Classic or dud : Jane's Addiction

*insert trolling of your own choice here*

http://open.spotify.com/track/13EpmgPUF4KL4TlXOGqUPD
http://open.spotify.com/track/4adGevk93O42gzhGUIjHRa
http://open.spotify.com/track/4FIVO1LXRTjdewCtJv3qzW

that entire sequence is perfection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5NN8eMDir0

the whole 1990 Milan tv broadcast.

Listening to Ritual de lo Habitual for the first time in quite a few years I could really hear how much triggered replacements were used on the drums. It still 'kinda' works on something like "Been Caught Stealing" which had kind of a hypnotic drum feel, but the repetitive each and every snare hit will sound like the other one with no dynamics definitely doesn't work on the track "Obvious".

gonna kick tomorrow ~
Eric A not only wrote Jane says but is also the son of Dustin hoffman’s rival suitor in the graduate !

Nothing's Shocking was a watershed album for me. An extremely important record that came out at just the right time for me to fall in love with. I still play it.

Everything else is meh.

Ritual is their moment of glory for me; NS feels like they were trying to be metal ("Had a Dad," "Mountain Song"), and and to be "alternative" and self-deflating ("Thank You Boys," "Standing in the Shower...Thinking," "Idiots Rule") at the same time. On Ritual they embraced their art-rock insanity. Side 2 > Side 1, but there's really not a bad song on the thing.

trying to wrap my head around liking Jane's Addiction but not Mountain Song

I like "Mountain Song," and "Had a Dad" and "Jane Says" and "Up the Beach" and "Ocean Size" and "Summertime Rolls." That's half or more of a very good album. But everything else on that record is negligible or bad. Ritual has nothing anywhere near as bad as the weak tracks on NS.

I think i first heard them in 1989 at age 15 and for the next 3 years or so, culminating with the first Lolapalooza and stepping out of high school they were a Big Deal to me. By the time they couldn't hold together to follow up Ritual and it came to pass that Porno For Pyros was quite dull, I basically lost all interest and have been to embarassed by my initial fandom to ever revisit them.

Ritual is a masterpiece. Saw the reunited Jane's at Reading in 02 or so and Three Days made it rain. I usually hate "guitar solo" guitar solos, but that guitar solo just sends me.

Dud.

Classic

I think i first heard them in 1989 at age 15 and for the next 3 years or so, culminating with the first Lolapalooza and stepping out of high school they were a Big Deal to me. By the time they couldn't hold together to follow up Ritual and it came to pass that Porno For Pyros was quite dull, I basically lost all interest and have been to embarassed by my initial fandom to ever revisit them.

this, altho contra the last bit I do go back to side 2 of Ritual fairly often, that stretch is incredible

Usually I think of the whole "Classic or Dud" question as just a rhetorical device to talk about the band, not an actual question ("Joy Division: Classic Or Dud?")

But this might be the first time I think the answer is squarely "\Dud".

Back when they became a thing, I assumed I was gonna love this band -- they had the look, the right kind of fans, all the right associations -- but then I listened, and realized the emperor had no clothes.
Jane's Addiction always seemed like they had a lot of cool ideas, but not any truly great music (see also: butthole surfers, dead kennedys).

Their fans, in high school, were genuinely the coolest.

When/where I went to high school, at peak Jane's Addiction, their fans were the worst. I remember when this happened:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBT8rMv4j3M

Dum dums brought shards of riot souvenirs to school the next day. I'm trying to remember exactly which doofuses I knew went, and I want to say it was the kids who had a cover band that did Hendrix and Chili Peppers. Which is to say, kids that really got into Blood Sugar Sex Magik the next year, but didn't quite get Nevermind. Until, of course, everyone got Nevermind.

there are a number of things i hated when i was younger and have grown to love or maybe like or at least tolerate

jane's addiction is not one of them

Interesting thought here:
Jane's Addiction always seemed like they had a lot of cool ideas, but not any truly great music (see also: butthole surfers, dead kennedys).

I would answer neither classic nor dud. Nowhere near as important as they seemed at the time seems correct though.
These are usually a rhetorical device, with the notable exception of the Doors thread.

they were just sorta there when i was getting into rock music in the mid 90s and treated as received wisdom to an extent; this obscured the fact that aesthetically i just didn't, and don't, really care for their music.

I listened to Ritual a few weeks ago, for the first time in a long time. There is a lot about the record that has not aged well for me—it came out when I was in high school so it has all those intense teen associations, for better or for worse. But all that aside, side two is stil something special.

classic, NS and Ritual still great
It took seeing them live without Eric Avery for me to realize he’s the key to the whole thing. without him they’re pretty much a jim rose sideshow but with more hats.

one of their concerts tops my list for my alltime worst shows i’ve ever seen.
and: one tops my list of alltime best.

that’s how fucked up this stupid/awesome band is

Agree about Eric. Farrell was the fulcrum of the band but E seems to have been the creative force, at least for the songs that I love

She takes a swing man
SHE CAN HIT

wrong lyrix(?)

