My Body, the Hand Grenade

Compilation album by Hole

Released

October 28, 1997 (Europe)
December 10, 1997 (U.S.)

Recorded

Various

- March 17, 1990 at Rudy's Rising Star (Los Angeles, California, U.S.)
- November 1990 at Radio Tokyo (Los Angeles, California, U.S.)
- November 1992 at Word of Mouth Productions (Seattle, Washington, U.S.)
- January 1993 at Ariola Ltda BMG (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
- September 1993 at Triclops Studios (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.)
- February 14, 1995 at Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York City, New York, U.S.)
- May 4, 1995 at Brixton Academy (London, England)
- August 25, 1995 at Little John's Farm (Reading, England)

Genre

Length

55:52

Hole chronology

The First Session
(1997)

My Body, the Hand Grenade
(1997)

Celebrity Skin
(1998)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Spin	(positive)
NME

My Body, the Hand Grenade is the first and only compilation album by American alternative rock band Hole, released on October 28, 1997 through the band's European label, City Slang Records. It was also imported for sale in the United States, where it was released on December 10, 1997. The album was compiled with the intent of tracking the band's progression from their noise rock beginnings to the more melodic songwriting that appeared on their second album, Live Through This (1994).

Made up of various unreleased tracks, b-sides, and singles, the album contains tracks from the band's first recording session in March 1990, as well as recordings sourced from several live performances. As a result, the tracks feature various bassists and drummers from past lineups; frontwoman Courtney Love is also featured playing bass guitar in one of the tracks.

Production and mixing of the album was done chiefly by the band's lead guitarist, Eric Erlandson, while Courtney Love designed the album art, which features portraits of, and images referencing, Marie Antoinette, Anne Boleyn, and Jayne Mansfield, with "decapitated women" being the cohesive theme. The album's title, also conceived by Love, references this as well, with the pulling of the trigger-pin in a hand grenade functioning as a symbol for a body being decapitated. In the United Kingdom, the album peaked at #9 on the UK Albums Chart.

My Body, the Hand Grenade is the only compilation album to be released by Hole. The liner notes also explain that the compilation was put together to document Hole's progression from the punk-influenced Pretty on the Inside (released in 1991) to their more restrained, alternative rock-based Live Through This (released in 1994). The album was dedicated to former Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff and Kurt Cobain, both of whom died in 1994.

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Wikipedia