Jane's Addiction: The Volatile History of The Band Behind 'Jane Says, Mountain Song & Stop!'

Jane’s Addiction would without a doubt be one of the most influential alternative rock bands.. Rather than embracing spandex and poofy hair that was so prevalent from their hometown of Los Angeles, the band combined elements of classic rock, punk, funk, metal and goth. Jane’s addiction were the anthi-thesis to everything that was popular at the time.. Just like The Doors,and the Byrds who were emblematic of LA in the‘60s. While groups like X and Black Flag were representative of the punk scene i

n ‘70s and ‘80s. By the 90’s LA’s definitive hard rock bands consisted of Jane’s Addiction and Guns N’ Roses. Rolling stone would perfectly summarize what was going on around the time of Jane’s Addiction early days writing “In this era of Just Say No, lip-syncing and power ballads, the only other band that comes close is fellow L.A. export Guns n’ Roses, but as Perry Farrell has said: “There’s a lot of bands like Guns n’ Roses. There’s not a lot of bands like us.” One thing the band shared with

Guns N’ Roses was they shed a light on the more seedy, rough and darker sides of Los Angeles .; Alongside being labeled alternative the press would also bestow upon them the label of being an arty band. While Nirvana gets a lot of credit for bringing alternative rock to the masses, others cite Jane’s Addiction with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello stating “Nirvana often gets credit for being the first ‘alternative’ band to break through, the band that changed music. That’s just not

true. It was Jane’s Addiction: inspiring, intelligent, furiously rocking and artistically deep.” He’d have other rockstars agreeing with him including Flea of the Chili Pepeprs and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Today let’s explore the complicated history of Jane’s Addiction. Jane’s Addiction’s most outspoken member and central focus has always been frontman Perry Farrell. Confident, maybe arrogant to some, provocative, flamboyant and driven the frontman would be born Perry Bernstein in Queens,

New York. He would live in the diamond district and his father would be a jeweler. Perry would frequently tag along with his Dad telling Rolling Stone “All the yentas would buy jewelry off me,” . “They couldn’t say no, because I was so goddamn adorable in my Beatle haircut and Beatle suit.” His mother an artist would take her own life when Perry was just 4 and she would be forever immortalized in Jane’s Addiction’s songs. By the time his mother passed Perry’s father was having an affair with the

woman who would eventually become his step-mother..”It wasn’t too long after his mother passed he moved to Long Island and during his teenage years they headed south to Miami. Life in Miami saw Perry more pre-occupied with surfing and swimming than school telling Rolling Stone “I like things that are esoteric and strange,” “and school is not full of esoteric and strange things.” In an era of just say no, perry’s motto soon became ‘Let’s try it’ . In the aftermath of his mother’s passing Perry’s

father kept questionable company having a lot of women and drugs around his home when Perry was young. Perry would blame his father for his mother’s death and had a complicated relationsjhip with his Dad. He would have an older brother and sister, each of which influenced a young Perry with their own musical tastes. His love of The Beatles and the Stones came from his brother, while his sister who was steeped in Black culture introduced Perry to James Brown, and Sly and the Family Stone. By the

age of 17 wanting to rebel, Perry bought a one way bus ticket to California admitting to Spin I was a rebellious kid who didn’t like what he saw. I just wanted to get the heck out of there. What did I have to lose? So, at 17, I took the Greyhound out to California with a surfboard, some art supplies, an ounce of weed, and the phone number of a friend who lived in Hemet. That’s how I started my affair with California.” That phone number would be a friend who lived in Hemet California. While he c

ame from a well to do family his Dad cut him off and told him he’d never make anything of himself. Upon moving to the west coast Perry first lived in Oceanside where he went to college and paid the bills by working in a vitamin factory. But the health effects of his job resulted in him losing his eyelashes and eyebrows and he soon quit. Perry’s early days in California were rough, sleeping in his buick regal. He soon moved to swanky Newport Beach where he got a job as a dishwasher, before becomi

ng a driver for a liquor distribution company. It was at one of his deliveries at a private club in newport beach. Perry got his first start in show business. He would tell Spin “One day I was making a drop at one of those swanky Newport Beach places when this lady asked me, “Do you model?” And I said, “Oh yeah, I’m a model. I’m an actor. I’m a singer. I’m a dancer. Sure.” So she said, “Do you want to audition for our Friday-night show?” Within a few weeks, I was impersonating David Bowie and Mi

ck Jagger at this club. I thought, “Man, I’ve got a great future here.” So I quit my job, and my girlfriend started selling bud. I had made my beginning in show business.” Perry would admit to Rolling Stone the club was heavily pushing prostitution and during his time he was asked to wear Speedos. Perry soon spent his days in his basement apartment with a newly purchased PA and headphones coming up with demos, but by the singer’s own admission the demos were pretty terrible. It would be the goth

rockers groups like the southern death cult, sisters of mercy and Flesh for Lulu who had a profound impact on Perry with him recalling to Spin FARRELL: These people were such compelling figures because they grew out of isolation and made this tremendous personal statement. Popular in LA at the time was the Paisley Underground movement, which Farrell briefly partook in, but ultimately left. By 1981 Perry became the frontman for a post-punk outfit called Psi-Com who found the frontman through the

