Classic or dud : Jane's Addiction

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.

It's kind of hard to comprehend now looking at who these guys turned into

gotta say Perk still keeps it real

true, and seems a mensch

Agreed; the two shows I saw (Christmas 1990 in L.A. and summer 1991 in NJ) were absolutely amazing.

Didn't get to see them until the first reunion. I think Flea took Avery's place? It was great although I can't compare it to earlier shows. Chip Away was a highlight.

the first time I saw them in 88 or 89 in the "B" room of a club in Northampton MA, and there was no opening act as I recall but maybe we were late? They had so much dry ice going before the show started that you could only really see the heads of those immediately next to you—plus Duke Ellington on the PA, endlessly, for what seemed like close to an hour, setting the whole room on the brink

Then finally those opening notes of Up The Beach and the head and gloved arms of this howling fucking psycho in evening wear poking out from the fog

rapturous

I saw them at the Philly Spectrum on the 97 tour. I had only been really into Jane's since 1993 or so - well after they had broken up - but time goes slower when you're a kid and when they announced the reunion tour it felt like this colossal once-in-a-lifetime event.

The show was great, but at the time I was under the impression that it was cut short. They had these big cages for dancing girls set up in the middle of the audience and I saw some mook scaling the cage and trying to climb in there during Ted...Just Admit It. After that song, the band left the stage and the lights came up with no encore. Just went back and looked it up though, and apparently they followed the same setlist for the whole tour, so I guess it was just a coincidence that they stopped at that point.

It felt like a very short show to me. I was more accustomed to 3 hour long Phish shows at the time. But it did feature some of their longer songs like Three Days, Summertime Rolls, Then She Did, and the aforementioned Ted.

I saw them a handful of times from 89-91 and they were awesome. They were the kind of band that scared the shit out of my parents.

Perkins AFAIK was a key element to their songwriting and they were never the same without him (though I do like "Superhero" even though it's tame Jane's song.) Allegedly they had the songs for Ritual written and demoed when they were recording Nothing's Shocking, and held the new songs for Ritual because they thought they were good. Ritual ended up being a challenging recording session because the drugs were starting to really distract, and by the end of the tour to promote Ritual the band was a fucking mess. That's why Lolla was the farewell.

I was under the impression all the NS/RdlH songs were mainly written by Eric Avery & Perry Farrell and they also chose Dave Jerden to produce as they liked what he'd done with Brian Eno. When Eric left Dave had a bigger part in writing and also choosing Bob Ezrin to to produce Strays. Steven Perkins mainly just liked to play drums and smoke pot, and so long as he could do that he went along with anything.

Yes, pretty sure that is the case. The oral history book Whores (2009) is a great read.

The Gift seemed profound in high school. Skeptical that it would hold up.

I saw them in 2001(?) at MSG for the reunion tour and it was such a fuckin drag

Like they crossed over from "weird art-rock band failing at being rock stars" to just "rock stars."