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Unfortunately we have to begin on a downer note. Three great people in music are gone now, and that is Eddie Money, cult singer songwriter Daniel Johnston, and Cars leader Ric Ocasek.

Eddie Money, did some real classic songs that we still love to this day, and just seemed like a cool, down to earth guy, no prima donna shit with him.

Daniel Johnston, a tortured soul who brought some very haunted yet very warm and very endearing songs to us. Even with his demons, he still touched so many lives even with as few sales as he had, including Kurt Cobain-which is how I first heard of him.

And now Ric Ocasek. This one hurts the most man, I’m a huge Cars fan and Ric’s songs have gotten me through some rough patches in life. I’ve always had such a hard time articulating my feelings or opening up, and it always felt like he got me in a way so few others could. He could be sarcastic, heartfelt, neurotic, suave, straightforward, cerebral, and all of the above. The Cars sold a lot and had some big hits and yet, I still think they always get their props for what a great band they were, and what a great pop songwriter Ric was. I’ve been meaning to do a Cars review for a while, but just never got around to it. I do want to do one, but I want to be just right. Rest In Peace Ric, I hope you can see Ben at last.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T-mugESBIhY

Now let’s get shocking! Or attempt to be. We are now tackling Jane’s Addiction’s studio debut (they already had a self titled live album out), Nothing’s Shocking. Produced by Dave Jerden and frontman Perry Farrell, Farrell had chosen Jerden based on his work as an engineer on David Byrne and Brian Eno’s My Life In The Bushes Of Ghosts. The album’s production saw a lot of tension due to Perry demanding a much larger cut of royalties, with the remaining members each getting 12.5% As a result, the band briefly broke up before regrouping to promote the album.

I had heard some things about Jane’s Addiction, but I didn’t dig in until I got One Hot Minute, the album that Dave Navarro did with the Chili Peppers and decided to check out Jane’s Addiction, so here we are and I’m covering their studio debut. Let’s Go!

1. “Up The Beach” (Perry Farrell/Eric Avery/Dave Navarro/Stephen Perkins):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=brQ-EWzgEX0

We open up the album with a little bass riff by Eric Avery. Nothin’ fancy but it does a perfect job setting up the mood and atmosphere of the track, with Navarro’s guitar coming in to create a wall of sound, colored by the wailing of Perry Farrell.

Soon the track begins proper and the band grooves along with Perry crooning over the music. I really dig this track man, it’s a cool opening song to the album.

2. “Ocean Size” (Farrell/Avery/Navarro/Perkins):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lVIev94s7Mo

Now we get to “Ocean Size”, which was the third single off the album.

Just love the way this starts with such a pretty little acoustic track, before the track really slams down. All the members shine through loud and clear. Stephen Perkins just drills into the track, then you have a great little bass line to tie the track together by Eric Avery. And finally, holy shit does Dave Navarro rip on this song. He sort of gets sold short because he has that stigma of “he does the Tattoo Ink show and blah blah blah”, but fuck me is he good. And he has a sound. You hear him, you know it’s him. He of course would end up joining the Chili Peppers after Jane’s Addiction broke up and did One Hot Minute, which was a badass album and really the last good thing that the Chili Peppers did. I do love some old Chili Peppers but Jane’s Addiction is way better than them, it’s not even close. Listen to this album and tell me the Chili Peppers, even at their best, could touch this shit.

But back to the song, Perry has some abstract lyrics that speak to a general truth of wishing you could do more about anything in your life and feeling like a failure. I often beat myself up for not being able to do more about the problems of the world, and wishing I could make everything better and wanting to make everyone happy.

This is a great song, but not my favorite on here, so let’s see what else comes up….

3. “Had A Dad” (Farrell/Avery/Navarro/Perkins):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e3K8VdpNydc

“Had A Dad”, this one touches on parental abandonment and conflict, with some religious subtext. A little fun fact is that the version heard in the video is in fact the demo version of the song.

Of course, the patriarch is traditionally the leader and the anchor, and of course once he is gone, the family seems to fall into disarray. All sorts of conflict over the money, over how to run things without him there, and the father’s legacy. And when the father is someone of some level of notoriety, these problems become amplified. It sucks man, it just fucking sucks.

What doesn’t suck, though, is this song-slamming tune, great solo by Navarro, I’m all for this song, next track.

4. “Ted, Just Admit It” (Farrell/Avery/Navarro/Perkins):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1CpRCc4Jre8

And now the epic of the album, written about serial killer Ted Bundy and the media hoopla around his crimes and trial.

Man, what a dark, creepy atmosphere. The album as a whole has this dense, almost suffocating feel but this starts out rather cold and sparse. Perkins, he doesn’t seem to get talked about much but man, what a great drummer. The instrumentation is somewhat subdued, particularly by Jane’s Addiction standards, before growing more frenetic as the track progresses. All while giving this really unnerving feeling while recounting Bundy’s crimes and trial. As fucked up as Bundy’s crimes were, we as a whole still seem to keep coming back to him and others like him because we have this perverse fascination with the dark side so to speak. Hell, we get more bent out of shape by sex or profanity than violence. We live in a world where people can freely pass around a video of R Budd Dwyer committing suicide at a conference.

