Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur has reflected on a touching backstage moment with Olivia Rodrigo, revealing that the pop star directly credited Hole’s influence while speaking to her daughter.
The 54-year-old rocker said she has long recognised the ’90s imprint on Olivia’s music, but hearing the singer acknowledge it directly — and in front of her daughter — made the connection feel especially meaningful.
Taking part in NME’s Does Rock N’ Roll Kill Braincells?! quiz, Melissa recalled taking her daughter to see Olivia live for her 13th birthday — and being stunned by what the singer said.
She explained: “When I got my daughter tickets to see Olivia Rodrigo for her 13th birthday, we got invited backstage. Olivia Rodrigo said to my daughter: ‘Without your mother, none of this would have happened’. That’s when it locked in for me that there are direct correlations.
“In Olivia Rodrigo’s records, I notice the ’90s influence in both the songwriting and production, and of course her debut album, ‘Sour”s cover has a nod to Hole’s ‘Live Through This’, with the beauty queen. But having that said to my daughter in front of me was one of the proudest moments of my life.”
Olivia’s SOUR album artwork famously sparked conversation upon release for its resemblance to Hole’s Live Through This cover — a similarity that Courtney Love publicly commented on at the time, noting the visual parallels and prompting a wave of discussion about the influence of ’90s alt‑rock aesthetics on Gen‑Z pop stars.