Synopsis
On an empty football field, Courtney Love appears with vivid blue hair and a matching dress, standing apart from the male players around her. She moves through the team with an unnerving mix of flirtation, confrontation, and theatrical confidence, turning the field into a stage for a deliberately provocative encounter. As rain begins to fall, the imagery becomes increasingly dreamlike and sensual, ending with Love shedding her clothes while the song's challenge to masculine identity continues.
Factoids & Trivia
- "Be a Man" was recorded during sessions for Hole's 1998 album "Celebrity Skin," but the band left it off the album because they felt it did not fit the rest of the record.
- The song was co-written by Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson, with a writing contribution from Billy Corgan.
- It appeared on the soundtrack to the 1999 film "Any Given Sunday," whose football setting also informs the video's imagery.
- The video uses football players associated with the film rather than presenting Hole as a performing band.
- Love's blue hair and blue dress create a deliberately artificial, almost pop-art visual identity that contrasts with the muddy field and falling rain.
- "Be a Man" became Hole's final single before the band split in 2002. It was followed by "Skinny Little Bitch" in 2010, after the group reunited.
- The video is notable within Hole's catalog because Eric Erlandson does not appear in it.