Celebrity Skin was named the most anticipated album of 1998 by anyone who mattered. And it truly was, for various reasons. Many people were anxiously awaiting Hole's rumored softer sound; some eagerly, others dreading a change. Other people were waiting for proof, one way or the other, on the rumor that Kurt Cobain had helped Courtney write most of the material for Live Through This. Others were curious as to how involved Billy Corgan's involvement in the album was. Still others were just damn sick of all the delays in release dates that occured in the months prior to the album's September release.

The album was well worth the wait. From the Hollywood-bashing, opening title track, to the closing, farewell-to-innocence track with the recycled "Live Through This" lyrics ("Tear the petals off of you / make you tell the truth") Celebrity Skin provides 50 minutes of sheer brilliant songcrafting.

Celebrity Skin - The Hollywood-bashing, first single off the album. Its performance at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards on September 10th, 1998, marked the band's first performance since Live Though This days.

Awful - The third single off the album. Courtney has said that several lines in this song pertain to Bush's Gavin Rossdale. A video has been said to be due out sometime.

Hit So Hard - It's debated whether this song is an uninventive rip-off of "He Hit Me (and it Felt Like a Kiss"), a song about physical beauty being striking, or, as Courtney put it at the Viper Room, "that song is about a really great orgasm."

Malibu - The second single off the album, which produced two versions. Courtney has described it as a "summer, drive-with-your-convertible-top-down song."

Reasons to be Beautiful - "I decided to make a list of reasons to be beautiful..and a list of reasons to be ugly." An interesting lyrical change to a certain famed letter.

Dying
Use Once & Destroy
Northern Star
Boys On The Radio
Heaven Tonight
Playing Your Song
Petals