band)|Gumball]] frontman [[Don Fleming (musician)|Don Fleming]], the album was Hole's first major label release after the band's formation in 1989 by vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist [[Courtney Love]] and lead guitarist [[Eric Erlandson]].

Blending elements of [[punk rock]], the album features [[Distortion (music)|distorted]] and alternating guitar compositions, [[Screaming (music)|screaming vocals]] from Love, and "sloppy punk ethics",{{Sfn|Thompson|2000|p=418}} a style which the band would later distance themselves from, opting for a less abrasive sound on subsequent releases. Love's lyrics on the album are often presented in an [[abstract art|abstract]] narrative form, and describe disparate scenes of graphic violence, death, and female sexuality. The record was dedicated to Rob Ritter of the [[Los Angeles]] punk rock acts the [[Bags (Los Angeles band)|Bags]] and [[the Gun Club]].

Upon release, ''Pretty on the Inside'' was well-received by alternative music critics, garnering favorable reviews that drew comparisons to the works of [[Black Sabbath]] and [[Patti Smith]]. It was met with considerable commercial success in the United Kingdom, where the record's lead single, "[[Teenage Whore]]", entered the [[UK Indie Chart]] at number one in September 1991. It has sold over 200,000 copies in the United States<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Newman |first1=Melinda |year=2003 |title=Courtney Cuts the Drama: Love Leaves Woe Behind |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |issue=July 19, 2003 |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WhEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA6 |access-date=August 16, 2012 |via=[[Google Books]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221112138/https://books.google.com/books?id=WhEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA6 |archive-date=February 21, 2017 }}</ref> and gained a contemporary [[cult following]] among punk rock fans, and has been cited as a seminal influence for songwriters and musicians such as [[Brody Dalle]] and [[Scout Niblett]]. Despite its critical acclaim, frontwoman Courtney Love went on to refer to the album as "unlistenable" in later years, though her stance on it eventually shifted, as she commented in 2021 that she had "really put the album down," and that making it was a "transformative" experience for her. Vinyl [[Gramophone record|LP]] versions of the album have been reissued several times.

==Background==
Hole formed in 1989 in Los Angeles, California when frontwoman Courtney Love, after years of fruitless attempts at forming bands, bought her neighbor Lisa Roberts a bass and posted an advertisement in a local paper stating: "I want to start a band. My influences are [[Big Black]], Sonic Youth, and [[Fleetwood Mac]]."{{Sfn|Brite|1998|p=100}} Eric Erlandson, along with over a dozen other musicians, answered the ad. Love later said that she knew Eric was "the one" as soon as they met, and that he had a "[[Thurston Moore]] quality about him" that she liked.{{Sfn|Brite|1998|p=100}}

Erlandson said that early in Hole's career, they were more interested in "making noise" than achieving success and before drummer Caroline Rue joined the band that they used no percussion whatsoever. It was not until Love and Erlandson heard [[Mudhoney]]'s "[[Touch Me I'm Sick]]" that they began to think about taking the band to the next level. Early on, the band was most influenced by the New York [[No Wave]] art and music scene of the 1980s, which included visual artists, such as [[Richard Kern]], as well as scuzz rock acts, such as [[Teenage Jesus and the Jerks]], Sonic Youth, and [[Pussy Galore (band)|Pussy Galore]].<ref name="intimidated">{{cite interview|last=Love|first=Courtney|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgrNjS29lDg|interviewer=Loder, Kurt|work=[[MTV]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231082016/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgrNjS29lDg|archive-date=December 31, 2022|via=[[YouTube]]|title=The Hole Story|date=September 1, 1994|quote=I was competing with my few peers at the time, the people that were really into Sonic Youth and Pussy Galore and Richard Kern, and I felt really intimidated by that.|access-date=December 31, 2022}}</ref> The band also featured a rhythm guitarist in its early days, Mike Geisbrecht. After the band's first four shows, Geisbrecht and Roberts departed from the band. Hole recruited bassist [[Jill Emery]] in 1990, and the band remained a quartet instead of replacing Geisbrecht.

In the documentary film ''[[Not Bad for a Girl]]'', Love, who had been in the [[erotic dancing]] industry for years prior, said that she worked as a [[stripper]] to help support the band in its early incarnation.<ref name="good"/> She also cited her work as a dancer as being one of many inspirations for the songs on ''Pretty on the Inside'': "I was blonde, wore makeup, had to support my band by dancing, and had to play this ridiculous archetype at work&nbsp;... so I took, you know, high heels and white pumps, and I had a wiglet—I just took that and messed with it."<ref name="good" />

==Recording and production==
{{quote box|width=23%|align=left|bgcolor=#fffaf0|quote="She was the most [[gung-ho]] person I've ever met&nbsp;... She gave 180%. I've worked with some people that you've had to coax the performance out of them. With Courtney, there was no attitude."|source=–Producer Don Fleming on Courtney Love during the recording of the album, 2008 and 2011{{Sfn|Chick|2008|p=171}}}}
Hole had previously released two singles, "[[Retard Girl]]" on [[Sympathy for the Record Industry]] and "[[Dicknail]]" on [[Sub Pop]]. According to Love, she had initially wanted to release the album on Sympathy for the Record Industry, but was "talked into" signing on with [[Caroline Records]].<ref>{{cite interview |last= Love |first= Courtney|subject-link= Courtney Love |interviewer= [[Nardwuar the Human Serviette|Nardwuar]] |work= Nardwuar the Human Serviette |title=Nardwuar vs. Courtney Love|location= Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |date=   September 4, 1993|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdslz1Xhtlk|access-date=December 30, 2022}}</ref> After signing, Love sought Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon to produce the album. In January 1991, Love sent her a letter, a [[Hello Kitty]] barrette, and copies of the band's early singles, mentioning that the band greatly admired Gordon's work and appreciated "the production of the [[SST Records|SST]] record" (referring to Sonic Youth's ''[[Evol (Sonic Youth album)|EVOL]]'' or ''[[Sister (Sonic Youth album)|Sister]]'').{{Sfn|Love|2006|p=116}} Gordon agreed on the condition that her friend, Gumball frontman Don Fleming, assist.{{Sfn|Browne|2009|p=272}}
The band entered Music Box Studios in Los Angeles with Gordon and Fleming in March 1991, and worked on the album for one week; the songs were recorded over a period of four days, and were mixed over the course of a further three days. During the recording sessions for the album, Love purportedly gargled whiskey and excessively smoked cigarettes before takes to give a raw edge to her vocals.{{Sfn|Earles|2014|p=146}}

