In the summer of 1988, I had been working at Dustys Records for about 8-9 months. We were always encouraged to open different albums for in-store play. We would also receive promotional albums(and cassettes) from the record companies too. As I’ve stated in some of my other album memories, I was kind of the Hard Rock/Metal expert at the store. But, by this time, I was getting tired of a lot of the same rock clones. There was plenty of criticism in the rock press about bands that were Zeppelin “clones” (Whitesnake, Kingdom Come) and I was tired of every band out of LA trying to imitate the Motley Crue “bad boy/glam” image and sound which seemed like (to me) a 3rd generation Aerosmith imitation. Then Guns N’ Roses came along and everybody was dressing like Axl Rose with a bandana around his head and guitarists were playing Gibson Les Paul guitars like Slash slung low with yet another “Bad boy” image. The drum sounds seem like dull thuds and I was just so tired of a lot of it.
1001 Albums contributor Manish Agarwal writes:
“-By the late 1980’s, mainstream American rock was dominated by spandex and hairspray clones who were neither heavy nor metal.”
There had been a buzz in the music press about the band Jane’s Addiction. In 1987, the band had released a self titled album on the independent label Triple X records. I remember a few customers starting to ask about that first album. Since Kearney is a small Nebraska college town, there was always an audience for people who were wanting something different from the norm. But, the band’s major label release debut from Warner Brothers records Nothing’s Shocking was the album that took the music world by storm.
I can’t remember if the in-store copy of the album was sent by the record company or if one of us employees opened the album from store stock. All I remember was this was an album of stuff that I had never heard before. Here was an album cover with a molded sculpture of 2 NAKED women conjoined at the hip sitting on a rocking bench and their heads are ON FIRE. In the late 70’s and early 80’s, there had already been album covers that were plagued with controversy. The Scorpions had a couple with their albums Animal Magnetism and Lovedrive and Guns N’ Roses had controversy with the original cover of Appetite for Destruction. There was even an album spoof highlighted in the Rock “Mockumentary” This is Spinal Tap! But, this album didn’t feel so controversial because the title said it all: Nothing’s Shocking.
This album was so different than everything else I had been listening to. I loved the trippy ethereal opening of Up the Beach and then into Ocean Size. Stephen Perkins throws in a shotgun drum opening to track 3 Had a Dad and we are off and running. As I think back, I’m reminded of how this band barreled through as a complete unit. Stephen Perkins had a funky syncopated feel with a tribal stomp to his drumming. Eric Avery made these incredible bass sounds. Dave Navarro just had some awesome leads and licks that put in him in the mix too. Then, there was the voice of Perry Farrell. His vocals didn’t sound like anyone…ever. In a rock world full of Robert Plant and Steven Tyler wannabes, this was so intensely different. The band made one complete aural assault as one band entity. Most musicians (when they are writing music and coming up with their own sound) don’t want to sound like anything else. But, the music listener and consumer want to listen to and buy things they are familiar with. So, when a customer would come in and ask for something “different”, I would say Jane’s Addiction Nothing’s Shocking. Then the inevitable question would come up “What does it sound like?” My answer would usually be “LIKE NOTHING YOU’VE EVER HEARD!” This would leave customers perplexed because people really do want something to compare it with.
Even as I began to write this blog, I wanted to get another spin on memories of this album. So, I called my old friend and Dustys cohort Bob. I’ve stated before that while I was working at Dustys, I became friends with many people. But, my connection with Bob and Forrest are irreplaceable. Forrest was the alternative/college rock fan (R.E.M., The Cure, The Smiths, The Replacements) and I was the Hard Rock guy and Bob was “Heartland Mellencamp rocker” with a bit of country(which grew into a LOT of country). I asked Bob what his memory was of Nothing’s Shocking. This question sparked a lot of smiles and memories about that summer. Bob and I agreed that although the three of us had diverse tastes in music, we all agreed on the fact that this album was really good. It was a little heavier than Forrest’s usual musical tastes. It was just different and yet heavy enough for my tastes and Bob just knew that he really liked it. He even reminded me that we had a customer come in once and ask the three of us “What’s new and good?” We all said “Jane’s Addiction”. The customer at that point told us that if 3 guys with such varied opinions on music could like this one album, it must be good.
Every track on this album was different yet really cool. It was funky and tribal and trippy and heavy and folky with a hint of cynicism. It was happy, brooding, depressing, and pissed off. Bob described to me that every song on this album was a study in “Controlled Chaos” to him. You could “drop the needle” on any track on the album and know what part of the album you were on. Bob also said that it definitely put a stamp on his musical tastes and actually confused him about what he thought he liked in music. Like many music listeners from small town Nebraska towns in the 80’s, teenage and young adult males like Rock n’ Roll plain and simple. Then, we arrive at college and discover new friends with new kinds of tastes in music and from different backgrounds. Speaking for myself, I was a heavy rock listener and yet I kept coming across stuff that I liked that wasn’t in that category. We’re not supposed to like stuff that doesn’t “rock”. Someone might take away our “I Wanna Rock” pledge pin. But, this album definitely challenged that notion.
