The Jane's Addiction Schism
Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2021 7:40 pm
If Jane's Addiction were a Religion there would have been a major Schism in 1997.
On one side would be the people(like myself)who were 100% against the idea of Perry naming his new band (Perry,Dave,Steve,Flea)with the old band's name 'Jane's Addiction' and dragging those old songs out of the 80's into the late 90's and beyond....
While on the other side would be the people who were(for many different reasons)unopposed to the idea of him doing just that.
From our side's point of view it seemed like a ridiculous inauthentic uninspired thing to do.
We(or maybe I am speaking for no one other than myself)would have had no problem with him getting together again with Dave and Steve to make new music but with a new band name and new ethos to reflect where they were in their lives at that moment in time(1997 not 1987).
There were a handful of things which made Jane's Addiction (85-91)a very special band
and to my mind none of those things were present or available in 1997:
Youth
Messed up people
Art as Essential Therapy
(Sex as therapy and drugs as therapy and rock n roll as therapy)(a great but pretty fucked up band)
Those three things especially (plus of course a whole host of other things,not least of course the absence of Eric,and many would
say the absence of Casey's love and guidance.
Janes without Eric would have been like The Doors without Ray Manzerak
And Janes without Casey would go on to produce those limp art covers of Strays and Escape Artist(not to mention the 'dull dazzle' music contained within I'm sure,never actually listened to them through)
The whole idea of trying to bring Janes back to life,to me was tasteless,
it was like being offered a mug of decaffeinated coffee when all I wanted was caffeine
or being offered a glass of alcohol-free beer when all I needed was alcohol:
or even worse,it was like someone had given me a great gift in the 80's but then come back in the 90's to demand their gift back only to piss and shit all over it:
for me the whole idea stank,and to this day has left a bad taste in my mouth.
My belief was that Perry tried to reform Janes for all the wrong reasons.
I think he was smart enough to know that his legacy would be forever associated with Jane's Addiction,
and so I think he wanted to get back in there to clean it up(clean the mess up)as he didn't want to be solely remembered as some kind of great anti-christ anarchist-type artist fucked-up on drugs and sex and rock n roll.
I think though he was disingenuous or even hypocritical when he said that the people who were against the reforming of Jane's Addiction were afraid of change(or stuck in the past):
the irony there being that he was afraid to form a new band with dave and steve and make new music instead of dragging Janes out of his own past or sentimental cabinet.
Even as a small compromise(for those of us opposed to his idea)could he not have even just called his new band instead
THE BAND FORMELY KNOWN AS JANE'S ADDICTION
or
THE JANE'S ADDICTION TRIBUTE BAND
So,in 1987,Janes had on their side:
Youth
Messed up people
Art as Essential Therapy
While,in 1997 'Janes' had on their side instead:
Old Age
Mellowed out people
Art as mere entertainment
On Youth:
Perry was 27 in 1985
In rock n roll terms even that is almost ancient
(Jim Morrison was dead by the age 27 with his last album sounding like the work of an old mature man)
But Perry,in fairness to him,had kept himself fresh and vital and strong for a long time,but by 1997 he was almost 40 years old
and had mellowed out so much by then.
Janes was a raw youth alternative art rock band with everything that implied:
it was never meant to fall into the hands of ageing married men...
On Art as Essential Therapy:
No one would wish the death of a mother on any young person(it's hard enough to face even when old)
Perry and Dave though went through their own private hell by losing their mums at such an early stage of their lives
Both of those guys needed therapy,but instead of professional help,they took refuge in Art as Therapy(and refuge in drugs and sex)
Now Art as Therapy combined with Youth combined with Trauma combined with Drugs and Sex is a very potent mix,and those three early albums testify to that potent power.
But by 1997,those guys were so mellowed out,and had matured a lot by then,so much so that their Art no longer felt like Therapy
but instead felt more like mere entertainment(which is fine if that is all you demand from music:
I only like art which burns to speak though.
On Messed up people:
I take my hat off to Perry,he was messed up in those early days but he was not afraid to mature as a man.