This track is a total classic and one of the best on the album.

5. “Standing In The Shower…Thinking” (Farrell/Avery/Navarro/Perkins):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_3oOUfpdVY

We are now “Standing In The Shower”, and my God do I love this track.

It’s pretty light compared to the last track, but still has a nice crunch. Great hooks and some sweet vocals by Perry. In addition, the band is so unbelievably tight on here, great rhythm guitar by Dave in addition to his solo on here, as well as Eric’s bass and Perkins’ drums. Hearing this song, I’m not sure I can really buy that Dave can’t play funk, Hell, “Walkabout” is a funky mothafucker.

Well, this song kicks major ass man, another standout on the album.

6. “Summertime Rolls” (Farrell/Avery/Perkins/Perkins):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=By6eEI93_0w

We now come to “Summertime Rolls”.

This is such a gorgeous track. Really cool, mellow vibe set once again by Eric Avery’s bass. I know that Eric is known for being a flakey guy which is why he’s not with them anymore but man, he was such a big part of this band. They all were, obviously, and I like the post reunion stuff for the most part, but Eric’s absence left a big hole for sure.

No matter, this song has this nice, easygoing vibe with a sense of odd nostalgia, even when the past really wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. And I normally can’t stand the sitar but it works brilliantly on this track, adding a nice texture to the track and never becoming overbearing.

This is my favorite track on the album, I adore it to bits.

7. “Mountain Song” (Farrell/Avery/Navarro/Perkins):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1kAIMlISHhU

Now we come to the oldest song on the album, which according to Eric was the first song he and Perry wrote together dating back to late ’85. It was originally recorded and released in 1986 as part of the soundtrack to Dudes, before being re-recorded for this album and released as the second single off the album. That said, the Dudes version can be found on Kettle Whistles.

We start with the kickass little bass riff that the Chili Peppers ripped off for “Readymade” off that bloated turd Stadium Arcadium. But enough of that shitty album, let’s talk about this great song. This is a damn good, slamming song. The song has this real Led Zeppelin-y vibe, particularly in the mixing of acoustic and electric guitars, but it still feels very much like its own thing.

And once again, the spacey solo is so badass man. Bad-fucking-ass. And the song? Bad-fucking-ass!

8. “Idiots Rule” (Farrell/Avery/Navarro/Perkins):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nrUUd-30Bzw

We come to “Idiots Rule”, featuring Angelo Moore from Fishbone on the saxophone, Flea on trumpet, and a guy named Christopher Dowd on trombone.

Thanks in part to Angelo Moore’s presence, this track has a strong ska influence to it in the horn line and it works brilliantly within the song. I’m not really a huge ska guy, but I love how they incorporate it here, and it’s just a really fun song overall and my second favorite song on here.

9. “Jane Says” (Farrell/Avery/Navarro/Perkins):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xh-5FI21s6M

We now come to “Jane Says”, which was inspired by Farrell’s ex-girlfriend Jane Bainter who had struggled with heroin addiction and an abusive relationship (and yes, the former is where the band’s name comes from). Though this was the first song released to radio, a video was not made until the Kettle Whistles era, which was filmed over the course of the Relapse Tour.

This is an awesome song, a great more commercial type of song with a nice acoustic structure to it, makes a lot of sense why this would be the first thing they release to the public as it’s easily the most accessible track on the album.

10. “Thank You Boys” (Farrell/Avery/Navarro/Perkins):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6kWWx-PAvDk

Now we get a short little jazzy lounge number with “Thank You Boys”.

I really dig this track, it’s a nice change of pace for this album. It also foreshadows the stylistic roulette of Ritual De La Habitual, another fantastic album.

11. “Pigs In Zen” (Farrell/Avery/Navarro/Perkins):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ogmqY1-_XFc

We close the album with “Pigs In Zen”, which has a sludgey Sabbath/Black Flag vibe to it, this sounds a lot like what bands like the Melvins and Soundgarden were doing or would do. The track is damn good, heavy, and fuck me does Navarro tear it up on the six string, dude is a shit hot guitar player. I love Slovak, Frusciante to an extent, but not even in their dreams could they do this shit. And Perkins rips it on the drums with a strong bass line by Eric Avery. And Perry is just the icing on the cake.

This song is mightily righteous, one of the best songs on this album! And what a way to close the album and leave you wanting more!

FINAL VERDICT

What a fantastic album by a fantastic band. It’s also one that sometimes doesn’t get the credit it deserves, and I don’t know why that is because this has it all-great production, songwriting, musicianship, a band with a sound all its own.

I can’t recommend this album enough, it’s super, super good. One of the best albums of 1988, one of the great albums of alternative rock, hard rock, or metal during the late eighties and beyond.

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