"You Know My Name" is a song by the American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

musician

Courtney Love Courtney Michelle Love (née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, her career has spanned four decades. She rose to prominence as ...

. It was released on May 4, 2014 on Cherry Forever Records, packaged as a double A-side single with the song " Wedding Day". Featuring themes of public fame and notoriety, "You Know My Name" was written by Love, guitarist

Micko Larkin Michael "Micko" Joseph Larkin (born 13 October 1986) is an English musician, most notable as the lead guitarist of the indie rock band Larrikin Love and reformed Hole. Biography 1986–2006: Early life and career Larkin was born in Hammersmith ...

and bassist Shawn Dailey. It was recorded alongside "Wedding Day" at Atrium Studios in Calabasas,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in early 2014 with producer

Michael Beinhorn Michael Beinhorn is a North American record producer, composer, author and musician. He has produced albums for Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Hole, Violent Femmes and Marilyn Manson. Career 1977-1983: Early Years, Material, Herbie Hanco ...

. The single was released on Love's own independent record label Cherry Forever, under license to

Kobalt Label Services Kobalt Music Recordings is a division of Kobalt Music Group. KLS provides record label services to artists, receiving a share of revenues, while allowing artists to retain ownership of their master recordings. The company was founded in 2012 wh ...

, and was supported by a well received eight-date tour of the United Kingdom. Critical reception to "You Know My Name" was largely positive and the single placed in the

UK Independent Singles Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rel ...

upon its release. An accompanying music video, directed by Maximilla Lukacs, features Love performing "You Know My Name" as a character abandoned on her wedding day inspired by

Miss Havisham Miss Havisham is a character in the Charles Dickens novel '' Great Expectations'' (1861). She is a wealthy spinster, once jilted at the altar, who insists on wearing her wedding dress for the rest of her life. She lives in a ruined mansion wit ...

from

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

1861 novel '' Great Expectations''.

Origin and recording

"You Know My Name" was written by Courtney Love, guitarist

and bassist Shawn Dailey. It was recorded in early 2014 at Atrium Studios in Calabasas,

and produced by

, who had previously produced ''

Celebrity Skin ''Celebrity Skin'' is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Hole, released on September 8, 1998, in the United States on DGC Records and internationally on Geffen Records. It was the last album released by the band before the ...

'' (1998) and ''

Nobody's Daughter ''Nobody's Daughter'' is the fourth and final studio album by the American alternative rock band Hole, released on April 23, 2010, by Mercury Records. The album was initially conceived as a solo project and follow-up to the Hole frontwoman Courtn ...

'' (2010) by Love's former band

Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

. The song features Mötley Crüe member

Tommy Lee Thomas Lee Bass (born October 3, 1962) is an American musician and founding member of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. As well as being the band's long-term drummer, Lee founded rap metal band Methods of Mayhem and has pursued solo musical ...

on drums. In a television interview with BBC Breakfast, Love noted that the main themes of "You Know My Name" were fame and notoriety, referring to it as "a really simple, sweary, fast in-your-face song" about her public reputation. She described how she was inspired to write the song after repeated listens to

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

1968 song "

Sympathy for the Devil "Sympathy for the Devil" is a song by English rock band the Rolling Stones and the opening track from the band's 1968 album ''Beggars Banquet''. The song is a product of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' songwriting partnership. It is consi ...

", which left her "feeling quite like a rock villainess".

Release and reception

"You Know My Name" is Loves first solo release in a decade, since '' America's Sweetheart'' (2004) and its two supporting singles: "

Mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanese b ...

" and " Hold On to Me". The song premiered on

Steve Lamacq Stephen Paul Lamacq (born 16 October 1964), sometimes known by his nickname Lammo (given to him by John Peel), is an English disc jockey, currently working with the BBC radio station BBC Radio 6 Music. Early life He attended The Ramsey Academ ...

s radio programme on

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

on April 22, 2014 ahead of Love's British tour, and was later made available for stream on Love's official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel. "You Know My Name" was released as a double A-side single, also featuring the song " Wedding Day", on May 4, 2014 on Cherry Forever Records, under exclusive license to

