Sunday, August 5, 2007

"Stop" / Jane's Addiction / Ritual de lo Habitual

It's incredible the influence that a band like Jane's had from more or less only two albums (plus a live EP). They were almost Nirvana before Nivana, in other words, they were thisclose to being the big 80's alternative band that made it mainstream.

I'll never forget hearing "Nothing's Shocking" my senior year in high school (class of 1990) and thinking, "Shit - this is altogether different - this may be the best album I've ever heard". That album was passed around many of my friends, and we couldn't wait for the new album to come out.

So in 1991, "Ritual de lo Habitual" came out with a decent bit of fanfare (remember, still, this was pre Nirvana, pre Lalapalooza, so the fact that this album had some press was impressive and exciting at the time). I remember loving it, and "Stop" was one of the most impressive on it.

Of course, the big hit was the gimmicky "Been Caught Stealing" which most people remember Jane's Addiction for (that or the overplayed "Jane Says"), but for my money give me a "Stop", "Three Days", "Mountain Song" or "Ocean Size"

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Fuck Perry Farrel or how ever you spell his name. Jane's is some over rated shit, should have been a one hit wonder...I really find them tiresome...went to the first 3 or 4 Lollapallza'a and walked out twice, once at the first one when Perry played naked(his voice was much more offensive than his heroin "enhanced: physique..and once when Billy Corrigan decided that screaming was a far better alternative to singing...

Nick said...

Who else remembers Vic Chesnutt's song "Steve Willoughby," which ended with the great line, "Some day I will transcend / just like Jane's Addiction"?

I always thought they were a little too self-satisfied myself.

That was hardly the best part of "Steve Willoughby." What about "Some day I'll gain a skill / just like Deborah Norville" or "Some day I'll be a paragon / like Louis Farrakhan."

Come on -- rhyming "paragon" and "Farrakhan"? Now that's good stuff.

THE MERKIN MAN said...

It is almost as cool now to say you don't like J.A. now as it was to like them in the past.

I liked Ritual when it came out, and saw their show at Lolla 1, but the Butthole Surfers stole the show for me. I still have the scars.

As for the Smashing Pumpkins. I lost all respect for them the day I saw them live. It was the first concert I ever left early.