Dicknail

"Dicknail" is the second 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.

[edit] Meaning

In an interview with Flipside Magazine in 1990, band members Courtney Love and Caroline Rue said this about the meaning of the song Dicknail:

“

Love: "We just wrote this song called '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... Okay it's a male-bashing song! No, it's not..."
Rue: "It sounds like a rationale for a gang bang sometimes, the excuses..."
Love: "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 miniskirt!"
Rue: "They're exactly like the witch trials, you have to prove that you are completely, immaculately, virginally pure or else you are asking for it."

”

The idea of a woman "asking for it" was one that stayed with Love, 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] Track listing

All songs written by Hole

"Dicknail" - 3:39
"Burn Black" - 4:56

v • d • e Hole

Eric Erlandson · Courtney Love · Samantha Maloney · Melissa Auf der Maur Patty Schemel · Jill Emery · Lisa Roberts Gillan · Leslie Hardy · Kristen Pfaff · Caroline Rue

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	Discography · Sympathy for the Record Industry · Nirvana · Billy Corgan · Kat Bjelland