Courtney Love Provides A Reminder Of Afternoon Delights Past

noah | September 11, 2008 12:15 pm
In an even-ramblier-than-usual Courtney Love blog entry–topics include joining a Lilac Society branch in Pasadena long ago and collaborating with ex-Hole bassist/nautically minded rock lady Melissa Auf der Maur in the immediate future–the VMA-skipping widow Cobain talks about how certain songs in the early ’90s “pissed me off and fucked me up and made me a competitive little shit.” Perhaps taking a cue from her stream-of-consciousness ways, I got completely sidetracked by her mention of Smashing Pumpkins’ “La Dolly Vita” (above), which I first heard on the fantastic Sub Pop compilation Afternoon Delight. (“Vita” was a b-side to the Pumpkins’ 1990 Sub Pop single, which featured the blistering “Tristessa” on the front.)

Here is the track listing for Afternoon Delight. It’s kind of great. No, scratch “kind of,” it’s great–even the spoken-word bit, althogh I will admit that it was tough for the teenaged me to stomach at first.

1. Sebadoh / It’s So Hard To Fall In Love

2. Come / Car 3. Beat Happening / Other Side 4. Unrest / When It All Comes Down 5. Steven Jesse Bernstein / This Clouded Heart 6. Green River / Baby Takes 7. Codeine / Castle 8. Afghan Whigs / Let Me Lie To You

9. Smashing Pumpkins / La Dolly Vita 10. Seaweed / Clean Slate 11. Vaselines / Rory Rides Me Raw

12. Rev. Horton Heat / Where In The Hell Did You Go With My Toothbrush? 13. Billy Childish & Kyra / Why Can’t You See

It was comps like these that caused me to trawl the aisles of the Country Glen Center’s Tower Records outpost back in the day, looking for the missing links between these artists and the one song of theirs I’d heard. (Hello, Thee Headcoatees!) I guess I’m echoing Jay Smooth’s lament in a way by mourning that time, but it was a lot of fun, even if it did ultimately drain my meager earnings almost as soon as I’d earned them.

Various Arists: Afternoon Delight [Sub Pop] if i had a life [Courtney Love’s MySpace Blog]