Reasons to Be Beautiful
If you had to display ‘Reasons to Be Beautiful’ as a part of a game of Pictionary, it would take the form of the California sunshine struggling to find its way through the pollution of the LA area. The track is thought to been influenced by the death of Kurt Cobain, featuring lyrics such as “It’s better to rise than to fade away” in reference to the phrase used by Cobain in his suicide note; ‘It’s better to burn out than to fade away’.
However, instead of embracing disassociation, isolation and depression, Hole seeks to illustrate that no matter your circumstances you should always be searching for a reason to be beautiful. Hence, in some ways Hole was actually breaking the commonplace view of loneliness and being ‘sick in his soul’ that the 90s alternative scene they belonged to so coveted. ‘Reasons to Be Beautiful’ is a quest to find ‘ten good reasons to stay alive’ and this track should stay alive in the hearts of Hole fans everywhere as a result.
album or in a playlist…in essence the most eminently listenable song of 2016 – My wife now hates it.