6 ms·

I can't believe Courtney Love wrote this. I had a low oppinion of her, but this seems really well written. Also, she's a fan of Neal Stephenson? That quote a

I can't believe Courtney Love wrote this. I had a low oppinion of her, but this seems really well written. Also, she's a fan of Neal Stephenson? That quote almost makes me wonder if this were written by some nerd and attributed to her...

hezekiah 15y ago
Seems hard to believe, but cool if true.
yid 15y ago
...because the wild women of grunge can't possibly have brains too? Disingenuous, my friend. There are famous rockers with PhDs (the guy from green day comes to mind).
- joejohnson 15y ago
  First, I don't think anyone in Green Day has a PhD. Second, I wasn't surprised because she was a women, or a musician, or because she was part of the grunge scene. I know there are lots of smart women, and lots of smart women in music. I wasn't saying anything about a correlation between gender and intelligence or professions and intelligence. I was suprised because she's Courtney Love, and most of what I've read and seen of her prior to this makes her seem like an idiot. And this article seemed well-thought out, thus surprising me.
  - yid 15y ago
    My bad about Green Day -- it was the Offspring I was thinking about (can't blame me, they're almost interchangeable as bands). On the other hand, rockers with PhDs: Dexter Holland from Offspring (molecular biology, but dropped out with a masters) Greg Gaffin from Bad Religion (zoology, 2007) Brian May from Queen (astrophysics) James Lilja from Offspring (medical degree, not PhD) Sterling Morrison from the Velvet Underground (medieval literature, 80s)
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
    - Tycho 15y ago
      Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter of Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers has worked for NASA or the NSA on missile defense systems or something like that.
      - jrockway 15y ago
        "Some person worked for some agency on something, or something"? Thanks for the well-researched comment.
    - davesims 15y ago
      Tom Sholz, guitarist from Boston -- MS in Engineering from MIT. Guitar Hero and Nerd. The only one in captivity?
    - MaysonL 15y ago
      Juli Crockett of the Evangenitals is only an overdue (philosophy) dissertation away (and now that she's pregnant she may never get the damn thing finished).
    - HunterLM 15y ago
      I've done a lot of work for Dexter Holland in the past (and a little for Bad Religion but I never met Graffin) and I can vouch for him being a seriously smart guy. Accomplished pilot, small business owner and inventor (several patents on LBS stuff from early 90s).
  - johnarleyburns 15y ago
    ANYTIME a female quotes Neal Stephenson in passing, I'm surprised. Pleasantly surprised, but surprised nonetheless.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- harshpotatoes 15y ago
  I don't think the issue is that she's a wild woman from the era of grunge, but rather she was addicted to heroine and cocaine for a while.
  - yid 15y ago
    The two might go hand in hand...
  - pimeys 15y ago
    People use drugs, the mild ones and the strong ones (including alcohol), in every class. Rich or poor, smart or dumb. Some get addicted, others find some other interests in life.
WalterBright 15y ago
I have a friend who knows Courtney. He says that people routinely underestimate her - she's very smart.
- ethank 15y ago
  Seconded. She's wickedly smart. and completely crazy.
  - larrywright 15y ago
    That's a very frequent combination. I wonder if there's a reason why?
    - ethank 15y ago
      No clue. I know a lot of smart people who aren't crazy though. I think with Courtney (who I have a mutual friend with), she's been isolated just enough to let the crazy foster and the smarts carry her through. I admire her, not without caveats.
      - larrywright 15y ago
        I've often wondered if famous people tend to go off the deep end more than the rest of us because they're constantly surrounded by people who tell the what they want to hear.
    - lionelhutz 15y ago
      Reportedly the genes for intelligence and schizophrenia are linked: http://www.schizophrenia.com/sznews/archives/003341.html http://www.schizophrenia.com/sznews/archives/003341.html
- OnesimusUnbound 15y ago
  After I've read her article, I would say I have high regards with her.
igorgue 15y ago
I think it's incredible how wild woman [1], with so many issues are also very smart, I guess they have too much time in hands to thinker about so many things. [1] I dated a girl who Coutney Love might as well be her role model... a total disaster, the girl read piles of books, had tons of great ideas, learned math for fun, etc etc etc.
nohat 15y ago
It's from Salon, and claims to be a transcript of a speech, so I doubt they could have been easily deceived regarding its authorship.
strmpnk 15y ago
I've managed a couple passing conversations while she was staying in SoHo NYC and she definitely has an idea of what she wants out of things but I can't say there wasn't an amount of fakeness to the whole situation (recalling the defamation lawsuit in this case). To her credit, she explains things very well and certainly doesn't give in lightly to things. I guess it takes an extremely determined personality to live her life. I'm convinced that she knows the record label situation well but it was probably after having the same conversation many times with many other folks in the industry. Still, none of that is necessarily a bad thing nor does it make this a poor piece of writing (regardless of any editors).
rms 15y ago
Don't worry, she basically plagiarized it from Steve Albini. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=79162 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=79162 (I still find it really satisfying when I google for something I know is true and find myself as the #1 advocate of it on Google -- in this case the search "steve albini courtney love plagiarism")
- jmmcd 15y ago
  Nonsense. The Albini article covers a lot less ground and has far fewer ideas. In particular it says nothing about alternative distribution models or the internet.
  - rms 15y ago
    OK. I retract the plagiarism accusation. My belief was that Courtney Love had been influenced by the Albini document (which might have originated as a speech that Courney Love heard) but she brings enough in the way of sufficient new ideas to the table that it doesn't really matter that she doesn't cite her source.
- blackboxxx 15y ago
  After reading both articles I'm left wondering what wacko liberal definition of plagiarism are you going with anyway?