LA Paper the Recycler. It was during his time in Psi-Com he discovered the music of Joy Division and also became a cultural sponge trying to soak up any kind of music he could get his hands on whether it be african tribal music all the way to groups like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But the odds were against Perry and company and a lot of other bands. Popular in LA at the time was pay to play whereby bands had to pay to get gigs and it was something that Perry and his new bandmates vehemently opp

osed It resulted in Psi-Com and their friends looking at alternate venues including the Mohave Desert, which saw them load up buses of attendees and drive them out to the desert to put on shows. It was these shows helped Psi-Com build a steady following. These gigs saw them play alongside Sonic Youth and the Meat Puppets. Eventually Psi-Com even opened for the southern Death Cult who would eventually become the cult. Side note guys i’ve done a whole video on the history of the cult. The link is

down below. It was during Perry’s time fronting Psi-Com he would meet a woman Casey Niccoli who would go on to be his girlfriend from 1982 to 1993 and would be his creative muse. Niccoli who hailed from Bakersfield would tell a local paper “I was 18, and I really wanted to move," "L.A. was so exciting to me. I had $250 to my name, packed up my car and moved to L.A. I felt like I belonged here. I got into the punk scene, and three or four years later I met Perry. My boyfriend's band played a bene

fit show with Psi Com (Farrell's former band). I just showed up, and I was immediately just mesmerized, fell in love, I wanted to have his babies, and I just couldn't stop talking about him. I was obsessed at that point." Perry would recall his impression of Niccoli telling Spin I thought Casey was a stunner the first time I saw her. She was like a punk Elizabeth Taylor. She stopped the show. She wore dresses and heels. Her hair was all chopped and dyed black. Niccoli's relationship with Perry w

ould have a profound impact on the band’s visual aesthetics as she would immortalized on the album covers of NOthing’s Shocking and their follow up album Ritual De Lo Habitual. She would also appear in the video for the Mountain song and appear in the group’s controversial short film Gift. By 1985 Perry was bored with Psi-Com wanting to do something more grandiose, harder rocking and have more creative control telling Spin” One day, I just got this feeling that I’m going to outgrow my circumstan

ces, like, “I think I’m gonna make it.” But I had to get another band going, one that was happy, outrageous, and wild. I wanted to be able to sing truthfully. I didn’t want to have to fake being in a bad mood. That’s when I left Psi Com and started Jane’s Addiction. It was at this point in time that Perry changed his name taking his brothers first name as his last name and becoming Perry Farrell a play on the world peripheral. Soon enough Perry met bassist Eric Avery through a mutual friend. Ave

ry knew of Psi-Com and didn’t think very highly of them and was on the verge of giving up music, but the pair started jamming together resulting in the tracks The Mountain Song, pigs in Zen and Trip Away. An instrumental part of Jane’s Addiction’s history would be the WIlton House. Perry would tell Spin. I found this place that has come to be known as the Wilton House. I told the landlord that I would love to put curtains here, do the walls a certain color. I got him to believe I was this quiet,

shy, gay interior decorator who’d be no trouble. He ended up getting 12 musicians, photographers, artists, their girlfriends, dogs, snakes, loud music, and ’round-the-clock junkie shenanigans. Cops were crawling around band rehearsals all the time. Despite what seemed like crazy circumstances Farrell would admit to loudersound it was one of the happiest times in his life. It would be one of the house’s guests that gave Perry and Eric inspiration for their band’s name. Avery originally lived at

the Wilton House but at one point moved out to go live with his parents. He knew a drug addicted Arizona woman named Jane Bainter who took his place at the house. Living under the same roof would be her boyfriend Sergio, who she had a tumultuous relationship with. Jane also seemed to bring unsavory characters into the house including drug dealers and thieves making the sitution at the house only more volatile. When things would go wrong at the house it would be blamed on Jane’s Addiction accordi

ng to the LA Times. Jane Bainter for her part wasn’t enthused about the name telling the lA times I thought it was sort of a lackluster name. I didn't take it as a tribute at all." Bainter's photo would appear as an insert in the vinyl version and on band posters. Her family wasn’t happy with all the attention with her telling the LA Times "It was very hard for my family," Believe it or not Jane had a normal day job working at a management consulting firm and they had no idea about her addiction

or that she was a member of LA’s underground scene. . The band soon enough found financial support from an unlikely place. Avery was sleeping with a prostitute named Bianca who started to manage and bankroll the band. A lot of her clients were B list celebrities who were past their prime, hosted gameshows and wore hair pieces. Those early Jane’s shows were pretty rowdy seeing them rent out a venue in LA alongside cow punk bands, and have transexual dance troupe opening for them. When it came to

writing music, Avery had a lot of music written dating all the way back to high school. Press interviews painted Avery as the most cultured out of all the members. Maybe he can chalk that up to his stepfather Brian Avery who appeared in the film the Graduate. He would admit to Rolling Stone “Back in high school, art was kind of my secret shame,I was trying to be a tough guy on the outside, wearing leather and a baseball hat flipped up but carrying Herman Hesse under my arm.” Avery wouldn’t grad

uate from high school and would get used to becoming a loner spending a lot of time with his Dad on the road while he worked. Hifs father would have a guitar, but didn’t know how to play it and soon enough Avery learned guitar, before switching to drums and eventually finding his way to the bass. Avery soon gravitated towards groups like Flipper and become really steeped in playing melodic grooves, but wasn’t able to formulate them into an entire song. That’s where him and Perry really bonded be

cause Perry was able to pick out the best grooves. Navarro, like Avery was a high school drop out but had a more similar childhood to Perry. Navarro’s parents would split up when he was a toddler and his mother would work as a model and even appear on the gameshow the price is right. She would date a bodybuilder who dated Dave’s mother for several years When Navarro was 15 years old his mother who would be killed along with his aunt by her ex-boyfriend. Ive done a whole story on this topic the l

ink is down below. Navarro soon became steeped in drugs and music to cope with the pain. It was during his high school years attending LA Notre Dame HIgh he joined the marching band where he met Stephen Perkins. The pair both being metal fans started a speed metal band in the 9th grade called Disaster and played some local clubs Navarro would tell Rolling Stone about their musical relationship We almost know what we’re going to do before the other one does it.” Perkins would end up dating Avery’

s sister who suggested that she check out her brothers band. Navarro would recall seeing Jane’s Addiction for the first time telling Spin Stephen] Perkins and I were in a band called Dizastre, and we were fresh out of high school, playing our heavy-metal rock. One night, we went to see Jane’s Addiction, and we just loved it. They had the energy and power that we loved about metal, with a total abandon that we didn’t have any experience with At this point Avery’s friend Chris Brinkman was on guit

