Ask for It

Recording history

Ask for It featured songs recorded from several different sources; only one song on the EP was a studio recording, while the rest were from live performances with John Peel and at the Whisky A Go Go.

Hole's first radio session, one of the famous John Peel Sessions, was recorded prior to their second UK tour with Daisy Chainsaw and Therapy?. The session took place at Studio 4 and was first broadcast on January 5, 1992. Hole frontwoman Courtney Love had written John Peel two letters previously, thanking him for airing "Retard Girl" on his radio show, which was the reason for Hole's sturdy fanbase in England at the time. During the session, live versions of "Doll Parts", "Violet", "Drown Soda" and "Forming/Hot Chocolate Boy" were recorded.

The band's live performance at the Whisky a Go Go on February 11, 1992 was recorded by Carlos Nuñez. The show included covers of The Beatles' "Cry, Baby, Cry", and "Pale Blue Eyes" by The Velvet Underground. According to Courtney Love, the band had only played "Pale Blue Eyes" once prior at the Whisky A Go Go, at a show on December 19, 1991. Footage of this performance had been recorded by Love's friend Joe Cole, a road manager who attended the show with Henry Rollins. Cole was murdered in a robbery on the way home after the concert, and the footage was given to the band after his death. During that performance, Love also stated that Kurt Cobain, whom she had then just began dating, walked into the club right as the band began performing the song, and described his entrance into the crowd as "the sea parting". This show marked the final performances of drummer Caroline Rue and bassist Jill Emery, as they left the band after this concert.

In 1992, Hole recorded a cover version of "Over the Edge" by Portland punk band the Wipers for a tribute album titled Fourteen Songs for Greg Sage and the Wipers (1993). Several other bands— many from Portland and the outlying area— recorded covers of Wipers songs, including Nirvana, Poison Idea, Calamity Jane, Dharma Bums, and M99.

Although Hole had been based in Los Angeles, Love had lived in Portland on and off between 1972 and 1985, and was part of the city's punk scene during the height of the Wipers' career. The recording session for "Over the Edge" took place at producer and engineer Jimmy Boyle's residence in Hollywood in 1992. At the end of the song, Love added the lyrics, "You, go to Portland / You might take him with you / You, go to Portland".

Packaging and artwork

The front cover of the EP features a woman's outstretched arms side-by-side over a tile floor with slash marks on her wrists, alluding to self mutilation. The cover concept was designed by Courtney Love. The interior artwork features two black and white promotional shots of the band in 1991 among the liner notes.

Critical reception

The EP received a fairly positive reaction from critics. Robert Christgau gave the album a three-star honorable mention, and Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+ rating, noting that the band's rendition of "Pale Blue Eyes" was "eerily compelling". The magazine also stated that "the cover image of a pair of wrists, decorated with newly healed scars, screams 'desperate cry for help' louder than any song on here."

The album received a 2.5 out of 5 stars from Allmusic, and in 2004, The Rolling Stone Album Guide gave it three out of five stars.

Track listing

Chart position

The EP has sold about 150,000 copies in the U.S. to date.

Personnel