Jane's Addiction

Ritual was one of the discs I picked up back when I was fresh out of college and looking for some new sounds. I was pretty much up for anything as long as it didn't sound like it was being sold to me like shampoo. Also picked up on the Stone Roses debut record and the Cocteau Twins during that era.

It's funny, because those discs suggested an alternative self I might have continued to explore....

....had I not all of a sudden been introduced to the Grateful Dead in December 1990. Pretty much everything came to a halt for the next five years -- all of a sudden it was the Dead, the Allmans, Hendrix, oh my god....then I detoured into techno and underground desert-party music...wow.

It's only nowadays, with twenty-plus years of hindsight, that I have gone back and picked up that elusive thread I dropped in 1991 or so. It's flippin' cool -- have become immersed in the shoegaze revival, fascinated by hipsters' musical choices, equally attracted to and repulsed by the Britpop thing.

Ritual de lo Habitual is one kicking record, and I'm glad I got into it when I did. Haven't gone backwards to explore the rest of their canon, but I have to confess to a lot of affection for Perry F. (who started flexing his muscles as a DJ when I was getting into electronica!).

 

Criminy. Man that's amazing.

 

Here's a great YouTube clip of the complete final show in '91 of the original lineup filmed by the band's crew on and back stage. By mid-show, both Perry and Stephen Perkins are playing buck naked.

 

Great recommendation. I like that album quite a bit, but some of the lyrics are pretty suspect.

I'm a fan of their stuff and I'd recommend the first I Mother Earth album for JA fans if someone else has not already. I caught JA live twice on their Ritual tour and they were great both times.

Edit: I see @ModernDayWarrior beat me to it.

 

Been a fan for donkey years. Picked up NOthing's Shocking at the same time I bought Morbid Angel's Blessed are the Sick, probably the summer of 91. Total Blind pick. Loved the album cover with their heads on fire.

Have seen them 2x, but never caught the classic line up. Saw them in 97 with Flea at the Aragon and man did that show smoke. Smashing Pumpkins were a special unannounced guest. Saw them a couple of years later at the Rosemont with Live opening and that show was the complete opposite. I couldn't even stomach one song from Live and went back upstairs to drink. For some reason, Ed wrapped himself in the American flag for a number or two.

 

I love Janes. Was actually just putting my RSD 2xLP 45RPM "Ritual" on for a Sunday spin.

Did anyone catch Perry at the final Grateful Dead shows in Chicago? During the PPV broadcast he was down in the isle of the pit walking when the "Estimated" was getting extra funny and bouncy and he was smiling and groovin along And of course he was wearing the coolest black shirt with leopard print collar. One of my favs since Junior High. Lots of ...cough... first of mine were soundtracked by Ritual especially "Classic Girl" and "Three Days"

 

Not really a fan but I do appreciate some of their work.

 

Me too!

 

That's crazy! I had no idea the crowd noise was dubbed in. I played the cassette of that to death as a high school kid. Picked up an original LP a year or so ago at a used shop.

 

Got into the band around 87-88. So great and then when Perry hit his "when I make a million dollars I am going to quit" he really just went down. Hollywood Dave got annoying.. and they kind of squandered what could have been 2 or 3 other great albums..if they'd had stayed on point.

I remember getting a full demo of Ritual about 5 months before the record came out. It was a long wait or felt like it between Nothings and that album. When the CD came out I personally was already moving away from funky bright and getting more into dirty distortion and slower stuff. Early Sub Pop etc

In my eyes they blew it. Partially tainted what they left behind that was great, by being pretty douchy public figures

Dave was the coolest dude on the planet during NS.

He seems a bit more mellow now. My wife watches the Tattoo show and he's kind of humbled himself based on the little bits I see walking through the living room when it's on.



Any favorite albums past Ritual? I got one and never got through the entire thing. It had a white cover and sat in my glove box in my truck unlisted to sadly...I am sure I have it here somewhere..was that one any good?

 

Love 'em! Brilliant band!! Those first two LP's are essential listening. Great bass playing on those albums too which to me was always one of their strengths. I really liked their last studio album too ("The Great Escape Artist"), which kinda went by unnoticed. It has some really good tracks on there. Finally got to see them live in Las Vegas back in November and they blew me away, even with the sound issues they were having! Such a great rhythm section. Dave Navarro was having guitar issues all night so he looked really pissed off and you could barely hear Perry Farrell at some points but they still pulled off a great gig.

 

I love them. I first saw them in 1988 at a club called The World in NYC. They were incredibly powerful and unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Just mesmerizing.

One of the things that has always stuck in my mind from that show was Perry smashing Dave's guitar at the end of the set. This was the guitar he used for the whole set, and I'm pretty sure it was the one from the Mountain Song video.

It clearly wasn't a prop and Dave obviously had no idea it was going to happen. He was walking offstage and you could see him sort of notice what was happening out of the corner of his eye, and he turned and tried to stop Perry but it was too late. He looked really shocked and upset, but they disappeared offstage and the lights went up so I've always wondered what happened next.

 

I found an article that mentions that incident. Not much info but at least I know I didn't imagine it.

Their New York City show at the World was an exercise in excess. Between the hot sweat anticipation of the crowd and the energetic, pseudo-religious deliverance of the band, there was an insane curioso magic at work.

“I turned around, saw the twins on the wall and freaked. I asked, ‘what the hell is going on?’” says Perry of that show. “I was there and I didn’t even know it. The only thing I remember is smashing Dave’s guitar and feeding it to the audience.”

“I didn’t even see where it went,” says Navarro in a surprised tone. “I met a girl who had been to the show and she said she had seen this guy afterwards just holding onto it as if he was going to sleep with it. I hope he does. It was the only guitar I had. I don’t have any backups.”
http://janesaddiction.org/gallery/articles/reflex-magazine-volume-1-issue-9/

 

Great band.

 

amazing. get the cabinet of curiosities boxset

 

I agree with this, I was a huge fan & all three of the original albums are classics. They started as classic rock boogie, then veered into alt rock & RHCP before settling into the really majestic Ritual side two. And that's pretty much it - I hung around for the first two Porno For Pyros (very common sights in used bins) & the impression I got is that they could have been better but there was not much effort there. Perry became an impresario, still a cool guy I'm sure but he didn't seem invested in music anymore other than as a way to promote his vibe. And yeah same with Dave, though I'm probably one of the few who liked his Chili Peppers album. Just phenomenal playing & tone on the Janes albums but after that I think there was a lot of 'hanging out as a rock star' life for him. That's fine, I'm not mad at that I'm still grateful for those three albums. But I just kind of think of them in a vacuum. They gave it everything they had for a while there.

 

Ritual was just a magical album, and I remember back in the day that album, even before Nevermind and all the grunge movement to follow it, was what ushered in the 90's alt rock sound for me. I remember having seen a video or two on MTV and then seeing the CD in stores with the censored album cover and it just seemed like the times were a changin' again for music.

 

Great

 

I have a live Jane show taken in France. The audience had no idea what the band was saying but man Perry Farrell loved to have fun on stage. He kept saying "Verde" which is French for "green".

 

Great band. Ritual is one of the best rock albums of the '90s.

 

Anyone know if the Jane's Addiction catalog will be remastered? It sure needs it!

 

Love those skyscraper guitar riffs on Ocean Size and Mountain Song. They make your speakers sound ten feet tall.

 

I luv Kettle Whistle. Great live version of "Jane Says".

 

Oh yeah!

 

Check out Kevin Grey's remaster of NS. It is excellent.