ar for Jane’s Addiction and he famously wore jockey shorts on stage. Brinkman came from a showbusiness family but would eventually die due to an overdose. Apart from Brinkman Jane’s Addiction by this point were already dealing with drug addiction and couldn’t find a reliable drummer. On the advice of Avery’s sister she suggested her boyfriend Perkins audition. They clicked right away and Perkins recommended they add Dave navarro to the group and the classic lineup of Jane’s Addiction would be bo

rn by 1986. Navarro would summarize the four styles the members brought to the group telling Spin us. Perry had a whole freakish look of his own, like some skinny, bugged-out goth surfer in whore makeup with flailing dreadlocks. Eric was more traditional punk rock, and Stephen had this crazy Afro hair thing. I was kind of a hippie kid, a little ’60s-influenced Deadhead gone heavy metal. But you throw us together and it was a patchwork quilt—it doesn’t look like it makes sense, but it keeps you w

arm. The band for their part didn’t really have a formula to writing songs with Navarro telling billboard Eric would sometimes have a bass line, and we’d write off that. Perry would sometimes have a weird guitar part, and we’d write off that. Sometimes Perry would just have lyrics and we’d have to come up with something based on that. There were times when Stephen was setting up his drums and would be playing something and we’d go, “Wow, what is that?” And he’s like, “I don’t know,” and they’re

like, “Keep playing it.” And there were times when I was tuning up and just kind of playing random chords and somebody in the room would say, “What are those chords?” And I would say, “I don’t really know,” and I’d have to spend a half an hour trying to remember what they were. That’s how we wrote songs. Monday through Friday the band continued to rehearse at the infamous Wilton House in the garage out back. They’d share the rehearsal space with another band named Lions and Ghost Navarro would r

ecall to Billbaord I would liken it to a miniature musical Warhol Factory kind of environment. Any time you’d walk in the front door, you had no idea who you were going to run into, who you were gonna see. There were a lot of drugs happening. There was a lot of darkness. There was a lot of laughter. I’ve spent some of my best nights in that house — and some of my worst nights in that house. The band would gig around what Perry refers to as and i quote “the underground Los Angeles” – a mixture of

of junkies, artists, bohemian types and. The later of which the band counted themselves part of as well. Drugs aside Farrell made it his mission to change the rock landscape which he deemed boring by the time Jane’s Addiciton sprouted up telling Loudersound “Rock’n’roll had been around for thirty years,” s. “It was almost impossible to come up with a new sound, a new way. But I had to have it. We had to do it. And what happened was, I saw what I didn’t like.” One of those early songs written by

the band that would get them record label attention was an acoustic number called Jane Says, which was inspired by the same Jane who inspired the group’s name.. Eric Avery would tell Spin Sometimes we’d do acoustic jams on the porch at the Wilton House. I’ll never forget when Jane asked us if we’d play a sad song for her, and I had to shake my head and say, “Jane, we just got through playing ‘Jane Says,’ one of the saddest songs in the world.” References to drugs were littered throughout the so

ng. In 1985 a local record label and management company named Triple X had sprouted up and soon had Jane’s Addiction on their radars. Initially wanting to sign the group to a three record deal, Farrell was a little antsy wanting to only do a one record deal before pursuing the majors who were already courting the band Triple X would release the group’s first album a live concert at the Roxy that was self titled and featured several songs that would show up on their first studio record... The own

ers of the band’s indie label not having a lot of money went as far as selling their cars to finance the album which cost about 4-5 thousand dollars.. In the audience that night at the Roxy were Bob Forrest and Anthony Keidis who were stunned at what they had witnessed. By 1986 Jane’s Addiction had gotten ex-communicated from pretty much every club in LA with their destructive and unpredictable shows, but they would form a kinship with the club Scream who didn’t care about their antics. The scen

e at Scream was a lot different than the clubs you’d typically associate with LA like the whisky or gazarri’s that had a lot of poison and guns n’ roses clones Scream’s male attendees looked more reminiscent of Echo and the Bunnymen and while the woman looked like clones of Suzie Sioux . One of the band’s early fans would be Iggy Pop who knew the owner of Scream and took the band out on their first tour.. The band soon became darlings of the late night underground scene. BY 1986 LA WEEKLY AND MU

SIC CONNECTION MAGAZINE listed Jane’s Addiction as the best local band Rolling Stone by 87 even took notice of the band calling them “dark, abrasive . . . passionately committed to making a statement.” By 1987 there was an all out bidding war for Jane’s Addiction. Despite entertaining free lunches and dinners from other labels the band had their mind set on signing with Warner Brothers from the start because they offered the band 100% creative freedom, and they didn’t feel as corporate as the ot

her labels and offered the band a whopping $300,000 advance, an amount that was almost unheard of at the time. Despite all the hype, the band had their sketpics including their own hometown paper the LA Times. In October of 87 they’d publish a story titled JANE’S ADDICTION’S BIG TRIP where they wrote Being the most talked-about band in Los Angeles is not exactly a solid foundation from which to launch a career. After all, a legacy marked by the the rags-to-riches-to-rags stories of such bands as

the Knack and the Unforgiven (already dropped by Elektra after one flop album) hardly inspire confidence. So it’s understandable that some people aren’t really taking Jane’s Addiction too seriously at this stage. But the band’s label would tell the Times that Jane’s Addiction would attract fans of different genres including punk and heavy metal claiming they would have the same audience as the British group The Cult. Warner was so confident of Jane’s Addiction’s success that they allowed Perry

Farrell to co-produce the album. The band wanted to work with producer Dave Jerden on their first studio album due to his work on Brian Eno/David Burne album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Jerden would recall to billboard the first time he saw the band revealing I was working with a band, and they played at the University of San Diego, and I drove down there to see them play. And then coming back, I had a note from my manager saying that, “By the way, Jane’s Addiction is playing tonight at Screa

m.” It’s this hotel in downtown L.A. It’s a big old hotel with a ballroom. So, at three o’clock in the morning from driving back from San Diego, I stop by to see what’s going on. There was a line of like 3,000 kids around the block at three in the morning. Just to see this band. So I go into this big strange old hotel, like something out of Sunset Boulevard, and Jane’s Addiction came on. I went and saw them backstage first and said, “Hi, I’m in the audience.” I sat in the back with the sound guy