Fleming stated he was impressed by Love's "focus and intensity", especially while recording vocals for one song when Love "literally ripped her clothes off while she sang".{{Sfn|Browne|2009|p=272}} "Courtney was amazing", said Fleming. "She was the most [[gung-ho]] person I've ever met. She was going to make the greatest record ever—I like that attitude in the studio. Courtney was like 'Let's go, fuckers', and I loved that."{{Sfn|Chick|2008|p=171}} In a later interview, Fleming said: <blockquote>Courtney was great at the time—it was before she even knew Kurt [Cobain]. She gave 180%. I've worked with some people that you've had to coax the performance out of them. With Courtney, there was no attitude. She was gonna give it all. And she did and it was really impressive to me&nbsp;... I loved the whole band; they were a lot of fun. That early lineup of Hole—I felt they were the real deal. They were Hollywood misfits—all of them. I felt it really captured what they were.<ref>{{cite web |title=Q & A: Don Fleming On The Grunge Years, Courtney Love's Work Ethic, The Velvet Monkeys And Being Sonic Youth's "Manager" - New York Music - Sound of the City |url=http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2011/08/don_fleming_interview_velvet_monkeys_sonic_youth.php?page=5 |work=[[The Village Voice]] |author=Cohan, Brad |date=August 10, 2011 |access-date=August 10, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929115339/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2011/08/don_fleming_interview_velvet_monkeys_sonic_youth.php?page=5 |archive-date=September 29, 2012 }}</ref></blockquote>

Gordon said that Love "was either charming and nice or screaming at her band" but that she was "a really good singer and entertainer and front person."{{Sfn|Browne|2009|p=272}}

From her own recollection, Love said that the recording sessions lasted "about a week...&nbsp; Eric was in charge of the [guitar] [[Tone (musical instrument)|tone]]s, and I just did whatever the fuck I wanted."<ref name=parliament/> According to Rue, Gordon encouraged the band to freely improvise in the studio, which resulted in the recording of several tracks that appear on the album, such as "Sassy".{{sfn|Rue|2022|loc=42:41}} Rue injured her finger on a diecast rim while recording the song, and ceased her drumming; Love is heard in the track saying "sit back down, sit back down" in response to Rue standing up from her drum kit.{{sfn|Rue|2022|loc=43:00}}

==Composition==
===Music and arrangements===
The music of ''Pretty on the Inside'' has been noted by critics for its abrasive instrumentation and arrangements, often with melodies "buried" underneath.{{Sfn|Carson|Lewis|Shaw|2004|p=90}}<ref name="CA" /> The album's sonic elements are heavily influenced by Los Angeles hardcore punk as well as New York's [[no wave]] scene; many of the tracks are accompanied by overt use of [[audio feedback|feedback]], experimental playing, [[Wah-wah pedal|wah pedals]], and use of [[sample (music)|sampling]] and [[Interpolation (popular music)|interpolation]]. Rapid [[Slide (guitar technique)|sliding techniques]] and [[Palm mute|string muting]] are also heavily present on the album, as well as what Love and Erlandson describe as "[[Sonic Youth]] tunings".<ref>{{cite interview|year=1999|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YQzcfnTb4o|title=Hole - Interview Pt. 1|work=[[Ground Zero (television show)|Ground Zero]]|via=[[YouTube]]|url-status=live|archive-date=May 3, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230503035747/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YQzcfnTb4o|access-date=December 31, 2022}}</ref> Love's vocals range from whispers to violent screaming, often in succession with the extreme shifts in speed and volume.
{{Quote box|width=19%|align=right|bgcolor=#fffaf0|quote="It's unlistenable—that record was a calling card for rock critics and [[hardcore punk|hardcorers]], [saying] "This is what I do, and I'm not going to back down from it. I am announcing my persona as a cunt."|source=–Courtney Love, 2011<ref name=hitsohard/>}}

Drummer Caroline Rue described the band's songwriting process as collaborative and organic; she stated that she wrote her own drum parts in response to Love's guitar playing and lyrics, adding that Love never gave her direction or requested that she make changes to her drumming approach.{{sfn|Rue|2022|loc=41:34}}

The album contains numerous musical references to other musicians and songs, specifically in "Sassy" and "Starbelly": The guitar riff featured in "Starbelly" is based on [[Neil Young]]'s "[[Cinnamon Girl]]"{{sfn|Crawford|2014|p=68}} and features [[analog recording|analog]] cassette excerpts from "[[Rhiannon (song)|Rhiannon]]" by [[Fleetwood Mac]]{{sfn|Crawford|2014|p=68}} and an early recording of "Best Sunday Dress" by [[Pagan Babies (band)|Pagan Babies]], one of Love's earlier bands with [[Kat Bjelland]]; "Sassy" includes snippets from an angry message left by [[The Nymphs|Nymphs]] singer [[Inger Lorre]] on Love's answering machine, accompanied by a singular chord progression repeated throughout.<ref>{{cite news|work=AllStar|title=Ex-Nymph Inger Lorre Pens Retort To Hole's 'Sassy'|date=July 21, 1998|author=Borzillo, Carrie}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.the-plague.net/inger.htm |work=The Plague |title=Inger Lorre |author=Mejia, Victoria |access-date=April 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725175720/http://the-plague.net/inger.htm |archive-date=July 25, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Love has admitted that the main riff to "Mrs. Jones" was copied verbatim from "[[Dark Entries]]" by the [[gothic rock|goth rock]] group [[Bauhaus (band)|Bauhaus]], one of her favorite bands as a teenager.<ref name="loder">{{cite interview |last=Love|first=Courtney|interviewer=Loder, Kurt|work=MTV Networks|title=The Hole Story|date= September 1, 1994|quote=A lot of the songs are complete Bauhaus rip-offs.}}</ref>

In a 1991 Canadian television interview, Love commented on the album's coarse musical structure. She said that since the band was from Los Angeles, the "[[metal music|metal]] capital of the US", they thought they were making a "pop record with an edge", and were surprised by people's reactions when they were told it was violent and extreme.<ref name="CA">{{cite episode|airdate=January 1991|people=Love, Courtney|series=Much Music (Canada)|title=Spotlight: Hole|quote=It's a lot of violent stuff on top, but there's a lot of melody underneath it. You know, we made this record, and all of sudden people are like, "It's so extreme, it's so violent", but we didn't really know. We just thought we were making a pop record with an edge&nbsp;... we live in LA, the [[heavy metal music|metal]] capital, so there's really nobody that relates to us.|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQY-q951QoM|via=[[YouTube]]|url-status=live|archive-date=December 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231082012/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQY-q951QoM|access-date=December 31, 2022}}</ref> Love added, "It was all about the expression of my experience. I was not coming from a black void; I was trying to create light&nbsp;... I was trying to heal."<ref name="good"/> In an interview with ''Spin'' magazine several years after its release, Love said that she was "posing in a lot of ways" with the album: "It was the truth, but it was also me catching up with all my hip peers who'd gone all indie on me, and who made fun of me for liking [[R.E.M.]] and [[The Smiths]]. I'd done the whole punk thing, sleeping on floors in piss and beer, and waking up with the guy with the fucking mohawk and the skateboards and the [[speed (drug)|speed]] and the whole goddamned thing. But I hated it. I'd grown out of it by the time I was seventeen."<ref name=cooper/> In a 1994 interview with [[Kurt Loder]], Love admitted to having been "consciously self-conscious" when making the record due to her feeling the need to compete with her peers at the time.<ref name="intimidated"/>