By his 40's he was becoming a better man:
I liked what I read in an interview one time,wherein he talked about holding a child(I think his first son)and thinking to himself
that suffering and strife is easily found,and so why the need to always be the battering ram,why not be a peaceful man.
He was maturing for sure,
but again that's why I felt,that at that time,Jane's Addiction was the wrong vehicle for that softening change within himself(he was no longer the battering ram,he was the aging man.
Did he really need(in 1997)or even fully want to start singing again about his love for Whores (and of course Dave's love for whores)(and Perry's own days working as a whore)
Did he really want to remind himself again about how he Fucked Casey Over In 1993,and about how he Let Jane Bainter Down,and how he plastered his Cousin's memory unfairly(unflatteringly)over the ritual album cover and the song three days:
I am pretty sure that girl wouldn't want to be remembered as just some heroin junkie who had a threesome with her cousin.
Did he really feel the need to insult again 500 million buddists with his song Pigs in Shit (or Pigs in Zen)
And insult 2 billion Christians with his tripe 'erotic jesus loves his Marys'
And insult a billion plus Muslims and Jews with his 'God is Dead,he ain't there at all' lyric(not that that was ever his intention I'm sure)
And remind himself,when singing Classic Girl,how his Santeria-style wedding ceremony to Casey was to him nothing more than a mock-up or mockery.
So why reform Janes in 1997 then?
Just to throw a big party at a big bouncy castle(or castle)is that why?
The one criticism I would make of myself(or what I have learned from that incident)is to never put your own emotions in someone else's hands:
i should never have allowed myself to have been effected by what Perry(or anyone else)did with their lives and their past art.
All that is in the past now though(I think)
i really dont care now if Perry keeps 'Janes' going for another 40 years and even don't care if his wife and kids replace him and steve and dave as future band members after that.
Jane's Addiction for me will always be the music and art made between 1985-1991 (anything after that inspires me not)
And you know what,
from his point of view(Perry's own retrospective point of view)it turned out just fine---------he entertained people who wanted to see him play under that name Janes again,he made tonnes of money and even met his future wife:
so,
should I begrudge him,
no,
goodluck to him and goodluck to everyone else here and there with their life
On one side would be the people(like myself)who were 100% against the idea of Perry naming his new band (Perry,Dave,Steve,Flea)with the old band's name 'Jane's Addiction' and dragging those old songs out of the 80's into the late 90's and beyond....
While on the other side would be the people who were(for many different reasons)unopposed to the idea of him doing just that.
From our side's point of view it seemed like a ridiculous inauthentic uninspired thing to do.
We(or maybe I am speaking for no one other than myself)would have had no problem with him getting together again with Dave and Steve to make new music but with a new band name and new ethos to reflect where they were in their lives at that moment in time(1997 not 1987).
There were a handful of things which made Jane's Addiction (85-91)a very special band
and to my mind none of those things were present or available in 1997:
Youth
Messed up people
Art as Essential Therapy
(Sex as therapy and drugs as therapy and rock n roll as therapy)(a great but pretty fucked up band)
Those three things especially (plus of course a whole host of other things,not least of course the absence of Eric,and many would
say the absence of Casey's love and guidance.
Janes without Eric would have been like The Doors without Ray Manzerak
And Janes without Casey would go on to produce those limp art covers of Strays and Escape Artist(not to mention the 'dull dazzle' music contained within I'm sure,never actually listened to them through)
The whole idea of trying to bring Janes back to life,to me was tasteless,
it was like being offered a mug of decaffeinated coffee when all I wanted was caffeine
or being offered a glass of alcohol-free beer when all I needed was alcohol:
or even worse,it was like someone had given me a great gift in the 80's but then come back in the 90's to demand their gift back only to piss and shit all over it:
for me the whole idea stank,and to this day has left a bad taste in my mouth.
My belief was that Perry tried to reform Janes for all the wrong reasons.
I think he was smart enough to know that his legacy would be forever associated with Jane's Addiction,
and so I think he wanted to get back in there to clean it up(clean the mess up)as he didn't want to be solely remembered as some kind of great anti-christ anarchist-type artist fucked-up on drugs and sex and rock n roll.
