Prime Time for Courtney Love? : With Hole’s manager going to Atlantic, the free-spirited bandleader seems to have settled on the Q Prime team.

Courtney Love and Metallica?

No, they’re not touring to gether--at least for now. But the queen of alternative rock and the titans of metal may soon have the same manager.

With Janet Billig, who has managed Love’s band Hole for four years, accepting a top post at Atlantic Records, Love has been scouting new managers--and reportedly has settled on the New York-based team of Peter Mensch and Cliff Burnstein at their Q Prime company.

Chicago band Veruca Salt, which is currently touring with Hole, is already with Q Prime--giving the firm, which has been chiefly identified for years with the heavy-metal and hard-rock world, its first entries into the alternative rock waters.

Some industry insiders are wondering about the chemistry of the relationship.

Love is known for her combustible manner, no less so following the April suicide of husband Kurt Cobain. Will Mensch and Burnstein be able to handle such a free spirit?

Mensch says that if Hole does indeed sign with his company, he hopes to focus attention on the band’s music, which has often been overshadowed by a media “sideshow aspect.”

Mensch himself became convinced of those musical strengths when he went to see Veruca Salt play its first date with Hole last month in Ohio.

“When I saw (Love) play . . . she went up there and cranked it out,” he says. “It was like John Lydon or Axl Rose or Janis Joplin--whatever great performer you want to name. She ripped her guts out.”

The step into alternative rock is seen in the industry as a savvy one for Q Prime, which last year expanded its horizon in a different direction by signing adult-pop figure Bruce Hornsby.

“This is a good move for them--working with new music before the old music dies,” says a record company executive whose acts have been represented by Q Prime.

As far as Mensch is concerned, the company is just following the music.

“We’re simply professional managers, and when I hear a good record, I want to meet the people who made it and manage them,” he says. “Dealing with concerns of younger, newer bands keeps me from getting stale. It keeps me sharp. I get to reinvent my company.”