In the 2011 documentary ''[[Hit So Hard]]'', based on Hole's 1994–98 drummer [[Patty Schemel]], Love referred to ''Pretty on the Inside'' as "unlistenable".<ref name="hitsohard">{{cite web |url=http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=131&title=10_things_we_learn_about_kurt_cobain_and&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 |work=[[NME]] |date=March 24, 2011 |author=Cooper, Leonie |title=10 Things We Learn About Kurt Cobain And Courtney Love From Hit So Hard |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110401100907/http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=131&title=10_things_we_learn_about_kurt_cobain_and&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 |archive-date=April 1, 2011 }}</ref> "That record was a calling card for rock critics and hardcorers", Love said. "[It was me saying] "This is what I do, and I'm not going to back down from it. I am announcing my persona as a cunt.""<ref name=hitsohard/>

===Lyrical content===
{{listen|filename=Hole - Pretty on the Inside sample.ogg|title="Pretty on the Inside"|description=Sample of the album's title track, illustrating Love's screaming vocals and lyrics surrounding the theme of beauty.|format=[[Ogg]]}}
Many of the album's lyrics are [[narrative]] and [[diary|diaristic]] in nature, and were heavily drawn from Love's personal life and experiences in her teenage and young adult years.<ref name="good"/><ref name="cooper"/> In a [[press release]] promoting the album, Love said: "These songs are about my own weaknesses and impurities; things about myself that I hate&nbsp;... paranoias, petty concerns, and pithy, pathetic things that are inside of me."{{Sfn|Reisfeld|1996|p=71}} Many of the songs are lyrically abstract and describe shocking scenes of violence.<ref name="stranger">{{cite web |url=https://www.thestranger.com/pullout/2003/11/20/16345/the-hole-story |title=The Hole Story |website=[[The Stranger (newspaper)|The Stranger]] |date=November 20, 2003 |access-date=December 28, 2016 |last=Levin |first=Hannah |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216085525/http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-hole-story/Content?oid=16345 |archive-date=December 16, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Sfn|Burns|Lafrance|2002|pages=98–103}} Recurrent themes discussed in the lyrics include elitism, beauty and self-image, abortion, prostitution, suicide, murder, "[[red light district|red lights]]", and self-destructiveness.<ref name="stranger" /><ref name="pop" /> ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''{{'}}s Peter Kane described the lyrics on the record as "confrontational" and "genuinely uninhibited".<ref name="q">{{cite magazine |title=Hole: Pretty on the Inside |magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]] |issue=109 |date=October 1995 |last=Kane |first=Peter |page=138}}</ref>

Hannah Levin of the Seattle publication ''[[The Stranger (newspaper)|The Stranger]]'' analyzed the lyrics to the track "Mrs. Jones", calling it a "particularly rattling sketch of what appears to be a rape scene, with Love seamlessly handling three perspectives: the ugly attacker ("Look into the bloodrot, you suicide bitch / It takes an hour with you to make me want to live"), the vengeful victim ("The abortion left an [[abscess]] / Don't ever talk to me like that again"), and the supportive narrator ("Just like a pro, she takes off her dress / And she kicks you down in her snow white pumps")."<ref name="stranger"/> The song also quotes the [[Rudyard Kipling]] poem ''[[The Ballad of East and West]]''.{{Efn|"East is east and west is west" is a famous line from "The Ballad of East and West" by Kipling; this exact phrase is quoted in the track "Mrs. Jones" on Hole's 1991 release, ''Pretty on the Inside''. 
*See [http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/rg_eastwest1.htm The Rudyard Kipling Society] for publication history.}}

"[[Garbadge Man]]", discusses abandonment and alienation, as well as crisis of spirituality,<ref name="stranger"/> and is one of the few songs on the album to feature a [[verse–chorus form|verse–chorus–verse]] composition. The album closes with two songs that are bridged together as a single piece: "Pretty on the Inside", noted for its hostile lyrics and allusions to vanity,<ref name="good" /> and "Clouds", a dark and raucous cover of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides, Now" from her 1969 album ''[[Clouds (Joni Mitchell album)|Clouds]]''. The cover of the song features altered lyrics that appear to illustrate a suicide scene.<ref name="good"/>

According to drummer Caroline Rue, Love wrote the lyrics of "Babydoll" about [[Madonna]], whom she had seen driving in Los Angeles in a [[Mercedes-Benz]], hence the lyric referring to a "[[Nazism|Nazi]] car".{{sfn|Rue|2022|loc=39:03}}

In a 1991 interview with [[Everett True]], Love stated "I try to place [beautiful imagery] next to fucked up imagery, because that's how I view things" and that "I sometimes feel that no one's taken the time to write about certain things in rock, that there's a certain female point of view that's never been given space."<ref name="sidelines">{{cite news|work=Melody Maker|date=15 June 1991|author=True, Everett|title=Hole in Sidelines|page=8}}</ref> In spite of the album's graphic lyrics, though, the underlying female themes in many of its songs led some journalists to tag the band as being part of the [[riot grrl]] movement,{{Sfn|Bogdanov|Woodstra|Erlewine|2002|p=532}} which Love was not directly associated with.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|date=October 2005|pages=70–72|title=Courtney Love: Let the healing begin|author=Reilly, Phoebe|quote=Look, you've got these highly intelligent imperious girls, but who told them it was their undeniable American right not to be offended? Being offended is part of being in the real world. I'm offended every time I see George Bush on TV! And, frankly, it wasn't very good music}}</ref>{{Sfn|Brite|1998|p=117}}

==Artwork==
[[Image:POTI Interior.png|thumb|right|alt=An open CD insert featuring a chaotic assemblage of typed and scribbled song lyrics, accompanied by photo cutouts of Catholic art, storybook images, and women in bondage.|300px|Interior artwork from the CD version of the album, featuring a volatile collage of images and lyrics]] The [[Album cover|album artwork]] for ''Pretty on the Inside'' features a saturated pink press photo of the band amidst forest underbrush, taken by photographer Vickie Berndt. Berndt said that "Courtney wanted something striking and unusual" and Berndt was experimenting with [[Infrared photography#Color infrared film|color infrared film]] during the shoot, testing exposure settings with Love.<ref>{{cite web|title=VICKI BERNDT « |url=http://rocketsurgerywebzine.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/vicki-berndt/ |work=Rocket Surgery Webzine |date=April 16, 2012 |access-date=December 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313050453/https://rocketsurgerywebzine.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/vicki-berndt/ |archive-date=March 13, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The photo is similar to several others taken during the same shoot, one of which was featured in a ''Spin'' article in 1991.<ref name="vonfurth">{{cite journal|date=October 1991|title=Hole Lotta Love|author=Von Furth, Daisy|page=32|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yGjqAHJs488C&q=at+first+comes+across+like+a+ranting+noisy+rage%2C+but+underneath+is+a+surprisingly+lush+melody&pg=PT33}}</ref>

