Jane's Addiction

Led by the flamboyant, outspoken Perry Farrell, Jane's Addiction blended elements of art rock, punk, metal, funk and glamour into an ambitious musical juxtaposition of sublime beauty and utter decadence. The group broke up during its peak of popularity in 1991, just after its appearance on the first Lollapalooza Tour (which Farrell organized). Farrell continued chasing his muse in Porno for Pyros.

Perry Bernstein spent the early part of his life working for his jeweler father in New York City's… Show more diamond district. When he was still a child, his mother committed suicide (Farrell alluded to this later, on "Then She Died..." from Ritual de lo Habitual, singing to a friend who has died of an overdose, "Will you say hello to my ma?...She was an artist, just as you were"). After her death, the Bernsteins moved to Woodmere, Long Island, and then to Miami.

Bernstein attended college briefly in Oceanside, California, but quit after having a nervous breakdown. He then started lip synching and doing exotic dancing in a Newport Beach nightclub, taking the stage name Perry Farrell by adopting his brother's first name as his last (making a pun on peripheral). In 1981 he started the goth-like Psi Com, which released an indie label EP before breaking up in 1985.

A year later Farrell formed Jane's Addiction, which he named after a prostitute friend who introduced him to band mates Eric Avery and David Navarro. Farrell, reputedly a control freak, became notorious among L.A.'s arty rock scene. Sporting Day-Glo girdles or black vinyl bodysuits, heavy mascara, and neon dreadlocks, he stalked stages singing in his high, mannered voice while the members of his band churned out a foreboding sound often compared to Led Zeppelin. After releasing a self-titled live album on L.A.'s Triple X Records in 1987, a major-label bidding war ensued. Warner Bros. won, putting out Nothing's Shocking the following year which featured one of the band's signature songs "Jane Says" (Number Six, Rodern Rock), a song about a heroin addict and an innovative arrangement featuring a steel-drum.

In 1990, on the strength of a catchy single and video ("Been Caught Stealing"), Ritual de lo Habitual skyrocketed up the charts, peaking at Number 19 (Number One, Modern Rock) and continued to do will with the propulsive single "Stop" (Number One, Modern Rock). The album made the news when some record chains refused to carry it because of its cover art (it featured Farrell's own nude sculptures). At the band's request, Warners issued the album to some stores in a plain white cover with only the text of the First Amendment printed on it.

That same year, Farrell co-directed a film called Gift, a free-form creation that included scenes of Jane's Addiction live in Mexico City and a Santeria wedding. Farrell remained in the limelight throughout 1991, when he brought his idea of an alternative-rock traveling circus to life with Lollapalooza, was busted on drug charges in Santa Monica, and brought Jane's Addiction to a close.

In 1992 he and drummer Perkins formed Porno for Pyros, which put out its self-titled debut album to cool reception the following year. Porno returned in 1996 with Good God's Urge (Number 20). That same year, Porno guitarist Peter DiStefano was diagnosed with cancer. Though he survived, the band never returned to action.

Navarro and Avery formed the experimental, short-lived Deconstruction in 1993 before Navarro left to join the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The guitarist was in the Chili Peppers long enough to record One Hot Minute, a disappointment both commercially and critically. Between bands, Navarro could be heard on a variety of influential albums, including Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill and Nine Inch Nails' Further Down the Spiral.

Navarro was visible again in 1997, when Farrell unexpectedly reconvened Jane's Addiction for a six-week national tour and the album Kettle Whistle (Number 21), a collection of outtakes, live recordings, and two new tracks. Chili Peppers bassist Flea sat in for Avery, who chose not to return.

Avery instead focused on Polar Bear, a collaboration with Biff Sanders of Ethyl Meatplow. Mixing rock with electronic elements and Middle Eastern tempos, Polar Bear released a self-titled EP.

Lollapalooza continued forward, but when Farrell's partners booked mainstream metal band Metallica as the 1996 headliner, he pulled out and immediately created the short-lived ENIT Festival. By 1998, Lollapalooza was shut down indefinitely. Farrell had by then fully embraced the electronic dance movement, and in the late 1990s he could be found working the turntables as a DJ in clubs in L.A. and New York. In 1999 he released Rev, which collected several Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros recordings with two new tracks. Farrell also began work on a solo album featuring such guests as Dave Navarro and Mad Professor. Entitled Song Yet to Be Sung, it was released in June 2001 concurrently with Navarro's debut solo album, Trust No One.

Another reunion outing, dubbed the Jubilee Tour, commenced in 2001; once again, Avery declined to participate, and was replaced by Porno For Pyros member Martyn Lenoble. In 2003, the band released Strays ( Number Four), its first studio album in thirteen years (Lenoble was already out by the time of recording, replaced by Chris Chaney). Produced by hard-rock veteran Bob Ezrin, Strays was a commercial and critical letdown, though it did lend the group one of the most widely heard songs of its career: The generic dance-rock track "Superhero," which was used as the opening-credits theme of HBO's Entourage.

Jane's Addiction headlined a newly revitalized Lollapalooza in 2003, but rumors of intra-band tension lingered, and Jane's Addiction once again disintegrated in 2004. Perkins and the increasingly manicured Navarro went on to form the Panic Channel, while Farrell teamed up with Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt for a psych-rock supergroup the Satellite Party

Jane's Addiction reunited for first-ever NME Awards show at Los Angeles's Troubadour in April of 2008, featuring the original line-up of Farrell, Navaro, Perkins and Avery, followed by other performances later in the year. ~ Bio from rollingstone.com

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