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Cover of Live Through This by Hole
Cover: Live Through This

Song · Hole

“Doll Parts” by Hole

From the album Live Through This (1994)

“Doll Parts” by Hole appears on 57 radio countdowns from 27 stations between 1994 and 2025. It was first released in 1994 on the album Live Through This. Its best result is #2 on the 91X Top 91 Songs of 1994. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #15 alternative song of 1994, #538 alternative song of all time and #169 of the '90s.

57countdowns
27stations
#2best position
0#1 finishes
1top 10 finishes
1994–2025years charted

Watch

Hole - Doll Parts (Official Music Video)

Video from YouTube (HoleVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Doll Parts" is the raw nerve at the center of Hole's 1994 album Live Through This, a song Courtney Love wrote back in late 1991, not long after she met Kurt Cobain. By her own admission it's about insecurity, about not being sure he really wanted her, and she sings it like somebody picking at a scab: hushed and ragged in the verses, then cracking wide open into a howl.

Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie produced and engineered it, and they let it breathe. The arrangement stays spare, a slow, bruised strum that builds and breaks and leaves Love's voice out in the open with nowhere to hide.

It went out as a single that October, the second from the album, timed to the band's North American tour, and it was the first Hole release after bassist Kristen Pfaff died that June. It climbed to number 4 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and became one of Hole's signature songs, and in 2021 Rolling Stone slotted it at 208 when it ranked the greatest songs ever recorded.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1994 24 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1994 107
1994 2 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1994 91
1994 26 Live 105 San Francisco, CA Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1994 106
1994 25 Q101 Chicago, IL Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1994 101
1994 37 WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1994 100
1994 45 John Peel (BBC Radio 1) John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1994 50
1994 28 Triple J Australia (national) Triple J Hottest 100 of 1994 100
1994 69 Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) Radio & Records Top 94 Songs of 1994 94
1995 87 Radio 104.1 Hartford-New Haven, CT WMRQ Top 104 Songs of 1995 104
1995 34 103.1 The Buzz West Palm Beach, FL The Buzz Top 103 Alternative Songs of '95 103

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
– 53 CRNC 90.1 CRNC Top 90.1 Songs of the '90s 91
1994 399 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1994) 500
1995 188 Live 105 Live 105 Revolutionary 300 (July 1995) 300
1996 327 Q101 Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996) 500
1996 380 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1996) 498
1999 158 KROQ KROQ Top 300 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 1999) 300
1999 273 WHFS WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999) 500
1999 385 91X 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999) 500
1999 140 Q101 Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1017
1999 258 WFNX WFNX Top 500 Songs of All-Time (June 1999) 500
1999 217 107.7 The End The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1077
1999 269 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1999) 500
1999 90 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
1999 161 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) 1002
2000 76 Y100 Y100 Top 300 Songs of the '90s (September 2000) 100
2000 286 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2000) 500
2000 90 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 287 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2001) 498
2001 99 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2002 49 WFNX WFNX Top 50 Grunge Songs of All-Time (June 2002) 50
2002 271 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2002) 500
2002 99 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 504 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 320 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2003) 500
2003 99 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2004 416 107.7 The End The End Original Alternative 500 (May 2004) 500
2004 99 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2004 70 WBCN WBCN Grunge Top 104 (2004) 104
2005 94 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2005 679 99X 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) 1000
2006 89 107.7 The End The End Top 107 Songs of the '90s (December 2006) 107
2006 401 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2006) 500
2006 412 Live 105 Live 105 500 Co-Op Countdown (Memorial Day 2006) 500
2007 251 KROQ KROQ Top 500 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 2007) 500
2008 385 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2008) 500
2009 367 Live 105 Live 105 Memorial 500 Song List (2009) 500
2010 159 CFNY 102.1 The Edge 102.1 The Edge Top 200 Songs of the 90's (September 2010) 200
2020 391 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2020) 420
2020 442 DC101 The DC101 Top 500 500
2021 82 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s 908
2021 410 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2021) 420
2022 447 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s 900
2022 391 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2022) 420
2022 498 X96 X96 Top 500 Alternative Songs of All Time 500
2023 293 The Current The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s 893
2023 357 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2023) 420
2025 164 WFPK WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '90s 500

Charting alongside it in 1994

Best songs of 1994 →
  1. 1Black Hole SunSoundgarden
  2. 2CloserNine Inch Nails
  3. 3Self-EsteemThe Offspring
  4. 4Interstate Love SongStone Temple Pilots
  5. 5Come Out and PlayThe Offspring
  6. 6Basket CaseGreen Day

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