The font design featured on the front cover was created by Pizz,<ref name="notes" /> a [[graphic artist]] from [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]], who also designed album cover art for several other indie rock bands. The back side of the album features a painting by bassist Emery, depicting a topless woman looking at herself through a hand mirror. On her chest is a red heart surrounded by arrows, and below, her ribs protrude from her sides.<ref name=art/><ref name="good">{{cite video|title=Not Bad for a Girl |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114001/ |people=Love, Courtney; Jill Emery, Caroline Rue |last3=Rue |publisher=Apramian, Lisa Rose |date=1995 |medium=VHS |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429131025/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114001/ |archive-date=April 29, 2012 }}</ref>

The interior artwork (displayed in a booklet on the CD version of the album and on the record sleeve on vinyl releases), features an assemblage of scribbled and typewritten lyrics, personal "thank you" notes, cutouts of Catholic and [[Renaissance art]]work, as well as childlike drawings and storybook pictures juxtaposed with photos of women in [[bondage (sexual)|bondage]].<ref name="art">''Pretty on the Inside'' exterior and interior artwork, Caroline Records, 1991.</ref> Love was banned from the [[Los Angeles Public Library]] for cutting out photos from library books to create the inlay artwork, which she said in retrospect, "I would never recommend that anyone" do.<ref name=parliament>{{cite interview|title=Parliament Tattoo Presents: 30 Years of Pretty on the Inside Interview|last=Love|first=Courtney|date=November 30, 2021|authorlink=Courtney Love|via=[[YouTube]]|access-date=December 1, 2021|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK3sglnpm_k |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/sK3sglnpm_k |archive-date=December 22, 2021 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In a 2003 article published in ''The Stranger'', the album's liner notes were likened to "the scrapbook of an [[incest]] victim".<ref name="stranger"/> In the liner notes, the album is dedicated to Rob Ritter of the Los Angeles punk group the [[Bags (Los Angeles band)|Bags]].<ref name="art" />

==Release==
===Promotion===
{{See also|Pretty on the Inside Tour}}
[[Image:Prettyontheinside ad.png|left|upright=1|thumb|alt=Rectangular flyer featuring photos of the band, a logo, and an image of a young girl with her hands covering her eyes.|Caroline Records press kit cutout promoting the album (1991)]]
''Pretty on the Inside'' was released on September 17, 1991, in the United States on Caroline Records and on City Slang in Europe.{{Sfn|Erlandson|2012|p=7}} The album's lead single, "[[Teenage Whore]]", was released in Europe on September 9, and entered the UK Indie Chart's ''Top 10'' at number one on September 28, 1991, beating out "Heaven Sent An Angel" by [[Revolver (UK band)|Revolver]], "[[Let It Slide]]" by [[Mudhoney]], and "[[Love to Hate You]]" by [[Erasure (duo)|Erasure]], among others.<ref name="twchart">{{cite episode|title=Indie Charts: September 28, 1991|series=[[The Chart Show|The ITV Chart Show]]|network=Channel 4|date=28 September 1991}} Available on [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfnOji_bk_M YouTube] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122122301/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfnOji_bk_M |date=2015-11-22 }}</ref><ref name="charts">{{cite web|url=http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/HOLE/#albums |title=Hole |work=The Official Charts Company |access-date=December 15, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615185443/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/hole/ |archive-date=June 15, 2011 }}</ref> On ''[[The Chart Show]]'' on [[Channel 4]], the song's title was censored with [[ellipsis]] in place of the word "whore".<ref name="twchart" /> The single's success in the United Kingdom led the band to perform a twelve-date tour of the country supporting Mudhoney. The subsequent success of both the album, single, and tour saw Hole embark on a further three tours of the United States, Germany and Western Europe in the latter half of 1991, playing again with Mudhoney, as well as alternative rock acts [[Daisy Chainsaw]] and [[Therapy?]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/night-kurt-cobain-courtney-love-13249039|work=[[WalesOnline]]|title=The night Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love came to Newport - told by the people who were there|author=McCarthy, James|date=June 28, 2017|access-date=April 23, 2018}}</ref> While the album gained traction in the United Kingdom, it failed to chart in the United States despite extensive touring, though it was known to be outselling Nirvana's output before the band's release of ''[[Nevermind]]'' the following week.{{Sfn|Raha|2005|p=127}}

On December 19, 1991, the band played their final show of the tour in Hollywood at the [[Whisky a Go Go]] opening for [[The Smashing Pumpkins]], which ended with Love smashing her guitar [[headstock]] onstage at the end of their set after lukewarm reception from the audience.<ref name="frust">{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-19-ca-712-story.html |title=POP MUSIC REVIEWS: Pumpkins, Hole Unleash Frustrations |date=December 19, 1991 |author=Cromelin, Richard |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108044636/http://articles.latimes.com/1991-12-19/entertainment/ca-712_1_pumpkins-album |archive-date=November 8, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/umlaut555/3468766224/ |work=Flickr |date=December 19, 1991 |title=Smashing Pumpkins / Hole - 1991 |access-date=September 13, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218131202/http://www.flickr.com/photos/umlaut555/3468766224/ |archive-date=December 18, 2013 }}</ref> ''Los Angeles Times'' journalist David Cromelin noted in his review of the concert: <blockquote>Smashing Pumpkins' singer-guitarist [[Billy Corgan]] referred to himself as "a frustrated Midwestern youth" at the Whisky on Tuesday&nbsp;... Smashing Pumpkins was preceded by smashing guitars, courtesy of Hole. The tortured, transfixing L.A. group's pairing with the headliners should have made this a bill to remember, but the audience was primed for Pumpkin and didn't take to Courtney Love's powerful howls of anguish. Hole ended its set in a tantrum, as Love ordered the band to halt and hurled her guitar to the ground. Guitarist Eric Erlandson finished things off by demolishing his instrument with a few impressive swings. Frustrated Midwestern youth, meet frustrated California youth.<ref name="frust" /></blockquote>

The same evening, [[Murder of Joe Cole|Joe Cole]], a [[roadie]] and friend of the band, filmed their live set with [[Henry Rollins]] of [[Black Flag (band)|Black Flag]]. After the show, while en route to his [[Venice Beach, California|Venice Beach]] apartment with Rollins, Cole was murdered in an armed robbery.{{Sfn|Chick|2011|p=369}} Hole would dedicate their second record, ''[[Live Through This]]'', to Cole in 1994.