Have they remastered anything in the last 20 years. I think the cds i have are 1990ish

The albums were remastered for vinyl a couple of years ago but no new CDs were issued, and I don't even know if the LPs came with download cards.

Reading on Discogs, it seems like the 2016 box with the new LPs actually sounds worse than the originals:

OMG the originals compared to this is a joke, don't waste your money, purchase the original copies if you can. I have both of all and the dynamic range is completely different. The originals make these reissues sound like cassettes.

speaking of records, perry farrell is the worst DJ i have ever seen. every single transition was a train wreck.

did Lou Reed get a writing credit on "Classic Girl" right from the start?

No. In the original CD the songs are all credited to all four band members equally.

Why would lou get a writing credit idgi

me either

hesitate to say but "three days" was the greatest non-YES/RUSH prog epic since duran duran's "new religion" imho. "then she did" is all-time too. "now the nameless DWELL - they hold the key and turn your knob - I'LL BET!"

I guess there’s a resemblance to “Satellite of Live” ? I dunno, I just saw online his credit and was puzzled.

I don’t see anything about a Lou credit or connection in a quick search...

Navarro: There's a Bauhaus track, "Hope," which "Classic Girl" has always reminded me of; it was basically the exact same positioning and device on the guitar, just played differently. The tone of the guitar on "Classic Girl" — that chorused-out, washed-out sound — always had a very English goth sound to me, but when the bridge kicked in, it was very Led Zeppelin. What Perry's singing about, and the nature of his voice, made it iconically California. For me, to go from two pretty legendary English bands within the same track, and then keep it in California with that lyric and that voice, made it pretty special.

Awesome quote

anyone else heard Eric A and Navarro's album post Jane's, 'Deconstruction?' sounds very much like the lost follow up to 'Ritual.' Always thought Eric was the heart of JA, and Dave's playing there is great. Ned kind of panned it in AMG and I can see why...but real fans should find a lot to like.

Didn't do much for me. I was a dedicated Jane's fan but couldn't find much to love in any of the side projects. Porno For Pyros, Psi Com, Deconstruction, Banyan, New Jane's, Perry solo = dud.

Something came together just right for those three albums and then it went away.

I bought the CD for like $.99 in some cutout bin ages ago. I don't remember much but I loved this one track and still get it stuck in my head:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVADCalHJpo

Also Eric Avery is probably my favorite bass player ever

I’m tired of mostly every other of their hits from the 90s and wouldn’t mind not hearing anything by them ever again but Pets is still my jam. Endlessly enjoyable and listenable.

Deconstruction was an album I got right when it came out and played excitedly for friends ("It's by the guitarist and base player from Janes!") and when the music came on they couldn't wait to take it off.

I sold it back within a month or two.

Something came together just right for those three albums and then it went away.

― Cow_Art, Thursday, July 30, 2020 11:06 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I love the three 1987-1990 albums and, one day, decided to seek out some of the unrecorded live and demo songs of the era and iirc they were ... not good

I don’t know why but with this band in particular I always remember their songs better in my head than what is actually in the album. I guess I’m not a big fan of how they are mixed or how repetitive they get, but there’s definitely some pop brilliance in there.

I've never listened to that Kettle Whistle collection with all the leftover songs, but I think "I Would For You," which is on the Cabinet of Curiosities box, is the one that got away for them - had they recorded a real version it could have been the kind of power ballad single that broke them on radio etc.

Kettle Whistle has some good stuff on it and some crap. My Cat's Name Is Maceo, *shudder* Cutesy Perry is the worst.

Deconstruction was an album I got right when it came out and played excitedly for friends ("It's by the guitarist and base player from Janes!") and when the music came on they couldn't wait to take it off.

I sold it back within a month or two.

― Tōne Locatelli Romano (PBKR), Thursday, July 30, 2020 5:17 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

This was my experience. I made a friend drive me to the city to buy it and it was pretty disappointing at the time. I'd be willing to give it another listen though, 30 years later.

I loved Psi Com though.

total #old here (and this comes off as super-gatekeeper-y sorry) but seeing JA live was the biggest dealmaker. I could add a bunch of bands to that category but the RdlH shows in late 1990 were otherworldly.

so OTM

It's kind of hard to comprehend now looking at who these guys turned into—I think they are/were pretty damaged by the whole thing—but there was that brief window of genuine magic. I have still never seen a show or shows with that level of weird dangerous energy.