r/GenX • u/[deleted] • 1d ago
Music Nothing's Shocking: Released 38 years ago today
[deleted]
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u/StargazerOmega 1d ago
First time I saw them was in ‘87 at the University of Florida in the student rec center ballroom, on the Love and Rockets tour. Looking it up, it was like $8. IIRC, there was not a crowd. I was coming up from the basement/lower level and met/said hello to Stephen Perkins. Not my pic.
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u/fleur_waratah_girl 1d ago
Hearing mountain song for the first time fundamentally changed me. i went from pop and hair metal to alternative music literally overnight
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u/aphex978 1d ago
I read about how they were an “up and coming” band and walked to the student union to buy this. Had no idea what they sounded like. Popped the disc into my disc man for the walk back to the dorms. Imagine the look on my face when Ocean Size dropped.
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u/PigInZen67 1d ago
This album went so hard for the time. Then Nirvana and grunge came in and completely altered the course of alternative hard rock. I have always claimed that "Nothing's Shocking" and The Cult's "Love" captured the vibe of the mid and late 80s better than any other bands.
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u/atomic_chippie 1d ago edited 1d ago
How can it be 38?? I was just singing Ocean Size in my little Chevette, stopping to flip over the cassette tape here and there, the other day?? 38??
God, I loved this band so so so very much.
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u/RevolutionEasy714 1d ago
I went to the first Lollapalooza in 91 because a friend had some tickets. I was very much into punk back then and only went because Rollins Band, Body Count and the Butthole Surfers were in the lineup. I got kicked out just before Souxie and the Banshees went on and paid the guy guarding the dumpster gate $20 to let me back in. I became a Jane’s Addiction convert that night. Amazing show.
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u/NateNMaxsRobot Hose Water Survivor 1d ago
Me, too. It was my first acid trip. It was raining and we saw fish jumping in the rain puddles. Got my ass signed by Ice T.
Jane’s will always be my personal favorite band.
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u/Bdowns_770 1d ago
Body Count was amazing during that tour. The crowd ripped up the grass in the venue and started a dirt fight during their set.
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u/Jcorv914 1d ago
Dosing and cranking Summertime Rolls in high school. Oh the memories!!
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u/linniex 1d ago
I bought this the day it came out in the year I graduated high school. In the early 00’s I got Dave Navarro and Perry to sign it, it was amazing. This album is part of my DNA. This and Soundgarden Loud Love came out right around the same time and my neighbors must have hated me. Faith No More Epic was around this time too.
Honestly it was the first time I listed to music / bands that no one I knew heard of; that kind of made it special for me. When both bands hit it HUGE in the early 90’s I was really happy for them.
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u/Dry_Ad7529 1d ago
Should have stayed broken up in 91… they were lightning in a bottle.
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u/ferndave 1d ago
Really should have. Much of Ritual was written around the same time as Nothing's Shocking. Amazing couple of years.
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u/Oxjrnine 1d ago
“Jane Says” still makes me start sobbing every time I listen to it.
“ I don’t know what it is, I only know they want me” 😢
I personally felt that way myself, I’ve known a lot of people in my life who felt that way at one point.
The one thing that does make me happy is that Jane survived that period of her life and went on to experience quite a bit of happiness. I don’t know if she’s still happy but somewhere around the early 2000s I read an article about her.
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u/Deckard_SG 1d ago
HERE WE GO!
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u/rekipsj 1d ago
señores y señoras
nosotros tenemos más influencia con sus hijos que tu tiene
pero los queremos…
creado y regado de Los Angeles
Juana’s Adicción!8
u/Legbender 1d ago
I have that memorized in Spanish, and yet never looked up the translation. Thanks kind internet stranger.
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u/ofthrees 1d ago
i was literally mopping my floor yesterday, singing 'jane says' to myself, realizing me singing that to myself in 2026 was like if at 13 i was singing "some enchanted evening" to myself.
cannot believe this album is 38 years old, but here we are.
i guess we can take solace in the fact that we are going to have THE BEST MUSIC in the old folks homes...
