"Violet" is a song by American alternative rock band Hole, written by vocalist and guitarist Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson. The song was written in mid-1991, and was performed live between 1991 and 1992 during Hole's earlier tours, eventually appearing as the opening track on the band's second studio album Live Through This (1994). The song was released as the group's seventh single and the third from that album in early 1995.
Cover art from the 7-inch vinyl release
Love finished writing "Violet" at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit in 1991
Image: Bessie Smith (1936) by Carl Van Vechten
Image: Janis Joplin performing
Hole was an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1989. It was founded by singer and guitarist Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson. It had several different bassists and drummers, the most prolific being drummer Patty Schemel, and bassists Kristen Pfaff and Melissa Auf der Maur. Hole released a total of four studio albums between two incarnations spanning the 1990s and early-2010s and became one of the most commercially successful rock bands in history fronted by a woman.
Hole performing at Public Assembly, NYC in April 2013
Love and Erlandson performing with Hole, c. 1989.
Courtney Love performing with Hole at Big Day Out, Melbourne, January 22, 1995.
Love and Micko Larkin performing with Hole at SXSW in Austin, Texas, 2010.