. It was made available worldwide as a digital download on iTunes, and a neon pink 7" limited to 3,000 copies is due to be released in the United Kingdom on May 26, 2014. Love supported the release of "You Know My Name"/"Wedding Day" with an eight-date tour of the United Kingdom, beginning at the O₂ Shepherds Bush Empire in London on May 11 and concluding at Think Tank in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

on May 22. On the opening night of the tour, Love debuted "You Know My Name" live and received warm reviews from various publications. "You Know My Name"/"Wedding Day" entered the

at number 34, as well as the Independent Singles Breakers Chart at number 8. Critical reception to "You Know My Name" was largely favorable. ''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' writer Nolan Feeney described the song as "a thrilling

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

workout" and noted that "just when the track seems to reach its peak, it ignites with a forceful hook: 'All this world is burning up / It's time that you retire.' Good thing she hasn't." Writing for Stereogum, Michael Nelson referred to "You Know My Name" as "old-school, no-frills, no-fat punk rock with a huge, knockout hook on the chorus and a perfectly shredded vocal performance that only gets stronger as it gets more ragged", adding "this … is Courtney at her best". Chris Martins of '' Spin'' said that "it's the perfect mix of punk angst, metal shred, and melodic might" and concluded the song was "a '' bona fide'' ripper", while ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' surmised that the song "finds Love in full beast mode" and ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' drew comparisons between Love and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

Music video

Love originally planned for the music video to "You Know My Name" to be directed by

David LaChapelle David LaChapelle (born March 11, 1963) is an American photographer, music video director and film director. He is best known for his work in fashion, photography, which often references art history and sometimes conveys social messages. His pho ...

. Love had a budget set aside for the video which subsequently "took a big hit" and she was unable to afford LaChapelle. After considering Steven Klein as a potential director, Love choose Maximilla Lukacs to direct the video. Lukacs shot directed the music video for "You Know My Name" in April 2014. Love shared updates from the video shoot on various social media accounts, including Instagram where she uploaded teaser clips describing the themes of the video. Love stated that her intention was to "look like an old Victorian doll crossed with a

Dickensian Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

character called

, who got abandoned on her wedding day at the altar and lived to be a hundred". The character portrayed by Love is represented by Lukacs' recurring motif of "hyper-feminine" and "surreal" imagery, which Love "literally destroys". Love stated that she "thought it would be really for ukacs to derive from her standard directing style as " hehas never done really hard-core before". The music video was released on YouTube on May 6, 2014. It was preceded by a short

behind the scenes In cinema, behind-the-scenes (BTS), also known as the making-of, the set, or on the set, is a type of documentary film that features the production of a film or television program. This is often referred to as the EPK (electronic press kit) vi ...

video chronicling the filming of "You Know My Name". In the video, Love "wrecks a fancy room while wearing a white dress and white makeup, surrounded by rose petals" while performing parts of the song on a black Fender Jaguar HH. Stereogum writer Michael Nelson commented that the video's imagery was reminiscent of

Sofia Coppola Sofia Carmina Coppola (; born May 14, 1971) is an American filmmaker and actress. The youngest child and only daughter of filmmakers Eleanor Coppola, Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola, she made her film debut as an infant in her father's acclaimed ...

s 2006 film '' Marie Antoinette'', while Jacques Peterson of PopDust stated that the "glitter, disco balls, broken glass, and vintage couture" featured in the video "walks the same thin line between decadence and destruction" that featured in Hole's earlier music videos.

Track listing

*Digital download and 7" #"You Know My Name" (

Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the love o ...

, Larkin,

Dailey Dailey is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: ;Entertainment *Dan Dailey (1915–1978), American actor and dancer *Irene Dailey (1920–2008), American actress *Peter F. Dailey (1868–1908), American burlesque comedian *Will Dailey ...

) – 2:44 #" Wedding Day" (Love, Larkin) – 3:03

Credits and personnel

Technical personnel credits adapted from "You Know My Name"/"Wedding Day"s liner notes. Musicians *

– vocals, guitar *

– guitar * Shawn Dailey – bass *

– drums Technical *

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

, mixing *Mike Balboa – engineering, Pro Tools editing, mixing *Smiley Sean – engineering,

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture ( sound design, audio post-produ ...

editing *Peter Lyman – mastering

Charts

Release history

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2014 singles 2014 songs Courtney Love songs Song recordings produced by Michael Beinhorn Songs written by Courtney Love Songs written by Micko Larkin