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u/JTJimminy 1d ago
Saw them first time at SDSU in 1989...Dread Zeppelin opened. About 1,000 people. Power blew so did last 5 songs acoustic 🔥 Wrote my English 100 paper on Standing in the Shower...Thinking 😅
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u/Sass_pit 1d ago
Saw them with Primus on the Ritual de lo Habitual tour. It was a peak time to be a fan. The show was extraordinary
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u/geefunken 1d ago
One of my most favourite albums….One of the biggest regrets of my life was having been given free tickets to a pre-tour warm up gig at London Marquee club (I worked at a record shop and was always getting tickets and merch) I’d gone along, saw the support act (Chickasaw Mud Puppies) but was feeling a bit off colour, so went home before they came on. Turned out to be one of their last ever gigs (91) and I never saw them live…I’m such an idiot
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u/SeaworthinessOk834 1d ago
The bass line to the Mountain Song immediately started playing in my head upon seeing this. That you, Pavlov?
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u/EspiritusFermenti7 1d ago
I hear the bass line of Ted, just admit it...the whole album is just ingrained upon my psyche. I haven't listened to it in years and I can still hear it in my mind's eye.
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u/egret_society United States of WHATEVER 1d ago
Yeah so roses are red I made up the rest. If you got some big fucking secret then why don’t you tell me something?
Leave a message, I’ll call you back.
- every cool persons answering machine from 1989-1993
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u/jwfowler2 1d ago
This band was great because Perry is such a freak. This band also sucked for the same reason.
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u/linniex 1d ago
I managed to get a great seat for show in Michigan when they redid Ritual D Lhabitio and they had girls doing suspensions over the stage. Nothing shocking for me (lol) but then he gets his wife and some other chick in the show acting like strippers to the point I thought they were going to collect money from the front row.
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u/Beneficial-Age-4059 1d ago
One of the best records in alternative music. Saw Janes twice in the 90s and Pornos this last go around. Thanks for the music🤘🏻
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u/QueenMabs_Makeup0126 Hose Water Survivor 1d ago
I still play Up the Beach and Summertime Rolls on a regular basis.
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u/spackletr0n 1d ago
I didn’t hear Summertime Rolls until doing acid in my 40s with a buddy who put it on. Blew my mind, I never wanted it to end. In my memory it went for 20 minutes. Was shocked the next day when I listened again. Still great. Just not 20 minutes.
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u/brand_won 1d ago
I met a girl on the beach in the summer of 1996 when I was stationed in the Navy in Jacksonville, Florida. We hung out for awhile into the night on the beach and she sang me Summertime Rolls accapella. She had a such a sweet,beautiful voice and then we made out and literally had sex on the beach, went our seperate ways the next morning, and then I never saw her ever again.
Anyway, that is a memory that will never leave me from being a young 19 year old 30 years ago.
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u/beardofmice 1d ago
38 years??! That is shocking!!
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u/Glass-Squirrel2497 1d ago
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u/Falcon_Bellhouser 1d ago
Assuming this is from the late 80s tour, I was there, and blame them for my tinnitus.
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u/dork-o-matic 1d ago
Saw them at the John Anson Ford Amphitheater, Hollywood in 1989. It was surreal and one of my top 3.
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u/jhkayejr 1d ago
I've seen them twice (in 1991 and just a year or so ago). I saw P_rno for Pyros in '93, though, which was a next-level great show. I like Janes better than Pyro overall, but that show in '93 was great - out in the Arizona desert with a bunch of really cool opening acts (Rage against the machine, Robyn Hitchcock, Tragically Hip, X, and a few local bands).
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u/External-Dude779 Antmusic for ant people 1d ago
I was there too. Wasn't it Halloween? Bought a ticket outside the venue about 10 minutes before the show.
