America's Sweetheart
Studio album by Courtney Love
Released	February 10, 2004
Recorded	2001-2003
Studio	Studio Miraval Le Val Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur France[1]
Genre	Alternative rock hard rock punk rock
Length	46:39
Label	Virgin
Producer	Josh Abraham James Barber Matt Serletic
Singles from America's Sweetheart
"Mono" Released: February 16, 2004 "Hold On to Me" Released: March 29, 2004

America's Sweetheart is the debut studio album by American alternative rock musician Courtney Love, released worldwide on February 10, 2004 by Virgin Records.^[2] Her first official release after her former band Hole's break-up, the album's sound diverged significantly in musical and lyrical content to Hole's three previous studio albums: Pretty on the Inside (1991), Live Through This (1994) and Celebrity Skin (1998). The recording process of the album began in summer 2001 in Los Angeles, California, however, was affected drastically by a number of personal and legal issues by Love; including her drug problems, the disbandment of Hole, the controversy surrounding Nirvana's upcoming box set, and legal problems with various record labels. In spring 2003, Love traveled to southern France to re-record the album, however, according to Love, she "just wanted to be in a château for six months and do drugs."^[3] The album had three main producers, one of whom, James Barber, was Love's partner at the time.

Following recording, America's Sweetheart was further delayed due to Virgin's excessive input on the album's mastering, art direction, and track listing. Upon its release, it received little promotion, with the main source of media exposure being a music video for the album's first single, "Mono," and Love's highly publicized drug issues. America's Sweetheart received mixed reviews and was a commercial failure, selling 86,000 copies in its first three months,^[4] and with Love further citing the album as "a mistake." In more recent years, both Love and producer Linda Perry have referred to the album as "le disaster"^[5] and "ruined because [Love] was coked out,"^[6] respectively. The album featured drumming from former Hole drummer Patty Schemel, as well as guest instrumentation and vocals from Emilie Autumn.

Background and history

Though the original recordings for America's Sweetheart were made at a château in the south of France in 2003, the concept of Love's first solo album was conceived as early as 2001, when rough versions of songs later to appear on America's Sweetheart were being recorded. Critics who had heard the recordings referred to the tracks as "her best recordings yet."^[7] Also around this time, Love began doing live performances, notably at both Ventura's Majestic Theater and the Hollywood Bowl in October 2001, at which early versions of songs (such as "But Julian, I'm A Little Bit Older Than You" and "All the Drugs") were performed.^[8]

The recording sessions for the album featured Love working with producer Linda Perry and lyricist Bernie Taupin,^[9] and amounted to a total of 32 songs,^[10] including a cover of "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes.

Non-US versions of the album feature – though uncredited – Brody Dalle and Kim Deal on a different recording of "Sunset Strip" (with slightly altered lyrics), singing and playing guitar. Dalle claims she is also a co-writer of the song.^[11] Despite being initially offended by the lack of credit, Dalle was happy to be uncredited due to the album's subsequent mixed reception.^[11]

Music and composition

Love, on various occasions, has stated her disappointment with the album. She demonstrated her extreme regret about the record in a September 2006 interview:

"The sound on America's Sweetheart sucked beyond words. The production was a nightmare. Linda and I had written some really good songs, but they were rendered lazily and sound like shit. The art was horrific and not my idea and the label didn't back it at all. I was busy taking drugs to dull the pain of having lost everything and made a shit album to boot [...] the producer didn't know what he was doing and he just spent my money. It almost had a moment of being Exile on Main Street – almost – but that's like almost winning a race. You either do or you do not. And in this case it's a delightfully written record in parts and sonically untenable with two of the most pretentious songs I have ever written. I was so druggy I thought it'd be cute to rip off "(Smells Like) Teen Spirit" on "I'll Do Anything." Believe it or not, "All the Drugs", "Sunset Strip", "Mono" and "But Julian..." are all good songs. They just were produced crap and the songs weren't taken further than demo status. The art still makes me seethe. At least make it look cool, and instead there's me as a Playboy pinup. I love Olivia's art but that was personal for me – not art for a record."

In the documentary The Return of Courtney Love, co-writer Linda Perry referred to America's Sweetheart by saying "a lot of heart went in to and it got ruined because her [Courtney] and her friend were coke'd out." In 2010, while addressing the Oxford Union, Love referred to the album as a "really crap record" and reasoned that drug issues were to blame for its content.^[14]

In 2004, before the final production and release of the album, Love asked ex-Hole drummer Samantha Maloney to travel to France after drummer Patty Schemel left the album's recording sessions for a second time. After adding drum takes to the album, Maloney travelled back to the US and was put in charge of assembling Love's live band, which later became known as The Chelsea. After auditions, Maloney reconnected with guitarist Radio Sloan, found guitarist Lisa Leveridge, bassist Dvin Kirakosian,^[15] and the four women formed the core of Love's backing band. Violinist Emilie Autumn later joined the band.^[16]

Commercial performance

America's Sweetheart is usually regarded as a commercial failure. In the US, the album debuted at number fifty-three on the Billboard 200, selling 33,000 copies.^[17] This figure was significantly lower than Love's last album, Hole's Celebrity Skin, which debuted at number nine. In its first three months, the album sold 86,000 copies, which was equivalent to Celebrity Skin's first week sales.^[18][4]

The first single taken from the album, "Mono", was released in February 2004 and the song experienced some radio airplay, peaking at number 18 in the Billboard charts and number 41 in the UK. The album's second single, "Hold on to Me", peaked at number 39 on the billboard Modern Rock Tracks, and was a minor hit in several countries.

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	59/100[19]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[20]
The A.V. Club	D[21]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[22]
The Guardian	[23]
NME	6/10[24]
Pitchfork	4/10[25]
Rolling Stone	[26]
Spin	A−[27]
USA Today	[28]
The Village Voice	A−[29]

Critical response to America's Sweetheart was mixed.^[19] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic stated that "since her solo debut is so sloppy and predictable [...] it suggests her music is more bluster than meaning" and that "[Love is] trying to snarl like it's 1994, yet wrapping herself in a glossy production from 1998 while relying on songs that are an amalgam of bad L.A. punk and bad L.A. metal."^[20] NME also published a mixed review stating that the album "sounds slight and rather ragged" but "never less than compelling" and that "the production covers everything in a superficial glosshile."^[24] Pitchfork Media reacted negatively to the album stating that "America's Sweetheart demonstrates a fairly monstrous decline in both quality and conviction" and that it was "retaining all the dated grunge crunch."^[25] Similarly, Rolling Stone magazine's Rob Sheffield suggested that, "for people who enjoy watching celebrities fall apart, America's Sweetheart should be more fun than an Osbournes marathon."^[26] In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau wrote positively of the record, believing Love had "delivered an album as invigorating in its contempt for rock professionalism as Neil Young's Tonight's the Night."^[29] Spin critic Charles Aaron was also impressed by the album, referring to it as a "jaw-dropping act of artistic will",^[27] while Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian noted the lyrics as the strong point of the album calling them "hedonistic to the last" and "some of the baldest ever recorded."^[23]

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

References