After Hole's 1991 tour concluded, a music video for the track "Garbadge Man" was released, though the album's only single, "Teenage Whore", did not receive a music video. The video is fairly [[abstract art|abstract]] and a reflection of Hole's no wave influence at the time, with shots of Love and other band members in a car interspersed with shots of them performing outside the window. According to Love, she tracked down original rolls of [[Medical imaging|radiographic medical film]] from [[Denver, Colorado]], that had been used in the [[Vietnam War]], which the music video was then shot on, giving the images an [[X-ray]]-like appearance.<ref>{{cite interview|title=Courtney Love Interview|interviewer=Jackie Farry|first1=Courtney|last1=Love|date=1995|work=[[MTV]]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k56-rUJDypY&t=117s|url-status=live|archive-date=December 31, 2022|archive-url=http://ghostarchive.org/varchive/k56-rUJDypY|via=[[YouTube]]|series=Super Rock}}</ref> The video was shown on MTV's ''[[120 Minutes]]'' in 1992 during an interview with Love and Kim Gordon, and was broadcast again on the show in 1994 and 1995<ref>{{cite web|title=The 120 Minutes Archive - Playlists & Videos - Episodes from MTV (1986-1995)|url=http://www.altmusictv.com/120/archive_mtvclassic.html|publisher=AltMusicTV|access-date=April 12, 2011}}</ref><ref name=cooper>Cooper, Dennis. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=fT3PkoU5ylcC&q=conquers&pg=PA103 Love Conquers All]". ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'': 38–42, 103–104 — via Google Books.</ref> but was never as popular as the band's later videos. For the music video, an alternate mix of the song by Gordon was used to eliminate profanity.

The album was released on CD and [[Compact Cassette|cassette]] in the United States, but received a release on [[Gramophone record|vinyl LP]] throughout Europe by City Slang, based in Berlin, Germany. The first 3,000 pressings of the LP featured blue vinyl, while the following pressings were in standard black.<ref>''Pretty on the Inside''. Hole. [Vinyl LP]. City Slang Records. Catalog number 04071-08.</ref>

==Critical reception==
===Contemporaneous===
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}<ref name="allmusic.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/pretty-on-the-inside-mw0000272804|title=Pretty on the Inside – Hole|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=January 7, 2025|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s|Christgau's Consumer Guide]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating-Christgau|hm3}}{{Sfn|Christgau|2000|p=135}}
| rev3 = ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''
| rev3score = {{Rating|3|4}}<ref name="lat"/>
| rev4 = ''[[NME]]''
| rev4score = 9/10<ref name="nme"/>
| rev5 = ''[[PopMatters]]''
| rev5score = 8/10<ref name="pop"/>
| rev6 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev6score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Hole: Pretty on the Inside |magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]] |issue=62 |date=November 1991 |last=McIlheney |first=Barry |author-link=Barry McIlheney}}</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev7score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{Sfn|Sheffield|2004|pp=380–381}}
| rev8 = ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]''
| rev8score = 4/5<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Hole: Pretty on the Inside |magazine=[[Select (magazine)|Select]] |issue=16 |date=October 1991 |last=Perry |first=Andrew |page=66}}</ref>
| rev9 = ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]''
| rev9score = 8/10{{Sfn|Powers|1995|pp=183–184}}
| rev10 = ''[[The Stranger (newspaper)|The Stranger]]''
| rev10score = {{Rating|4|4}}<ref name="stranger"/>
}}

''Pretty on the Inside'' was received with acclaim by many British and American alternative press. In a review by [[Savage Pencil|Edwin Pouncey]] for ''[[NME]]'', the album was positively compared to [[Patti Smith]]'s ''[[Horses (album)|Horses]]'', as well as the debut albums of the [[Ramones]], [[Television (band)|Television]], and [[New York Dolls]], and was branded as being in "a class of its own",{{Sfn|Brite|1998|p=117}}<ref name="nme">{{cite magazine |title=Top Hole! |magazine=[[NME]] |date=September 14, 1991 |last=Pouncey |first=Edwin |author-link=Savage Pencil |page=38}}</ref> while [[Elizabeth Wurtzel]] wrote in ''[[The New Yorker]]'' that "''Pretty on the Inside'' is such a cacophony&nbsp;... very few people are likely to get through it once, let alone give it the repeated listenings it needs for you to discover that it's probably the most compelling album to have been released in 1991."{{Sfn|Brite|1998|p=117}}

[[Simon Reynolds]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' described the album as "a cauldron of negativity... [the band] grind[s] out torturous sound, vaguely redolent of [[Black Sabbath]]... Ms. Love's songs explore the full spectrum of female emotions, from vulnerability to rage. The songs are fueled by adolescent traumas, feelings of disgust about the body, passionate friendships with women and the desire to escape domesticity. Her lyrical style could be described as emotional nudism."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/09/arts/pop-music-belting-out-that-most-unfeminine-emotion.html|series=Pop Music|title=Belting Out That Most Unfeminine Emotion|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 9, 1992|access-date=May 5, 2018|last=Reynolds|first=Simon|author-link=Simon Reynolds}}</ref> [[Jonathan Gold]] of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''  similarly noted that the lyrics present "a terrifying emotional landscape, closer to [[Kathy Acker]] novels than to anything you might think of as pop" and praised Love's vocals as "astonishingly expressive" and ranging from "howling rage to the sort of sardonic sneer associated with [[the Fall (band)|the Fall]]’s [[Mark E. Smith|Mark Smith]]...&nbsp; Whether it wanted one or not, the decade finally has an equivalent of Patti Smith’s ''Horses''. Play it loud. ''Pretty on the Inside'' is about as pretty as a flayed wound."<ref name="lat">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-01-05-ca-2277-story.html |title=Hole 'Pretty on the Inside' Caroline |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=January 5, 1992 |access-date=March 5, 2020 |last=Gold |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Gold |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200305074341/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-01-05-ca-2277-story.html |archive-date=March 5, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> Gold later commented: "If ''Pretty on the Inside'' were a [[horror film|horror movie]], it would be all the parts that you have to look at through your fingers."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/116022919/|title=In Love with Courtney|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=August 16, 1992|access-date=January 8, 2023|last=Gold|first=Jonathan|author-link=Jonathan Gold|page=176|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> ''[[LA Weekly]]''{{'}}s [[Lorraine Ali]] echoed a similar sentiment about the album's harsh nature, describing it as a "slithering nest of ugly thoughts and horrific admissions too intriguing to pass up."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/la-weekly/79840138/|title=Smells Like Teen Spirit|newspaper=[[LA Weekly]]|date=November 28, 1991|access-date=June 19, 2021|last=Ali|first=Lorraine|author-link=Lorraine Ali|page=49|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