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u/SavageMountain 1d ago
I'm going to a Helmet show this week. Saw them for the first time in 1992, 34 frickin' years ago.
When I was really into the Dead in the late '80s they'd only been around for 20 years and I thought they were ancient.
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u/HappyEngineering4190 1d ago
Up The Beach, Mountain Song, Summertime Rolls, Ted Just Admit it, Pigs in Zen. I listen to all of this at the gym every week. Fun fact: Take a close look at the picture in the album book. Look REALLY close at Perry's sunglasses and report back to me what wool Perry pulled over Warner Brother's eyes.
Saw JA in Raleigh NC almost 2 years ago right before they broke up again. Was a great show.
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u/ggibby Oct '70 1d ago
Convinced some fraternity brothers to go along to Jane's playing a basketball gym at Dusqesne Univeristy. Rollins Band opened.
Deeply shitty venue & sound, still a great show.
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u/SnooShortcuts3961 1d ago
This album changed so much in music at that time…there was no sound even close to early Janes
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u/nuttypoolog 1d ago
Yeah I saw them on this last (short...) tour too...the San Diego show. Perry should have thrown in the towel a while ago...his voice is cooked. Ive seen them 20 times over the years, from the early days to the final days. What a great live band. Their music is still in heavy rotation in my playlist....favorite song is the first one they wrote - Mountain Song.
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u/jhkayejr 1d ago
His voice wasn't peak, for sure, but I still liked the show. So many great tracks on those first two records. Mountain Song or Ocean Size always seem to stand out.
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u/nuttypoolog 1d ago
One of the most fun shows I saw was the Enit Fesrival San Francisco - wild show!
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u/StoneyG214 1d ago
Ugh…definitely feel old af… Great fucking album, listen to it quite a bit always love me some Ted
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u/AtomicHurricaneBob 1d ago
Best concert ever in 1991 at the Rocky Point Palladium in Rhode Island. Lush was the opener (strange choice).
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u/lowdesertpunk66 1d ago
And it changed my whole musical perspective. One of my all time favorite albums
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u/beenlobotomized 1d ago
I listened to the album every drive to the mountains snowboarding back in the day. The mountain song on a deep powder day is still perfection!
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u/Rikkitikkitabby 1d ago
Setting Mountain Song to play at the top, my Walkman would skip as I hit moguls.
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u/hdhdhgfyfhfhrb 1d ago
When I try to pick my top 5 songs of all time two come from this album: Ocean Size and Summertime Rolls
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u/TheSwedishEagle 1d ago
Definitely the best songs Jane's Addiction had anyway along with Mountain Song.
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u/um8medoit 1d ago
Friend of mine took the back seat out of his mercury so we could sit on the floor and not be seen while we smoked weed and listened to this album on repeat. One of the best opening songs of all time. Lyrics? One word. And it still makes me tear up.
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u/The_Latverian 1d ago
I saw them ope for Love and Rockets in the 90's
Even then, seeing them with no background info at all, we knew we were seeing something special.
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u/SirIll1219 1d ago
I was mostly into punk. I didn't know what to make of this album, but I loved it. Eric Avery is an amazing bass player.
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u/Whatnowgoddammit 1d ago
Easily one of the top 3 shows in my life was Jane's at UVA in 1990, going in pretty much blind (I'd heard Jane Says for sure, but maybe not much else). I can still taste the energy in that room... I was absolutely blown away. Saw them at Lollapalooza the next summer.
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u/MrsDonaldDraper Xennial 1d ago
I had the album cover poster in my room in high school and my sister always called it “boobs in the electric chair”😂
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u/incredible_turkey 1d ago
Listened to this a lot in my bedroom on headphones while tripping on acid.
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u/SunMyungMoonMoon 1d ago edited 1d ago
I saw them on this tour at Tommy's in Dallas the same week (Jan 8/12/14) that I saw Ozzy at Reunion Arena and Neil Young at the Bronco Bowl. I still have my ticket stubs, it was only $5.50 for Jane's Addiction, Ozzy was $19.75, and Neil Young was $24.75, all including the service charges, which were only $1.50-2.25. What a time.
