Courtney Love Is Cleared, Ready to Rock

Courtney Love has officially completed her period of drug rehab and house arrest for violating the terms of her probation, a Los Angeles judge ruled Friday. The rocker appeared at L.A.'s downtown Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center for a progress report, following the completion of a six-month rehab sentence for violating her probation on a number of charges stemming from 2003 and 2004 -- including assault, possession of an illegal prescription and being under the influence of a controlled substance. Superior Court Judge Rand S. Rubin announced, "Overall, I think you're doing really well. We're all pretty pleased with your progress. At this point, the house arrest is complete, so you're done."

Love herself delivered a statement: "I would just like to thank the court for allowing me these ninety days . . . [It] helped me deal with a very gnarly drug problem, which is behind me . . . I've just been playing guitar and taking care of my daughter. I want to [take this opportunity] to let the community know I'm doing great."

The judge set two dates for future review of Love's case: On May 5th, her lawyers must submit yet another progress report, and on May 12th, the singer must appear in court to address the report. Love continues to be on probation, and must remain alcohol- and drug-free.

During Love's sentence, which included almost four months in an in-house rehab program last year, the singer returned to writing, penning eight new tunes including "How Dirty Girls Get Clean," "Sad But True," "Sunset Marquis, "Loser Dust" and "Never Go Hungry Again." After being released to an outpatient program by Judge Rubin in November of last year, Love hit the studio with Billy Corgan, laying down those cuts, as well as "For Once in Your Life," for a series of tapes she's dubbed The Rehab Demos.

Speaking to Rolling Stone prior to her court appearance, Love claimed that, after so much personal turmoil, she continues to experience a very fertile period in her songwriting. "I've been really inspired lately and have remained inspired," said the rocker, citing the new tune "Good in Bed," which sports the lyric, "Tell me why the evil people are so very good in bed."

Love said another cut, "Stand Up Motherfucker," was inspired by a family member. "There was an incident where my novelist grandmother said in the New York Times [that] she didn't like the way I used language," she explains. "I reacted to that, and I wrote an elegiac sort of song using the word 'motherfucker' in it." The lyrics include, "With your total lack of discipline/Your desperate air need/You remind me of Caligula/I think you'd better leave/You come to me injectable and powdered to ingest/I never was respectable but at least I was well-dressed."

Love plans to demo some of her new material in the coming weeks before hitting the studio next month with songwriter/producer Linda Perry (Pink, Christina Aguilera), who gave Love a guitar while she was in rehab and encouraged her to become more "self-reliant." "But make no mistake," says Love, "I've written these songs by myself. It's great to have good musicians, but this is me and a guitar."

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Song Stories

“The A Team”

Ed Sheeran | 2011

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.

More Song Stories entries »

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