I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing, as the Pet Shop Boys once said. Jane's Addiction weren't really my cup of tea, certainly not when Ritual De Lo Habitual came out in 1990, and look at the way they dressed. You wouldn't do that in the north of England in 1990, even if you secretly wanted to. I do remember seeing the video for Been Caught Stealing and thinking it sounded good. I didn't get the album until many years later and was surprised that there was quite a lot I liked. Been Caught Stealing for one, the ten minute sex and drugs epic Three Days for another, and this song Classic Girl. If Jane's Addiction are as wikipedia says an alternative rock band, then this song emphasises the alternative rather than the rock, no squeeling guitar solos or Led Zep drum and bass breakdowns here, just really cool phased guitar and a yearning quality, for a classic girl. The lyric which made my ears prick up was the verse that goes-
'They may say 'Those were the days'
But in a way, you know for us
These are the days
Yes, for us these are the days'
Which sounded like a pretty good rejection of nostalgia (presumably the 60s or 70s) and embracing our times. Of course now those lines are twenty years old and I regularly feature songs from those days which maybe is partly me saying 'those were the days' but I hope this isn't entirely a place for nostalgia, if at all. Are these the days? For us, and the kids listening to their music, I suppose these are still the days.
09 Classic Girl.wma
'They may say 'Those were the days'
But in a way, you know for us
These are the days
Yes, for us these are the days'
Which sounded like a pretty good rejection of nostalgia (presumably the 60s or 70s) and embracing our times. Of course now those lines are twenty years old and I regularly feature songs from those days which maybe is partly me saying 'those were the days' but I hope this isn't entirely a place for nostalgia, if at all. Are these the days? For us, and the kids listening to their music, I suppose these are still the days.
09 Classic Girl.wma
4 comments:
I love that album, it's got an energy that just caught my attention at the time. I've never really been an indie kid over the years anyway; one of the big reasons Baggy got me was because of the mix of dance and Mod influences, and the fact that it took the alternative back towards the mainstream.
But American alternative stuff does it for me for some reason, probably because you can really see the links between the Velvets and The Stooges and The Doors through Patti Smith and Television through the 80s hardcore type stuff and things like Husker Du and then on through people like the Janes and Nirvana etc. It wasn't always that way though, there were times when the only American music I would listen to was soul...
Yer right Si, there's a definate link between all those bands you mentioned. I'm glad I got into Jane's eventually although the first album I still struggle with. Ritual's one of those albums that fits together as a whole and sounds like it could have been recorded in a day.
Leadmill Sheffield. When everything was baggy, Janes Addiction like something from another planet .
One of the most affecting gigs I ever saw.
I never really got JA at the time but loved the two Porno for Pyros albums (particularly the second one that no-one bought) and have since rediscovered how good they were,in hindsight.
Post a Comment