{{multiple image
| footer = Critics compared the album to the works of various artists, ranging from [[Black Sabbath]] to [[Patti Smith]] 
| image1 =  Black Sabbath (Iommi, Osbourne, Ward and Butler).JPG
| width1 = 146
| alt1 = Black Sabbath, 1960s
| image2 = Patti Smith.jpg
| width2 = 113
| alt2 = Patti Smith in 1977
| align = left}}
''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]''{{'}}s Daisy von Furth noted a lyrical preoccupation with "the repulsive aspects of L.A.— superficiality, sexism, violence, and drugs. Love is the embodiment of what drives the band: the dichotomy of pretty/ugly&nbsp;... The pretty/ugly dynamic also comes across in Hole's music&nbsp;... a song like "Teenage Whore" at first comes across like a ranting noisy rage, but underneath is a surprisingly lush melody."<ref name=vonfurth/> ''Spin'' ranked it among the 20 best albums of the year in December 1991.<ref name="best20">{{cite news|work=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|date=December 1991|title=20 Best Albums of the Year|page=122|author=Spencer, Lauren|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5zrzfgLFgUYC&q=20+Best+Albums+of+the+Year+hole+pretty+on+the+inside&pg=RA1-PA56|via=Google Books}}</ref> ''[[Melody Maker]]'' columnist Sharon O'Connell wrote that the album was "the very best bit of fucked-up rock 'n' roll [I've heard] all year,"<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Hole Truth |magazine=[[Melody Maker]] |date=September 14, 1991 |last=O'Connell |first=Sharon |page=33}}</ref> while Deborah Frost of ''The Village Voice'' called it "genre-defying", taking note of Love's reputation on the album as "the girl who won't shut up&nbsp;... She is all the things that she should not be, and she shoves it, raw, right in your face."<ref name="voice">{{cite news|work=[[The Village Voice]]|date=February 4, 1992|title=Hole: Pretty on the Inside|author=Frost, Deborah}}</ref> Hannah Levin of the Seattle publication ''[[The Stranger (newspaper)|The Stranger]]'' praised the album's production by Gordon and Fleming, stating that "despite ''Pretty on the Inside'''s reputation as an unhinged, raw-sounding debut, a great deal of professional calculation went into putting this record together."<ref name="stranger" /> Levin also applauded Love's lyrics, writing that the album "judiciously toes the line between the evasively obtuse and overtly obscene".<ref name="stranger" />

In a 1994 article, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' journalist [[David Fricke]] called the album "gloriously assaultive" and "a classic of sex-mad self-laceration, hypershred guitars and full-moon bawling&nbsp;... in particular the spectacular goring of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides, Now" (aka "Clouds") at the end of the record. You don't really know the solitary despair at the core of that song until you've heard Love's embittered delivery of the last two lines — "It's life's illusions I recall / I really don't know life at all"&nbsp;— over guitarist Eric Erlandson's fading squall."<ref name="rs">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/live-through-this-188546/ |title=Live Through This |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=April 21, 1994 |access-date=August 19, 2011 |last=Fricke |first=David |author-link=David Fricke |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131126215542/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/live-through-this-19940421 |archive-date=November 26, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1995, ''[[Alternative Press (music magazine)|Alternative Press]]'' magazine ranked the album at No.&nbsp;74 in their "Top 99 Of '85–'95" list, noting that "Love works in extremes and wears that [[The Scarlet Letter|scarlet letter]] when she feels like it, and when she doesn't she rips it off, never neglecting melody and language as the real medium for her message."<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=Alternative Press|date=July 1995|pages=95–6|title=Top 99 of '85–'95|author=Alternative Press Staff}}</ref> Wendy Brandes of [[CNN]], while reviewing Hole's third release, ''Celebrity Skin'', in 1998, described ''Pretty on the Inside'' as "the musical equivalent of scrubbing one's eardrums with sandpaper".<ref>{{cite web|work=[[CNN]]|title=Review: Hole flaunts survival with polished 'Celebrity Skin'|author=Brandes, Wendy|date=September 4, 1998|url=http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9809/04/review.hole/|url-status=live|archive-date=June 28, 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130628232251/http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9809/04/review.hole/}}</ref>

===Retrospective===
[[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] gave the album a notably mixed review at [[AllMusic]], calling the album "brutally uncompromising", and further noting: "The jagged white noise and buzzing guitars articulate Courtney Love's pent-up rage as well as her lyrics, and while that might make the album difficult to absorb in one sitting, it also makes it a singular achievement."<ref name="allmusic.com"/> Music historian Andrew Earles referred to the album as "brick-heavy...a crushing mix of [[Mudhoney]] at its finest, [[sludge metal|sludge-metal]], Sonic Youth, and Love's terrifying but also moving vocal performance."{{Sfn|Earles|2014|p=146}} ''[[PopMatters]]'' reviewed the album in 2009, noting that it has "bold musical splendour on display" that "[leaves one feeling] nothing short of gobsmacked".<ref name="pop">{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/110254-hole-pretty-on-the-inside-2496074813.html |title=Hole: Pretty on the Inside |website=[[PopMatters]] |date=September 2, 2009 |access-date=February 12, 2011 |last=Kholeif |first=Omar |author-link=Omar Kholeif |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928150221/https://www.popmatters.com/110254-hole-pretty-on-the-inside-2496074813.html |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In a 2015 retrospective assessment, ''Spin'' noted the album's overt [[noise rock]] influences, writing that it "played like {{sic|a|hide=yes}} [[Amphetamine Reptile Records|AmRep]] release".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spin.com/2015/08/95-best-alternative-rock-songs-1995-alt/5/ |work=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]] |title=The 95 Best Alternative Rock Songs of 1995 |date=August 16, 2015 |access-date=March 7, 2017 |author=''Spin'' Staff |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170621110119/http://www.spin.com/2015/08/95-best-alternative-rock-songs-1995-alt/5/ |archive-date=June 21, 2017 }}</ref>

==Legacy==
''Pretty on the Inside'' has had an influence on multiple alternative rock acts, being specifically mentioned by [[Spinnerette]]/[[The Distillers]] frontwoman [[Brody Dalle]] in an interview as a seminal album in the development of her music.{{Sfn|Diehl|2007|p=90}} British rock band [[Nine Black Alps]] also noted the album as a major influence on their third release, ''[[Locked Out from the Inside]]'' (2009),<ref>{{cite journal|journal=SoundProof Magazine|date=8 September 2009|author=Griffiths, Daniel|title=Quick & Dirty - Nine Black Alps|page=1}}</ref> and indie singer-songwriter [[Scout Niblett]] cited it as a major influence on her:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Article.aspx?id=5605 |work=pennyblackmusic.co.uk |title=Scout Niblett: Interview |author=Waller, Stephen |date=June 25, 2010 |access-date=February 15, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921060357/http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Article.aspx?id=5605 |archive-date=September 21, 2013 }}</ref> "For me, the thing that I loved about them and her [Courtney Love] was the anger, and aggressiveness, along with the tender side", said Niblett. "That was something I hadn't seen before in a woman playing music. That was hugely influential and really inspiring. Women up 'til then were kind of one-dimensional, twee, sweet, ethereal, and that annoys the shit out of me."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thesnipenews.com/music/interviews/scout-niblett-interview-2013/ |work=The Snipe News |date=August 21, 2013 |author=Conner, Shawn |title=Scout Niblett (Interview) |quote=I was 17 when I first heard it. I definitely think they had a huge role in that. For me, the thing that I loved about them and her was the anger, and aggressiveness, along with the tender side. That was something I hadn't seen before in a woman playing music. That was hugely influential and really inspiring. Women up 'til then were kind of one-dimensional, twee, sweet, ethereal, and that annoys the shit out of me. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902030820/http://www.thesnipenews.com/music/interviews/scout-niblett-interview-2013/ |archive-date=September 2, 2013 }}</ref>

