Hole, Courtney Love, Smashing Pumpkins… Bass legend MELISSA AUF DER MAUR on the “beautiful mess” of grunge

About this episode

Diving deep into all things ’90s… Canadian art school kid turned indie bass player Melissa Auf Der Maur was sucked into the whirlwind of two of the biggest alt.rock and grunge bands of the ’90s, centre stage with two of the most divisive characters of the decade: first Billy Corgan and then Courtney Love. Born to creative and politically active parents in Montreal, Melissa was never going to conform. But few would have bet on such a wild journey through music and culture she would take – least of all herself. She talks to Miranda about how she ended up playing to 65,000 people after just seven gigs… why she couldn’t say no to Courtney… and how she obsessively photographed her time in Hole and the Smashing Pumpkins from 1994-2001, all in her new book My ’90s Rock Photographs. ⁠Support us on Patreon • Buy My 90’s Rock Photographs through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. Follow us on: BlueSky Instagram TikTok Subscribe to our Spotify playlist • Advertisers! Want your brand to reach the 3.5 MILLION people who listen to Podmasters podcasts ever