TOP TEN Jane’s Addiction Songs

Published on December 27, 2011 by Christian Sellers · 2 Comments

“This band is my most important project without a doubt, but it’s not an end-all for me,” Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell once confessed to Kerrang! while promoting the release of their latest album Ritual de lo Habitual in 1990. “I have a lot of things I want to do in my life, and let’s face it, time is clicking at this very moment,” he continued. “I’ve got ideas in my head and places I want to go and things I want to do, and they don’t include Jane’s Addiction.” These projects that he spoke of would come to include Porno for Pyros, who first surfaced two years later, and the short-lived Satellite Party a decade on. Yet Farrell will be forever known to music fans through his work with Jane’s Addiction which, in a quarter of a century, has resulted in just four studio albums, each of which were met with considerable critical success.

Formed in California and featuring singer Farrell, guitarist David Navarro, bassist Eric A. and drummer Stephen Perkins, Jane’s Addiction‘s first release came with an eponymous live album in 1987 through independent label Triple X Records. Recorded at the legendary venue The Roxy in Hollywood, the album featured future fan favourite Jane Says, as well as a cover of The Velvet Underground‘s Rock ‘n’ Roll and Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones. This led to the band signing a deal with major label Warner Bros. Records, resulting in their studio debut Nothing’s Shocking a year later. Featuring controversial artwork from Farrell, the album gained major acclaim and launched the group into the mainstream, with Mountain Song and a re-recording of Jane Says attracting the attention of MTV and international music magazines. Jane’s Addiction reached their commercial peak with Ritual de lo Habitual, which boasted their signature tune Been Caught Stealing and helped to bring an end to hair metal and make way for the incoming grunge explosion the following year.

Farrell gained further exposure when he launched the popular Lollapalooza festival in 1991, with Jane’s Addiction headlining the first tour that included the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Having released two acclaimed albums and enjoyed several years on the road, Jane’s Addiction decided to call it a day the same year, with Navarro declining an invitation to join Guns N’ Roses, before later serving as a replacement to John Frusciante for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, in which he wrote and performed on their 1995 album One Hot Minute. Two years later Warner Bros. released the compilation Kettle Whistle, which compiled live material recorded between 1986 and 1991 and a handful of new tracks. After several years of fans debating whether or not the band would reform, Jane’s Addiction returned in 2001 and a brand new album followed soon afterwards. Strays, issued through Capitol Records, was their first release of new material in over a decade and proved to be yet another critical success, showing the band venturing into heavier territory.

Once again they fell silent before finally regrouping and embarking on a successful tour alongside Nine inch Nails, dubbed NINJA. In 2011, eight years after the release of Strays, Jane’s Addiction recorded their fourth studio album, The Great Escape Artist, which proved once and for all that the band were able to move with the times and remain fresh and unique. “As far as the internal structure of the band goes, we’ve never been on more solid ground,” Navarro explained to Guitar World earlier this year. “I think that’s because of the fact that we all have our own interests and lives outside of Jane’s. That actually allows the band to breathe and have more life, because we’re not all sucking from it because it’s the only thing that matters. In a weird way, when you make it the only thing that matters it sucks out some of the life force.”

10. JUST BECAUSE
Times change and in the decade since the release of Ritual de lo Habitual the music landscape had also undergone a major facelift, with grunge being replaced by nu metal and what critics would dub emo. Instead of merely trying to recapture their former glory, Jane’s Addiction returned in 2003 with a heavier and more metal-based offering entitled Strays. The lead single from this would be Just Because, which would not only introduce the group to a new generation of rock fans but would also provide them with their biggest hit to date. Based around a classic guitar riff from Navarro, the song saw the group performing on such popular shows as Late Show with David Letterman in the United States and Later with Jools Holland in Britain.

9. SPLASH A LITTLE WATER ON IT
It could easily have been a distaster; Jane’s Addiction returned yet again after a decade in limbo with the highly anticipated The Great Escape Artist. Their strength had always been how each member was allowed to shine and Splash a Little Water on It would be a perfect example, with David Andrew Sitek’s bass and Perkins’ drums adding a strong rhythm section, while Farrell and Navarro provide the harmonies. Almost dreamlike, the song remains one of the highlights from an album that will one day gain the recognition it deserves.