, and they came on and blew me away. The hairs were standing up on the back of my neck. There was one [other concert] in my whole life that did that, and that was Jimi Hendrix at the Hollywood Bowl, 1968. Farrell made it clear ot the LA Times in 1987 he didn’t read any press about the band and urged music fans not to listen to what others say about the band and decide for themselves. He would tel lthe paper “What we’re going to do is going to blow people away,”“When we get out there, we’re going

to do things no one else has ever done. Musically, we’re already light-years ahead.” It was in the same interview he’d take shots at cultural icons including The Sex Pistols who he called “a fashion band” while claiming Madonna “had nothing to say” and slammed the beastie boys for being boring while going on to claim “Name something degrading and I’ve done it,” referring to the years after he left home. “I’m not going to be explicit about it, just anything degrading I’ve done (it) so I could ea

t.” As for his bandmates they’d admit they don’t always understand what Farrell’s lyrics are about. Prior to entering the studio to record their first album for Warner the band had 18 songs. Jerden would help them choose the songs that would make up Nothing’s Shocking with the remainder appearing on Ritual de Lo Habitual. Jerden’s goal from the start was to capture the band’s live sound. But from the start of the recording sessions tensions were brewing in the bandbetween Farrell and Avery. The

tension seemed to stem from a drunken night in which Avery made a pass at Farrell’s girlfriend. Avery would tell Spin Our relationship deteriorated into an unspoken standoff; it was kind of like the Cold War, where both sides knew that all-out war would be devastating. It created this weird détente, this nonverbalized agreement not to escalate. So we never did. It’s surprising, with all the out-of-controlness, that he and I never got physical with each other. We didn’t even yell. In more roundab

out, passive ways, we’d say things to hurt each other’s feelings. Perry would give his version of what was going on telling Loudersound “I remember recording my vocals without the band. There was already a strain and a separation beginning to happen. And that was going on while we were making the album…” "the tensions between Eric and I affected the whole family. Some people were asked to take sides, and others just moped about because they didn't know what was going on. The cold war between the

pair would have some pretty dire business consequences for the band. When it came time to discuss publishing and royalty splits, while Avery was adamant everything should be split equally four ways, Perry wanted 50% plus another 12.5 percent because he took credit for writing most of the music and lyrics asking for 62.5% of the publishing with the remaining portion being equally split amongst the three other members. It resulted in the band breaking up for a day while they were working on Nothi

ng’s Shocking, but somehow they managed to keep it going at the insistence of their record label. Farrell was adamant that it was his way or the band was done. He would tell Loudersound “If I had seen it as my band,”“we probably wouldn’t have fought so much. But in the end, I must have my way. I should have been a solo artist, but people love groups. . It left a bitter resentment that according to Navarro actually helped fuel their live shows. It even resulted in the members minus Perry wearing

12% shirts on stage at some gigs. Let’s talk about the album it’self. The song Ted Just Admit it would be written about prolific serial killer Ted Bundy who was on death Row at the time and never admitted to his crimes. Had a Dad would deal with Farrell’ disillusionment with religion, while Mountain Song would deal with drugs and Farrell’s mother’s death. Farrell’s voice on the album would contain numerous effects including echo The acoustic number Jane Says became the band’s first billboard hit

when it peaked at number 6 on the billboard alternative charts in 1988. Originally Perkins pushed the band to scrap the track thinking it wasn’t indicative of the band’s sound, but he would later admit he was thankful no one listened to him. While Jerden tried to capture the band’s live sound on nothing’s shocking he did ask Perkins to play steel drums on Jane Says, Navarro would tell billboard about the album saying ‘you can hear us fighting against each other in the music. You can hear differ

ent sensibilities clashing at times, and I feel like you can hear the almost disconnectedness becoming connected because of all that tension. Upon completing the album Jerden would receive a frantic phone call from the folks at Warner who were worried that the album sounded nothing like what was popular at the time, which included groups like Guns N’ Roses. Keep in mind, this was before they saw the album cover. The album cover which featured a sculpture perry made showed naked conjoined twins o

n fire which were modeled after Niccoli. Farrell would claim the idea for the album cover came to him in a dream. Initially 9 of the 11 biggest record selling retailersmrefused to carry the record. The band would reissue the album covered in a paper sleeve, but eventually all but 2 of the record chains reneged on their initial stance after Warner pressured them Upon releasing the album the band ran into trouble with the video for Mountain Song. The video contains some brief clips of nudity of Fa

rrell’s girlfriend and MTV refused to play it. The band instead decided to sell the video and add 20 minutes of footage that soon became Soulkiss in an attempt to break even on the video. Despite the lack of help by mtv and radio the album sold a cool 200,000 copies in it’s first year. Despite not being a huge commercial success the band could sense a change was coming. Farrell would tell billboard it would be the band’s gigs in England that signalled something was shifting in the music industry

while producer David Jerden simply told the magazine ​​It told the record industry, “There’s a change coming.” While mainstream rock radio stations weren’t giving the band a lot of attention it would be a local college radio station KXLU at Loyaola Marymont university that started to play mountain song. By the 80’s college radio was playing a pivotal role in helping shape the next big thing, starting with R.E.M. Both Flea of the Chili Peppers who played the trumpet on the song idiots rule and C

hris Cornell of SOundgarden would cite Nothing’s Shocking as being a hugely influential record of the late 80’s and laying the groundwork for the alternative bands who became popular in the 90’s . The band got an opening slot for Iggy Pop across America. Iggy Pop would tell Classic Rock magazine about the tour saying I took them on their first tour, and they absolutely destroyed me every night. Offstage the band continually got themselves in trouble. During a stopover in Newark, Delaware Navarro