Contemporarily, the album has also gained a [[cult following]] among rock and punk music fans.{{Sfn|Carson|Lewis|Shaw|2004|pages=89–90}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefix.com/content/courtney-love-photo-gallery-text |work=The Fix |title=Courtney Love Photo Gallery Text: Biography |date=May 24, 2011 |access-date=August 11, 2011 |author=Granger, Kevin |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324153022/http://www.thefix.com/content/courtney-love-photo-gallery-text |archive-date=March 24, 2012 }}</ref>

''The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock'' called the album a "surly milkshake of broken rock shards&nbsp;... from the artistic misspellings of song titles to the lyric collage on the inner sleeve and the abrasive, abstract guitar noises on the songs, ''Pretty on the Inside'' reveals the band's fascination with the New York no wave art and music scene of the '80s."{{Sfn|Robbins|1997|p=350}} According to ''[[Billboard charts|Billboard]]'', the album had sold 27,000 copies by 1994,<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|title=Media Focus Propels Hole's High Debut on Billboard 200|page=8|author=Morris, Chris|date= April 30, 1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RggEAAAAMBAJ&q=Media+Focus+Propels+Hole%27s+High+Debut+on+Billboard+200&pg=PA8|via=Google Books}}</ref> when the band released their wildly popular follow-up album, ''[[Live Through This]]''.

In more recent years, frontwoman Love stated that the album contains "nothing melodic".<ref name="Courtney Love">{{cite episode|series=[[Behind the Music]]|title=Courtney Love|airdate=June 23, 2010|network=Vh1}}</ref> In a 2011 interview for ''[[Hit So Hard]]'' (2011), a documentary on later Hole drummer [[Patty Schemel]], Love referred to ''Pretty on the Inside'' as "unlistenable",<ref name="hitsohard"/> going on to say: "That record was a calling card for rock critics and [[hardcore punk|hardcorers]], [saying] 'This is what I do, and I am not going to back down from it. I am announcing my persona as a cunt. Thank you very much.'"<ref name="pattydoc">''[[Hit So Hard|Hit So Hard: The Life and Near Death of Patty Schemel]]'' (2011). Well Go USA (DVD)</ref> Love's attitude toward the album shifted in the subsequent years, as she commented in 2021: "I've really put that record down as being beneath my songwriting capacity, but I really don't put it down anymore at all, because it was so transformative."<ref name=parliament/>

In October 2016, lead guitarist Eric Erlandson oversaw an [[orchestra]]l live performance of the entire album in Los Angeles, entitled ''Pretty Looking Back''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/news/68274-holes-eric-erlandson-details-orchestral-performance-of-pretty-on-the-inside/ |work=Pitchfork |title=Hole's Eric Erlandson Details Orchestral Performance of Pretty on the Inside |author=Lozano, Kevin |date=September 14, 2016 |access-date=December 29, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202005119/http://pitchfork.com/news/68274-holes-eric-erlandson-details-orchestral-performance-of-pretty-on-the-inside/ |archive-date=February 2, 2017 }}</ref>

==Track listing==
{{Track listing
| all_writing     = Hole, except where noted 
| extra_column    = Note(s)
| total_length    = 38:26
| title1          = [[Teenage Whore]]
| length1         = 2:57
| title2          = Babydoll
| length2         = 4:59
| title3          = [[Garbadge Man]]
| length3         = 3:19
| title4          = Sassy
| length4         = 1:43
| title5          = Good Sister/Bad Sister
| length5         = 5:47  
| title6          = Mrs. Jones 
| length6         = 5:25
| title7          = Berry
| length7         = 2:46
| title8          = Loaded
| length8         = 4:19
| title9          = Starbelly
| length9         = 1:46
| writer9         = [[Neil Young]] <small>(uncredited: "[[Cinnamon Girl]]" instrumental; arrangements by Hole)</small>{{sfn|Crawford|2014|p=68}}
| extra9          = {{small|[[Sampling (music)|Samples]] "[[Rhiannon (song)|Rhiannon]]" by [[Fleetwood Mac]], and "Best Sunday Dress" by [[Pagan Babies (band)|Pagan Babies]]}}
| title10         = Pretty on the Inside
| length10        = 1:27
| title11         = [[Both Sides Now (song)|Clouds]]
| writer11        = [[Joni Mitchell]]
| extra11         = <small>Additional lyrics by Courtney Love</small>{{efn|Hole's rendition of the track features several lyrics that are altered from Mitchell's original composition. Note that the original US CD pressing by Caroline Records also merges "Pretty on the Inside" and "Clouds" as a single track, resulting in a 10-track listing rather than 11.}}
| length11        = 3:58
}}

==Reissues==
In June 2011, Plain Recordings, an independent American record label specializing in [[cult following|cult]] album [[re-issue]]s, announced that a 180&nbsp;gram vinyl re-release of ''Pretty on the Inside'' was being introduced to their catalogue; it was released on August 2, 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicdirect.com/p-45972-hole-pretty-on-the-inside-180g-lp.aspx |work=Music Direct |title=HOLE - PRETTY ON THE INSIDE (180g LP) |access-date=June 6, 2011 |quote=Hole's debut album, originally released by Caroline in 1991, was produced by Kim Gordon and Gumball frontman Don Fleming. Pretty On The Inside was named Album of the Year by The Village Voice and the only single released, "Teenage Whore," entered the U.K. indie charts at #1. Graphic lyrics, distorted guitar riffs, screaming vocals and messy punk ethics all helped establish Courtney Love's long running cult status. Here on 180 gram vinyl. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110627071609/http://www.musicdirect.com/p-45972-hole-pretty-on-the-inside-180g-lp.aspx |archive-date=June 27, 2011 }}</ref> On October 20, 2017, a second reissue of the LP was released by Plain Recordings, pressed on pink vinyl.<ref>{{cite web|work=Amoeba Music|url=https://www.amoeba.com/pretty-on-the-inside-pink-vinyl-lp-hole/albums/3968049/|title=Hole - Pretty On The Inside [Pink Vinyl] (LP)|access-date=December 22, 2017|archive-url=https://archive.today/20171222085830/https://www.amoeba.com/pretty-on-the-inside-pink-vinyl-lp-hole/albums/3968049/|archive-date=December 22, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Personnel==
All personnel credits adapted from the album's liner notes.<ref name="notes">{{cite AV media notes|author=Caroline Records|title=Pretty on the Inside|title-link=Pretty on the Inside|others=Hole|year=1991|type=CD|publisher=Caroline Records|id=CAROL 1710-2}}</ref>
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
'''Hole'''
*[[Courtney Love]] – vocals, [[rhythm guitar]]
*[[Eric Erlandson]] – lead guitar
*[[Jill Emery]] – bass guitar
*Caroline Rue – drums, percussion