8. SUMMERTIME ROLLS
Eric A. is arguably one of the most underrated bass guitarists in rock history, with music critics often showering acclaim on the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Flea and Les Claypool from Primus, yet many Jane’s Addiction tracks were built around his bass riffs. Summertime Rolls, which found its way onto Nothing’s Shocking, is a perfect example of Eric A.’s strength as a bassist and why the band stood out from their peers.

7. BEEN CAUGHT STEALING
Prior to the release of Been Caught Stealing in late 1990, Jane’s Addiction were a relatively unknown group with a small but loyal following, yet the song would prove to be their long-awaited break into the mainstream, thanks in part to the accompanying promo video, directed by husband-and-wife team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, that saw an assortment of bizarre characters shoplifting from a store. While many hardcore fans may dismiss the song as being too commercial, there was a reason that Been Caught Stealing proved to be such a success and that was down to the funky bass and guitar and Farrell’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics.

6. WHORES
Jane’s Addiction‘s 1987 live album has often been overlooked in favour of their official debut Nothing’s Shocking. While the latter is certainly the superior in terms of songwriting, performance and production, there is something about the former that demands some recognition. Aside from two covers and two songs that would resurface on Nothing’s Shocking, the album would feature six tracks that would occasionally make their way onto set lists over the years, but otherwise slipped into obscurity. Among them were the surprisingly strong 1% and Whores, both of which show off not only Eric A.’s bass skills but also how finely tuned the band were as a live unit.

5. TO MATCH THE SUN
Having far surpassed the expectations of both fans and critics, Strays ended on a strong note with To Match the Sun, a five-and-a-half-minute epic that commences with a misleading melodic introduction, before launching back and forth between heavy and quiet. “The countdown is starting now, it’s coming to a sweet end,” declared Farrell.

4. TED, JUST ADMIT IT…
Nothing’s Shocking sounded like no other album that was released during the late 1980s and one of its standout moments was Ted, Just Admit It…, another track that would show all four members working in unison and each being allowed their moment to shine. Like any great Jane’s Addiction song, it featured a prominent bass riff and some truly bizarre lyrics from Farrell, who stated, “Show me everybody, naked and disfigured… sex is violent.” The song would later resurface on the soundtrack to the cult 1994 road movie Natural Born Killers, which would also include Nine Inch Nails and L7.

3. CURIOSITY KILLS
Any reservations that fans may have had for The Great Escape Artists were no doubt extinguished when it was finally released in October 2011. Not only did it meet expectations but it also included their best track in years, Curiosity Kills, which is led by a strong rhythm from bassist Chris Chaney, keyboardist Sitek and drummer Perkins. Farrell’s voice has a seductive quality that has always made it unique, while Navarro adds a few inspired touches through his guitar playing. Bizarrely, Jane’s Addiction did not opt to release the song as a single to promote the album.

2. THEN SHE DID…
There was something about the overall production and performance of Ritual de lo Habitual that made it an instant classic, opening with the energetic Stop! and concluding with the appropriately titled Classic Girl. Among the tracks in between was the eight-minute epic Then She Did… proving once again that Jane’s Addiction were always at their best when creating something hypnotic. On an album that never puts a foot wrong, Then She Did… succeeds in eclipsing all the other songs as one of the band’s crowning achievements.

1. JANE SAYS
Jane Says had first emerged on the band’s self-titled live album in 1987, although this version would be somewhat different to that which would eventually surface on Nothing’s Shocking. The studio recording would include steel drums that gave the song an exotic feel, while Navarro’s acoustic guitar provided both the melody and beat. Jane Says tells the tale of a troubled young woman, although Farrell clearly has affection for the girl in question due to both his lyrics and the manner in which he sings them. The track has since become a favourite among fans and is often performed in concert.