got into a fight with what he described as rednecks who broke his nose at a Denny’s bathroom. Farrell meanwhile got thrown out of a venue in New Jersey for slam dancing onstage during Iggy Pop’s set. Then during a stop In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Farrell came face to face with a cuban gang who called him Boy George to which he responded in a vulgar way. Farrell would tell Rolling Stone what happened next. “The whole street opened up like a gangland-style war,” The band’s highly anticipated fol

low up 1990’s Ritual De Lo Habitual would be the band’s swan song for the time being. Runaway egos, drugs and unresolved issues were present during the making of the group’s second album studio album The LA Times would publish an article around the time of the album’s release that wrote Opinion about the group doesn’t tend to be neutral, and its recently released album “Ritual de lo Habitual” (reviewed on Page 56) figures to be closely watched as a put-up-or-shut-up response to the question that

won’t go away: Is Jane’s Addiction a big noise with a knack for getting attention, or is it the real thing? Bassist Eric Avery would summarize the energy of the band during the making of the record saying to billboard “Jane’s was coming apart at the seams,” “There was this energy that was just sort of there — an energy that made Jane’s great, of course: Was someone going to die? Was someone going to kill another band member? Is this thing going to go away tomorrow? Jane’s always had an element

of that, but there never was a lot of overt, explosive drama happening. It was more of a resentment, bubbling beneath the surface, and people not showing up when they were supposed to, in order to avoid seeing certain people.” Since Farrell and Avery weren’t speaking, they refused to be in the studio at the same time, Initially Perry didn’t show up for the first few weeks of recording until the pair decided they could just come in at different times. Almost immediately upon finishing up the prom

otion cycle for Nothing’s Shocking the band began work on their follow up. A good portion of their third album would be written before Nothing’s Shocking was recorded and some of those songs performed live during the tour for the album., Frontman Perry Farrell admitting in various interviews he didn’t want the band to be a flash in the pan and wanted to avoid the major label sophomore jinx telling Rolling Stone “I HAD SAVED the best songs that we had written for our second [studio] album,” Farre

ll explains, “because I didn’t want people to think that this was a ‘sophomore slump.’ Songs like ‘Three Days’ and ‘Then She Did…’ — these are very sophisticated songs, you know? As far as I was concerned, ‘Three Days’ was our ‘Stairway to Heaven.’ But we were at the peak of our powers as a band, so I felt that this was our time to really come out and blast people with sonic sounds that they would groove to for the rest of their lives.” The band would commandeer North Hollywood’s Track Record St

udios and producer Dave Jerden would return once again. While Jane’s Addiction was ambitious they soon hit a wall after recording a handful of songs. The drugs were getting in the way of working on the album and It wasn’t uncommon for the band members to be nod off during the studio sessions. THe band members agreed in principle of taking a few weeks off for them to kick their habits, but the break did little to curb their appetite for hard drugs with Perkins telling billboard “I don’t think we

really got there,”, “so we just went back in” and the problems continued as did Farrell’s domineering style. Ronnie Champagne who engineered the group’s first two albums for Warner and was Navarro’s guitar tech would tell Billboard “It seemed to me like Perry was the guy who was telling everyone what to play. I remember sitting in the control room and Perry’s singing guitar solos to Navarro. Like, ‘No, no, no — that’s not it! It’s like this,’ and he’d sing it out! That was heavy, I had never see

n that before.” The song’s on Ritual were more progressive in nature than nothing’s shoscking. The album opens up with the song Stop! Which was written during the band’s rehearsal sessions at a punk rock vintage clothing store in venice beach called Nana’s. Opening with a narration by a Spanish woman farrell met while in rehab who he referred to as the spanish marilyn monroe.. No One’s Leaving and _Then She Did __and of Course_ would be ode’s to Farrell’s family. No One’s Leaving was written abo

ut the frontman’s sister who was stepped in black culture and was eventually disowned by his parents for being in an interracial relationship and having a child. While Then She Did was written about Farrells mother and his one time love interest Xiola Blue who shared some similarities to Perry’s mother. He would admit to rolling stone he soon found out that blue was actually his cousin. The track Of Course would be written about Farrell’s brother who became an outlaw biker, but it would be the o

nly track not to feature Eric Avery as he wasn’t a fan of the song, something he looked back on and regretted chalking it up to ego. Instead, Navarro’s guitar tech would play on the track. Ain’t No Right would take aim at the highly publicized feud the band had with their management who wanted to drug test the members. In 1989 the band split with manager Gary Kurfirst, who would turn around and sue the group claiming that drugs were impacting the band’s decision making. The court ruled in Kurfir

st’s favor and he took a good chunk of jane’s Addiction’s earnings. Then his replacement Lippman Kahane Entertainment tried to subject the band to drug testing and they were soon fired. . And of course we can’t talk about Ritual without talking about the magnum opus and fan favourite three days. The song pays homage like the title suggests to a crazy 72 hour period involving drugs and sex between Blue, Farrel and Niccoli.w. The song was recorded in just one take and was one of the few times all

the members were in the studio together. Strangely enough at the same time the song was being recorded the label execs from Warner were brought into the studio g with Farrell telling billboard “Dave Jerden, I think brought, [Warner Bros. Records president] Lenny Waronker and [influential A&R exec] Roberta Peterson by to watch us record ‘Three Days,’”“You don’t have label guys in the studio very often, but they happened to be there that night. I don’t know if Jerden planned it that way, but [vice

president of product management] Steven Baker was there too. Not only were we playing to record, we were looking at the guys that gave us the money. The song would be released as the album’s first single, albeit heavily edited, but rock radio rejected it. The song’s bass line was something Avery had written during his high school days. Blue would die due to a drug overdose in 1987.. Despite the turmoil in the band, the members would credit producer David Jerden with being the hero of the record