'''Technical personnel'''
*[[Kim Gordon]] – [[Record producer|producer]]
*[[Don Fleming (musician)|Don Fleming]] – producer
*Brian Foxworthy – [[Audio engineer|engineer]]
{{col-2}}
'''Art personnel'''
*Courtney Love – [[art direction]]
*Vicki Berndt – photography {{small|(front cover)}}
*Pizz – [[typography]]
*Jill Emery – painting {{small|(back cover)}}
{{col-end}}

==Charts==
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+ Chart performance for ''Pretty on the Inside''
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1991)
! scope="col"| Peak<br/>position
|-
{{album chart|UK2|59|date=19911006|rowheader=true|access-date=October 16, 2021}}
|}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin|30em}}
*{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Kyle|year=2007|title=Accidental Revolution: The Story of Grunge|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|isbn=978-0-312-35819-8|url=https://archive.org/details/accidentalrevolu0000ande|location=New York City, New York}}
*{{cite book|title=All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul|publisher=Backbeat Books|location=New York City, New York|year=2002|author1-last=Bogdanov|author1-first=Vladimir |author2-last=Woodstra|author2-first=Chris |author3-last=Erlewine|author3-first=Stephen Thomas|isbn=978-0-87930-653-3}}
*{{cite book|title=Courtney Love: The Real Story|last=Brite|first=Poppy Z.|author-link=Poppy Z. Brite|year=1998|publisher=Touchstone|isbn=0-684-84800-7}}
*{{cite book|title=Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth|last=Browne|first=David|year=2009|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=978-0-306-81515-7}}
*{{cite book|last1=Burns| first1= Lori |last2=Lafrance|first2= Mélisse |title=Disruptive Divas: Feminism, Identity & Popular Music |year=2002|publisher=Taylor & Francis, Routledge|location=New York City, New York|isbn= 978-0-8153-3554-2}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cEDqNRkk6KIC&q=hole+band+influential&pg=PA90|title=Girls Rock!: Fifty Years of Women Making Music|year=2004|editor1-last=Carson|editor1-first=Mina Julia|editor2-last=Lewis|editor2-first=Lisa|editor3-first=Susan M.|editor3-last=Shaw|publisher=The University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-2310-3|location=Lexington, Kentucky}}
*{{cite book|title=Psychic Confusion: The Sonic Youth Story|last=Chick|first=Stevie|isbn=978-0-825-63606-6|publisher=Omnibus Press|year=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pytWr18SiLsC&q=courtney+love+sonic+youth&pg=PT304|location=New York City, New York}}
*{{cite book|title=Spray Paint the Walls: The Story of Black Flag|year=2011|publisher=PM Press|isbn=978-1-60486-418-2|last=Chick|first= Stevie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ypOXCnhPPYEC&q=courtney+love+whisky&pg=PA369}}
*{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=2000|chapter=Hole: Pretty on the Inside|chapter-url=https://robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=1534|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s|title-link=Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|location=New York City, New York|isbn=0-312-24560-2}}
*{{cite book|last=Crawford|first=Anwen|title=Hole's Live Through This|publisher=Bloomsbury USA|location=New York City, New York|year=2014|isbn= 978-1-623-56377-6|series=33 1/3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XrtoBQAAQBAJ}}
*{{cite book|title=My So-Called Punk: How Neo-Punk Stage-Dived into the Mainstream|last=Diehl|first=Matt|year=2007|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|location=New York City, New York|isbn=978-0-312-33781-0}} 
*{{cite book|title=Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums, 1981–1996|last=Earles|first= Andrew|year=2014|publisher=Voyageur Press|location=Minneapolis, Minnesota|isbn=978-0-760-34648-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D_eKBAAAQBAJ&q=gimme+indie+rock+pretty+on+the+inside&pg=PA146}}
*{{cite book|title=Letters to Kurt|last=Erlandson|first=Eric|author-link=Eric Erlandson|location=New York City, New York|year= 2012|publisher=Akashic Books|isbn=978-1-61775-083-0}}
*{{cite book|title=Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love|last=Love|first=Courtney|author-link=Courtney Love|year=2006|publisher=Picador|location=New York City, New York|isbn=0-86547-959-3|url=https://archive.org/details/dirtyblondediari00love}}
*{{cite book|last=Powers|first=Ann|author-link=Ann Powers|editor1-last=Weisbard|editor1-first=Eric|editor1-link=Eric Weisbard|editor2-last=Marks|editor2-first=Craig|year=1995|chapter=Hole|title=Spin Alternative Record Guide|title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide|publisher=Vintage Books|location=New York City, New York|isbn=0-679-75574-8}}
*{{cite book|title=Cinderella's Big Score: Women of the Punk and Indie Underground|last=Raha|first=Maria|year= 2005|author-link=Maria Raha|publisher=Seal Press|isbn= 978-1-580-05116-3|location=Emeryville, California}} 
*{{cite book|title=This Is the Sound: The Best of Alternative Rock|year=1996|last=Reisfeld|first=Randi|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York City, New York|isbn=978-0-68980-6-704|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MdmBYULpTrAC&q=courtney+love+pithy+pathetic+things+inside+of+me&pg=PT73}}
*{{cite book|last=Robbins|first=Ira A.|title=The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock|year=1997|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York City, New York|isbn= 978-0-684-81437-7|url=https://archive.org/details/trouserpressguid00robb_1}}
* {{cite interview|last=Rue|first=Carolyn|title=Carolyn Rue Interviewed|date=December 22, 2022|interviewer=Mikayla Beyer|via=[[YouTube]]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl5DKyozUe8&t=1050s|access-date=December 30, 2022}}
*{{cite book|last=Sheffield|first=Rob|author-link=Rob Sheffield|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-first=Nathan|editor1-link=Nathan Brackett|editor2-last=Hoard|editor2-first=Christian|editor2-link=Christian Hoard|year=2004|chapter=Hole|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9eocwUfoSoC&pg=PA381|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York City, New York|edition=4th|isbn=0-7432-0169-8}}
*{{cite book|last=Thompson|first= Dave|title=Alternative Rock|year=2000|publisher=Backbeat Books|location=New York City, New York|isbn=978-0-87930-607-6}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*{{AllMusic|class=album|id=mw0000272804|label=''Pretty on the Inside''}}
*{{MusicBrainz release group|id=3cfb69f7-13e3-306b-b564-a1f1b1260b98}}
*''{{URL|http://www.discogs.com/master/43712|Pretty on the Inside}}'' at [[Discogs]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgW5pFUDKdo Footage] of Hole performing material from ''Pretty on the Inside'' in Boston, 1991

{{Hole}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pretty On The Inside}}
[[Category:1991 debut albums]]
[[Category:Hole (band) albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Don Fleming (musician)]]
[[Category:Caroline Records albums]]
[[Category:City Slang albums]]
[[Category:Punk rock albums by American artists]]
[[Category:Noise rock albums by American artists]]
[[Category:Art punk albums]]