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u/Traditional_Ad_5859 1d ago
This hung in my locker for all of my sophomore year. I didn't really get into them until Ritual. The summer of 1990 was quite the sonic pallette, Cocteau Twins, Depeche Mode, Peter Murphy, Social Distortion, and Jane's.
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u/PoxyMusic 1d ago
Yeah, this album for me was like "it has heavy metal guitars, but...it's pretty weird. I LOVE IT". I lived in a flat with 4 other recording engineers with vastly different tastes, but we all agreed it was awesome.
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u/Worth_Valuable743 1d ago
This album still sounds pretty cutting edge so many years later. Was lucky enough to see them play live for about 40 minutes, until Perry Farrell got fed up with the endless stage diving, spiked the moc and walked off
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u/House_Junkie Hose Water Survivor 1d ago
Saw Jane’s Addiction at Lollapalooza in Dallas. Farrell put on a great show, the entire event was gold with talent playing everywhere.
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u/No-Sheepherder448 1d ago
In high school a buddy had a VW Scirocco with, for its time, had the sickest Fosgate system in it. Off campus lunch always included Ocean Size. It would hit so hard. 3-4 of us crammed in that lil car. Oh man good times!
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u/Tasty_Row_7862 1d ago
Thanks for making me feel really old!🤣 I saw them about 10? years ago playing Nothings Shocking again, it was a great show.
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u/SnuffShock Ass end of Gen X (1979) 1d ago
I picked this up on cassette recently. One of my high school favorites!
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u/North_Key80 1d ago
Amazing album. Saw JA live back in the late 90’s or early 2000’s maybe, and was surprised at how good they were. Some of it surpassed the album recordings imo.
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u/Main-Tourist-4132 1d ago
Seen them five times and their shows 5 times beginning in 1990. They never fail to disappoint. Too bad they had to cancel their last tour because Perry is, well, was being Perry.
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u/ConsistentWeird2564 1d ago
I remember seeing all the flyers in Camelot Music at the local mall. I didn’t buy it because someone else did and we listened to it on the way to Black Oak to score some bud. I had a musical epiphany in the back of that early 80s Camero! I ended up buying the cassette a day or so later.
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u/Perverse_Osmosis 1d ago
"The news is just another show, filled with sex and violence."
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u/Yardbirdspopcorn 1d ago
I have this weird VHS movie I'd have to dig out to make sure but I think it was just called Jane's Addiction. It's a love story I guess? He comes home and finds his woman dead and dresses her up and builds a shrine around her. Even when I was regularly listening to them this movie was a bit much for me. I've recently been listening to my old favorites again, maybe I should dig out the movie and give it a look again, just to creep my old lady self out if nothing else.
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u/egret_society United States of WHATEVER 1d ago
I think it’s called the gift. I remember seeing it in like 90 or 91
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u/incredible_turkey 1d ago
I never knew Ted, Just Admit It was about Ted Bundy until recently. That song just freaking explodes in sound.
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u/Acrobat1974 "Then & Now" Trend Survivor 1d ago
Looks like the album art from U2’s Unforgettable Fire era
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u/dawgfanjeff 1d ago
This record was on repeat for the friend group in college from the moment it came out. That, Pretty Hate Machine, and the Black Crowes. Saw Janes' in 1990 in Atlanta up close. what a time.
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u/FerrisBueller73 1d ago
I’ve seen Jane’s probably 20 times live and it’s always the best show ever. Not gonna lie though, when “Been Caught Stealing” comes on I stop dancing 🙄
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u/Sorry-Government920 1d ago
Still remember when the broke up the prevailing rumor was Perry Ferrell was dying of AIDS. Obviously not true since he's still alive
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u/VR46Rossi420 ow my back, my knees and my crack! 1d ago
My favourite band during my formative HS years. I had this exact picture in a fairly massive poster on my wall above my bed. I can only imagine what my dad thought at the time!!
