Celebrity Skin is Hole's third and final album, released worldwide on September 7, 1998, and a day later, on September 8, 1998 in the United States. The songs were written by the band, some with the help of Billy Corgan; however, Courtney Love penned all of the lyrics. The studio work took almost a year and a half, due to Love's rising movie career, fruitless recording attempts in New Orleans and Nashville in 1997, Corgan's involvement in songwriting and the actual album sessions, between Los Angeles, New York City, London and Miami. According to Eric Erlandson's answers on Hole's ex-official bulletin board (KittyRadio.com) concerning the album's recording sessions, the musician stated that he played all the guitars on the entire work. Love was allegedly "not caring about" playing her instrument on the record, focusing only on singing and songwriting, and Billy Corgan, from whom further participation on the album was rumored, only played bass on "Hit So Hard". Erlandson also declared that Patty Schemel actually didn't play on the album, though she is credited as a Hole member on the sleeve. Schemel's departure from the band occurred during the recordings and photo shoots for the album. Her substitute was Samantha Maloney.