ing sessions with Avery telling billboard “He was the grown up in the room for sure, and we needed that to get it done,” “He was above all of the interpersonal drama, so he was the steadying force throughout it all. He was amazingly unfazed by anything that happened. I think we really needed that. He was the ballast for the craziness.” But despite the album being done, the band still had one more battle to fight. The cover of the album which was an extension of the song Three Days would feature

a paper mache sculpture of PErry with Blue and Niccoli. Strangely enough out of everything controversial on the album art it was Perry’s privates that didnt sit well with the label. Then there were obscenity laws that landed some retailers in trouble that foreshadowed what would happen with the album cover. Ahead of the record’s release Warner Brothers sent out promotional posters of the record with the original artwork on it and one record store in Royal Oak Michigan called Off The Record would

be ticketed for a misdemeanor charge accusing the store of i quote displayed [an] obscene poster in the south window along Main Street.” “Jane’s Addiction poster displays women’s privates.” Funny enough there was no mention of Perry’s private’s being shown. If the record store owner was found guilty he could be sentenced to up to 90 days in prison along with 100 dollar fine. If there was an irony to this story it’s that the town itself was going to erect a statue of two naked people outside the

re city hall. Warner Brothers offered to cover the court costs of the record store owner and the american civil liberties union joined the fight. Soon enough other record stores were dealing with similar charges resulting in nervous retailers who were having second thoughts about carrying the new jane’s addiction album. It was at this time Perry reconsidered his stance on the album cover. The label would agree to print the original jacket while also having Perry work on a second design they’d al

so release. Perry would come up with a second design having the album a simple white wrapping with the first amendment on it. The band’s label claimed that within the first few weeks of the album coming out the album with the original artwork was being bought 3x times more than the censored one. . Maybe MTV didn’t know it, but Axl Rose can be seen wearing a shirt with the album’s cover in their video for don’t cry as he was a big fan of jane’s addiction and even offered Dave navarro the chance t

o replace izzy stradlin and he would later play on the track oh my God. Perry would tell LA Times in 1990 “I like giving people a rise. I’m not trying to outrage you. I’m not this stupid kid with a nihilistic outlook on life like I just destroy. I like colors. I’m drawn to colors, I’m drawn to love.” Farrell would tell the alternative press “They told me that if I designed another cover, they’d release the first cover,” Farrell says. “So I did, and they released both.” The alternate cover was al

l-white, featuring an inscription of the First Amendment and a brief love letter to the champions of censorship. “The only reason I put the First Amendment on there is because I’d be lost without it. I need that protection because when it comes to art, I’ll only extend. I won’t compromise. Period. That’s the backbone of the band: Never compromise; otherwise you’re dead. You’re a victim, and they will dictate your career from that point on.” He’d also take the time to take a swipe at the music sc

ene that was the final days of hair metal telling the paper “I don’t enjoy listening to songs that I know the people didn’t experience. . . . The way I look at it, songwriting or song making started because somebody stood up and had a story to tell. People would listen to it and it intrigued them. It meant something to that guy, therefore people felt something from it. “But to sit there and make up this story that comes from nowhere and it’s not grounded with any sadness, sorrow, joy or anything

, it’s just a waste of time. . . It’s gotta be founded in something that’s inspired you or hurt you or made you feel really happy.” Released on Aug. 21, 1990, the album’s title was tongue in cheek and destroyed the listeners expectation once they listened to the songs. Released at a time when alternative rock was bubbling up to the surface and music censorship was still dominating the news.. The album would be a big commercial success doubling the sales of nothing’s shocking in its first month a

nd producing two number 1 hits on the rock charts in been caught stealing and stop! Soon enough record labels started scooping up and signing bands with the alternative label. The album would go on to sell a cool 2 million copies and soon enough sales of nothing’s shocking increased exponentially pushing the album to move a million copies. MTV loved the video for Been Caught Stealing with on-air personality john norris telling Spin Back then, the word alternative did sort of mean something, and

that sure as hell was an alternative to everything else MTV was playing at the time. There was drag in it, played for laughs, years before the Foo Fighters did it. There were no chicks with big, sprayed hair. And you’ve got your lead singer, who you’re supposed to see, wearing a stocking on his face. There was something in the air, and Jane’s was pushing the boundaries. The network played the hell out of it. The band even won an award for video of the year for been caught stealing which was dire

cted by Farrell’s girlfriend Niccoli who would tell Spin When Perry got the first draft of the “Been Caught Stealing” video [that I directed], he called me and said it was horrible and it sucked and that I had ruined his career. When I heard we’d been nominated [for MTV’s Best Alternative Video], Perry didn’t want to go [to the Video Music Awards]. He didn’t feel the need for the fanfare; he’d rather stay home and smoke crack. I wanted to go, because I worked really hard, and I heard [their mana

ger] Ted Gardner would accept the award on behalf of “Jane’s Addiction,” and it triggered something in me, like “Why would I want him, who doesn’t even respect what I do, to accept an award for something I worked so hard on?” The band would win and Dave Navarro and Niccoli would accept the award and she was pretty drunk as you can see here. The tour to support the group’s second studio album saw deeper rifts forming as Navarro and Avery were trying to stay sober even having their own section of

the bus to retreat to stay away from temptation while Farrell was giving interviews not speaking out against drug use but saying it was an important part of his creative process and comparing the dangers of drug use on par with driving a car. Add to that that Avery and Farrell hadn’t really spoken in two years and the band was teetering on imploding. Then you’d had drummer Stephan Perkins who was the only clean one out of the bunch. There were persistent rumors in the press that Jane’s Addiction

were about to break up and the members didn’t exactly deny the rumors with Avery telling an intervieerw the band and i quote “is coming to an end. It’s run its course.” Even before the band even played Lolapalooza the LA Times published an article in may of 1991 with the headline Hit Album by Jane’s Addiction Doesn’t Squelch Rumors of Breakup The band’s label Warner Bros. and their publicity chief Bob Merlis told the press not to buy into the rumors saying it came with the territory of a band h

aving success. Meanwhile the president of their old label Triple X Records would tel lthe Times in 1991 “Now that they are starting to see some money, that may encourage them to go on,” That’s not the main thing. But if it means Perry will be allowed to do more of what he wants to do, I think he’ll seize the opportunity.” It was following a tour through Europe that the band came back home to celebrate Ritual going gold and it was during the time Navarro fell off the wagon. It was during their to

ur through Europe the band was supposed to playing the Reading Festival but Perry lost his voice so the band pulled out. But the band still attended the festival and took note that America didn’t have anything like Reading. The brainchild of Perry Farrell, its drummer, Stephen Perkins, Marc Geiger and Don Muller from Triad Artists, the band’s booking agency they would come up with an idea of a traveling alternative tour which would have it’s inaugural year in 1991 and also serve as a farewell to