hezekiah 15y ago

Seems hard to believe, but cool if true.

yid 15y ago

...because the wild women of grunge can't possibly have brains too? Disingenuous, my friend. There are famous rockers with PhDs (the guy from green day comes to mind).

joejohnson 15y ago
First, I don't think anyone in Green Day has a PhD. Second, I wasn't surprised because she was a women, or a musician, or because she was part of the grunge scene. I know there are lots of smart women, and lots of smart women in music. I wasn't saying anything about a correlation between gender and intelligence or professions and intelligence. I was suprised because she's Courtney Love, and most of what I've read and seen of her prior to this makes her seem like an idiot. And this article seemed well-thought out, thus surprising me.
- yid 15y ago
  My bad about Green Day -- it was the Offspring I was thinking about (can't blame me, they're almost interchangeable as bands). On the other hand, rockers with PhDs: Dexter Holland from Offspring (molecular biology, but dropped out with a masters) Greg Gaffin from Bad Religion (zoology, 2007) Brian May from Queen (astrophysics) James Lilja from Offspring (medical degree, not PhD) Sterling Morrison from the Velvet Underground (medieval literature, 80s)
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
  - Tycho 15y ago
    Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter of Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers has worked for NASA or the NSA on missile defense systems or something like that.
    - jrockway 15y ago
      "Some person worked for some agency on something, or something"? Thanks for the well-researched comment.
  - davesims 15y ago
    Tom Sholz, guitarist from Boston -- MS in Engineering from MIT. Guitar Hero and Nerd. The only one in captivity?
  - MaysonL 15y ago
    Juli Crockett of the Evangenitals is only an overdue (philosophy) dissertation away (and now that she's pregnant she may never get the damn thing finished).
  - HunterLM 15y ago
    I've done a lot of work for Dexter Holland in the past (and a little for Bad Religion but I never met Graffin) and I can vouch for him being a seriously smart guy. Accomplished pilot, small business owner and inventor (several patents on LBS stuff from early 90s).
- johnarleyburns 15y ago
  ANYTIME a female quotes Neal Stephenson in passing, I'm surprised. Pleasantly surprised, but surprised nonetheless.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
harshpotatoes 15y ago
I don't think the issue is that she's a wild woman from the era of grunge, but rather she was addicted to heroine and cocaine for a while.
- yid 15y ago
  The two might go hand in hand...
- pimeys 15y ago
  People use drugs, the mild ones and the strong ones (including alcohol), in every class. Rich or poor, smart or dumb. Some get addicted, others find some other interests in life.

WalterBright 15y ago

I have a friend who knows Courtney. He says that people routinely underestimate her - she's very smart.

ethank 15y ago
Seconded. She's wickedly smart. and completely crazy.
- larrywright 15y ago
  That's a very frequent combination. I wonder if there's a reason why?
  - ethank 15y ago
    No clue. I know a lot of smart people who aren't crazy though. I think with Courtney (who I have a mutual friend with), she's been isolated just enough to let the crazy foster and the smarts carry her through. I admire her, not without caveats.
    - larrywright 15y ago
      I've often wondered if famous people tend to go off the deep end more than the rest of us because they're constantly surrounded by people who tell the what they want to hear.
  - lionelhutz 15y ago
    Reportedly the genes for intelligence and schizophrenia are linked: http://www.schizophrenia.com/sznews/archives/003341.html http://www.schizophrenia.com/sznews/archives/003341.html
OnesimusUnbound 15y ago
After I've read her article, I would say I have high regards with her.

igorgue 15y ago

I think it's incredible how wild woman [1], with so many issues are also very smart, I guess they have too much time in hands to thinker about so many things. [1] I dated a girl who Coutney Love might as well be her role model... a total disaster, the girl read piles of books, had tons of great ideas, learned math for fun, etc etc etc.

nohat 15y ago

It's from Salon, and claims to be a transcript of a speech, so I doubt they could have been easily deceived regarding its authorship.

strmpnk 15y ago

I've managed a couple passing conversations while she was staying in SoHo NYC and she definitely has an idea of what she wants out of things but I can't say there wasn't an amount of fakeness to the whole situation (recalling the defamation lawsuit in this case). To her credit, she explains things very well and certainly doesn't give in lightly to things. I guess it takes an extremely determined personality to live her life. I'm convinced that she knows the record label situation well but it was probably after having the same conversation many times with many other folks in the industry. Still, none of that is necessarily a bad thing nor does it make this a poor piece of writing (regardless of any editors).

rms 15y ago

Don't worry, she basically plagiarized it from Steve Albini. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=79162 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=79162 (I still find it really satisfying when I google for something I know is true and find myself as the #1 advocate of it on Google -- in this case the search "steve albini courtney love plagiarism")

jmmcd 15y ago
Nonsense. The Albini article covers a lot less ground and has far fewer ideas. In particular it says nothing about alternative distribution models or the internet.
- rms 15y ago
  OK. I retract the plagiarism accusation. My belief was that Courtney Love had been influenced by the Albini document (which might have originated as a speech that Courney Love heard) but she brings enough in the way of sufficient new ideas to the table that it doesn't really matter that she doesn't cite her source.
blackboxxx 15y ago
After reading both articles I'm left wondering what wacko liberal definition of plagiarism are you going with anyway?