I think though he was disingenuous or even hypocritical when he said that the people who were against the reforming of Jane's Addiction were afraid of change(or stuck in the past):
the irony there being that he was afraid to form a new band with dave and steve and make new music instead of dragging Janes out of his own past or sentimental cabinet.
Even as a small compromise(for those of us opposed to his idea)could he not have even just called his new band instead
THE BAND FORMELY KNOWN AS JANE'S ADDICTION
or
THE JANE'S ADDICTION TRIBUTE BAND
So,in 1987,Janes had on their side:
Youth
Messed up people
Art as Essential Therapy
While,in 1997 'Janes' had on their side instead:
Old Age
Mellowed out people
Art as mere entertainment
On Youth:
Perry was 27 in 1985
In rock n roll terms even that is almost ancient
(Jim Morrison was dead by the age 27 with his last album sounding like the work of an old mature man)
But Perry,in fairness to him,had kept himself fresh and vital and strong for a long time,but by 1997 he was almost 40 years old
and had mellowed out so much by then.
Janes was a raw youth alternative art rock band with everything that implied:
it was never meant to fall into the hands of ageing married men...
On Art as Essential Therapy:
No one would wish the death of a mother on any young person(it's hard enough to face even when old)
Perry and Dave though went through their own private hell by losing their mums at such an early stage of their lives
Both of those guys needed therapy,but instead of professional help,they took refuge in Art as Therapy(and refuge in drugs and sex)
Now Art as Therapy combined with Youth combined with Trauma combined with Drugs and Sex is a very potent mix,and those three early albums testify to that potent power.
But by 1997,those guys were so mellowed out,and had matured a lot by then,so much so that their Art no longer felt like Therapy
but instead felt more like mere entertainment(which is fine if that is all you demand from music:
I only like art which burns to speak though.
On Messed up people:
I take my hat off to Perry,he was messed up in those early days but he was not afraid to mature as a man.
By his 40's he was becoming a better man:
I liked what I read in an interview one time,wherein he talked about holding a child(I think his first son)and thinking to himself
that suffering and strife is easily found,and so why the need to always be the battering ram,why not be a peaceful man.
He was maturing for sure,
but again that's why I felt,that at that time,Jane's Addiction was the wrong vehicle for that softening change within himself(he was no longer the battering ram,he was the aging man.
Did he really need(in 1997)or even fully want to start singing again about his love for Whores (and of course Dave's love for whores)(and Perry's own days working as a whore)
Did he really want to remind himself again about how he Fucked Casey Over In 1993,and about how he Let Jane Bainter Down,and how he plastered his Cousin's memory unfairly(unflatteringly)over the ritual album cover and the song three days:
I am pretty sure that girl wouldn't want to be remembered as just some heroin junkie who had a threesome with her cousin.
Did he really feel the need to insult again 500 million buddists with his song Pigs in Shit (or Pigs in Zen)
And insult 2 billion Christians with his tripe 'erotic jesus loves his Marys'
And insult a billion plus Muslims and Jews with his 'God is Dead,he ain't there at all' lyric(not that that was ever his intention I'm sure)
And remind himself,when singing Classic Girl,how his Santeria-style wedding ceremony to Casey was to him nothing more than a mock-up or mockery.
So why reform Janes in 1997 then?
Just to throw a big party at a big bouncy castle(or castle)is that why?
The one criticism I would make of myself(or what I have learned from that incident)is to never put your own emotions in someone else's hands:
i should never have allowed myself to have been effected by what Perry(or anyone else)did with their lives and their past art.
All that is in the past now though(I think)
i really dont care now if Perry keeps 'Janes' going for another 40 years and even don't care if his wife and kids replace him and steve and dave as future band members after that.
Jane's Addiction for me will always be the music and art made between 1985-1991 (anything after that inspires me not)
And you know what,
from his point of view(Perry's own retrospective point of view)it turned out just fine---------he entertained people who wanted to see him play under that name Janes again,he made tonnes of money and even met his future wife:
so,
should I begrudge him,
no,
goodluck to him and goodluck to everyone else here and there with their life