Jane's Addiction
Nothing's Shocking

Foreword: As an occasional reader of the various reviews on this site, I liked the fact that there were more than one for the same album, allowing me to compare different points of view. As a reviewer, I will write about records probably already present in memory, to offer my complementary perspective and, above all, because I enjoy talking about whatever the heck I want, and if someone is there reading me, that’s even better. Also, between us, I listen to more or less famous stuff and nothing too rare. Sorry, I'm new here and wanted to clarify my point of view, I hope I haven’t been too much of a pain.

On with the review! This time I’ll tell you something about the album that I consider the best from the best alternative band, Jane's Addiction, that is, their seminal "Nothing's Shocking".

Our four drug addicts found themselves signing with a major in 1988 and publishing their first studio work, which also included some tracks from their previous self-titled live album. These were "Jane Says" and "Pigs In Zen," which, actually, appears only as a bonus in some editions.

This is definitely an album not to be reviewed track by track. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a single long song divided into ten moments. So I suggest to anyone preparing for the first listen to savor the album all in one go and not start with "Mountain Song" just because it was on Guitar Hero, for instance... Anyway, apart from the aforementioned bonus track, this work has no low points, and it truly pushes on the whirlwind of genres that only these four could create, ranging from dark tones to acoustic ballads down to tribal rhythms, psychedelia, classic rock, and much more. There's even Flea's trumpet in "Idiots Rule" and new (for the time) sounds that I won't even attempt to list or describe. In the end, I may be ignorant, but to me, they were the ones who founded real Alternative Rock.

Besides the songs, all wonderful, the band members themselves were at their peak here. Perry Farrell has a voice that burrows into your skull, with defiant lyrics like the phrase "Sex Is Violent!", a theme he then developed in later tracks. Dave Navarro delivers solos and arrangements so compelling that they almost overshadow every album he recorded after, Eric Avery holds everything with his monolithic bass (and he wrote most of the tracks on his own), while Stephen Perkins' drumming is only marred by that echo that coats his drum parts like a film (after all, we're still in the Eighties).

The album will fail to climb the charts, unlike its successor, also thanks to MTV's boycott and those narrow-minded associations that abound in the States. However, it will have a huge following in the underground circuit and on college radios and will rightfully be rediscovered after the success of the hits "Stop!" and "Been Caught Stealing," from "Ritual De Lo Habitual."

If it hadn't been for the dictatorial attitude of their frontman, they might have dominated the Nineties... Maybe. Over the years they have split multiple times, and today, in 2011, they are on their third reunion and on the verge of releasing a new album. I look forward to listening to and reviewing "The Great Escape Artist" and in the meantime enjoy this classic. You should too.