Categories were yet another boundary that was predominant in the 80’s. So, here came Jane’s Addiction and this incredible hybrid of sounds. MTV was the main source of any kind of music entertainment and information. They had their specialty shows like 120 Minutes for Alternative stuff and Headbanger’s Ball for Hard Rock/Heavy Metal and Yo MTV Raps for the Hip-Hop/Rap audience. I remember when Headbanger’s Ball teased (broadcast term) for a video from Jane’s Addiction. The video for The Mountain Song was actually banned from MTV because of a scene of full frontal nudity. But, I do remember some video footage of the band on both Headbanger’s Ball and 120 Minutes. I think it may have been the video for Ocean Size
Bob and I were also studying Broadcasting at the college and had our own radio shows. Of course, we were overly enthusiastic about Jane’s Addiction and would want to play some tracks off the album on the college radio station. I’ve always been one to play the upbeat song that is “got a good beat and fun to dance to” and be filled with some energy. We were always supposed to prep our music for our on-air show. But, we would usually end up picking songs as the show would go on. So, I would inevitably track through the album to find an upbeat song. Sure there are great funky numbers like Idiots Rule, Had a Dad and Standing in the Shower Thinking. But, even as I have been writing this blog, I am reminded of the songs that just built from a small speck of intimacy and build into an intense musical adventure. The track I keep coming back to this past week is Ted, Just Admit it. This has such an incredible build up to it! What a rush it must have been to play this one live.
Even as we would listen to the album, I would grab the album cover and the inner sleeve and read through the lyrics. The song titles and lyrics were written in a kind of handwritten type font that made it a little difficult to read. As I would try read through the lyrics, something in the dynamic of the recording would hit me and I would be distracted by something musically….or as Bob put it “What the Hell was that?” My buzz word for anything like that in the day was “INTENSE”. As the final sentence of the write-up in 1001 Albums for this album says
“Finally, rock ‘n’ roll was dangerous again”
In 1990, the band released their second album for Warner Bros. called Ritual De lo Habitual. The band’s rise to more mainstream attention would definitely come with this album. They would see wide rotation on MTV with the video for the second single Been Caught Stealing. In 1991, singer Perry Farrell created and conceived of the now legendary annual concert event tour known as the Lollapalooza festival. It was a tour of diverse bands and styles all playing together under one tour. As the 90’s grew on, it became known as more of a tour for the “Alternative Nation” (coincidentally another phrase created by Farrell)
The band has broken up and reunited many times over the years. Apparently, bassist Avery and Farrell (who originally formed the band together) experienced tensions early on when Farrell wanted more songwriting royalties for himself than the rest of the band. Guitarist Dave Navarro also has suffered from a heroin addiction in the early years too. Farrell and drummer Stephen Perkins formed the band Porno for Pyros and recorded a couple of albums. Dave Navarro joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1993 and recorded the album One Hot Minute. The band reunited in 1997 with Chili Pepper bassist Flea filling in for Avery who declined the reunion. They have toured on and off again and recorded as a band. The one member of the band who is out and in of the band over and over again has been bassist Eric Avery. He reunited with the band yet again from 2008 to 2010 and then left again and was replaced by Gn’R and Velvet Revolver bassist Duff McKagan briefly.
The last album the band released was called The Great Escape Artist in 2011. It’s unsure whether or not they will record a follow up to that yet or no. I’m guessing they probably will. For me, nothing ever lived up to that first listening of Nothing’s Shocking. When the Ritual was released, I had just graduated from college. I had only heard the album once or twice. Maybe my mind was too wrapped up with what I was going to do next in my life after college. I had started working at the Dustys store in Grand Island and I just didn’t feel the kind of attraction I had to the first album. Maybe it was the camaraderie between Bob, Forrest and myself that was missing at the time. I really can’t say. I had purchased Nothing’s Shocking on a CD some years later. But, when I would be looking for something to listen to, it didn’t seem to light me on fire like it had once before. It could have been because the band wasn’t this underground sensation that we kind of discovered at Dustys. My non-conformist nature didn’t want to like them now that they were so popular. When they reunited in 1997, I kept pulling out my CD to listen to. But, I would become disinterested in it. Eventually, I would sell my CD copy out of need for some funds of some nature. But, I would see clips on TV or online of Stephen Perkins playing or Dave Navarro and think “Damn, I wish I had Nothing’s Shocking to listen to right now.” I would try downloading the album illegally(I know..not good) and it just didn’t seem right. Then, a couple years ago, Forrest was back in Nebraska and we got together for lunch. We caught up on everything and then we had to go to a music store and browse through the used CD racks. Well, guess what I found?…… A used copy of Nothing’s Shocking. I vowed to myself then that I would never get rid of this copy ever again.
As I was trying to decide which album I wanted to write about, I started paging through the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. I came across Nothing’s Shocking and decided to dial up the album on the MP3 player on my phone. All of a sudden, I felt the excitement and exhilaration I felt back in the summer of 1988 when I first heard the album. In the monotony of work, I would find myself with 3-4 songs from the album stuck in my head. I called Bob and we reminisced about the album. Bob and I have kept in touch over the years and yet it had been a few months since we had talked. All of a sudden I was excited to write about this album and I was excited to write…period.
I’ve stated it before…music has a way of transporting you (through memories) to a place and time you were in your life where things were just alright. We may not have known it at the time. But, they were good. Chances are you experienced that time with someone else and that’s why you consider them a friend. Music resonates those good times for me. I absolutely love writing about these times too. This blog entry definitely igniting a desire to keep writing too. Who knew that it would come from an album that had lay dormant in my memory for many years. Oh well…Nothing’s Shocking!
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