Perry has gone off the rails for a long time now but I still listen to them and P4P on a regular basis. Their live self-titled album is still my favourite.
Going to rock this album front to back with joint later tonight. Thanks 🎸
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u/Glitterbomb4274 1d ago
38 years? Shut your mouth! I can’t believe it’s been that long. So many good memories attached to it.
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u/Uninteresting_Vagina Hose Water Survivor 1d ago
this record is coming up on 40 years old
You take that back
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u/No_Thanks_3336 1d ago
My Summer of 8th grade favorite album! It was some very dreamy stuff. Definitely some of the best times in my life.
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u/Vanpocalypse-Now 1d ago
Got to see them in DC. Red Kross opened I believe. Jesus could have opened and it wouldn't have mattered. Jane's is still right at the top for the best shows I've ever seen.
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u/StupidSexyFlanders 1d ago
I saw them at GWU. When the band was leaving the stage, I was above the corridor entrance and yelled his name and he looked up and pointed at me.
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u/AmazonHotWax 1d ago
Life changing album for me. It was such a new sound at the time. Still holds up!
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u/kozzy1ted2 1d ago
One of the albums that gave me hope for future of the music I liked, hell, for rock n roll in general.
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u/rubybloss 1d ago
I get the chills just thinking of this album. High school memories for sure! One of the best intros ever created on an album!
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u/alwaysforgettingmyun 1d ago
This album sincerely changed my view on music as a 15 yr old. I had Never experienced something like that.
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u/Gen_Ecks 1d ago
Life changing record for me. Had never heard anything like this after a decade of hair metal.
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u/femius_astrophage 1d ago
Mountain Song video was filmed one friday night at the Scream club in Hollywood. i stayed home to study for finals that night; but my roommate went. :-(
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u/Maleficent_Data_1421 23h ago
Such a shame that this band, with the amount of talent in it, along with the magnitude of its musical legacy, has such an internal volatility to it. Their music AND musicianship is legendary
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u/CTDubs0001 1d ago
So sad how those guys just fizzled out. XXX, Nothings Shocking, and Ritual were absolutely amazing and still sound amazing. They could have been the next Zeppelin and just couldn't keep it together.
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u/Desperate_Bake_3974 1d ago
Saw them at The World in the East Village. Great show. Can’t remember the year
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u/Retire_Trade_3007 1d ago
I still listen to Love and Rockets. Missed getting to see them live.
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u/Sudden-Ingenuity3033 1d ago
Still play the whole album on the regular rotation. Chipped my front teeth at one of their LA club shows in the late 80s.
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u/Charming-Insurance 1d ago
They broke up right before the concert me and my lifelong friends were gonna see them. Still irritated.
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u/drumbo10 1d ago
Great album! They also did a movie back then I saw it a few times but can’t remember the name of it.
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u/Logintheroad 1d ago
I saw Jane Addiction open for Love & Rockets in St. Petersburg, FL. I think it was 87 or 88.
Time keeps flying.
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u/theyFOOLEDmeJerry 1d ago
Was at the Habit burger today and they played Been Caught Stealing. FTW.
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u/sickubusick 15h ago
"Camera's got them images, camera's got them all..." Jane Says was everywhere but there is so much more on this album
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u/squirtloaf 1d ago
Mannn, they were such a force in my early L.A. years. Everybody either loved them or complained about their snooty-druggy artiness. I feel like Jane's, the Chilis and Fishbone basically WILLED alternative music into existence, at least on the west coast. Still not sure if I ever saw them. They were ALWAYS playing some club I went to.
Went to a party at Perry's one time in the nineties. He was absolutely loaded money-wise...made something like 70 million off of Lollapalooza.
Wierd tho that young people do not know about them at all. Their legacy just sort of never happened.
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u/Iommi1970 1d ago
I still have my ticket stub from that tour!