Babes in Toyland - Spanking Machine

Courtney Love was briefly a member of Babes In Toyland in the mid-'80s, and listening to the group's debut album, Spanking Machine, more than a decade after it first came out, one can't help but wonder who ended up borrowing from whom. In many ways, Spanking Machine sounds like the blueprint for the music Love would make during Hole's first incarnation -- all jagged guitars, venomous spat-out vocals, pounding drums, and pit-of-the-stomach rage. But there's no arguing that Babes In Toyland got this sound on plastic first, and this writer would contend that Spanking Machine is a more compelling and emotionally powerful work than anything Hole has ever released. Read More