The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 506

Number 506

Jane's Addiction

"Been Caught Stealing"

(1990)

Genre:Alt Rock

Something about Jane's Addiction I just cant quite put me finger on. They are not as underground as say "Velvet Underground" (funny that) or as commercial as Mazzy Star (forgive me), yet they have (had?) this following that is equally as underground. Try spotting a Jane's Addiction fan.... almost impossible, because they hide behind Nirvana/Pearl Jam T-shirts. In fact, Jane's Addiction are the quintessential beginning of the much now famous Emo. Yup, 300,000 Addiction fans just fell of their chairs in disbelief. It's Ok, I understand you don't want people knowing you're a sensitive caring person with indepth pain & living with perpetual torment and not one single person understands you and your lifetime of grief. That is except Jane's Addiction, because, hey, they wrote about you once or twice didn't they? Be proud of who you like and listen to, support them and tell anyone who disagrees .... "I don't care". By the way .... I think Jane's Addiction are pretty cool, even for an Emo band. (I know ... you dont care)

rubber gloves? huh?

JANE'S ADDICTION, the band that fertilized the seed that eventually sprouted into mass-marketed "alternative rock," was the best-known and best-selling of the influential bands who were truly "alternative" before the label became a buzz word. Over the course of its initial five-year, three-album history, the band's energetic, decadent hard-rock served as an inspiration for the Nirvanas and Soundgardens of the world, bands that would have to wait another few years for the music they loved (and played) to gain mainstream acceptance. Though the group disbanded just as alternative rock was breaking into the mainstream, Jane's Addiction left an indelible mark on the face of music, both in terms of the groups it inspired and in the form of Lollapalooza, the annual circus-like traveling music festival masterminded by Jane's frontman Perry Farrell in 1991. Ironically, now that alternative rock itself is on the wane, Jane's Addiction has reformed--temporarily--for a new album and tour.

we're smokin'

Hailing from Hollywood, Jane's Addiction merged the visceral elements of classic arena rock with the menacing image and approach of punk in a manner that late-eighties metal bands did not. Over this tonal landscape, vocalist Perry Farrell's nasal rantings and at once offensive, hallucinatory, and self-indulgent lyrics roamed free. Farrell (born Perry Bernstein) had moved to Los Angeles from New York in the early eighties, and had changed his name to a play on the word "peripheral," and formed Psi Com, a goth group that released one indie-label EP in 1985 before splitting up. (The EP was reissued in 1993 by Triple X records.) Farrell hooked up with guitarist David Navarro and bassist Eric Avery in 1986, and the trio named the band they subsequently formed Jane's Addiction, after the woman who first introduced them. Drummer Stephen Perkins was brought into the fold soon thereafter, and the quartet started playing the Hollywood club scene.

cool advert

Farrell and company followed Nothing's Shocking with what would be their commercial breakthrough, 1990's Ritual de lo Habitual. Ritual contained only nine tracks, but it was far more expansive and ambitious than its predecessor, which had only hinted at the epic capability the band brought to fruition on its sophomore effort. While characteristic rockers like the first Ritual single, "Stop," still had their place, atmospheric, multiphasic pieces like "Three Days" and "Of Course" (the latter incorporates Eastern musical influences with Perkins' vibrant, tribal drumming style) gave the album its unique flavor. Ritual's stature was immeasurably boosted by the inclusion of the band's biggest hit to date, "Been Caught Stealing"--the upbeat, hip-hop-flavored song catapulted the album onto Billboard's Top Twenty (thanks in part to heavy MTV rotation of the song's video), and the band to the brink of stardom.

bumpkins?

By 1991, it appeared that Jane's Addiction was poised to make a huge commercial breakthrough, and that same year, Farrell was instrumental in the creation of the first Lollapalooza festival, which Jane's headlined. The success of Lollapalooza (which also featured Living Colour, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Butthole Surfers, Body Count, and Nine Inch Nails) brought the band tremendous attention, making it all the more surprising when Farrell announced that Jane's Addiction would disband at the end of the tour. Yet, somehow, it seemed oddly fitting that a group known for its unconventionality would choose to break up at the height of its popularity. After the split, Navarro took over lead guitar duties for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, one of Jane's Addiction's peer bands from its L.A. club-scene tenure, while Avery moved on to play in Polar Bear. (The pair also collaborated on a 1994 album under the name Deconstruction.) Farrell continued to oversee the Lollapalooza festivals for several years, and he formed Porno for Pyros with Perkins, bassist Martyn LeNoble, and guitarist Pete DiStefano in 1992. The Pyros scored a minor hit the following year with "Pets," a single off their self-titled Warner Brothers debut. They released a follow-up album, Good God's Urge, in 1996.

zzzzzzzzzt

Today, with the so-called alternative nation Jane's Addiction helped foster arguably dissolved, the band's original lineup--minus Avery and plus Red Hot Chili Peppers' bass player Flea--has reunited, or, as Farrell puts it, "relapsed." Signs that Jane's might reconvene surfaced in early 1997, when Navarro and Flea played on Porno for Pyros' contribution to the Private Parts soundtrack, "Hard Charger"--a song that sounded more like Farrell's former band than his present one. By the summer, plans for a full-fledged Jane's reunion were underway, with Flea officially taking the place of Avery, who declined Farrell's invitation to participate. The new Jane's lineup went into the studio to record two new songs for an "odds and sods" collection of demos, outtakes, and live tracks titled Kettle Whistle, which was released in November of 1997. The I-Itz M-My Party Tour, which kicked off in Los Angeles a month earlier, has seen the band playing to sellout crowds and earning stronger critical praise than it did in its heyday. [Source:artistdirect.com author unknown]

For Pearl Jam visit Mellow Mix Volume 1 #116

For Red Hot Chili Peppers see Number 521

For Velvet Underground see Number 953

For Mazzy Starr see Number 745

Other songs with ref to D Navarro see Number 642 (dont look, it will scare you)

Rolling Stone mag has new news about Janes Addiction ... !

What does Rolling 'Amen" Stone say about Jane?

Ritual de lo Habitual finds Jane's Addiction thin and wandering, blowing ploys that worked before – overdubs and echoes, loose jamming, Farrell's playground melodies. Split into a hard-rockin' side and a prog-rock side, the album doesn't cohere – whatever the band members have been doing for the last two years, they haven't been practicing much. Sure, there are moments – the opener, "Stop," has an amazing bridge, "Ain't No Right" admirably sums up Farrell's creed ("Ain't no right/Ain't no wrong/There's just pleasure and pain") and "Been Caught Stealing" is a real jewel. A shuffling, upbeat bouncer with silly jazz chords and the best use of dog barks since Pet Sounds, the song expresses a bare logic of desire ("I want something and don't want to pay for it") that makes shoplifting seem as fun as collecting tadpoles.~ [Source RS 589]

Other songs with reference to Jane's Addiction #521, #642, #680

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (not our cup of Earl Grey) and the Album ranked at Number 453
This song has a crowbarred rating of 75 out of 108

Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing
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