Jane’s Addiction. The NY Times would write about lollapalooza in 1991 From the start, Mr. Farrell wanted Lollapalooza to be not just a musical event but a cultural smorgasbord, with a diverse array of tents, booths and displays exploring a number of political, environmental, human rights and cultural issues. The idea, says Mr. Muller, is to bombard festival-goers with stimuli and data and "raise as much public awareness in a single day as possible." At each show, there is an "art tent," display

ing work by local artists personally selected by Mr. Farrell. In this respect, Lollapalooza seems to be a conscious attempt to reinvoke the 60's sense of rock as counterculture, in defiance of today's perception of rock as a leisure industry. "It's throwing a lot of issues into the public consciousness," Mr. Farrell says. "I want there to be a sense of confrontation. But I'm not declaring myself left wing or right wing, I'm actually bringing both sides into it." What’s funny is that Farrell cont

emplated having the NRA or national rifle association and the military recruiters with stalls next to greenpeace of animal rights organizations but both the NRA and military declined to be part of the event according to the New York Times. One thing that was often overlooked at the time was that lollapalooza was a shot in the arm for a struggling music industry thanks to the economic recession at the time as MTV reported here. The rumors of their breakup and the success of their second studio al

bum spurred interest in the band as ticket sales increased 500% over previous tours according to the LA Times. However, the band’s lollapalooza stop in chandler arizona saw Farrell and Navarro came to blows during the show. The band played their final show together for the early 90’s at the first in Hawaii.. Avery would be the first member to split revealing I was so fed up, I finally decided to split. I really didn’t have any feeling for it anymore. I just felt so uncomfortable being so unliked

. And I was nearly clean. I’d watched something that was really close to my heart grow into this machine that was created by Perry and the record company and Triad. So I said, “Dave, I’m splitting.” And he went, “Oh, okay, cool. Me too.” Perry and Perkins would form the outfit Porno for Pyros while Navarro and Avery formed Deconstruction before he became the guitarist for the chili peppers. Avery would go form the band Polar Bear. The record label tried to spin the breakup by saying the band was

on a hiatus and would reunite at some point down the road Perry would tell the alternative press his version of why he wanted the band to end saying “well, there were a couple of reasons I decided to stop working on that project. One of them was that we didn’t get along. That’s the main element of why I was unhappy. I believe that if people don’t like each other, they’re not going to make good music. It’s the same for a band as for an army. If there’s dissension in the ranks, you’re going to ha

ve a problem when it comes time for a battle going on to say “ Even when we agree with each other, we fight. Yes, Jane’s Addiction could be huge, we could be the next Beatles, we could be New Kids on the Block. But I’m tired of the fighting. I’m tired of the routine. I’m tired of playing rock ‘n’ roll.” It was a ballsy move by the band given that they were on the cusp of becoming huge with alternative rock taking ovre the music scene for the next few years. Following the dissolution of Jane’s Ad

diction Farrell, along with drummer Steve Perkins, formed the group Porno for Pyros while Guitarist David Navarro wound up in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and bassist Eric Avery started a band called Polar Bear. , however, six years after imploding, Jane's Addiction would be back, suffering what Farrell calls "a relapse." In 1996 the cards started getting into place for a reunion involving ¾ of Jane’s Addiction. It would be a six month interaction between Navarro, Flea, Perkins and Farrell that le

d to them reuniting. The catalyst was Pyros guitarist Peter DiStefano who was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the time resultign in Navarro helping out the band playing on the song Hard Charger for the howard stern movie private parts soundtrack. . It led to the musicians doing a live performance of the Mountain Song at the film’s premiere and it eventually led to the group playing several more Jane’s Addiction songs at subsequent Porno for pyros show The timing for the members to reconnect

seemed perfect given that Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and frontman Anthony Keidis were recovering from injuries at the time. For those who don’t know Flea would play the horns on the Nothing’s Shocking song ‘Iditio’s Rule’. Calling their return A relapse rather than a reunion, due to bassist Eric Avery’s decision to not join the band and for the fact that they were writing new material. Avery would speak to the alternative press about sitting out of the 1997 reunion stating “Some people thi

nk I hate Perry. I don’t. Not really. I resent certain things about him,”. “When the two of us co-founded the band, it was a creative democracy. We were just a bunch of kids having fun. But Perry’s sort of a one man three-ring circus. He has to be the center of attention, and it’s hard for him to deal with other people in true partnership. Toward the end, the band sort of became a cult of personality around him, and I wasn’t in the picture anymore. I wasn’t getting credit for the music. But that

was livable. What wasn’t livable was that I didn’t have as much input anymore.” That’s not to say the band didn’t reach out to him, because they did. Farrell would drop by a Polar Bear show in Los Angeles and the pair talked and even talked about meeting up for lunch, but the meeting quickly went sour. In a separate interview Avery would tell Spin Perry called [to ask me to rejoin], so we got together for lunch. I was looking at it more as an opportunity to heal the rift on a personal level. I

