Dicknail

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"Dicknail"
Single by Hole
Released	March 1991
Format	7"
Recorded	1990
Genre	Grunge
Label	Sub Pop
Hole singles chronology
Retard Girl (1990)	Dicknail	Teenage Whore (1991)

"Dicknail" is the sophomore single of grunge band Hole, with the b-side "Burn Black". It was released in March 1991 on the Sub Pop label as a 7" vinyl record. 1st pressings were part of Sub Pop's single of the month series with grey, light green or pink marble vinyl and wraparound p/s. Later copies were issued with card p/s on green, purple or blue vinyl.The song later appeared on the Hole compilation album My Body, the Hand Grenade as well as the soundtrack to the 1997 film nowhere.

In an interview with Flipside Magazine in 1990, lead singer Courtney Love said this about the meaning of the song Dicknail 'It's about different kinds of, it's an anti-misogynism anthem. It has a verse about rape, it has a verse about incest, it has a verse about - ok it's a male bashing song! No, it's not... ' 'The words to the song are very simple, they're like, you know in rape cases how people say "she liked it" or "she was asking for it" or "look at how she was dressed". A lot of times in rape cases people don't even go to jail because the woman was wearing a fucking mini-skirt!' The idea of a woman 'asking for it' was one that stayed with Courtney, and influenced later work by Hole such as the song 'Asking For It' from the album Live Through This. In this thematic respect Dicknail can be seen to be an earlier forerunner of this song, even though the musical and vocal styles are very different.

Even though the single was Hole's only appearance on the Sub Pop label, it has nevertheless been reissued as a part of several collections of early Sub Pop music such as Revolution Come and Gone and The Birth of Alternative Vol. 1 alongside songs from contemporaries such as Nirvana and The Afghan Whigs.

Besides the songwriting credits goes collectively to Hole, BMI's website shows that, in fact, both songs were written only by Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson.

[edit] Tracks

All songs written by Hole

1. Dicknail
2. Burn Black

Hole
Courtney Love | Eric Erlandson | Patty Schemel | Melissa Auf der Maur
Jill Emery | Leslie Hardy | Samantha Maloney | Kristen Pfaff | Lisa Roberts | Caroline Rue | Errol Stewert
Discography
Studio albums and EPs: Pretty on the Inside | Live Through This | Ask for It | The First Session | My Body, the Hand Grenade | Celebrity Skin
Singles: "Retard Girl" | "Dicknail" | "Teenage Whore" | "Beautiful Son" | "Miss World" | "Doll Parts" | "Violet" | "Softer, Softest" | "Gold Dust Woman" | "Celebrity Skin" | "Malibu" | "Awful" | "Be a Man"
Related articles
Sympathy for the Record Industry | Kurt Cobain | Nirvana | Billy Corgan | Kat Bjelland | "Asking for It" | "Old Age"
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