Courtney Love Nearly Scored a Mariah Carey Guest Spot on "Nobody's Daughter"

In what could have been one of the strangest but exciting collaborations in rock history, Courtney Love and Mariah Carey almost teamed for a duet on Love's upcoming Hole album Nobody's Daughter. As Love tells Spinner, she was asking her rocker buds — namely Billy Corgan and My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way — if they could sing the lyric "People like you fuck people like me" on the album's opener "Samantha." Thwarted, Love went to visit her friend, director Brett Ratner, at his Los Angeles mansion. Anyone who's seen that episode of Entourage knows that Ratner's pad is pretty much like Chateau Marmont when it comes to stargazing, so it was likely Love would find someone there to sing the lyric.

"I'm at his house and I sing the part, 'People like you fuck people like me,' " Love told Spinner. "And this little voice goes, 'I'll sing it.' I'm like, 'Who's that?' The voice goes, 'It's Mariah.' " Carey has frequently recruited Ratner to direct her videos, from "We Belong Together" to "Obsessed." "It was hysterical. I never met Mariah for more than a minute in my life, but we sort of canceled each other out. We had nothing negative about each other to say. I'm not in her universe and she's not in mine," Love said.

In the studio with Courtney Love: exclusive photos.

Although Carey did end up singing the lyric for Love, one important ingredient was missing that prevented Carey's contribution from making Nobody's Daughter: a recording device. As Rolling Stone previously reported, Hole will make their official return to the stage for the first time in 11 years later this month with a trio of shows in Europe.

Related Stories:
• Courtney Love Plots Hole's Return With European Gigs, New Websites
• Courtney Love Explores Greed, Vengeance, and Feminism on "Nobody's Daughter"
• In the Studio With Courtney Love: Exclusive Photos

• 
  MUSIC The Top 25 Teen Idol Breakout Moments
• 
  MOVIES & TV 'Game of Thrones': The Show Vs. the Books
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Facebook IPO vs. Shareholders
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive: Garbage Rip Through 'I Think I'm Paranoid'

Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter