Courtney Love

Love her or hate her, the controversial singer owns the best rock yell since her dearly departed hubby Kurt was screeching over the airwaves. Sweetheart rages with one fast 'n' mean rocker after another, only letting up on the bile for a pair of ballads. Good news for fans, as well as anyone who loves it loud.

Her celebrity on steroids and her voice in shreds, a drug-abusing unfit mother charms, f*cks, or buffalos her way into some old-fashioned major-label money, commits commercial compromise on demand, and delivers an album as invigorating in its contempt for rock professionalism as Neil Young's Tonight's the Night. If the little girls barely know who she is, good--a lifestyle irresponsibly seductive in a powerful person like Keith Richards is only pitiably misguided in this has-been waiting to happen. But she's right about one thing. The world does owe her a living. (Grade - A-)