Death Of Modern Rock - December 2008

Fall Out Boy? Naw, Jane’s Addiction!

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Written By: Mario R. Martin

This month’s column is a special one. It marks a full year of Chicks With Guns. It also marks a whole year of Death Of Modern Rock columns from yours truly. Throughout the year, I’ve harped and harped about knowing the past in order to see the future. Like in life, music is no different. Justin Timberlake is the new Michael Jackson. Britney Spears the new Madonna, and Alicia Keyes the new Diana Ross. History is cyclical and music is again, no different.

Whether it was complaining about kids not knowing old funk or soul music, rock music has some roots too. I won’t go too far back for those of you with short attention spans. I will take you back to the greatest era ever, the 1980s. By the mid 80s, a Los Angeles-based band started to gain traction. The buzz about them built up so much so that it spilled out to middle-America. That’s where I come in. In 1987, I was introduced to the greatest band of all time, Jane’s Addiction. The record was presented to me from a friend of mine whose older brother was into punk and metal. We’d sneak around and grab some cassettes of his to copy. Everything from Jane’s Addiction, Dag Nasty, Dead Kennedy’s, Love & Rockets and more was what my friends and I were consuming. It was a pure time. It was real. Getting out of school, skateboarding and listening to music was the only agenda, and nothing else mattered.

“Trip Away” – Jane’s Addiction – Jane’s Addiction (1987)


Jane’s Addiction’s first record was recorded live at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip. The album art depicted Perry Farrell with scars on his body and photos of the band looking just downright different. The true test was putting on the cassette and playing it. The opening features a barrage of drumming by Stephen Perkins that I thought was otherworldly. You could say the love affair began when I first heard that opening to “Trip Away.” Jane’s Addiction immediately and permanently became the soundtrack to my youth and adolescence, serving as inspiration and medication whenever anything went awry.

Now, when people ask me, “what’s your favorite band?” I quickly correct them and say that in my humble opinion, I feel music began and died with Jane’s Addiction. Peoples’ faces cringe as they offer other bands and artists they feel are better. I reply with a simple, “You’re entitled to your opinion, and I, mine.” Truth is, Jane’s Addiction has been able to change my outlook on music with just three records. Jane’s Addiction is the standard I hold others to as well. When the machine was rolling on so well, they decided to call it quits. Forget the reunion shows. Forget the lackluster last studio record. Forget that you hear a Jane’s Addiction song at the open of “Entourage.” 1987’s live record, 1988’s Nothing’s Shocking and 1990’s Ritual de lo Habitual changed the way I looked at music, and forever will.

Since 1987, a lot has happened. I was fortunate enough to catch all the original members perform at the NME Awards in Los Angeles for the first time in 17 years. The moment was truly magical. It’s been over 20 years since I first heard Jane’s Addiction, and I almost think the youth of today needs their music more than ever. I don’t take Jane’s Addiction’s music lightly. It is artistic and it speaks to the youth. Even hearing the records now helps me transcend time and feel the same feelings I had in the late 80s.

I often see or hear adolescents reference old music. I think it’s great. Hendrix, the Dead, the Beatles, Sabbath, Roxy Music, The Cure, you name it, it’s all important. The deeper one delves into oldies that our favorite bands reference, the more skewed the whole thing gets as we continue to pump the necessity of Zeppelin and the Who. At what point do adolescents start to unearth something more contemporary? Jane’s Addiction is all the aforementioned bands, except set in the 1980s. At what point with some 16 year-old put down Yellow Submarine or The White Album and pick up Jane’s Addiction? Frankly, I’m sick of it.

So, with all that said, happy holidays. Be sure to add any of the original records by Jane’s Addiction to your gift list. Stop thinking about what Fall Out Boy will turn out, because it will in fact be a steamy pile of shit. Hear what Jane’s Addiction has to offer, without the preconceived thoughts of “Been Caught Stealing” or “Superhero.” Go into thinking that it will be the first time you hear angels singing to you. The imagery and lyrics of Jane’s Addiction’s final record were enough for my concerned mother to take notice and FORBID me from hearing. Did it work? Of course not. ☺