Now they say they are going to tour and are in the studio with Trent Reznor, hmmm, with Eric Avery back in the fold it's official that they are back together, Jane's Addiction that is, the band of my youth, the band that made me first shave my head and grow a goatee just like Perry Farrell and then the band that made me grow fucking gigantic dreadlocks and confuse hippy kids cuz i wouldn't give them peanut butter sandwiches, call it the first wave of hipsterism, when dreadlocked white kids where going to punk and hardcore shows instead of just following Jerry and the boys, the original Lollapolooza, fuck i'm that old, of course this band came after my discovery of the Smiths and Joy Division but for a few years of my life there was none more important, i used to take massive amounts of mushrooms and listen to the second side of Ritual de lo Habitual over and over and over, usually with lady friend, to the point that my roommates wouldn't even open the door if they heard Jane's playing...My first summer in Ocean City was dominated by the VU and Jane's XXX live album, my second by Ritual and Nothing Shocking, there was something in the lyrics and music, that primal fucking music that made life so fucking good, made me stalk the city like a fucking jungle cat waiting to kill and fuck and drink, connected in the fuzzed out synapses of this tall, fucked up, ex-basketball player turned half ass poet, it was good to be 20 years old and fucking invincible, stupid, brilliant and alive and now they are back but it's been awhile...
and if you want to see it they have six songs from a small show played in L.A. and it looks like these guys still fucking hate each other, it doesn't take a shrink to watch the body language and minimal interaction to know that these are huge, easily bruised egos coming very close to combusting at any moment and really wasn't that what made them great the first time around? then again being angry young men with drug problems is one thing and being bitter old men who are relatively sober is another, so who knows if they can catch the lightening in the bottle again, i'd like to think so but i won't be shocked if it all implodes before we ever see that tour with NIN...
and for the record the album put out under the Jane's moniker called Strays is not a Jane's album, it's a fucking embarrassment for the guys who played on it but it shouldn't even be included in the canon, without Eric A. the were not Jane's, one of my favorite bass players of all time, along with Stephen Perkins he created an evil beast called a rhythm section while laying down some of the best bass lines of all time, fuck Flea and the rest of the fill-in's without Eric A. there ain't no right, now that there is here's hoping they don't fall off that tightrope.
4 comments:
Bands shouldn't reform. Unless it's strictly and implicitly cabaret. That’s my new view on the subject. This whole project will be total shit.
In fact no more bands should form at all. There's enough music.
i see 'em playing some shows and festivals and making some money and then falling apart, i really don't think any of them like being in the same room with the others which makes them almost as bad as Metallica they just didn't hire a film crew to watch them go to therapy and bitch about each other, but i guess most people in bands don't end up loving each other, Morrissey/Marr, Lennon/McCartney, Waters/the rest of the Floyd, Barney/Hooky, Ian Brown/John Squire, maybe they should just know when to quit and when to play the BBQ circuit, i think my man Eric A. decided if they were gonna use the name anyway he might as well sign up and get paid, who knows, i'm not really expecting anything new, the last record proper, Ritual was a fucking masterpiece and how do you follow that, side 2 as i call it is like a symphony, a movement in 4 parts, fucking timeless, it could be intrepreted as a brilliant narrative about a life, part one, being born/reborn out of sex and violence, The She Did- a story about a mother and the shaping of values, Of Course - about the cruel and beautiful world taught by a cruel and beatiful family and Classic Girl- about growing up and being in love, timeless story lines...maybe i'll get lucky and see them live before it all falls apart, if not doesn't matter they've given me enough already.
the BBQ circuit? that sounds tragic
In H'america Nursie the dinosaurs of 70's,80's and even 90's rock music, bands that had a hit or two, disband only to return as BBQ bands, they play mainly rib cook offs, demolition derbies and state fairs where drunk natives scream and dance and generally act like fools. Us indie kids only attend these things in an ironic fashion to appear hip.
Post a Comment