wanted to say, “Let’s each agree to just go our separate way as friends.” It was going that way until he asked me if I wanted to come back; when I said no, he just flipped out. He was so angry. And I said, “I’m really sorry it’s going this way, Perry. I’d hoped that we could part as friends today.” And he said, “We were never friends!” Dubbed the Relapse Tour Jane’s Addiction would play about 2 dozen shows, record some new material for a compilation album and by the end of 1997 go their separate

ways. The first two shows announced in New York City would sell out in just four minutes, while their other dates around America were met with the same amount of of enthusiasm. In addition to playing shows that would take them through the rest of the year the band would put out a compilation album called Kettle Whistle that consisted of live recordings, demos and a few unreleased rarities. While most of the band’s creative output would be spearheaded by Farrell Kettle Whistle was led by Perkins

who gathered most of the material for the album. The reason? He would admit he had long been the unofficial keeper of the band’s tapes. The band would face many comparisons to Led Zeppelin during their heyday and the band would admit they frequently coerced Communication Breakdown at rehearsals. In addition to that the band’s songs about LA also saw them cover songs including the doors LA women and X’s Nausea and while Navarro pushed for these songs to be included on Kettle Whistle he was vetoe

d by his band mates. Instead the new record woul contain the unreleased tracks, My Cat’s name Is Maceo and Slow Divers while the track City is from a movie soundtrack called Soul Kiss. The Relapse Tour was aptly named according to flea who told Spin that the initial shows went really well but by the end it was a complte mess as the drug started to creep back in with Dave navarro admitting he doesn’t remember much FLEA would admit to Spin looking back: There was some severe, crazy decadence going

on. It started off being absolutely incredible—some of the best feelings and shows and energy that I’ve ever felt in my life, complete power. But it ended up being sporadic, then terrible. Because of drugs, it became a complete fucking mess. The focus got diluted. People still liked it, but I just knew what it could’ve been because I knew what it was in the beginning of that tour, and it was a mighty, mighty thing. By 1998 the members went back to their respective projects however Navarro would

be fired by the Chili Peppers when John Frusciante was brought back into the band. Navarro would work on his first solo album during the time. Reunion 2001 The band would reunite once again without Avery in 2001 to play Coachella. They would enslist porno for pyros bassist Martin LeNoble since Flea was tied up with the Chili Peppers. It was following a successful reunion tour the band hooked up with ALice Cooper producer Bob Ezrin to work on their long awaited follow up to their second studio a

lbum. They would enlist bassist Chris Chaney. The resulting album would be 2003’s Strays. But the following year the band broke up once again with Dave Navarro issuing a statement at the time that read "Why didn't it work out?" "So many reasons. Some of them over 15 years old, some of them new and none of them worth mentioning. Maybe we are just a volatile combination. Maybe that is why we were so great. Sometimes the best creative relationships are the most combustible and they aren't meant to

last forever." Between reunions, Navarro spent much of the last decade on non-musical projects including hosting an Internet talk show and a radio show, he’d put outan autobiography, started co-managing adult actress Sasha Grey and even,” and played in the all-star cover band Camp Freddie. The band would reunite most recently in 2008 and Eric Avery rejoined the group at the inaugural NME awards where the band received the god like genius award. It resulted in the band doing some additional shows

. But by 2010 Avery was once again out of the band. He would tell Rolling Stone the following year . “I just didn’t like the idea of doing reunions, period. I could only see it as I’d just be going over the same old ground. I’m only years older and fatter and I’ll just do an older, fatter version of me,” Later I thought more about it and I thought, ‘This isn’t really different. They aren’t asking me to relive some days gone by. They are just saying let’s honor the past.’ I decided to do it.” In

2010 Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses fame and of Velvet Revolver served as the group’s bassist and while he was involved in writing sessions for the group’s 4th studio album. Chris Chaney would be welcomed back into the group and by 2011 the band put out their 4th album The Great escape artist. his time with the band would be short-lived citing creative differences. He wasn’t into the idea of using electronics on their album. The band would release their fourth album the great escape artist in 201

1 to mixed reviews. Since 2011 the band has been actie on the touring circuit. It was in late 2021 Dave Navarro contracted covid-19 and has been dealing with long-covid which has prevented him from hitting the road with jane’s addiction whose been touring alongside the smashing pumpkins. He’s been replaced by josh klinghoffer. 2022 also saw the return of bassist Eric Avery who had stepped way from teh band for 12 years. The band is said to be working on a new album due out for release in 2024. T

he joke of a rock n’ roll hall of fame nominated Jane’s Addiction in 2016 but they didn’t make the cut. You might be wondering what happened to Jane Banter and Casey Niccoli. Farrell and Niccoli would end up breaking up in 1993. Farrell blamed drugs for their relationships demise and the fact that she was becoming too involved in his career and bands. Niccoli meanwhile claimed it ran deeper than drugs. Perry would end up meeting Etty Lau, a professional dancer and singer. Niccoli who hails from

Bakersfield talked to a local paper in 2012 and discussed what she was up to. Now living a quiet life in Los Angeles, she’s a working mother who hadn’t talked to Perry since they broke up in the early 90’s but had seen Dave Navarro at one of his book signings. She would admit to Bakersfield.com "Perry's got a new life and a relationship where he really honors his wife. I respect that, don't try to contact him and leave him alone. I wish I could just be a face in the crowd and be like everyone el

se. Maybe one day." She would admit in the interview she was contemplating writing a book about her life. As for Jane Bainter she hasn’t given many interviews either. Her most relevant interviews came from 2001 when she spoke to the LA Times about where she was at in life. Living in Los Angeles at the time she was no longer in contact with Perry Farrell and the song Jane Says paints a dark picture of her life she would tell the times "The story of Jane has a happy ending," She would dispel one m

yth that she was a prostitute and claimed despite what the song Jane Says might indicate she was not. It was soon after Jane’s Addiction had some success she lost touch with the band and she moved on in her career working at Atlantic Records before getting a job at the University of California as a student advisor. She would admit to getting clean in the early 90’s and by 2001 was divorced and between jobs. As for Spain, she would admit she finally made it to the country. That does it for today'

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